Copycat Taco Bell Quesadilla Sauce is super creamy and has a great kick to it, but not overpoweringly so. Even better, now that you don’t have to go wait inline or in the drive-through to get your hands on it. Combine sour cream, mayonnaise, jalapeños, and a select few spices to create this copycat sauce!
Make your own homemade chicken quesadilla sauce by the cupful and have it on hand anytime! It’s great to serve with for a fiesta of cheesy chicken taquitos, tacos, copycat taco bell Mexican pizza or a plate full of nachos!
Copycat Taco Bell Quesadilla Sauce
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What’s In Taco Bell Quesadilla Sauce?
The best sauce for quesadillas is a little bit creamy, a little bit tangy, with just the right amount of spicy kick! The base is sour cream, a touch of mayonnaise, some jalapeños and a dash of Mexican spices. From there you can make it your own. Make it as hot and spicy as you like by adding more or less chopped jalapeños, leaving in or removing the seeds, and adding more cayenne pepper!
How to Make Copycat Taco Bell Quesadilla Sauce
This sauce is so simple to make! Just one step – I kid you not!
- Whisk together all ingredients (it’s that easy!)
Two steps if you want to include this – cover and place in the fridge to chill about one hour before using.
How Long Will It Last in the Fridge?
Homemade Taco Bell Quesadilla Sauce lasts about as long as regular sour cream or salad dressing would.
As long as it stays cold and covered, it’s good for about a month. But, because it goes with so many things, it will definitely be used up long before that!
This Sauce Also Goes Great With…
Not only is it one of the best sauces to put on quesadillas, but it makes an easy dipping sauce for:
- chicken nuggets
- taco pockets
- nachos
- a sour cream substitute for meals like an enchilada casserole!
It also makes a great salad dressing by thinning it out with a little bit of milk or heavy whipping cream! Perfect on a homemade taco salad!
More Great Mexican Inspired Dishes
- Chicken Burrito Bowl – Tasty & zesty combo
- Mexican Corn Salad – ready in 20 mins!
- Grilled Corn Guacamole – perfect party dip!
- Beef Enchiladas – 30 min meal!
- Crockpot Chicken Fajitas – 6 simple ingredients
- Salsa Chicken Casserole – So easy, 5 minutes prep!
Copycat Taco Bell Quesadilla Sauce Recipe
Ingredients
- ½ cup sour cream
- 2 tablespoons mayonnaise not Miracle Whip
- 1 tablespoon jalapeños chopped, fresh or canned
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon cumin
- ½ teaspoon paprika
- 1/16 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, blend together all ingredients thoroughly.
- Allow the sauce to chill in the fridge for at least an hour, to let the flavors develop.
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
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This was perfect!
Just tried this. It’s a keeper for sure! So easy to whip up and if your in a hurry it still tastes great with only a 15 min fridge wait.
So glad to hear you love this sauce Irene!
Are the nutritional information based on per serving of 4? Thank you!
Yes Stephanie, the number of servings is right above the recipe title. Enjoy!
I LOVE this sauce!! I’m confused about the nutritional information. Are the 107 calories and 10 grams of fat in the entire four servings, or is that for 1/4 of the entire sauce that the recipe makes?
Great question Erika! The nutritional information is always per serving, so this is for ¼ of the sauce. Enjoy!
This turned out so yummy! I used canned Jalepenos that I had on hand. I also blended it in a food processor to make it more smooth and uniform. Very very similar to Taco Bell.
Yay! That’s what we like to hear Abigail. So happy you enjoyed it.
Way too much garlic powder too much for me anyway
Oh no, sorry to hear that Kyle! You can definitely reduce the garlic powder to taste 🙂
delicious! i love it! quesadillas are my favorite, especially from Taco Bell. Their sauce it amazing. Thank you so much for the great recipe!
Thank you Sylvanna! I’m so happy to hear that you love this recipe as much as we do!
My husband made homemade quesadillas and the only thing that was missing was the jalapeno sauce and I think this would actually make the kicker. I hope that we can make this the right way and it comes out good.
Mmmm, that sounds delicious Lisa-Ann! I hope this satisfies that missing ingredient craving!
My mouth is watering. I have to make this tonight!”
Please do Maggie!
Just sub cayenne for a bit more paprika
Hey! Can we refrigerate the sauce and if we can for how long?
It should last a few days. If you refrigerate it immediately and take out only what you use, I’d say up to 5 days or so.
Found your recipe via googling for a copy cat of the Taco Bell quesadilla sauce. I love their steak quesadillas. Made the sauce. Spot on! Thanks! I’m sharing the recipe with friends who love it, too.
So glad you loved it, thank you for sharing!
I’m a bit of a spice wuss and this was WAY too hot for me. It had to have been the jalapeños, which were weirdly chunky in the sauce which is unlike Taco Bell’s. I tried mincing them finer to make a smoother sauce but it didn’t quite work out. My chopped jalapeños came from a jar and were without seeds and still too spicy for me. Again, I’m a spice wuss. This recipe was very close flavor-wise, just way too hot for me? Anyone have any suggestion or advice to tone down the heat?
You can soak the jalapenos in water for a bit (30 minutes or so) to lose some of the spice. Also blend them in a food processor if you have one & that will eliminate the chunks.
The Mezzetta brand makes a “tamed” version of pickled jalapenos. With these you get the flavor, but not the heat.
I used jarred jalapeños and only used the juice. I think that it have less of a kick then putting actual jalapeños.
I love this recipe but I don’t used jalapeños, I use Frank’s red hot and I don’t put in the garlic and I add sugar to my tastes and I love it. I’m not big into to much spicy stuff so this worked really well. Don’t know if this is a help but just thought I’d let you know
This is the best copycat recipe I have tried! I used smoked paprika instead of normal paprika (has a more smoked baconish flavor) but it was spot on!!! Thank you so much!!!
So happy that you love it Chas! You’re welcome!
Perfect! I have been making this at least every two weeks since I came across this site. I think my husband looks forward to steak nights just so that we can make quesadillas the next day with the leftover steak!
The only thing I would say is that you definitely need to let it sit in the refrigerator overnight. An hour is not enough and it tastes completely different the next day!
OMG I CANNOT WAIT TO TRY THIS!!!! I’ve been wondering what was in that sauce! So good!
Enjoy Jenn! It’s so delicious!
We had this today and the garlic was way over powering. Next time we’ll only do half of what recipe calls for garlic powder.
Awesome sauce! How long do you think this could last in the fridge. I made extra and really dont know. Thanks for the great recipes.
It should last a few days. If you refrigerate it immediately and take out only what you use, I’d say up to 5 days or so.
I tried this sauce last night and it is perfect! It tastes so close to the Taco Bell version. My husband and I ate way too much last night because we couldn’t get enough of that sauce. Yum!!
Tasted great. I made it a second time and substituted the cayenne pepper for Chipotle and used half jalopeno/half habanero. Highly recommend if you want a little more of a kick.
Yum, great substitutions Chris!
This recipe definetly came close! The only thing I would have to say is add some more paprika and cumin, and also add a pinch of onion powder and sugar. If you want it extra spicy I wouldn’t add the jalapeño seeds- almost burned my tongue off on that one, and I love spicy! Fun new sauce to try, especially if you’re like me and can’t get enough of Taco Bell sauces!! Thanks!
The sauce sounds delicious! What recipe did you use for the quesadillas?