This homemade version of the La Victoria Orange Sauce is a perfect salsa for tacos or tortilla chips. It’s spicy, smokey and so addictive!
This recipe is adapted from the Tacolicious cookbook which adapted the recipe from the La Victoria Taqueria World Famous Orange Sauce. If you’ve never tried it, I highly recommend you taking a trip to the South Bay to get a taste of the original.
I want to note that this sauce is very spicy! The more seeds you keep the spicer this will be.
KEY INGREDIENTS + VARIATIONS
Chiles de árbol: This spicy sauce gets it heat from dried Chiles de árbol. I get mine at Chavez Supermarket in the Peninsula but most Bay Area Mexican grocery stores carry them. The original recipe only calls for Chiles de árbol but I also add a guajillo because I love the fruity flavor they add. You can also order guajillo and árbol chiles on Amazon. The more seeds you keep the spicer this will be.
Apple cider vinegar (ACV): ACV is used soften and rehydrate the chilies and add some acidity to this sauce. I recommend only using ACV in this recipe as ACV is less acidic than white vinegar and has a better flavor for cooking.
WHAT TO EAT WITH ORANGE SAUCE
Tacos: My favorite way to eat orange sauce is to drizzle it on tacos.
Tortilla chips: If you like spice, this sauce is delicious as a dip for salty tortilla chips.
Marinade: Orange sauce also makes a great marinade for chicken. Simply add chicken thighs to a zip lock bag or container with 1 tablespoon of sauce per thigh. Let marinade in the fridge for 2-8 hours before grilling.
TRY THESE!
Looking for other delicious recipes like this? Try these:
Equipment
Storage
Serve immediately or store in the fridge in a jar or squeeze bottle for about 2 weeks.
Skip below the recipe card for a variation on my version.
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Legendary orange sauce
Description
This homemade version of the La Victoria Orange Sauce is perfect for tacos or tortilla chips. It’s spicy, smokey and so addictive!
Ingredients
- 4 roma tomatoes, halved lengthwise
- 1 yellow onion, sliced into thick rounds
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 4 large cloves of garlic
- ½ cup packed, dried árbol chiles, stemmed and seeded
- 2 guajilo chiles, stemmed and seeded
- ¼ cup apple cider vinegar
- ½ cup hot water (not boiling)
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
Instructions
- Position a wire rack on the top level of the oven, about 6 inches from the broiler. Preheat broiler on high.
- On a cookie sheet, place onion slices and tomatoes cut side down. Roast until a bit charred on the edges, about 10 minutes.
- Over medium heat, sauté garlic in 1 tablespoon of vegetable, turning several times with tongs, about 1 minute. Add chiles to garlic, sauté for 1-2 minutes, flipping occasionally until they just start to toast. Take care not to burn.
- Transfer chiles and garlic to a high-speed blender. Pour in the water and vinegar, and let stand for 5 minutes to soften.
- Purée on high, 10 to 20 seconds. Turn to low speed and slowly add remaining vegetable oil in a slow and steady stream so the oil mixture will emulsify, creating desired creamy consistency.
- Add the tomatoes, onion and salt. Purée on high, until smooth.
- Serve now or store in the fridge in a jar or squeeze bottle for about 2 weeks. Enjoy!
Notes
- Updating as I have received some comments that the apple cider vinegar flavor is too strong a few people. Personally I love this flavor, but if you you can definitely reduce the apple cider vinegar and add more water to to thin it out.
I’ve made this recipe half a dozen times now and each time I tweak it slightly. The version above is my current favorite adaption, but I’ve also listed the original ratios below. It’s of course delicious served on tacos, but I even eat it throughout the week on salad or as a chicken marinade.
Here are the ratios for the original Tacolicious recipe. Feel free to start with this if you want to try the real deal!
- 2 roma tomatoes
- ½ yellow onion
- ½ cup dried árbol chiles, stemmed
- 3 garlic coves (peeled)
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- ⅓ cup apple cider vinegar
- ½ cup water
- 1 tablespoon kosher
If you try this recipe I would love to see how you use it! Tag #cocoaandsalt on Instagram and follow me @cocoaandsalt.
The special ingredients in this yummy orange salsa are Chiles de árbol and apple cider vinegar!
Our favorites are tacos, chips, and even as a marinade!
Yes! And we would say that ours is even a little bit better! Just kidding. You can never beat the original!
I wish I could drink this sauce, but it’s sooo spicy!
Hi, I recently made this recipe and it came out absolutely delicious! Though it was not as creamy as the original sauce (this may be due to my blender), the flavors come very very close. This recipe yielded much more sauce than I expected and so I portion out some to freeze. Thank you so much for posting this recipe!
So glad you liked it! We can never have too much in our house 🙂
I use Mayo instead of the veggie oil, makes it nice and creamy. Have even used vegan mayo for it.
Yumm, that sounds so good, I’m going to try adding mayo in place of oil! Thanks for sharing.
This recipe is very close to the original. We make it every week!
So glad you like it! We also make it every week 🙂
Thanks for posting. This is my favorite sauce for chips and tacos. Is there any way I can buy this in a store? I live in San Francisco with many Mexican restaurants, but they only give you a little bit to go with your chips. Any thoughts?
I’m not sure about any SF restaurants that have it, but you can buy bottles of it at La Victoria in San Jose! You could just ask the restaurant if they would sell you more!
Delicious…but holy smokes this stuff brings some heat!
Yielded over half a blender full so I’m set for a while.
I like it on the hot side! So yummy!
My boyfriend loves this sauce!
It’s like I died and went to Taco heaven! This stuff brings the heat but is so good!
I just made it for the block party and we ran out!
If you are using dried chilies, do you need to sauté? Also, if your trying to make a more milder sauce, how many would you put in?
Hello, sorry for the delay, missed this notification! You do sauté them but just to toast them, but they get softened in step 4 when you pour in the hot water and vinegar, then let stand to soften. Hope this helps!
First, thank you so very much for sharing this recipe. I’m forever “tweaking” recipes and found This alternate version that is working miracles for me;
I boil the Chile’s (both types) just until tender than scrape just the inside goodness, discarding the outer bitter skin makes for an even MORE flavorful sauce. This along with adding just a bit of instant mashed potatoes and of course minimizing the ACV to less than half works for the tribe at my house! My version has lessened those 350 mile trips we used to take to La Victoria. Again, thank you so very much for your ingenuity! It’s appreciated!
Wow that sounds like a great version! I’m definitely going to try boiling!
Just flip flop the measurements of guajillo and Arbol if you want a more mild sauce 😊
Thanks for the tip! 😁
I made this sauce the other day, and I’ve actually never had this in the flesh at south bay. Is it supposed to have an Apple Cider Vinegar after taste?
Hello! It shouldn’t have a strong cider vinegar taste but you’ll definitely taste a bit. Maybe you could try reducing a bit or maybe white vinegar if you like that taste. Hope this helps!
How long will this keep? I want to make it a few days before our planned meal.
Thanks for stopping by! Store it in the fridge and it lasts up to two weeks so making it a few days ahead is no problem!
Made this today was really good, but it was so spicy!! I’m not sure if I had hotter peppers or what.
Arbol peppers are very hot. Just flip flop the measurements on the chillies for a much more mild sauce 😊
This is a great recipe for some hot sauce. If its too spicy cut down on the chile portion. Also, to provide a creamier taste as well as soften the spiciness, I added Mexican Crema -Table Cream(Not Sour cream).
Gonna be great for Super Bowl Sunday!
Thanks for trying it out! I love the tip to cool it down with some crema!!
I loved it .. I poured it over some sautéed chicken, OMG, so good.. The heat spice is low for me, so I’ll had more peppers to make it more spicy. Thank you
Glad you liked it! 🙂
I can’t get enough of this! It’s so spicy but I love it!
Glad you liked it! 🙂
This is the best spicy sauce recipe. I make a batch to put on everything and it lasts about a week..
Glad I’m not the only one 🤣
Cool. This recipe is very close to the actual recipe. The actual recipe though in addition to what you just posted is they use saltines or potato flakes(instant mashed potato flakes) and mayo with it. To adjust consistency and color/flavor. You go ahead and figure that bit out though.
Add some crackers or dehydrated mashed potato flakes and some mayo to match the color and consistency and you’re done.
I know the people who work there.
Don’t stop going there though because they are nice people and deserved your patronizing of their business. They earned it.
Very cool tip! I’ll have to try! And agree everyone should go eat there! So good!!
Are you saying add the potato flakes and mayo to the recipe posted here or replace some ingredient(s) with the potato flakes and mayo?
This was the MAGIC trick for me. I only did the potato flakes though, about 1oz of them to 1 cup hot water. I added this on day 2 after the original recipe had overnight to sit. It brought the heat down just enough for me to make it basically drinkable, which, let’s be honest, is the reason we’re all here on this recipe lol. (It does make it no longer vegan though, as the flakes I used have milk in them).
This has been a multi-year recipe chasing for me, SO glad for this!!!
Good tips! Glad you like the sauce!
The recipe is a little heavy on the vinegar. I was able to fix it by adding mayo and some chile powder to bring the spice back up. But would advise no more than 1/4 cup ACV
I wish I read ALL the comments before I made it. It definitely did have too strong of a vinegar taste for me. I will definitely try it again with less vinegar and adding saltines! Thanks for the recipe! I’ve been dreaming about this sauce for years and never thought to make it myself haha
Absolutely love this sauce! It’s so spicy so I only use a bit at a time and one batch lasts a while.
This is the crème de la crème of taco sauces! Since I got my instant pot I’ve been making street style chicken tacos on the regular. I’ve experimented with a couple other sauce recipes but this one is the best. I brought it to a carne asada party and had to give away 2 out of the 3 bottles because it was so popular! My only tweak is cutting the vinegar in half as I found the apple cider flavor to be too much.
I agree it really is the crème de la crème! I also need to bring extras for parties because people always want some to go! And the recipe! 🙂
This is insanity spicy in the best way. I can’t stop eating it on everything!
Living overseas last 7 years and was lucky to find this recipe. Can’t believe how perfectly creamy and delicious it turned out! Only variation was Step 6 I pureed on high for a good 5 minutes, watching closely as the árbol and guajilo chiles turned into tiny pepper dots in this beautifully orange-colored sauce. Last minute I added 3 full tbsp mayonnaise to tone down the heat a bit. Thank you for posting this recipe, it’s almost like I’m back home at La Vic!
Wow so happy to hear that! Glad you liked it!
My family loved this recipe. When we lived in the bay area, we would go to Iguanas about once a month just because of their orange sauce. I missed it a lot.
My suggestion to other readers – wait a day before eating this. I did not like the smell, nor the strong test of apple cider vinegar when it was fresh. I thought I wasted the batch. I added some Japanese mayo (that’s all I had at home) to try to cover up the sour taste. Did not help much. I kept the sauce anyway. When I tried it again the next day, oh my goodness, it is so delicious and spicy. It’s still missing a little of the smoky flavor but very close to the real thing. We love it.
Thank you so much for this recipe.
So glad you liked it! And I think it tastes better the next day also! I’ve also updated the notes with the apple cider vinegar feedback. Thank you for trying this!
I just made a big batch for Superbowl. I agree with other comments it’s very spicy but I’ll put a warning 😜
Waaay too much ACV. Spice level was good but the vinegar taste overwhelmed everything.
Has anybody tried to replace the vegetable oil with olive oil?
I have not. Olive oil tends to have more flavor so would probably change the overall taste, not necessarily a bad thing. I would be interested to know how it turns out if you try!
Hi Ben, I only make this with good olive oil…it’s the most amazing…it does hide the apple cider vinegar a lil, so make sure to use what she suggests in the recipe…it’s 100% perfect
Hello, I’m actually a chef and, Girl…I’m in love with this. I see others post about the ACV being too strong, in actuality the vinegar is more prevalent right at 1st but does down substantially after sitting overnight. I can’t keep this stuff around. Try dipping homemade fried cheese sticks in it or grilled cheese. I put it by the tablespoons in my soup. The only tweak I made was extra garlic cloves and I did not seed my chili’s…the only real tweak this needs is to double the batch!!! Thank you so much for changing my life 🤣🤣
Thank you for the wonderful review! Umm trying on a grilled cheese stat!
Seriously the best sauce! Hot though!
This sauce is awesome! It’s a close enough substitute to the real thing. Thanks for recipe!
Karl
We tried the original recipe today (minus apple cider vinegar because we didn’t have any) and it was AMAZING! Would totally recommend this if you like spicy!
Epic sauce!
This is seriously the most bomb recipe on the internet! SO spicy!
Almost everyone loves this recipe when I make it. It is very spicy though so not everyone can handle it. Can you make a less spicy version? Thanks!
Whoaaa spicy! Love this sauce!
Has anyone ever tried this with different peppers?
One dude on here said the heat spice was not enough for him. WTF! It’s spicy but I love it. I eat it on eggs, sandwiches, chicken, whatever.
I had this sauce on vacation in California. I’m so glad I found this recipe so I can make it at home!
so spicy but so addicting! thank you for the recipe!
It’s the best recipe on the internet. I wish I could try the original sauce one days.
My brother made this first for a family party. Everyone loved it, but we are a spicy family. I got the recipe from him so I could also make it.
I make a big batch of this every few weeks and eat it on everything. Some people who try can’t handle the spice, but I don’t think it’s that bad.
I think this is better than the original. There is a more nuanced flavor that I can’t pinpoint but I love it.
I used to buy this sauce all the time, but I moved out of San Jose and can’t get it near me. This is a close enough replacement and now that I’m used to it I think it’s better. I think the La Vic version has something that no one on here seems to have figured out. Maybe more garlic?
This is my absolute favorite recipe on the internet! Spicy girl!
This recipe and your mint salsa are my favorite recipes ever. I make a big batch of the orange sauce every month to put on everything.
I’ve been making this recipe for years and its absolutely legendary! Friends and family request I make it whenever we get together.
5 stars is not enough!
I think the recipe is good as is with the spice level, but I might try adding crema when I serve at parties to cool it down.
Like others here have said, this recipe is the the best!
I’ve tried this recipe many times and it’s good but not close to the orange sauce. They don’t use vinegar. I find myself lowering the amount I’ve used since the taste is a turn off for me
We moved out of the area last year and like others have said, this is a close enough replacement for the original. Thank you!
this is the best recipe on the internet for a reason!
This sauce packs from serious kick but I can’t get enough of it!
Excellent sauce!
I’ve never tried a sauce like this before so I don’t know what others taste like, but this sauce is so good! As others have said it’s really really really spicy, but you can tame that down if needed. It’s also better after it rests for a day in the fridge.
The most excellent recipe on the internet! This sh-t is spicy but I love it!
I read the grilled cheese comment and now I can’t eat grilled cheese without this sauce on it. Excellent!
5+++ stars for this. not really like the sauce in san jose,but kind of better.
This is my most used recipe site on the internet and I love this spicy sauce.
This makes a huge jar and lasts a while. So glad I found this.
Crazy good sauce! So spicy and I think it tastes better than la vic.
I’m so glad I found this recipe. It’s spicy but everyone loves it.
I live in the UK now and can’t get this kind of sauce here so I tried making it. I will say it’s very very spicy, but really tasty.
Thanks for this recipe. It’s good!
I’ve tried a few of these orange sauce recipes and this is seriously the best one. Don’t waste your time and money with the others. The strong vinegar taste at first cools off after it sits in the fridge for a night.
5 stars!
Whoaaa this sauce is spicy! I buy the peppers off Amazon. I wonder if they are all so spicy?
Awesome recipe. Like others say its spicy, but you can tame it down.