Chipotle Steak (Copycat) (2024)

FAQs

What cut of steak does Chipotle use? ›

Instead of using a particular cut for its steak as it does with its carne asada, Chipotle sources its steak from many different cuts of beef. These include the inside round, the outside round, the bottom and top rounds, and the eye of round, as well as sirloin, sirloin top, ball tip, and knuckle.

Then we marinate it overnight in our smoky, spicy chipotle pepper adobo, and finish it on the grill (for steak) or add aromatic spices like oregano, cloves, and bay leaf, braise it slowly at a low temperature until it's mouthwateringly tender, then shred it by hand (for Barbacoa).

How is chipotle steak so tender? Chipotle tenderizes their steak by cooking it sous vide. The steak is vacuum-sealed in a bag and cooked in a water bath at a consistent temperature to lock in moisture. Then it's marinated overnight.

Chipotle has earned “A” grades in each of the three years the study has been conducted. “We began serving meat from animals raised without antibiotics in 1999 and continue to be a leader in this area today,” said Steve Ells , founder, chairman and CEO at Chipotle.

Our namesake ingredient, the chipotle chili pepper is a dried and smoked jalapeño produced using the age-old craft of smoking them over pecan wood for several days. These intensely smoky, spicy peppers are the foundation for much of the food we serve - from our chicken, steak, and Barbacoa to our beans and vinaigrette.

Rice bran oil is our primary cooking oil at Chipotle. Its high smoke point - the temperature at which the oil starts, well, smoking - makes it suitable for high-temperature cooking like grilling, while its mild taste makes it versatile.

This tender steak is hand-seasoned with our signature blend of spices, finished with fresh lime juice and cilantro, hand-sliced before serving, and grilled fresh every day in small batches. Our steak has high standards—in how it's raised, prepared, and served.

The steak gets its flavor from a combination of chipotle chili, black pepper, cumin, garlic, and oregano, which form an adobo sauce, a self-identified former Chipotle employee revealed on a Reddit thread.

Chipotle opts for skirt steak for its carne asada, a pretty traditional choice. "Carne asada" directly translates to "grilled meat" in Spanish.

Does Chipotle sous vide their steak? ›

We use the sous vide process at the commissary level for our steak so that we can prevent raw beef from ever entering our restaurants.

Now you can buy Chipotle ingredients directly from the chain's suppliers.

What cheese does Chipotle use? In most of their dishes, Chipotle Mexican Grill uses a shredded blend of two kinds of cheese: White cheddar cheese and Monterey Jack cheese.

Chipotle sauce is made from chipotles in adobo, spices, cilantro, lime juice, sour cream, and mayonnaise. All of these ingredients are blended together for a smooth, smoky, slightly spicy sauce your family will love!

The burrito chain began sourcing grass-fed beef from Australia in recent months to supplement the beef it purchases in the United States. Ells said the cattle are raised on pastures or range lands by ranchers whose practices align with Chipotle's standards for humane animal farming.

In Central and South America, we call pretty much any barbecued or grilled meat asado (or carne asada). The BEST cuts for the Mexican version of the dish we all know and love are either skirt steak or flank steak. Personally, I prefer skirt steak (pictured).

Any round cut of beef, including the kind Chipotle uses, is very lean and also tends to be tougher, which definitely plays a role in making the carne asada more appealing in comparison to the steak.

In contrast, Chipotle's standard steak mainly uses round, a leaner and more economical cut, but it also includes portions of skirt and sirloin. Due to the use of some tougher meat pieces in this blend, the steak is then gently prepared using the sous vide cooking technique over low heat.