El Pollo Loco Avocado Salsa (Copycat)

4 Servings
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 0 minutes
Total Time 5 minutes

El Pollo Loco Avocado Salsa is the perfect topping for your favorite takeout chicken, spicy and creamy in just five minutes!

El Pollo Loco Avocado Salsa is the perfect topping for your favorite takeout chicken, spicy and creamy in just five minutes!El Pollo Loco Avocado Salsa is one of the sauces at the all you can grab salsa bar in their restaurant and it is always the one I stand in line for. Aside from feeling like you’re scoring free guacamole it’s creamy, spicy, tastes fresh and is naturally vegan. Sometimes vegans get left out of the creamy salsa/sauces game due to sour cream.

Here’s the best secret part of this recipe too. You know those avocados that aren’t the prettiest? You cut it open and it feels like a whomp whomp situation or slightly brown streaks that you feel like you can’t cut up and serve to your guests? The avocado is still delicious but wouldn’t win an avocado modeling contest? This recipe is PERFECT for that avocado.

People have asked me a ton of times, “How do I make avocado salsa?”

This recipe for El Pollo Loco Avocado salsa couldn’t be easier. You literally wash, cut veggies in half and toss them into the food processor. Cilantro, Avocado and jalapenos are the main flavors in this salsa and since everything is becoming a puree I don’t even bother chopping into smaller pieces.

El Pollo Loco Spicy Avocado Sauce is a super easy topping you can make in five minutes!

You can also choose different levels of spice for the salsa quite easily. We like it mild, so I remove the seeds and most of the veins. This is where most of the spice in a jalapeno comes from.

If you like your salsa spicy, I recommend leaving in the veins. Want it even spicier? Leave in the seeds too. You won’t taste the pieces of the seeds as we’re pureeing everything here anyway.

Want more freshness? I would bump up the cilantro. Want this salsa but hate cilantro? Substitute parsley to keep the freshness.

If you’re reading this post you may be thinking about the chicken too! YES, I posted El Pollo Loco Chicken (Copycat) too! And it is delicious and authentic. Plus I also have the old school bean recipe (the one they removed a few years ago in spite of all of our protests!).

Serve this El Pollo Loco Avocado Salsa with:

Looking for some more copycat sauce recipes?

Tools Used in making of this El Pollo Loco Avocado Salsa:
White Vinegar: I try not to buy the super harsh tasting variety, so I love this one. Make sure you aren’t using a white vinegar that is cleaning strength, it’ll taste awful.
Food Processor: This is the newer version of the one I have used and loved for ten years. It is a workhorse and the new model has similarly awesome reviews…and it is so affordable!

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El Pollo Loco Avocado Salsa (Copycat)

El Pollo Loco Avocado Salsa is the perfect topping for your favorite takeout chicken, spicy and creamy in just five minutes!
Yield 4 Servings
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 0 minutes
Total Time 5 minutes
Course Dip, Salsa
Cuisine Mexican
Author Sabrina Snyder

Ingredients
 

  • 1 avocado , cut into quarters
  • 1 jalapeno , de-stemmed and cut in half
  • 3/4 cup water
  • 1 tablespoon white vinegar
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 cup fresh cilantro
  • 1/4 yellow onion

Instructions

  • Add avocado, jalapeno, water, vinegar, salt, cilantro, and onion to a small food processor.
  • Puree until smooth.

Nutrition

Serving: 2g | Calories: 85kcal | Carbohydrates: 5g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 7g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 442mg | Potassium: 253mg | Fiber: 3g | Vitamin A: 180IU | Vitamin C: 10mg | Calcium: 6mg | Iron: 0.3mg
Keyword: El Pollo Loco Avocado Salsa (Copycat)
El Pollo Loco Avocado Salsa is the perfect topping for your favorite takeout chicken, spicy and creamy in just five minutes!
El Pollo Loco Spicy Avocado Sauce is a super easy topping you can make in five minutes!

About the Author: Sabrina Snyder

Sabrina is a professionally trained Private Chef of over 10 years with ServSafe Manager certification in food safety. She creates all the recipes here on Dinner, then Dessert, fueled in no small part by her love for bacon.

Sabrina Snyder is a professionally trained personal and private chef of over 10 years who is the creator and developer of all the recipes on Dinner, then Dessert.

She is also the author of the cookbook Dinner, then Dessert – Satisfying Meals Using Only 3, 5 or 7 Ingredients, published by Harper Collins.

She started Dinner, then Dessert as a business in her office as a lunch service for her coworkers who admired her lunches before going to culinary school and becoming a full time personal chef and private chef.

As a personal chef Sabrina would cook for families one day a week and cook their entire week of dinners. All grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning was done along with instructions on reheating. As a private chef she cooked for private parties and cooked in family homes in the evenings for families on a nightly basis after working as a personal chef during the day.

Sabrina has been certified as a ServSafe Manager since 2007 and was a longstanding member of the USPCA Personal Chef Association including being on the board of the Washington DC Chapter of Chefs in the US Personal Chef Association when they won Chapter of the year.

As a member of the community of food website creators Sabrina Snyder has spoken at many conferences regarding her experiences as a food writer including the Indulge Food Conference, Everything Food Conference, Haven Food Conference and IACP Annual Food Professionals Conference.

Sabrina lives with her family in sunny California.

Dinner, then Dessert, Inc. owns the copyright on all images and text and does not allow for its original recipes and pictures to be reproduced anywhere other than at this site unless authorization is given. If you enjoyed the recipe and would like to publish it on your own site, please re-write it in your own words, and link back to my site and recipe page. Read my disclosure and copyright policy. This post may contain affiliate links.

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Comments

  1. I made this and while it’s close it’s not exactly spot on, but for how easy it is to make it’s dang close enough so thank you! I did have a question, how long does it usually keep in the fridge? I put it in a mason jar

    1. Glad you enjoyed the salsa. We recommend keeping your salsa no longer than 3 – 5 days in the refrigerator!

  2. Check out Punchfork. You have the same exact picture for avocado salsa. Same recipe too, what ‘s up with that.

  3. This recipe was great! I added a lot of lime juice to give it more brightness and tang, and added some fresh garlic as well and it was awesome.

  4. OMGosh, so good I couldn’t stop eating it, so light & airy, (I used my trusty Magic Bullet). Not sure I’ve even tried El Pollo Loco’s avocado salsa, but found this recipe while searching for ways of using up the left over avocados from last week’s harvest (we have 150 trees).
    Going to make more & have put a batch in the freezer to see if it’ll survive. Wish me luck!!

  5. Fantastic! El Pollo Loco didn’t add the avocado salsa to my order tonight. I searched online and found this. Took no time to make and it’s delicious. I added a little lime juice and more water. Great recipe!

  6. I tried the recipe and this is NOT the same as El pollo loco’s. This salsa was thicker, vinegary, and not spicy as the original. I think It needs some fresh pressed-garlic, more water and less or no vinegar.

    1. Anyone who knows about jalapenos knows that you can get one that is extremely hot and then one that is not hot at all. I find that the ones you buy at the beginning of the season are usually not that hot. However, once the summer gets going, you rarely find one that isn’t very hot. It seems to depend on the time of the year. Serranos are always a good bet if you like it hot and they are probably are a lot more consistent in their heat level. Bill had some great suggestions. You can always add a little water if it is too thick for you. Don’t be afraid to play around with the recipe until you are happy with it! Personally, I intend to add a little fresh garlic when I make it…lol!

  7. Why exactly do you have white vinegar in the recipe? The actual recipe for el Pollo Loco doesn’t have any.
    But what it does have is powdered garlic and powdered soybean oil.

    1. I used what I thought I tasted when breaking down the recipe. If you have the original recipe, I would love it!

  8. I have to say this is our new favorite even my daughter loves it ,even tho its green and she’s 8 when I put it on homemade tacos lol.

  9. I work at El Pollo Loco. Our  avocado salsa actually contains NO avocado. Weird I know, but when people with allergies to avocado ask we have to tell them it’s actually avocado free.

      1. Yes, it is good as a salad dressing, especially on their flour taco salad bowls with chicken and the works. I don’t like sour cream so I always substitute their regular dressing for the avocado salsa instead. I can’t imagine it wouldn’t be good over a number of salads, bean dishes, etc. It’s not just good for tacos and chips but a number of other dishes!

  10. I enjoyed listening to you at the IFBCin Sacramento. I have a sad looking avocado living in my fridge, guess what I am making! 

  11. All these EL Pollo Loco posts are making me SO wish I lived near one… but now I can make their food at home, thanks to you 🙂