As a popular Mexican grill restaurant, Qdoba is known for its diverse menu filled with burritos, tacos, quesadillas, and more. One of their most popular side items is their guacamole, which is made fresh in-house every day. With its creamy texture and bright, refreshing flavor, Qdoba’s guacamole is a customer favorite. But does it contain spicy jalapeño peppers? Let’s take a closer look at Qdoba’s guacamole ingredients to find out.
Qdoba Guacamole Ingredients
According to the Qdoba website, their guacamole contains the following main ingredients:
- Avocados
- Onions
- Cilantro
- Jalapeños
- Lime juice
- Salt
So right there in the ingredients list, we can see that yes, Qdoba’s guacamole does contain jalapeños. The spicy peppers are blended up along with the creamy avocados, tangy lime juice, and other seasonings to give their guacamole its signature flavor and kick.
Why Use Jalapeños in Guacamole?
Adding jalapeños to guacamole provides some heat and spice that perfectly complements the rich, cooling avocados. The flavors balance each other out. Here’s why the peppers are an important component:
- They give the guacamole a fiery kick that makes your tastebuds tingle.
- They provide a contrasting texture – soft and spicy.
- They bring out the creamy, luxurious mouthfeel of the avocados even more.
- They give each bite some added complexity and dimension.
The jalapeños deliver just the right amount of heat to keep things interesting. While the guacamole isn’t overly spicy for most people, the jalapeños do give it a noticeable punch.
Spiciness Level
While Qdoba’s guacamole certainly contains jalapeños for added spice, it is not an extremely hot or fiery guacamole. The pepper’s spice level is relatively mild. Qdoba likely uses a careful balance of avocados, jalapeños, and other ingredients to create a guac that is spicy enough to be exciting but not hot enough to overwhelm.
The exact scoville rating (which measures a pepper’s pungency) can vary greatly between individual jalapeños based on cultivar, climate where grown, ripeness when picked, and other factors. But most jalapeños range between 2,500 – 10,000 scoville units, with 5,000 being average.
For comparison, habanero peppers can be 100,000-350,000 scoville units. So jalapeños are milder. When blended up in guacamole, their spice becomes even milder.
Most customers find Qdoba’s guac to offer a nice bit of heat while still being cool and creamy enough to pile onto your burrito or chips without overpowering other flavors. The jalapeño spice level is noticeable but not extreme.
Preparation Methods
To control the spiciness, Qdoba likely uses less jalapeño than they do avocado. The creaminess dulls the heat. They probably also remove the jalapeño seeds and membranes during preparation. That’s where most of the pepper’s heat-generating capsaicin compounds are concentrated.
Leaving the membranes and seeds intact results in a much spicier pepper. Removing them allows Qdoba to finely dice the jalapeño flesh for flavor without excessive heat.
Blending the ingredients together into a smooth puree also helps distribute the jalapeño’s spice evenly throughout while breaking down some of the heat compounds.
So in summary, Qdoba’s prep methods of seeding, de-membraning, finely dicing, and pureeing the jalapeños with creamy avocados allow them to strike the right balance of noticeable kick without going overboard.
Does the Spiciness Vary?
While Qdoba aims for a relatively consistent jalapeño spiciness in their guac, there may be certain batches that come out slightly hotter or milder. Some factors that can influence this:
- Jalapeño variety – Some cultivars are naturally hotter.
- Growing conditions – More heat and sun can increase jalapeño scoville level.
- Ripeness when picked – Fully ripe jalapeños tend to be hottest.
- Inconsistent dicing – More seeds or membranes may get included.
- Ratio of jalapeños to avocados – Varies batch to batch.
There are a lot of variables that go into each batch of guacamole, so there may occasionally be some noticeable differences in spiciness. However, Qdoba likely tastes and adjusts seasoning as needed to try to minimize major variation between batches.
Guacamole Spice Customization
If you find Qdoba’s standard guacamole to be too spicy or not spicy enough, you can customize it:
- Less spicy – Order it without jalapeños.
- Spicier – Ask for extra jalapeños on the side to stir in.
Since the guacamole is made fresh in-house, your local Qdoba should be able accommodate requests for altered spice levels. So don’t be shy about asking for it prepared according to your tastes.
Other Questions
Here are some other common questions around Qdoba’s guacamole and jalapeños:
Does the guacamole taste like jalapeños?
You can detect the jalapeño flavor, but it does not overwhelm. The avocado still is the star.
Are the jalapeños pickled?
No, Qdoba uses fresh, raw jalapeños in their guacamole. Not pickled ones.
Can you substitute poblano peppers?
Qdoba only uses jalapeños in their guac according to their ingredients list. But you could try requesting poblanos instead if you prefer a milder pepper flavor.
Why not use habaneros for more spice?
Habaneros would make the guacamole too spicy for most people. Jalapeños hit the right balance of noticeable kick while still being crowd-pleasing.
The Verdict
So in conclusion, yes Qdoba’s guacamole does contain spicy jalapeño peppers. They blend the diced jalapeños into their fresh, homemade guacamole recipe. The jalapeños provide a nice mild heat and flavor that complements the creamy avocados well. While the spice level can vary slightly between batches, it is designed to be noticeable but not overwhelming. Overall, Qdoba hits the sweet spot of limey, green jalapeño undertones backed by smooth, lush avocados.