People Are Arguing Over a Very Controversial Chipotle Menu Feature

You may be getting old...or Chipotle could be tweaking its recipe.

If you've dined at Chipotle CMG recently and noticed the food seems a lot spicier, you're not alone.

That's according to many strangers and friends on the internet, who've begun claiming their dishes pack a much bigger punch than they used to.

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The dish -- or side -- in question is Chipotle's Tomatillo-Red Chili Salsa, otherwise known as the "red salsa." It's got a cult following; it's thinner than Chipotle's other salsas and is highly spreadable and dip-able (read: it fits nicely into a burrito without causing extra bulkiness). But lately, it's got a catch: it's just too spicy.

"Habanero is no problem for me. Jalapeño is no problem,” customer Derek Osborne told the Wall Street Journal. “But this was pretty unpleasant. It takes over. You can’t taste anything else."

"I thought maybe it was just in my head and it was always that spicy and maybe I was just being a wimp, I guess. I was like, maybe I can’t handle hot salsa anymore,” fellow customer Jordan Strickland added. "I think they should go back to the way it was,” she says. “It was spicy enough.”

"The red salsa at chipotle gets spicier every year," one Twitter user remarked.

Is Chipotle Spicier?

Chipotle hasn't said whether it's purposefully made its salsa spicier in recent months, but it did start "picking up chatter" about the stuff in late 2022 online. So it sent its VP of culinary and menu development, Nevielle Panthaky, on the case. 

"Chipotle sources the chiles used in its four salsas from Mexico, India and other parts of Asia. The company boosted its number and regions of chile producers during the pandemic as supply chains frayed, helping ensure product but making the mix more complex, according to Mr. Panthaky. Bad weather and storms increasingly also affect where the company is sourcing its chiles," WSJ reports.

The fast casual chain found that some chiles from India may have been causing the increased spiciness. 

"We were like, look it definitely seems to be a little bit on the spicier side," Panthaky said, adding, "When you have this small nuanced change, you’re like wait a minute, it is hitting me very differently."

“It’s a double-edge nuance of these peppers,” Panthaky continued. “When you get spice up front, your bowl can be overpowered by that spice versus a milder, slower gradual spice from a different region and time of year."

In an effort to alert its customers to the elevated spice levels, Chipotle says it's started labelling its ingredients on a "mild," "medium," and "hot," scale more explicitly, especially in the app. It'll also keep a close eye on its pepper supply chain.

Not everyone is happy with a potential move to less-spicy, however.

"Chipotle should respond by making their salsa spicier, don't negotiate with terrorists," one Twitter user said sarcastically.