Save It
Saved
Growing up we always had a choice of two kinds of salsa—a red tomato salsa which we made from scratch, and a salsa verde, or green salsa, which we got from a bottle (Victoria brand).
As a kid I always thought that green salsa was made from green tomatoes, but actually it is made with a distant relative of the tomato from Mexico, the naturally tart tomatillo (pronounced “toe-mah-TEE-yo”). A tomatillo looks like a little green tomato covered with a husk. It’s not in the same genus as tomatoes, though both are in the nightshade family (along with eggplants and peppers).
Salsa verde is really easy to make from scratch, all you need are tomatillos, onion, jalapeño, lime, and cilantro.
To make the salsa verde, you will need to cook the tomatillos, which you can do by either boiling them, broiling them in the oven, or pan roasting them. All three approaches are quick and easy, though with broiling or pan roasting, you get added flavor from the searing of the tomatillos.
Then it’s a quick spin in the blender with the other ingredients, easy!
Tomatillo Salsa Verde Recipe
To cook the tomatillos, you can either roast them in the oven, brown them on the stovetop, or boil them. Roasting in the oven or browning on the stovetop will deliver more flavor. Each way works, though boiling is a more common way to cook the tomatillos.
Garlic is optional. You can either cook a few cloves with the tomatillos in any of these steps, or add one or two raw garlic cloves when you go to blend the salsa.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 lb tomatillos
- 1/2 cup chopped white onion
- 2 cloves (or more) garlic (optional)
- 1/2 cup cilantro leaves
- 1 Tbsp fresh lime juice
- 2 Jalapeño peppers OR 2 serrano peppers, stemmed, seeded and chopped (you can use whole for more heat if you want)
- Salt to taste
Method
1 Remove papery husks from tomatillos and rinse well.
2a Oven Roasting Method Cut the tomatillos in half and place cut side down on a foil-lined baking sheet. Add a few garlic cloves in their skin (if using) Place under a broiler for about 5-7 minutes to lightly blacken the skins of the tomatillos.
2b Pan Roasting Method Coat the bottom of a skillet with a little vegetable oil. Heat on high heat. Place the tomatillos in the pan and sear on one side, then flip over and brown on the other side. Remove from heat.
2c Boiling Method Place tomatillos in a saucepan, cover with water. Bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove tomatillos with a slotted spoon.
3 Pulse in blender: Place the cooked tomatillos, lime juice, onions, garlic (if using), cilantro, chili peppers in a blender or food processor and pulse until all ingredients are finely chopped and mixed.
4 Season to taste with salt. Cool in refrigerator.
Serve with chips or as a salsa accompaniment to Mexican dishes.
Hello! All photos and content are copyright protected. Please do not use our photos without prior written permission. Thank you!
Products We Love
This post may contain links to Amazon or other partners; your purchases via these links can benefit Simply Recipes. Read more about our affiliate linking policy.
Links:
Botanical information on the tomatillo, from Purdue University
Salsa Verde Chicken Bake here on Simply Recipes
Grilled Tomatillo and Corn Salsa
Elise Bauer is the founder of Simply Recipes. Elise launched Simply Recipes in 2003 as a way to keep track of her family's recipes, and along the way grew it into one of the most popular cooking websites in the world. Elise is dedicated to helping home cooks be successful in the kitchen. Elise is a graduate of Stanford University, and lives in Sacramento, California.
Tomatillo Salsa Verde
Can you can this? Hot water bath or pressure cooker?
Hi Palma, this recipe was not developed for water bath canning. Here’s what Elise has said about pressure canning it: “I don’t think you need to add any acid to this salsa in order to pressure can it, given that pressure canning is what one does with low acid vegetables and meat. But since I do not do pressure canning (at least not yet) I don’t have directions to give you for that. I’m sure if you look online though, you should be able to find some.” Hope that helps!
Perfect recipe. I roasted in the oven. Delicious verde.
xxxxxyyyyy
Elise I made the salsa today . Only thing I changed was I roasted the white onion , jalepeno pepper Serrano pepper on the gas stove , rest I broiled in the oven with tomatillos garlic . After cooling everything down I blended it in blender it had smoky flavor .turned out great . Thank you kindly for the recipe .
xxxxxyyyyy
Great, Anita! There are so many ways to make this salsa, and they’re all good. I’ve been grilling my tomatillos for my most recent batches. Charring, whether in the oven, on the stovetop, or on the grill really brings out more flavor!
How do you recommend freezing this??? I made 6 x the recipe.
xxxxxyyyyy
Hi Sue, I haven’t tried freezing this tomatillo salsa yet, but you should be able to freeze it just fine. Put it into mason jars – 1/2 pint or pint sized, and make sure to leave at least 1 inch of head space in the jars so that the mixture will have room to expand as it freezes.
Easy,,fresh is best!
How long can you freeze it without it loosing flavor?
Hi Pat, good question! I haven’t tried freezing this salsa verde yet, but typically foods like this will freeze well for several months, and maybe up to a year.