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 Mexican (distant) relative of a tomato, the naturally tart tomatillo (pronounced “toe-mah-TEE-yo”), which looks like a little green tomato covered with a husk.
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
PrintTo 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.
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Links:
Botanical information on the tomatillo, from Purdue University
Salsa Verde Chicken Bake here on Simply Recipes
Grilled Tomatillo and Corn Salsa
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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
Love making Tomatillo Salsa! However, my salsa always turns into a jelly substance when it cools down. Anyone else runs into this problem? I always boil my tomatillos for about 20-25 minutes.
It’s the pectin from the garlic and tomatillos, cut then in half and roast no boil, wait until later in the blend to add lime juice ,the acid and heat protects the pectin from getting destroyed by Pectic enzyme, also known as pectinase. Your method is what I had to learn to make thick canned tomato sauce. I was not using enough heat early on and my sause was watery . But you want that so cut the fruit and let the enzymes do there job be for it gets too hot.
Don’t forget to make sure the base to the blender is on tight….
What I salvaged off the counter was great.
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This turned out great! Roasted the tomatillos with garlic and added the jalapeños to the pan as suggested by another commentor.
Question: I’ve got more than I know what to do with…anyone tried freezing this salsa after it’s prepared??
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Hi, Elle! So glad you like the salsa! And yes, this freezes very well for at least 3 months. Enjoy!
You can make Chilaquiles. Look up the recipe. It’s a great mexican breakfast dish! This is the sauce.
We have a great recipe for chilaquiles here, one using this sauce: https://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/chilaquiles/
Just finished making this Salsa Verde. I roasted the garlic, jalapenos and tomatillo together under the broiler. We like heat so I went with 2 jalapenos seeded and 2 with seeds. I haven’t even chilled it yet and it’s already great.
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I didn’t have any limes, so I substituted with lemon juice. It was good. Looking forward to trying it with lime. Thanks!
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