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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PrintProducts We Love
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.
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Simple and authentic recipe.
This salsa is EXCELLENT! I’ve made it 4 times this month since tomatillos are in abundance on our ranch. The last batch I made (double batch), I added half an avocado-so good! Thank you for sharing!
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Loved that there were three options on how to cook the tomatillos. I didn’t have much time to make this so opted to use the quick boil method except for three or four tomatillos which I roasted on the gas range (like peppers) with char and finished up in the microwave for 2 minutes. It gave some of that char flavor!
I didn’t have jalapeno and can’t use onion because of FODMAP dietary issues so used 1/2 tsp. dried red chili pepper, one green onion w/ the whites and 2 cloves of garlic. THIS was sooo good; it made our taco meal shine. Plus, it makes enough for eggs tomorrow!
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Easy delicious recipe. I only added a bit of jalapeño but still came out great.
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We had an overbundance of tomatillos in our garden this year, and someone told me about this recipe. I made it and took it to a neighborhood party and everyone said it was the best salsa verde they had ever tasted! They all asked for the recipe.
I used the broil method, because I quadrupled the recipe and that was the easiest.
Thank you for sharing!
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