The perfect spice for your favorite dishes
Everyone should know at least 2-3 salsa recipes that they can whip up in 10minutes or less! It’s a great way to elevate any dish, and also gives dishes that extra bit of oompfh! That’s why Salsa Verde is a must for me!
Salsa Verde is a Mexican Green Salsa that’s extremely easy to make. You customize it a few ways. However, the key ingredients are tomatillos, serrano peppers, onions, garlic, and cilantro. These 5 ingredients come together to create a symphony of magic. Once you see how easy it is to make, you’ll be wondering why you haven’t been making fresh this whole time!
Tomatillos are tart in flavor and they give the salsa verde a truly unique flavor. Unlike regular tomatoes, which are tart when harvested early, tomatillos are known for their tang. You can play with the flavor profile of Salsa Verde by either boiling the tomatillos, roasting, or even sauteing them. I personally like the charred, yet slightly smokey flavor so I opted to boil mine.
Broiling the tomatillos to make a Roasted Tomatillo Salsa is pretty straight forward. However, you want to keep a few things in mind. Here are a few tips:
Tip 1: Remove the husks from the tomatillos and rinse them. You’ll notice that the husky leave behind a sticky residue and you want to make sure to remove that
Tip 2: Keep the skin on the garlic while broiling them. This will help sweeten the garlic, but also protect them from burning completely. No worries… a little char is a good thing!
Tip 3: Cut the onions into large chunks so that they char and get sweet in the oven. If you cut them to small before boiling, you risk the onions just burning and not releasing their naturally sweet flavor when cooked thoroughly
Tip 4: Feel free to use jalapeno peppers if serrano peppers are too spicy for you. You can also remove the seeds since this is where most of the spice lives
Tip 5: Make sure to coat all of the ingredients in olive oil (or any oil of your choice) before broiling. This will give you an even charring on all of your ingredients
The great thing about making this Roasted Tomatillo Salsa is that you can broil the ingredients as much or as little as you want. As mentioned earlier, I live for that deep roasted flavor so I roast my veggies for about 5-7 minutes. I also make sure to rotate the veggies, and I even take a few out so that they don’t burn.
When roasting the tomatillos, you’ll notice that the skin will begin to pop and juices will ooze from the tomatoes. That’s a good thing! All of that is flavor that’s changing and building. You’ll eventually blend it all together to get the delicious sauce that you want!
Speaking of blending, you can blend to the Salsa Verde as much or as little as you like. You can blend it until it has a smooth consistency, or you can leave it a little on the chunkier side. I personally like to use my Ninja Blender that also comes with a variety of attachments like a smoothie blender, regular blender, and food processor. To make this Salsa Verde, I use the regular blender.
When blending the Salsa Verde, I let my Ninja Blender go for about 30 secs to a minute. It’s honestly all I need to get the consistency that I like. Now if you’d like a runnier consistency, feel free to add water. I would not recommend using the smoothie attachment as I’ve done when making my Peruvian Green Salsa. When making the Peruvian Green Salsa, I like it extra smooth. For the Salsa Verde, it’s a thinner sauce that really lends itself to being a mix of smooth and chunky.
All in all, making Salsa Verde is extremely simple and quick. It’s a recipe that you can master immediately. You can enjoy with your favorite meals like Tacos, Pollo Al Horno, Rice & Beans, and much more!
If you’d like to learn how to make Salsa Verde – Roasted Tomatillo Salsa, visit my YouTube Channel – Chef Zee Cooks.
Ingredients
- 5-6 Fresh Tomatillos
- 3 Garlic Cloves
- 2 Serrano Peppers or 1 Jalapeno Pepper
- ½ White Onion
- ⅓ Cup Fresh Cilantro
- 1 ½ - 2 tbsp Kosher Salt
- Olive Oil
Instructions
- Set your oven to broil and let it preheat for a few minutes
- Remove the husks from tomatillos and rinse under warm water to remove sticky residue. Pat tomatillos dry
- In a sheet pan, add tomatillos, onion, garlic (with skin still on), and serrano or jalapeno peppers. Drizzle with olive oil and place in the oven to broil
- Broil for about 10 minutes. After the first 5 minutes, check on veggies and rotate so that each of the veggies roasts evenly. If garlic begins to burn, remove and set to the side. The more roasted the tomatillos and peppers are, the deeper the flavor
- After veggies have finished broiling, remove from the oven and set aside. Carefully remove the skins from the garlic. Add all of the roasted ingredients (tomatillos, garlic, onion, serrano peppers) into the blender along with fresh cilantro. Add *1 tbsp of kosher and blend. Blend until the sauce has a semi chunky consistency. If you’d like a smoother consistency, blend for longer. If you prefer the sauce to be thinner, feel free to add water. Lastly, adjust the salt as you like. If 1 tbsp seems like too much, start with less and add more as you wish. Remember-- it’s always easier to add than it is to take away!