Whenever you eat at a Mexican restaurant here in the states you will always have the option of two salsas, salsa roja, and salsa verde. People tend to have a favorite of the two, and for me, the crown is definitely taken by salsa verde. That’s why today I am going to be teaching you to make the classic salsa verde or “green sauce”. If you want to make salsa roja then check out my recipe for it here.
Salsa verde gets its green color from its main ingredient, tomatillos, which are related to tomatoes but have a more distinct almost citrus-like flavor. Now if you’ve never seen a tomatillo before you might be surprised to find that it comes in a husk, which is why it is sometimes referred to as the husk tomato.
When buying tomatillos at the store I like to peel back some of the husks in order to better see the skin of the tomatillo. Trust me there’s nothing worse than getting home and realizing that half of the tomatillos you bought are rotten under those husks.
One last tip I would like to talk about concerns the onion. The portions of my recipe call for a quarter of an onion, and by quarter I literally mean a quarter. Like this.
You will notice that I have left the root of the onion attached to the piece that we are going to char up. This helps to ensure that the onion is easy to deal with while cooking.
Salsa Verde Recipe
Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 30 minutes
Serves: Makes about 2 to 3 cups worth of salsa
Ingredients
¾ LB of tomatillo
¼ of a medium white onion
4 cloves of garlic
3-4 serrano peppers
2 Tbsp of fresh cilantro leaves
1 Teaspoon of salt
Canola oil (optional)
Instructions
- Char the tomatillos, onion, garlic, and peppers: On either a comal or a cast iron skillet char the tomatillos, onion, garlic, and peppers over medium-high heat. You will want to char everything nicely and on all sides. Don’t worry if it looks to burnt, The more charred the ingredients are the better the salsa will taste.
While the onion, peppers, and tomatillos will take 10 to 15 minutes to fully char, the garlic will be done in about 5 minutes. When the garlic is done, take it out, cut off the root, and save for step 2. 
When the peppers and tomatillos are done, I like to put them into a plastic bag, which allows them to steam and cook through a little bit more. 
When the onion is done put it aside along with the bag of peppers and tomatillos to be used in step 3.
- Make a paste out of garlic and salt: Add the cooked garlic and the teaspoon of salt to a food processor, or a blender. Process these two ingredients for about 30 seconds until they make a loose paste.
- Process the remaining ingredients: Add the cooked tomatillos, peppers, onion, and the fresh chopped cilantro to the food processor.
Process everything for a minute or two, but if you like a thicker salsa then process for 30 seconds.
- (Optional) Fry the salsa: This last step is completely optional, but it is one that I truly think helps to take the salsa to the next level. All you have to do is simply add 2 teaspoons of canola oil to a pot, put it over medium-high heat, and add the salsa.
You then want to simply stir the salsa and let it slowly simmer in the pot for about 10 minutes. Once it’s done, put it in a container, or can it and put it in a fridge until its cool.
- Enjoy
Salsa Verde Recipe
Ingredients
- ¾ LB of tomatillo
- ¼ of a medium white onion
- 4 cloves of garlic
- 3-4 serrano peppers
- 2 Tbsp of fresh cilantro leaves
- 1 Teaspoon of salt
- Canola oil optional
Instructions
- Char the tomatillos, onion, garlic, and peppers: On either a comal or a cast iron skillet char the tomatillos, onion, garlic, and peppers over medium-high heat. You will want to char everything nicely and on all sides. Don’t worry if it looks to burnt, The more charred the ingredients are the better the salsa will taste. While the onion, peppers, and tomatillos will take 10 to 15 minutes to fully char, the garlic will be done in about 5 minutes. When the garlic is done, take it out, cut off the root, and save for step 2. When the peppers and tomatillos are done, I like to put them into a plastic bag, which allows them to steam and cook through a little bit more. When the onion is done put it aside along with the bag of peppers and tomatillos to be used in step 3.
- Make a paste out of garlic and salt: Add the cooked garlic and the teaspoon of salt to a food processor, or a blender. Process these two ingredients for about 30 seconds until they make a loose paste.
- Process the remaining ingredients: Add the cooked tomatillos, peppers, onion, and the fresh chopped cilantro to the food processor. Process everything for a minute or two, but if you like a thicker salsa then process for 30 seconds.
- (Optional) Fry the salsa: This last step is completely optional, but it is one that I truly think helps to take the salsa to the next level. All you have to do is simply add 2 teaspoons of canola oil to a pot, put it over medium-high heat, and add the salsa. You then want to simply stir the salsa and let it slowly simmer in the pot for about 10 minutes. Once it’s done, put it in a container, or can it and put it in a fridge until its cool.
Inspiration from other blogs
From Mexican Food Journal
From Cookie And Kate
