Nothing will transform your kitchen more than having go-to recipes for the two pillars of Mexican cuisine: red sauce and green sauce.
Today it’s the Green Sauce on center stage. Otherwise known as Tomatillo-Serrano sauce, or Salsa Verde, or Mexico’s #2 salsa.
A homemade green sauce can transform eggs, slow cooker carnitas, and enchiladas into something otherworldly– so getting good at whipping up this beauty opens up loads of instant possibilities.
Salsa Verde Recipe
Most supermarkets these days have a basket of tomatillos tucked away in the produce section.
If you’re new to tomatillos, pull open the husk at the grocery store and buy the ones that are taut and greenish on the inside. If they are pale or mushy they are past their prime. (What is a Tomatillo?)
Note: If you’re in an area where fresh tomatillos are hard to come by, you can always use canned tomatillos. Yes, it’ll be a slight step down in quality, but the results are still far superior than using storebought salsa. And don’t worry about roasting tomatillos out of the can, it doesn’t have the same effect as roasting fresh tomatillos.
OK, got 4 tomatillos handy? Pull the husks off, give them a good rinse, and cut out the stems.
And now we’ll add:
1 serrano pepper, de-stemmed and cut in half
½ white onion (yellow is OK)
1 clove garlic, peeled
10 sprigs cilantro
Roasting the tomatillos will lower the acidity and concentrate the flavors, so we’ll put them in the oven at 400F. (Out latest post shows other roasting methods you can use to make this Salsa.)
In about 10-15 minutes they’ll start to turn army green, that means they’re done:
Into the blender they go along with ½ onion, garlic, cilantro (using the stems in Mexico is the norm), and only 1/2 of the serrano pepper. You could also use a molcajete to make the salsa.
Why only half of the serrano? Because only you know your preferred heat level. So I always recommend adding heat incrementally the first few times you make this sauce. (How hot are serrano peppers?)
Pulse blend and taste for heat level. Not enough? Keep adding serrano until it tastes right to you.
(Note: if you are sensitive to spicy foods then you can start by adding 1/4 of the serrano and taste-testing.)
And that’s it! You just made the second most popular sauce in the history of Mexican cooking in less than 20 minutes.
Having this sauce on standby in your kitchen is a gamechanger.
Sure, it does well next to a bowl of chips. But it really shines when used generously in breakfast burritos, or gooped on top of burritos, or smothering pork carnitas.
One last note: you’ll typically find serranos next to jalapenos in the produce section, but if your local markets don’t carry them you can substitute jalapenos for the serranos and you’ll get a similar result.
Buen Provecho.
Tomatillo-Serrano Sauce (Salsa Verde) Step-by-Step
Ingredients
- 4-5 medium-sized tomatillos
- 1 serrano pepper
- 1/2 white onion (yellow is OK)
- 1 garlic clove
- 10-12 sprigs cilantro
- salt to taste
Instructions
- Pull the husks off the tomatillos and give them a good rinse. Cut the stems out of the tomatillos.
- Roast the tomatillos in a 400F oven for 10-20 minutes or until they start to turn army green in color.
- Add the tomatillos to a blender along with 1/2 onion, 1 peeled garlic clove, 10-12 sprigs cilantro (using the upper stems is fine), and 1/4 of the serrano pepper. (Be sure to give the cilantro and serrano a good rinse.)
- Pulse blend and taste for heat level. If you want more spice add another quarter of serrano. Keep adding serrano until it tastes "right" to you.
- Salt to taste (I typically do not add much salt).
- Serve immediately and store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge.
Notes
Add an avocado to this recipe and you’ve got a delicious Avocado Salsa Verde.
You can also use a chipotle in adobo to get a delicious Tomatillo Chipotle Salsa.
And here is a link to making a molcajete version of this awesome green salsa.
Still hungry?!
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Michelle
It’s delicious. My hands however are still on fire. When I make it again I’ll definitely wear rubber gloves.
Patrick
Thanks Michelle, I’ll make a note of this in the recipe box. Cheers.
Charles Michael Waddington
Howdy! I want to adapt this recipe to use hatch green chiles! I was wondering if you recommended ratio of tomatillo to hatch chilies?
Thank you for your help!
Cheers Chaz
Patrick
Hey Chaz! I tried that and was quite disappointed with it so I went back and checked my notes to see what I experimented with…
First I tried the normal Salsa Verde recipe but with 3 roasted Hatch chiles in place of the jalapeno/serrano. I couldn’t taste the Hatch chiles so I doubled them and tried a batch with six Hatch chiles but still no Hatch yumminess! I was also experimenting with Hatch Enchilada Sauce at the same time and ran into the same thing — the tomatillos seemed to mask the awesome flavor of the Hatch chiles.
Was never sure if it was the acidity of the tomatillos or the mildness of the Hatch chiles, but either way I ended up abandoning that combo and used tomatoes in the Hatch Salsa and just stock in the Hatch Enchiladas. Cheers 🙂
Charles Waddington
Thank you for your help! Cheers Chaz
Gean
I made this in about 25 minutes! Plus cooling time. Super easy, I subbed jalapeño instead of Serrano. Added a tablespoon of fresh lime juice as this is what I prefer
I hope my family enjoys as much as I do.
Patrick
Thanks Gean!
Jennifer
I LOVE this recipe!!!
How long can you store it in the fridge & can you freeze it?
Patrick
Thanks Jennifer! It’ll keep in the fridge for a few days but it will lose some of its zip as each day passes. It will always taste best right out of the blender so I tend to make it in small batches and don’t really do any freezing with it. By the way….if it’s been in the fridge for a couple days you can always throw it in a blender with half a jalapeno (or serrano) and some fresh cilantro to wake it up. Cheers.
Teri Thomas
I used what I had: A roasted poblano was my heat. I’m having difficulty getting the sticky protective coating off my tomatillos. A VERY thorough rinse and rubbing them inder water still leaves them tacky to touch. Any suggestions?
Patrick
Hey Teri! Yeah they can sometimes still be a little tacky even after a good rinse so I usually don’t sweat that too much. Sometimes it’s also leftover residue on your fingers that makes them feel sticky. Cheers.
Teri
This is SOoooGood! I’ve made it again.
Patrick
🙂
sandy reyes
Can I can this in water bathe?
Patrick
Hi Sandy! Sorry I can’t give a better answer on this one but I’ve never done any long term preserving with this recipe. Cheers.
Gael Sammartino
This recipe is the bomb! Easy-Peary, and so, so good. It’s become my default for pot luck parties. Definitely right about being cautious with how much pepper you want to add, though.
Patrick
Thanks Gael, so glad this one was a hit for you! Cheers.
Lara
Thanks so much for this great recipe. After his first bite, my husband requested that next time I make a gallon of it! It was THAT good!! And I loved that it was easy to make.
Patrick
Thanks Lara!
Gael Sammartino
Easy-peasy, and exactly what you’d hope it would be. Definitely will be making this again.
Patrick
Heh, easy peasy sums it up quite well 🙂