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 small 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.
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Tomatillo-Serrano Sauce (Salsa Verde) Step-by-Step
Ingredients
- 4-5 medium-sized tomatillos
- 1 jalapeno pepper (or serrano)
- 1/2 small 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 small 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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Shannon
Delicious! This was so easy to make. We added two whole serrano peppers (without the seeds) based on our liking. Will be making this all the time! Going to use this also for some recipes. Great way to use tomatillos from our garden!
I did add just a splash of lemon juice to brighten it a little.
Thank you!
Patrick
🙂
B Krueger
This recipe was very tasty, very easy, and is going to be used very often! Nice flavor change up for Mexican meals. The directions plus additional information about the main ingredient was very welcome.
Patrick
Thanks B!
Darren
Also, if I add an avocado would it start to turn brown after a day or two? I think I would like it more with avocado 😁 if it does would adding some lime juice stop it like with guacamole? How much should I add if this will work?
Patrick
Hey Darren, you have just described this awesomeness:
Avocado Salsa Verde
It's basically this Salsa Verde recipe but with the addition of a single avocado. It does last for a couple days in the fridge and that is usually enough for me. I never really add lime juice to this recipe but you can certainly add a squeeze if you want. Cheers.
Darren
I got a few tins of tomatillos, so I will make this soon 😁 I hope it will still be good since I could not get them fresh. The tins I got are 340 grams, should there be much left over using this recipe? If yes, will whatever tomatillos I don't use be okay to freeze until I want to make more? Also, would it taste good with some pico de galo in tacos or should I just make one of these salsas?
Patrick
Hey Darren! Yeah it will still be good even if you're using canned tomatillos, try to use 4-5 whole tomatillos for this recipe.
Yeah you could probably freeze the leftover tomatillos but to be honest I never do that so I can't comment on how long they will last. And I've found that freshly made Pico AND salsa is overkill! I tend to go with one or the other but of course the only way to really know is to make both and do some taste testing 🙂
Cheers.
Garry Erisman
How long will this last refrigerated and can it be frozen?
Patrick
It will last a few days in the fridge. I never freeze Salsas as I feel it downgrades their flavor too much. Cheers.
Amelia J
I made this recipe with green tomatoes that hadn't turned red. I also roasted all ingredients except cilantro. Liked the taste without lemon and cumin that listed in other recipes I checked out.
Cheryl
I made the authentic salsa verde today and it is delicious! I doubt I’ll ever buy jarred salsa verde again. I roasted the tomatillos to give them a savory bite, added the onion, a jalapeño, the garlic and cilantro, pulsed the mixture a few times and it was ready to serve.
Patrick
Ahh good news, so glad to hear you are done with jarred salsa 🙂 Cheers.
Honey
This was so delicious. We only had access to tinned tomatillos. We used green birds eye chillies from garden. Followed the recipe. Added a good amount of salt. So good and fresh. Keep thinking of more and more foods/meals this would be good with. My husband says “what you need to do is think if there are any foods it wouldn’t be good with”.
Patrick
🙂
QueenCity
Hello, I just made a batch of Chicken Tinga today, 2 July 2022. I believe someone asked if you could freeze this dish. Chicken Tinga froze beautifully...a trick I use if I am not sure if something freezes well is this: take about 1/2 cup of whatever, put it in a small dish, put this in the freezer, and when frozen, let it thaw and then judge whether this dish can be frozen successfully.
Honey
Thanks for the great tip on freezing trial
Ligia Roemmich
Es the best salsa sea verde oroja las salsas Mexicanas son las mejores no se diga mas .