It’s no secret that we love southwest flavors in my family. This salsa verde recipe is a perfect addition to a variety of our favorite recipes, such as my lettuce-wrapped tacos.
How to Make Roasted Salsa Verde
Salsa verde is a salsa made with tomatillos and various peppers as well as aromatics like garlic and onion and some lime juice for brightness.
Tomatillos look like a green tomato with a papery husk on the outside. They taste quite a bit like a tomato too, but are a little tangier and denser. To use them just pull the papery husk off and give them a quick rinse.
The peppers used in this salsa can be varied to your liking. I like to use a mix of serranos, jalapeños, and poblanos. If you don’t like spicy at all you can replace the serranos and jalapeños for a regular green bell pepper. If you like some fire, leave the membranes and seeds in the peppers after roasting them.
I like to roast the vegetables for my salsa verde because it gives it a great depth of flavor. I usually make salsa verde in the summer so I roast the veggies outside on the grill. It keeps from heating up the house with the oven and gives the salsa a nice smoky flavor.
However, if that’s not an option you care for, you can absolutely just roast them on a pan under the broiler in the oven.
Ways to Use Salsa Verde
Salsa verde is such a versatile condiment. We have no problem using it for all three meals as well as snacks!
It works great as part of a southwest breakfast scramble in the morning. It also works well spooned over huevos rancheros and stirred into chicken tortilla soup.
Salsa of any type is great for topping lunch salads made with greens, leftover grilled chicken, tomatoes, and cheese. The kids like salsa verde as a veggie dipping sauce option.
If you have a bumper crop of tomatillos or find a good deal on them at a farmers market, salsa verde freezes really well too. Maybe this winter I’ll pull some out of my freezer, try a salsa verde chicken soup, and dream of summer!
Roasted Salsa Verde Recipe
Ingredients
- 5 tomatillos
- 1 jalapeño pepper
- 1 serrano pepper
- 1 poblano pepper
- ½ small onion
- 3 cloves garlic
- ¼ cup cilantro
- 1 TBSP lime juice
- ½ tsp salt
Instructions
- Grill the tomatillos and peppers over medium high heat, turning frequently until all the sides are blistered and partly blackened.
- Remove the vegetables from the grill, place them in a large bowl, and cover it with a clean dish towel.
- Put the onion, garlic, cilantro, lime juice, and salt into a food processor and pulse a few times.
- When the grilled vegetables are cool enough to handle, cut the stems off them, cut in half, and either scrape out the seeds and membranes if you want a milder salsa verde or leave them in for a spicy salsa verde.
- Add the tomatillos and peppers to the food processor and process until everything is smooth and evenly chopped.
Notes
- This recipe freezes beautifully.
- Feel free to mix and match different types of peppers to change the spiciness level. Poblanos and bell peppers are pretty mild while serranos and jalapeños are spicier.
Nutrition
Have you ever made salsa verde? What do you use it for?
I make my own salsa verde, but have never added other peppers to the recipe, so this sounds like a good recipe to try out, thanks!
Can this recipe be canned??
I haven’t personally tried…