This Tomatillo Salsa Verde is the perfect green sauce to serve on your table for a variety of dishes and it’s also perfect to make enchiladas & chilaquiles verdes. A true versatile salsa!
***This post was originally published on Dec 2015. It has been updated to be more helpful.
A fast and easy recipe for Salsa Verde using fresh or canned tomatillos, with onions, garlic, chile peppers, cilantro and some seasoning. It’s cooked on the stovetop in under 15 minutes but it can also be grilled for a smoky flavor. Use this classic Green Salsa on your favorite Mexican dishes or as a dip for tortilla chips.
What does this salsa taste like?
If you’ve never tasted a tomatillo salsa, you’re in for a treat! Since the tomatillos are basically green tomatoes, it has a tangy flavor that’s often compared to unripe tomatoes.
While the taste of tomatillos can vary depending on how they’re prepared, most describe the flavor as being slightly tart and acidic with hints of lemon or lime.
If you love a little tang in your food, then you’ll LOVE this salsa!
Why you’ll love this recipe
Ways to use Salsa Verde
From main dishes to appetizers, salsa verde is a versatile sauce that is easily enjoyed in or on many different dishes. Here are just a few Mexican recipes to enjoy this salsa with:
Ingredients
- The tomatillos – You’ll need about 1 ½ lbs husked, rinsed and quartered. Note: If you can’t find fresh tomatillos, you can use canned tomatillos but you don’t have to cook them. They’re already cooked and can be added when blending the rest of the ingredients.
- A little olive oil to saute the veggies
- Onion – can be white or yellow
- Fresh garlic
- Poblano – most people don’t add this but I love the depth of flavor a poblano pepper adds to this recipe. If you don’t have them available to you, it’s okay. You can skip it.
- Jalapeño pepper or if you like it spicy, use serrano peppers.
- Vegetable or chicken stock – while this is not 100% necessary, it gives the tomatillos lots of flavor!
- Chopped cilantro
- Salt & pepper for seasoning
How to Make Tomatillo Salsa Verde
Tomatillo salsa, one of the greatest taco toppings, is a cinch to make! The tomatillos are stripped of their papery husks, which can get sticky at times. To avoid sticky fingers when you’re peeling & cutting them, just wet your fingers a little bit and that should do the trick to remove the husk.
- Add 1 tablespoon olive oil to a medium saucepan and heat over medium high heat. Once the oil is hot, add the onion, garlic cloves, poblano, and jalapeño and sauté until lightly browned.
- Add the 4 cups of tomatillos and the stock.
3. Cover and simmer until soft. About 10 minutes. Then remove from heat and let it cool slightly.
4. Add the tomatillo mix (without the liquid), cilantro, salt & pepper to a blender or food processor. Blend until there are no big chunks and reaches your desired consistency.
5. That’s it! Now you have a wonderful and aromatic delicious Salsa Verde!
This is a great salsa verde recipe. It has a simple and authentic flavor. It will be a big hit in your home!
Roasting method in broil (The quick way)
- Arrange the tomatillos (cut side down), peppers, garlic and onion on a baking sheet in a single layer lined with foil.
- Move an oven rack to the highest position and turn on your broiler. If you have the option, set the broiler to high.
- Broil the tomatillos until the skins are blistered and blackened. Rotate the pan a few times for even roasting. This should take about 5-10 minutes.
- Cool down the veggies a little bit before blending.
- Add the roasted veggies, cilantro, salt & pepper to a blender or food processor. Blend until there are no big chunks and reaches your desired consistency.
How to Store
The first step once you’ve made your salsa is to cool it down. Do not place a hot salsa in the fridge or freezer.
- Fridge – Store in the refrigerator for no more than a day before reheating it – and then only reheat it once.
- Freezer – Freeze in an airtight, freezer-safe storage container or freezer bags for up to 3 months.
- To Thaw – Let thaw overnight in the refrigerator before using.
FAQ
You can freeze salsa verde in jars making sure to leave enough headroom in the jar to account for expansion as the salsa freezes. You can also freeze it in ziplock bags.
Tomatillo Salsa Verde is not spicy due to the mild flavor of the jalapeño & poblano peppers. If you would like to make it spicy, you can add a serrano pepper or two!
Salsa verde will last about 7 to 9 days stored in an airtight container in refrigerator.
MORE EASY…
Mexican Salsas To Try:
Try any of my delicious salsas…. Always authentic, easy & delicious!
I hope you like this recipe! Share it, or leave a rating and comment below. For questions that need an answer right away, please contact me and I’ll get back to you asap. Gracias!!!! xx, Ana
Print Recipe:
Easy Tomatillo Salsa Verde
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- ½ cup onion roughly chopped
- 3 garlic cloves peeled and roughly chopped
- 1 poblano chile roughly chopped
- 1 jalapeño (add serrano peppers for a spicy version) chopped
- 4 cups tomatillos (about 1 ½ lbs) husk removed, rinsed and quartered
- 1 ½ cups vegetable or chicken stock
- ½ cup chopped cilantro
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- ¾ tsp fresh ground pepper
Instructions
- Add 1 tablespoon olive oil to a medium saucepan and heat over medium high heat. Add the ½ cup onion, 3 garlic cloves, poblano, and jalapeño and sauté until lightly browned.
- Add the tomatillos and the stock.
- Cover and simmer until soft. About 10 minutes. Then remove from heat and let it cool slightly.
- Add the tomatillo mix (without the liquid), cilantro, salt & pepper to a blender or food processor. Blend until there are no big chunks and reaches your desired consistency.
Muy Delish Notes:
- Fridge – Store in the refrigerator for no more than a day before reheating it – and then only reheat it once.
- Freezer – Freeze in an airtight, freezer-safe storage container or freezer bags for up to 3 months.
- To Thaw – Let thaw overnight in the refrigerator before using.
Add Your Own Private Notes
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Nutrition
The nutritional information and US conversions are calculated automatically. I cannot guarantee the accuracy of this data. If this is important to you, please verify with your favourite nutrition calculator and/or unit conversion tool.
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I have made this once using the broth method. I plan to use the roasting method next time. I have one question – do you blend the roasted veggies with their blacken skin or do you remove the blacken parts before going in the food processor?
Thanks – Diane
Best salsa ever! Simple, quick, and so delicious! Thanks for the recipe!
This is a lovely recipe that I will be trying over the weekend. I have to source the tomatillas. Thank you so much.
I can never decide if I like regular salsa or salsa verde better! Your recipe looks incredible and is so easy to make. I can’t wait to try it.
So tangy, fresh and delicious. It really elevated my dips and chips evening!
I ate so much of this when I was in Mexico, but I have never tried making it myself. This looks pretty simple, so I am going to give it a go.
So do you use chicken stock or vegetable? Under recipe instruction #2 you said chicken but on the ingredients you mention vegetable.
You can use either. I rarely have vegetable stock on hand but always I have chicken broth so that’s what I’ve used and it tastes great!
Me encanta ESTA salsa!!! Gracias Ana!!
This is an Amazing sauce recipe, Thank you so much for sharing it Ana!
You are a true inspiration!
XOXO
Awe thank you Brenda!!! Your comment made my day! XO, Ana
Such a delicious salsa!
Thank you so much for the feedback Esteban! I love this salsa verde too.
Truly delicious! Thanks for sharing!
Thank you Monica! I appreciate you stopping by!
I’m going to be facing a glut of tomatillos from the garden… any gut feeling of what this sauce would be like afterward, if I froze it in batches? It’s a half-cooked sauce, half fresh sauce, which is why I’m going, hmmmm….
Hi Randal, Thanks for sending me the email with your question! Did you get my reply?
Beautiful photos!! This looks amazing! I had actually been thinking of trying to recreate a restaurant dish that uses a tomatillo sauce, this looks like a great version to try!
That’s perfect Annie! I’m making chilaquiles today with it 🙂 Thanks so much and I hope you have a great week!
Love tomatillos! I just started using them more recently and can’t get enough!
And congrats on BlogHer! Way to got girl! XOXO
Hi Rebecca!! I need to find different ways to incorporate tomatillos. I love them too!! Thanks for your congrats! Much appreciated!
Hi Ana! Congratulations on getting excepted to BlogHer network. Your photos are AMAZING and your delicious recipes are on my to-do-list. You are actually what inspired me to get my butt in gear and apply as well. (Fingers crossed!). I am part of foodbloggerpro and saw one of your posts on Media Nexus. They also contacted me but I haven’t responded yet. Are you using them as well? Thanks again for the inspiration and I look forward to following your wonderful work. Cheers from Italy! Cindy
Oops! I meant to say “accepted” 🙂
Thanks so much Cindy! I appreciate you stopping by and your nice comment. Your blog is fantastic and I do hope you get accepted! Nexus has been great!! So easy to work with I definitely give them a thumbs up. Good luck with blogher!!
Fantastic, I will definitely try out Nexus. Thanks for your kind comment about my blog and well wishes for blogher! Tonight we are having a bbq and I am going to make salmon tacos with your Pineapple Salsa (with unfortunately a few adaptations since cilantro is practically impossible to find her in Italy 🙁 ) Do you have a recipe for homemade corn tortillas? I did a search on your blog but didn’t see one.My Italian friends are going to love your salsa. Thanks again, Ana! Cheers!
Hi Cindy! Sorry for the late reply…I’m sure you already made the corn tortillas! 🙁 I normally just do the “masa” and water but I’m not sure how it’s sold in Italy? I will try to get you a good recipe for next time you need to try them. It’s a great idea to have on the blog! Thanks! I hope the tacos came out great! Too bad on the cilantro… it’s easy to grow like Parsley and Basil so perhaps you could grow some? I can’t live without it!
I hope you have a great week! xoxo
No worries! I couldn’t find masa so I ended up making some really yummy kamut tortillas and cooked them on the BBQ. Your salsa was delicious and was a big hit with my Italian friends. Great idea about growing cilantro!! I will look for seeds today. Have a great week! Cheers!