Salsa Verde

By Julia Moskin

Updated Nov. 1, 2023

Salsa Verde
Christopher Testani for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Simon Andrews.
Total Time
10 minutes
Rating
4(409)
Comments
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Danny Mena, the Mexico City native who is a chef at Hecho en Dumbo, described a good salsa as being “poignant” with heat when he spoke with Julia Moskin in 2010. This recipe for his salsa verde employs a good number of chiles — anywhere between eight and 12 — alongside a couple of pounds of tangy tomatillos. Ms. Moskin described it as “a rounded, tomatillo-based trickle of concentrated flavor with Serrano chiles.” This cooked sauce is ready quickly, and just as good as a table sauce as it is in a larger main, like chilaquiles.

Featured in: Rediscovering Salsa, the Soul of Mexico in a Bowl

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Ingredients

Yield:About 2 cups
  • 3tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 2pounds tomatillos, papery husks removed, cut in half
  • 8 to 12Serrano chilies (depending on heat tolerance)
  • ½onion, peeled
  • 1garlic clove
  • 6whole sprigs cilantro, stems included
  • Lime juice
  • Salt
Ingredient Substitution Guide

Preparation

  1. Step 1

    In a wide skillet, heat oil until shimmering but not smoking. Add tomatillos, chilies, onion (cut-side down) and garlic. Cook over medium-high heat, turning often, until vegetables are browned, turning to black, and seared on all sides.

  2. Step 2

    Add cilantro and purée with blender until smooth and creamy, adding a little water if needed to loosen. Season to taste with salt and lime juice. The sauce should be tart and spicy but rounded in flavor.

Tip
  • This salsa is good on fish and particularly good with tongue.

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Ratings

4 out of 5
409 user ratings
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Comments

diana

i recommend roasting all ingredients in the oven, covered in olive oil and salt, until everything has some brown roasted colour, and then blend. unbelievably good!

Angela

I am sure it works great. But, I recommend doing this dry roasting on the skillet, or 'comal' as called in Mexico. This is a technique in itself, and it develops a particular quality to flavours, and bestows the Mexican personality to the dish.

DarlaD

cooking the tomatillos releases all their flavor and softens them into an unctuous deliciousness....I don't recall anyone in mexico using them raw. They are often boiled to softness and then used.

Delores Borealis

Excellent salsa! I’ve been making 1/2 batches of this regularly and it’s incredible. I make a few slight modifications: I leave out the serranos (fructose malabsorption — same reason I can’t eat red salsas) but add heat back in by finisheing a batch with a tablespoon of habanero

Laurie S.

The first time I made this I didn't worry about the brown / blacking, and I watched it carefully. The salsa came out green. This time I let it cook until there was char on the pan and the salsa came out brown. Same flavor, different color. At no point did the vegetables themselves blacken, and both times the tomatillos liquefied, which made it impossible to get anything to brown. The instructions need clarifying. It's part of a black bean soup base so the color doesn't matter, but still.

Laurie S.

I made mine with jalapenos because I'm a tenderfoot when it come to spices. The tomatillos cooked down completely with little charring, the onions took the edge browning better, so I kept going. I added the jalapenos a little late but it worked out. It's good! I'll use it for a base in black bean soup, and if my friends want it hotter, there's always a pinch of cayenne powder to add.

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