Salsa Taquera
Oh, Summer, the many things that it brings to our lives: fresh vegetables and fruits, trips to the pool or beach, and vacation time for some. It’s the time of the year when many will use their barbecue grills almost every weekend if possible. For these days when you’re grilling your meat or chicken, warm up some tortillas alongside the meat to enjoy your grilling feast by making some tacos, and top it off with one of the most famous salsas in Central Mexico, one that’s sought after in many “Taquerias” for those who like to have a good, spicy, tasteful salsa. A good taco has to have a really good salsa to go along.
This salsa traditionally has Chiles de Arbol, tomatoes, garlic, salt and water, but some cooks like to add tomatillos (the medium size tomatoes with a husk), like I do in this recipe. This is a very spicy salsa, but you can adjust the spiciness to fit your own taste by reducing the amount of Arbol peppers. This salsa goes well with “Tacos al Pastor”, too. Most Taquerias in Mexico City that sell Tacos al Pastor offer this salsa to top your tacos with. Some people know this salsa as Salsa de Chile de Arbol and others as Salsa Taquera.
How to make Salsa Taquera
Directions:
- Heat a skillet or heavy griddle
and arrange the tomatoes, onion, tomatillos, and garlic to roast on the skillet. (Please check the ingredients list below)
and arrange the tomatoes, onion, tomatillos, and garlic to roast on the skillet. (Please check the ingredients list below)
- Roast the ingredients. The garlic cooks in a few minutes. The roasting process will take about 8 minutes.
- When your tomatoes and onion look softened, it’s time to remove them and set aside or place in your blender or food processor along with the garlic. Now add the Arbol peppers to the hot griddle and slightly roast them.
- Once all the ingredients, tomatoes, tomatillos, garlic, onion and arbol peppers are in the blender, process them until you have a fine texture.
Season with salt and serve in a bowl.
Enjoy!
Taquería Style Salsa Recipe
This salsa taquera traditionally has Chiles de Arbol, tomatoes, garlic, salt, and water, but some cooks like to add tomatillos like I do in this recipe. This is a very spicy salsa, but you can adjust the spiciness to fit your own taste by reducing the amount of Arbol peppers.
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Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 20 minutes
Servings: 16 servings
Calories: 7kcal
Ingredients
- 1 Large sized tomato
- 4 medium sized tomatillos or 6 small ones *
- 2 garlic cloves unpeeled
- 1/3 of a medium white onion **
- 15 Dry Arbol Peppers ***
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Heat a skillet or heavy griddle over medium heat, once it’s hot. Arrange the tomatoes, onion, tomatillos and garlic to roast on the skillet.
- Roast the ingredients until they start showing some blistering and look slightly softened, turning them to make sure they roast evenly. The garlic cooks in a few minutes and you will need to remove it, peel the skin, and set aside. The roasting process will take about 8 minutes. If your tomatoes don’t look to softened, wrap them in aluminum foil for about 10 minutes, this will help them to finish cooking.
- When your tomatoes and onion look softened, it’s time to remove them and set aside or place in your blender or food processor along with the garlic. Now add the Arbol peppers to the hot griddle and slightly roast them, this will be a very fast step since the peppers skins burn easily, which gives them an unpleasant bitter taste, so be sure to turn them and roast the peppers without burning them.
- Once all the ingredients, tomatoes, tomatillos, garlic, onion and arbol peppers are in the blender, process them until you have a fine texture. If your salsa is too thick add a little water. Season with salt and serve in a bowl.
Notes
The method of cooking the ingredients can be either roasted, boiled or fried. All of these ways of cooking gives great results and different flavors to the salsa. I personally like this salsa when the ingredients are roasted. You can also roast them in your oven.
• The amount varies depending on the size of the tomatillos you buy.
• If you want your salsa in a dark red color use more tomatoes than tomatillos
• The onion is optional
• Arbol peppers are spicier than other dry peppers. If you prefer less heat in your salsa remove some of the peppers.
Tried this recipe?Mention @Mexicoinmykitchen or tag #Mexicoinmykitchen!
Nutrition
Serving: 2Tbsp | Calories: 7kcal | Carbohydrates: 1g | Sodium: 1mg | Potassium: 53mg | Vitamin A: 4% | Vitamin C: 3% | Calcium: 0.1% | Iron: 0.6%
Buen Provecho
Mely,
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Mely,
Como estas? I have been thinking to make salsa rojo now that I am back in England.I need some cheering up miss mi MaMa's cooking.
Besos
Hola Dora,
Long time not see! Glad to hear from your. I hope you have a nice time back home.
Saludos guapa!
Mely
This looks like a perfect salsa. Tacos al Pastor are my absolute favorite!
Hello Karen,
Tacos al pastor are my favorite.
Saludos!
Mely
Mely con esta salsa ya se me antojaron los tacos al pastor! No vas a creer que nunca he hecho salsa con chiles de árbol y la tuya la tengo que probar.
Besos
En serio nunca has hecho salsa con chile de arbol? Sera que a mi me gustan las salsas picosas.
Saludos!
Thanks for the recipe it looks so good, and I excited to try it.
Hello Lyndsey,
Thanks fro stopping by.
Happy cooking!
Hi Mely. Long time no see and good to see you. Oh boy that salsa looks out of this world.I have a lot of chili de arbol that I dried from last year and for sure there will be a good sauce made this weekend when we grill. Thanks and as always, good to see you. Take care.
Hello Gloria,
Nice to hear form you too. Hope you try the recipe, it is great for grilled meats.
Mely
Hi my name is yvette and last night was my first time visiting your site and i already could tell you that i love it! I like how you explain step by step and show picture of what your preparing ,thank you for your site and i will definitely will keep logging in, and and will cook your recipes
Hello Yvette84,
I hope you enjoy the recipe and if you have a questions, you can always email me.
Mely
Mely, que bueno verte escribiendo de nuevo, te he extrañado. Que rica se ve esta salsita y como mencionaste los tacos pues ya me antojaste. Tendré que planear un viaje a TJ sólo para comer tacos- al pastor, porsupuesto!
Saludos y que estés bien.
Gracias, Prieta.
Cuando vayas a TJ, te comes unos a mi salud!
besos,
Mely
That is yummy and fiery salsa, Mely, Welcome back. I miss reading your blog,.
Hello Swathi,
I wonder if you like foods as spicy as this salsa.
I miss you too.
Mely
Hola Mely
Esta salsa sabe riquísima!!!! Gracias por mostrar la ricura de comida que tenemos en México!
Un beso desde Monterrey!
Un beso amiga,
Un saludo a la tierra regia!
Hola Mely
Esta salsa sabe riquísima!!!! Gracias por mostrar la ricura de comida que tenemos en México!
Un beso desde Monterrey!
Ya tengo mis plantitas de tomates verdes en el balcón, necesito un mes mas para poder cosechar y luego…
Debe ser deliciosa, como todo lo que haces.
Un abrazo querida Mely
Tlaz
Hola Flavio,
Espero tengas una gran cosecha de tomates.
Un abrazo amigo,
Mely
Me encanta esta receta Mely!
I love this salsa. I have been looking for this exact mix. Our local taco truck serves it and the owner told me how to make it but I missed one step in writing it down. Thank you for this recipe.
I don't have any Arbol chiles, but I do have guajillio peppers. Would that be ok to substitute?
Hello Kristi,
You can use Guajillo, but the salsa will be very mild rather than spicy. Still good to add flavor to tacos.
Made this, but instead of adding water I added hibiscus tea. I steeped about 4-5 hibiscus flowers in hot water, and to get a nice thin consistency for my salsa, I added the hibiscus water. The color changes to a darker red, and that sweet / tart flavor of the hibiscus really brings the salsa alive.
Should I peel the skin off the roasted veggies before I blend them how do I get that fire roasted taste and look? Love this site
Hello Anonymous,
Leave the skin on, that way you will have the roasted flavor.
Should I rehydrate the chilis? I see differing opinions on this, and am curious as to what your thoughts are on this.
Thank!
Hello Rae,
Most of the large dried peppers are usually rehydrated after roasted, but smaller peppers like piquin and arbol peppers are just roasted, cooked and then processed in a blender or mortar.
Hello Mely!
Is there a particular kind of tomato I should use? Also, I know you mentioned that if i use more tomatoes than tomatillos it makes it a darker red… I am looking to make a really smokey and spicy salsa roja for carne asada tacos. would you recommend using 1 tomato and 6 tomatillos as suggested or more tomatoes and less tomatillos?
Looking forward to exploring your site more! My husband's family is from Mexico and I am working on developing my cooking skills for traditional Mexican dishes! Thanks for your help!
Hello Lindsey,
To make it really spicy hot, use about 15-20 Arbol peppers, 1 large beefsteak tomato or 2 roma tomatoes, 2 tomatillos (3 in case they are small). That way you will have a deep red salsa. But you can always use only tomatoes. The type of tomatoes I use depends of what it is available on the market. Year around I prefer the roma tomatoes and the big beefsteak type during the summer months when they are really flavorful and juice.
Sorry for the late reply, I didn't see this question before.
Anything you can add to make it more on the spicy side?
Hello Joe,
Add more peppers! 😉
Add a roasted Serrano pepper.
Hola ????
Se pueden utilizar los tomatillos enlatados? Aquí en Inglaterra los tomatillos frescos no se encuentran.
Gracias
Ramón
Hola Rameon and Amanda,
Si puedes usarlos de lata.
Happy Cooking!
Hola Mely, soy nueva en tu blog he de decir que ya estoy enganchada. Me encanta la comida Mejicana pero no creerias lo dificil que es encontrar los ingrendientes en España, al menos en lo referente a los chiles porque aqui la comida picante no gusta tanto. Pienso probar esta receta esta misma noche, aunque tendre que usar cayena ????. Un saludo y felicidades por el blog.
Do u use the dried seeds too? Or just the pepper part?
Hello,
That will depend of every cook some add the seeds others don't. I use the seeds too.
Is cilantro allowed?
Hello Nicodemo,
Of course if you are eating the whole salsa the same day, it will look kind of sad the next day.
I’m trying to duplicate the salsa that our local Mexican restaraunt serves on request. I usually ask for the “hot stuff” and they know what I want. I asked what they call it in Spanish and they said Salsa Picosa. I made this recipe using the roasted method and it’s close. Now I wanna try the boiled method. Can u give that recipe. Do u boil all the ingredients? I’m using dry arbol peppers, do I boil them too? THANKS
Hello Chris,
Yes, you boil all the ingredients, including the peppers. “Salsa Picosa”, means hot salsa. So, any salsa that is really hot, could be called “Salsa Picosa”.
Absolutely amazing, tastes just like the California taco trucks Chile!
Bravo!!!! Yummmmmmmm! absolutely delish!
Awesome, I made it and I put like 20 Arbor Peppers 🌶 to make it red it was good spicy. I put it on my fish tacos 🌮 and it it was delicious.
Hello Janet,
Great to know you love spicy food. 20 peppers is a hot sauce! Provecho!
Thanks for the recipe. I plan to make it tomorrow for taco day 🙂
Hello Griselda,
Enjoy!
I could only find ground arbol chili in my grocery stores, do you know the measurement to use? Thank you!!
Hello Melissa,
About 1 tablespoon.
Just delicious! Mil gracias!
LOVE the pictures! I’ve tried to make Salsa Roja many times before and have failed miserably. I’m going to attempt to make your salsa tonight. Wish me luck.
This recipe is perfect. It is just like the best taco stand salsas that I know and love. The only tiny change I made was adding a touch of lime juice because I wanted a little more tanginess. Thank you sooooo much for this recipe!!!!!
Hello Tyler,
Thank you for your kind comment and for sharing your addition of lime. I’m sure some people will like that too.
This recipe looks good except I think the author
left out a step.
Dried chili’s have to be soaked. I toasted mine
then covered them with boiling water and
allowed them to soak until they were soft, then
puréed with the rest of ingredients.
Hello Liz,
Some recipe using dried peppers call for cooking-boiling, roasting or soaking the peppers. With this salsa recipe, and other salsa recipes using chiles de átbol, you do not need to soak. Here the soaking method does not apply. Try the recipe the way it indicates in the instructions and let me know what do you think. We make this salsa just like that!