This recipe for salsa verde is my version of an authentic Mexican salsa recipe! The main ingredients for a salsa verde are tomatillos and serrano peppers. But, there are many variations and techniques to make a salsa verde. Here's how to make it!
When it comes to salsa verde Mexicana (or Mexican green sauce), there are several types of salsas and different recipes depending on where you are from and family adaptations.
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This Mexican green sauce is ideal for tacos, but it has many uses like for making enchiladas verdes, chicken chilaquiles verdes, pork in salsa verde, and chicken tamales in green sauce, just to mention a few.
Different Types of Salsa Verde
Types of salsas with tomatillos are:
- Roasted salsa verde - where all or some of the ingredients are roasted.
- Raw green salsa - everything goes fresh into the blender or molcajete.
- Fried tomatillo salsa - all the ingredients are fry or first, you boil the tomatillos with the peppers and then fry.
- Boiled salsa verde - the most popular ways to serve this table salsa.
I almost forgot the mention the creamy green sauce, the one made with avocado!
Fun fact: Salsa verde is also known as tomatillo salsa outside of Mexico. So you might hear it both ways!
Tips On How To Make The Best Mexican Green Salsa
When it comes down to making this homemade salsa, there are a few things you can do to make sure you make the best tasting batch every single time:
- Just remember to buy the freshest produce to make your meals. Old tomatillos will render a bitter taste and really just ruin your salsa.
- Choose the tomatillos that have loose husks. This helps remove the husks easier and lets you know they are ready to be used.
- Make it as spicy as you like. Depending on how you like your salsa, whether it's mild or spicy, you can reduce or increase the number of serrano peppers to your liking.
Homemade Salsa Verde Recipe
Here is the list of ingredients you will need...
- Green tomatillos (you can also use these canned tomatillos if you are not able to find them.)
- Chopped onion
- Garlic clove
- Serranos peppers (or jalapeno peppers)
- Salt
- Water
- Chopped cilantro (optional)
Please note: For exact measurements of the ingredients listed above, scroll down to the recipe card located at the bottom of this post!
How To Make Salsa Verde Mexicana: Step By Step Tutorial
To make things easier for you, I am going to breakdown the directions to this recipe into sections.
Prep The Tomatillos
- Before you start cooking the tomatillos, make sure to remove the husk all around the tomatillos and wash them thoroughly. Also, take this time to wash the serrano peppers as well.
Cook The Tomatillos And Peppers
- In a big enough saucepan, bring the water to a boil.
- Add the serrano peppers and tomatillos to the boiling water.
- Simmer uncovered for 12-15 minutes.
Make The Green Sauce
- After the tomatillos and peppers have finished boiling, drain all the water from the saucepan, reserving ¼ cup water of the liquid for later.
- In a blender, add the peppers, tomatillos, garlic, and chopped onion (add the cilantro as well if you are using).
- Puree everything together.
- Add the reserved liquid if needed to get a saucier texture. But, you don't want it to be too thin.
- Transfer the salsa verde to a bowl and add salt to taste.
How To Store Salsa Verde Sauce
This green salsa should be stored in an airtight container to really maintain its freshness. It can also be refrigerated for up to 3 days and can also be stored in the freezer to eat at a later date.
What To Serve With Mexican Green Salsa
There are a few different ways to use and serve this salsa verde.
When I have company over, I love to make a batch of this green salsa with some of my fresh salsa roja and serve it alongside some fresh crispy tortilla chips. All of my guests tend to want to take some of these chips and salsa home with them because they love it so much!
I also like to use this green tomatillo salsa in other dishes like scooped on top of some tacos (like these beef tongue barbacoa tacos) or enchiladas (like these enchiladas rojas but swapping out the red sauce for this Mexican green sauce).
I also like to cook with salsa verde like this recipe for lengua en salsa verde and chicharrones en salsa verde!
More Authentic Mexican Recipes To Enjoy
If you enjoyed this recipe for salsa verde, take a look at some of these other authentic Mexican recipes:
- Pan Scrambled Eggs With Poblano Peppers And Green Salsa
- Red Salsa En Molcajete
- Green Tamales With Chicken
- Super Spicy Salsa With Puya And Arbol Peppers
- Chicharron In Red Salsa
I hope you make this recipe for Mexican green sauce! If this recipe was of any help to you, come back to let me know your experience. Please leave us a comment done below and tell us all about it!
¡Buen provecho!
Mely
📖 Recipe
Spicy Tomatillo Salsa Verde
Ingredients
- 6 tomatillos husked and washed. About 2 cups.
- 3 tablespoon of chopped onion
- 1 clove of garlic
- 2 or 3 serranos peppers if using Jalapeño peppers use 1
- Salt to taste
- About 3 cups of water to cook the tomatoes and peppers.
- 4 tablespoon Chopped Chilantro Optional
Instructions
- In a saucepan, bring the water to a boil. Add the pepper and tomatillos, simmer, uncovered, for 12-15 minutes.
- Drain, reserving ¼ cup water of the liquid.
- In a blender, puree the peppers, tomatillos, garlic and chopped onion, the cilantro if using, then add the reserved liquid if needed to get a saucier texture.
- Transfer to a bowl and add salt to taste.
This sauce can be refrigerated for up to 3 days and can also be frozen.
Notes
- This recipe makes 2 cups of salsa verde
- In some places, fresh tomatillos are not available. You can buy canned Tomatillos as an option.
- Chopped cilantro is an excellent addition to this sauce; it could be added to the final process in the blender, or at serving time.
NORA
MELY DELICIOSA SALSA.- Me tome el atrevimiento de poner un enlace en gusta usted de su versión en inglés de esta receta. Gracias Mely
T Timbrel
This is EXCELLENT Verde! I make it weekly because we are addicted to it! Thx!
Anonymous
T Timbrel said...
This is EXCELLENT Verde! I make it weekly because we are addicted to it! Thx!
taxingwoman
Hi Mely- this is very nice, I finally sourced some canned tomatillos and serranos here in Western Australia! Using it for Enchiladas Verdes Suizas to serve on the weekend. cheers!
Mexico in my kitchen
Hello Taxi woman,
I am so glad you can find serrano peppers in Australia. I hope you could come back and let us know the results.
Have a great weekend!
Mely
David
These all look wonderful! Gracias for the photos! It helps so much.
feliz Navidad!
David
Unknown
actually when you make the salsa sautee 1/4 of a chop onion with 1 tablespoon of oil and then add the salsa and cook for 3 minutes and remove immediately let it cool and enjoy it! This is the perfect combination!
Mexico in my kitchen
Yes, some people like to fry their sauce, and I used to do that long time ago. Green tomatillos render a better fresh flavor without the frying.
Thanks for your input, some people might find this tip helpful.
Happy cooking,
Mely
Azalia Mendoza-Trujillo
I agree with you Mely. It’s much better unfried frying it does take away from the flavor.
Sean Nally
I have been searching for a fantastic site full of great salsas and I have found it! Thank you for taking the time to share this.
Mely
Hello Sean,
Thank you for stopping by and let me know it was helpful.
Mely
c3452fe2-0803-11e2-97eb-000bcdca4d7a
I would like to make a lot of this as my tomatillo crop is huge! How would you suggest I can it?
Thanks!
Pam
Mely
Hello Pam,
Yes, that is the best way to preserver your crop.
Happy canning!
Mely
Matthew Hesketh
hi taxing woman,
Where do you source Tomatillo's in West Australia
Mely
Hello Matthew,
There are several online store in Australia for Mexican groceries. One of the is called Firework foods. They sell canned tomatillos.
By the way, what does "taxing woman", means?
Mely
txbob
Hi Mely, as to what Taxingwoman" means, it is a name of one of your responders from Austrailia up above from january 2011
as for me,
do you grow them yourself?
I have a bumper crop this year and have been so busy couldn't keep up and now they are falling off and are more yellow than green....are these OK to use? I want to use 1/3 yellow to 2/3 green, what do you? think?
have you ever made really large batches such as 10 lbs at a time? any suggestions?
I typically freeze in 16 oz portions, but would like to try canning.....would you tell me how you would can the salsa verde PLEASE.....thanks for any info---paz---Bob
Mely
Hello Txbob,
I tried once to grow tomatillos in my small balcony, the result very small tomatoes, maybe the lack of sunlight had something to do about it.
And that was my only experience growing tomatillos, so I'm not a good resource to give advise on them. 🙂 Sorry about your tomatoes turning yellow.
My dear friend Yolanda from the blog simply homemaking, is a great vegetable gardener and an expert in canning all sort of things.
Here is the link to her blog and canning green salsa post.
She could also be the right person to ask about your yellow tomatoes.
Thank you for stopping by.
Happy cooking.
Anonymous
Excellent. Just like I used to get when I lived in Mexico. Thanks!
Anonymous
O.o i read thru your recipe way too fast and dumped all the ingredients into the boiling water!! Hope it turns out okay..
Mely
I am sure it came out ok. 🙂
Steven
I'm out of fresh onions, but have all the other ingredients..will the salsa still taste somewhat the same?
Mely Martínez
Hello,
The salsa will still taste good. Slightly different but many people skip the onion, so no problem no adding it if you do not have it on hand.
Tifferella
How long can you freeze this salsa?
Mely Martinez
Hi Tifferella,
I had freeze this salsa for up to a month. Just stir well after defrosting.
foodiocentric
I just used this recipe to make white bean chicken enchiladas. They were amazing! My boyfriend absolutely loved the sauce, next time I am going to triple the recipe to have leftovers!
Rochelle Carras
Hello,I was wondering if lime or lemon juice could be added.
mmartinez
Hello Rochelle,
Traditionally, is not used, but if you like lime or lemon, you absolutely can add it.
Rochelle Carras
Thanks! Great salsa verde recipe!
Heather Hornby
Hi
Love your recipes.I've been wanting to learn more about real Mexican cooking & think your site/blog is fab!!!
Would love to try making the Salsa Verde but not so keen on the idea of using canned as I like to use fresh produce.I am in the UK so fresh tomatillos are sadly not an option. I read somewhere that the tart flavour of rhubarb is quite similar to tomatillos & can be used as a substitute. Wonder if you'd ever heard of it or if you can think of another possible substitute available in the UK. Mexican Salsa Verde doesn't seem to feature in any of the Mexican Restaurants I've visited & it sounds a lovely sauce to have with Pork.
Any help would be really appreciated!
THANKS
mmartinez
Hello Heather,
Canned tomatillos are not that bad, give them a try. But if you really don't want to use them, there is a green salsa cooked in some places of Mexico that uses green squash instead of the tomatillo, it renders a creamy salsa. Cook the squash with the rest of the ingredients for the salsa. I hope to get a chance to publish hat trecipe pretty soon.
Happy cooking!
deanne shaw
MY BOYFRIEND IS IN CHARGE OF MAKING THE SALSA ,THOUGHT I WOULD SURPRISE HIM,THANKS FOR HELPING .THIS SEEMS LIKE AN EASY RECIPE.
Michellena Smith
Have you made this with roasted poblano peppers?
mmartinez
Hello Michellena,
No, I haven't try with Poblanos, but it must be very tasty!
LovelySpacePrincess
Still as good as ever. I just added 8 jalapeños and avocado. I love howith spicy it is, but it'll never be as good as my Ama's. <3
Rick n Teresa Winn
I put the tomatillos and peppers under the broiler to blacken them a little first. Much more flavor IMHO.
mmartinez
Hello Rick n Teresa Winn,
You are right, roasting the ingredients renders a flavorful salsa. There are several recipes in the recipe section using roasted tomatillos for salsas. Enjoy!
Sonia
Absolutely deliss.......
O TORRES
Mely so glad I found you. When ever I go looking for a recipe I get Food network, yummly and others. I wanted authentic recipes from a Mexican kitchen!!! So many things to try, I will have fun experimenting with everything.
thanks
mmartinez
Hello O Torres!
Have fun in the kitchen and if you have any questions, please send me an email.
Joy Groeschel
Mely,
This is very similar to the recipe that I use, but the one I use has you do a last step of heating oil in a sauce pan and cooking the sauce for a bit to thicken it. Have you ever done it this way?
Also, I sometimes will roast the tomatillos and peppers instead of boiling them which gives it a little deeper taste.
Thanks,
Joy
mmartinez
Hello Joy,
Yes, something I do that, we call it fried salsa. Actually, my mom does that to all her salsas. The salsas cooked that way last a couple of day longer on the fridge. I just prefer to avoid the oil. 🙂
You can make a green salsa, boiling, roasting, frying or just using raw ingredients.
Have fun and try all the different variations!
lucille woods
You're the best.
Maribel Saenz
Love all your recipes! I live by them
lourdes
Dear Mely.
My brother went to the States and his wife is american. This web site is a great and excellent way of for her, to be able to learn how to cook mexican recipes for my brother. Thank you so much¡
Cara
Thank you so much for sharing all your beautiful recipes with us.
mmartinez
Hello Cara,
Thank you for stopping by!
Happy cooking!
Brian
Question, using the canned TOMATILLO, Do I still simmer them with the peppers? Do I drain the can of the juices? Thank you.
mmartinez
Hello Bian,
If you are using the canned tomatillos, there is no need to cook since they are already cooked.
Provecho and happy cooking!
José
Gracias por la receta.it reminds me of the sala Verde my mom would make back in Texas. It was hard finding fresh tomatillos and Chile serrano in Tokyo, Japan but my Japanese wife and I were able to find them at a Farmers' market. This will go great with the enchiladas de Pollo that I will make for her.
mmartinez
Hello José,
I hope you make some amazing enchiladas verdes. Enjoy!
Denise
Very good
Phyllis
Hello José, I moved from Texas to Tokyo, Japan and four years later back to Texas. I love and cook both Japanese and San Antonio TexMex dishes. I am thrilled to find this wonderful, authentic Mexican food site by a woman who is also familiar with TexMex and our beloved breakfast tacos. I made Huevito en Salsa with homemade corn tortillas this morning. I will use the recipes from this site a lot. They are what I know from Mexico (where I have traveled) and Texas. Thank you Mely!!!
mmartinez
Hello Phyllis,
Thank you for visiting, enjoy the recipes and happy cooking!
Mercedes
Love this recipe!
Diane N
Would really like to have an authentic salsa recipes that are suitable for canning. Can you help me or link me to a source for same. Ty
mmartinez
Hello Diane,
Please check this recipe: Homemade Salsa Roja
Lisa Rios
I've made this before but making it for my daughter's wedding for 75-100 people! Along with rice, guacamole, and salsa verse! She only wanted me to cook those things because my husband is Mexican and I lived in Mexico! No pressure and you've always been a big help to me! I love to cook and youre the best!
Anna Savoie
I was dubious. My tomatillos were a little soft definitely not fresh as can be and the recipe was so simple... But oh. my. god. This is soooooo good! I'm trying to think of all the things I can put it on... Need to make tacos or realy just get a spoon and eat this out of the container. Wow! Thanks for the recipe.
Mark Leyba
Just made a quick batch of this for some street tacos for dinner. The taste and smell is heavenly!! Thanks for the recipe. 🙂
Rob Pecchenino
Again do you have to ferment this sauce if bottled and left out ? Please reply by my e-mail.
Thank, you
Rob De La Vega Pecchenino