This salsa verde is ideal for tacos, but it has many uses like for making enchiladas verdes, chilaquiles, pork in salsa verde, and chicken tamales in green sauce, just to mention some. The main ingredients for a Salsa Verde are tomatillos, serrano o jalapeño peppers. But there are many variations and techniques to make a salsa verde.
Salsa Verde Mexicana
Types of salsas with tomatillo are the roasted salsa verde, where all or some of the ingredients are roasted, then we have the raw green salsa, everything goes fresh into the blender or molcajete. There is also the fried tomatillo salsa, all the ingredients are fry or first, you boil the tomatillos with the peppers and then fry. And finally the boiled salsa verde, like this one which is the most popular ways to serve this table salsa.
I almost forgot the mention the creamy salsa verde, the one made with avocado. Just remember to buy the freshest produce to make your meals, old tomatillos will render a bitter taste, choose the tomatillos that have to lose husks.
For a spicy or salsa mild, you can reduce or increased the number of peppers to your liking. By the way, Salsa verde is also known as Tomatillo salsa outside Mexico. 
How to make Salsa Verde Mexicana
DIRECTIONS:
- In a saucepan, bring the water to a boil. Add the pepper and tomatillos, simmer, uncovered, for 12-15 minutes. (Please check the ingredients list below)
- Drain, reserving 1/4 cup water of the liquid.
- In a blender, puree the peppers, tomatillos, garlic, and chopped onion, add 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 green salsa can be refrigerated for up to 3 days and can also be frozen.
HOW TO MAKE 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 tbsp 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 1/4 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.
Nutrition
Did you like the recipe? Please let me know in the comments section, do you have questions, or share the link with your friends. I hope you have an incredible time cooking!
Buen Provecho!
Mely Martinez,
More recipes:
Tamal Casserole
Mexican Green Ceviche
Receta en Español Aquí.
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. 🙂
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
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. 🙂