If you are usually a red salsa person, this is your opportunity to try something deliciously different. Roasted tomatillo salsa has a brighter, tangier flavor than traditional tomato-based salsa, with a fresh green color that comes from tomatillos, jalapeños, and cilantro.
Tomatillos may resemble small green tomatoes, but they grow inside a thin, papery husk and have a distinctive flavor all their own. Roasting them softens their natural tartness, brings out a subtle sweetness, and gives this salsa more depth without losing its fresh, lively bite.
Serve it with your favorite organic tortilla chips, spoon it over tacos, chicken, eggs, or roasted vegetables, or use it as a sauce in recipes like my yummy Chili Verde. You can also easily adjust the heat depending on how many jalapeños you use and whether you leave the seeds intact.
I prefer fresh cilantro in this recipe, but dried cilantro is a decent substitute when fresh isn’t available. In my YouTube demo, you’ll see me use dried cilantro, and the salsa still turns out equally delicious, so I’ve included measurements for both in the recipe below.
Watch the full demo on my YouTube channel HERE.
Choose organic ingredients whenever possible.
Ingredients
- 1½ pounds tomatillos, husked, washed, and roughly chopped
- 1 small yellow onion, quartered
- 1–2 jalapeños, halved
- 4 garlic cloves, unpeeled
- 1 tablespoon avocado oil, plus a small drizzle for the garlic
- 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice, usually the juice of 1 large lime
- ½ cup fresh cilantro or 2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons dried cilantro
- ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- Sea salt, to taste
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Remove the papery husks from the tomatillos, wash them thoroughly to remove the slightly sticky coating, and roughly chop them. Place the tomatillos on the prepared baking sheet with the quartered onion and halved jalapeños.
- Decide how hot you want your salsa before preparing the jalapeños. Leave the seeds and membranes intact for more heat, or remove some or all of them for a milder salsa.
- Drizzle approximately 1 teaspoon of avocado oil over the tomatillos, onion, and jalapeños. Toss gently to lightly coat the vegetables.
- Place the unpeeled garlic cloves on a small piece of aluminum foil and add a light drizzle of avocado oil. Loosely wrap the foil around the garlic to create a small packet, allowing the garlic to soften and “sweat” while it roasts.
- Sprinkle sea salt over the vegetables. Place the baking sheet and garlic packet in the oven and roast for approximately 25–30 minutes, or until the tomatillos soften and turn a slightly yellowish-green color.
- Remove the vegetables from the oven and allow them to cool for about 5 minutes. Carefully open the garlic packet and squeeze the softened cloves from their skins.
- Transfer the roasted tomatillos, onion, jalapeños, and garlic to a food processor. Add the lime juice, cilantro, and red pepper flakes.
- Leave the food processor’s chute cover off so steam from the warm vegetables can escape. Pulse the mixture 4–6 times, then blend for approximately 2–3 minutes, or until the salsa reaches your preferred consistency.
- Taste and add more sea salt, lime juice, or red pepper flakes as needed. Serve with your favorite organic tortilla chips or use it as a flavorful sauce in tacos, chicken dishes, eggs, roasted vegetables, or my slow cooker Chili Verde recipe.
Allow the salsa to cool completely before transferring it to a covered container and storing it in the refrigerator.
This salsa also freezes well, so you can buy tomatillos in the summer when you see them at farmers markets and/or in the grocery stores, and freeze the salsa for later use, as I do for my delicious Chicken Chili Verde.
Bon appetit.
If you want to learn more about tomatillo’s, click HERE to jump to my article.