Homemade Green Salsa

Want to make authentic, addicting, & tasty salsa verde at home? This quick and easy green salsa recipe will show you how and with only 6 ingredients!

What is Salsa Verde?

There are two types of salsa that you need to know about.

1. Red salsa, or the one that everyone is most familiar with.
2. And green salsa or salsa verde.

Verde means green in Spanish so you can guess why how it got its name. And this is the one I am focusing on today.

What is the difference between salsa and salsa verde?

Regular, or red salsa, has a base of red tomato in most cases but salsa verde uses green tomatillos as its main ingredient.

If you are unfamiliar with tomatillos they are are little green fruit that resemble green tomatoes. But unlike a tomato, tomatillos stay green as they ripen.

You actually could make a green tomato salsa verde, but it is much easier to find tomatillos in the market than it is to find fresh green tomatoes.

Besides that though, salsa verde and salsa roja (red) use essentially the same ingredients.

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The tomatillos can be broiled in the oven, roasted in a pan, boiled, or even used raw. For this recipe I prefer to broil them. They get a little char on the outside which adds smoky flavor and some color to the salsa.

This tomatillo salsa verde can be served with chips or used as a topping for chicken and pork. It goes great with beef as well!

Ingredients Needed

Salsa verde is just as easy as making regular red salsa. The ingredients are basically the same and you can customize it with your favorite flavors.

• Tomatillos
• White Onion
• Jalapeño
• Garlic
• Cilantro
• Lime

Depending on if you want a hot or a mild salsa verde, whether or not you want to roast or parboil the tomatillos or use them raw, you can put many different spins on the basic green salsa recipe.

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How to make Salsa Verde

First: To get started, broil or roast the tomatillos, onions, garlic, and jalapeño on a baking sheet in the oven. Once they start to brown and get tender, pull them out.

Second: Add them to the a food processor or blender, along with the cilantro, but leave out the tomatillos. Chop the onions, jalapeño, garlic and cilantro until they are in small pieces.

Third: Once they are processed a bit, add the tomatillos. They are very soft and will be over worked if you add them in with all the larger ingredients.

Fourth: Now is the time to add the salt and lime. Pulse or chop once or twice more and then check the seasoning level. Now it’s ready to eat!

For the full recipe and detailed instructions, please refer to the recipe card at the bottom of the post.

Uses for Salsa Verde

Homemade green sauce works for all the same things regular salsa works for. Eat it with chips, or put it on your tacos or nachos. Traditionally, salsa verde accompanies chicken and pork dishes as a condiment or topping.

But truth be told it works with everything you would put salsa on.

Which is hotter, red or green salsa?

If you ever go to a Mexican restaurant and they bring you red and green salsa, I bet the first question is “which is hotter, red or green?” The heat really depends on who makes it and how much heat they like to pack in it.

The types and amount of chilies used and whether you remove the seeds makes the difference. So you certainly can’t tell one is hotter than the other just by looking at the color. If it melts the serving spoon when you dip it in… then that is the hot one.

How do you know when tomatillos are ripe?

A tomatillo is ripe and ready to use if it is bursting out of the waxy husk that surrounds it. Or, if the husk is getting dry and brownish or slightly purple, then they are pretty ripe too.

You can also go by the taste. If the fruit is more tangy like a lemon, then it is less ripe. If it is more like a juicy tomato and slightly sweet then it is a very ripe tomatillo.

Can you eat tomatillos raw?

A tomatillo can be eaten raw. It is a bit sharper tasting than a tomato if it is unripe. Fully ripe, it is about as acidic as a tomato.

The reason for roasting, frying, or boiling them first is to cut some of that acidity out. However, if you like a pretty sharp salsa, then using them raw is just fine too.

How to store Salsa Verde

Salsa verde keeps well in the fridge for a week no problem. The acidity of the lime juice and tomatillos acts as preservative as do the salt and jalapeño.

Alternately, you can freeze salsa verde for up to six months and still use it no problem.

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Now that you know how to make homemade salsa verde, go forth and eat it!

Crowd Pleasing Party Foods

• Southwest Chicken Wings
• Cranberry Salsa
• Homemade Salsa
• Fruit Salsa with Cinnamon Pita
• Pineapple Mango Salsa
• Taco Pasta

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