With only 5 ingredients, this Salsa Verde is an easy and healthy way to add a punch of flavour to almost any dish.
A fresh green salsa, prepared using tomatillos and serrano peppers, salsa verde is a staple at any Mexican restaurant. Usually served alongside tortilla chips or in addition to tacos, it adds a delicious burst of flavour.
We have tacos, of one kind or another, almost every week and through all the salsa’s I’ve made, it never occurred to me to try my hand at Salsa Verde until last week when I was walking through the market. There was a basket of tomatillos sitting next to a basket of serrano peppers, with a sign that said “perfect for making salsa”. Obviously, the sign wasn’t wrong.
I’ve never made anything with tomatillos before, so as often happens, I grabbed a bunch, then picked out a few things that I thought I might need, such as cilantro, limes and garlic and thought “I’ll figure it out when I get home”. It turns out that I didn’t need the limes, but otherwise, was ready to go.
I looked through several different versions of recipes for Salsa Verde. As with so many authentic recipes, there are often countless variations, based on different regions and traditions. For salsa verde, most of the recipes required the tomatillos to be cooked in some way. A lot suggested boiling, a few roasting, and in others, the whole mixture was fried in a sauce pan after it had been blended together.
Being that it’s Summer and I’m trying not to turn on my oven any more than necessary, I chose to grill the tomatillos and onion, then to blend everything together. It worked and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t taste test way more than was necessary to make sure I got it right. Seriously, I could drink stuff, it’s so good. Here’s how you make it:
6 large tomatillos 
1 large onion
1 clove of garlic
2 serrano peppers, seeds removed
1/2 Cup cilantro
salt to taste
Preheat your BBQ
Remove the husks from the tomatillos and wash them. Slice the prepared tomatillos and onion in half, widthwise. Remove the papery skin from the onion.
Place both the onion and tomatillos flesh side down on the BBQ and close the lid. Grill the tomatillos for about 5 minutes and the onion for about 10 minutes.
While the tomatillos and onions are cooking, place the garlic, serrano peppers and cilantro into a blender or food processor, along with a pinch of salt.
Once they’ve finished cooking, add the tomatillos and the onions to the blender or processor. Blend on low speed or pulse. The salsa should be on the smoother side with a little bit of chunkiness for texture.
If you like this recipe, here are some others you might enjoy:
Salsa verde is one of my favourites, this looks like a great recipe.
Thank you!!
I regularly buy tomatillo salsa and cannot wait to try this! I love the fact that you grilled the tomatillos- summer in a dish!
Thank you!
O.M.G. I love the sounds of this! Perfect for summer meals, it would taste good on top of so many foods. Yum!
Thanks, Gabby! It’s been highly addictive this past week. I made a second batch just because I enjoyed it so much, lol
I have made salsa verde before – always fermented raw. Interesting you made with a grill. I bet it adds a different layer of flavour!
I didn’t come across any fermented raw versions when I was looking around. That sounds interesting, too.
I’ll bet it’s 100 times better than store-bought! Pinned!
Thanks, Elaine! Homemade anything is always so much better, right?!
I NEVER know what to do with tomatillos…now I do!! Great post.
Thanks Bernice! It’s so good on tacos with a little slaw or just on its own with taco chips.
Yum! I actually just picked up some tomatillos the other day so this recipe is very timely! Just pinned and can’t wait to try it. Thanks!
Thanks! Let me know how it goes, if you get a chance to try it
What a fab recipe! I always see tomatillos at the market and never pick any up. I always stop to scope them out, think about how cool they are, and then put them back. Lol. I need to step out of my comfort zone and just give them a go already — and this recipe has me excited to do that.
I’ve always been intrigued by them, too. This was the first time I played around with them at all, but it was definitely worth it.