This recipe is step one in a process for me to make the best damn Chilaquiles in the world. Chilaquiles are a Mexican breakfast food, basically breakfast nachos. They consist of tortilla chips sauteed in salsa and then smothered in eggs and whatever other toppings you want! They’re sincerely delicious and Andrew’s favorite breakfast food. He orders them every time they’re on a menu but his favorite so far are from the small taco place around the corner from our house. I have this thing where I feel like I need to imitate any Andrew loves from a restaurant and make it better and this is my next endeavor. I will win this challenge one day but for now I decided to conquer homemade Salsa Verde.
Salsa Verde is a staple in my household. It is one of a few items that we keep consistently stocked. We use it on everything from tacos (which makes sense) to egg sandwiches (makes less sense but is delicious). We’ve been buying the same brand for quite some time and I’ve always been too intimidate to make my own. Honestly, I used to be afraid of tomatillos. But when my mom told me she had made it and that it was easy and delicious I figured I’d give it a go and I’m so glad I did! I was a fool to be afraid of tomatillos, they are so cheap, easy to cook and delicious.
My mom based her recipe on one by Rick Bayless, the master himself. If you don’t know Rick Bayless he’s an amazing chef with several restaurants in Chicago and he gets all local produce and quality meats, hes a true hero of Mexican Cuisine. Ricks recipe was very simple using just the tomatillos and peppers.
What I did here was used Ricks recipe to follow how to roast the tomatillos, but we ran into a snag when I originally only used 8 tomatillos but 4 serrano peppers and had to make an emergency run to the store for more tomatillos to calm the recipe down, oops! Take head readers, serrano peppers are HOT, so follow the ratio here correctly and you’ll be in good shape!
After fixing this issue I added in the spices and the lime juice and zest to jazz up the recipe. I decided what to add to this recipe by just letting Andrew taste test the salsa until I saw the look on his face that says “this recipe is amazing and has the exact amount of everything it needs”. It’s a very specific reaction he gives when a recipe is truly perfect and I got it here after adding in the lime. So Proud!
I hope you love this recipe as much as Andrew and I did and I really encourage you to try making this at home because it is cheap, easy, fast and delicious!
Until next time,
Jackie
Spicy Roasted Tomatillo Salsa
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
The delicious salsa is perfect to take to parties! It spicy, tangy and so much better than store bought. I know you're going to love it.
Author: Jackie DeSana
Recipe type: Snack, Appetizer, Sauce
Cuisine: Mexican, Vegan, Gluten Free
Serves: 6 servings
Ingredients
- 15 tomatillos, washed and peeled
- 4 Serrano peppers, stems cut off
- 6 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 1 white onion chopped
- 1 tbs cumin
- 2 tsp cayenne Pepper
- 1 tbs garlic powder
- ¼ cup cilantro, chopped
- zest and juice of 1 Lime
- salt and pepper to taste
Directions
- Preheat your oven to 450 degrees and make sure that you have one of your shelves on the highest rack it can go. You want the tomatillos and peppers to be as close as possible to the top broiler.
Start by peeling the husks off of the tomatillos. Under the husks is a little sticky film that is easily rinsed off in slightly warm water. Take them and rinse them off until the film is gone. If a husk is being stubborn, don't worry, that comes off in the water too! Snap the stems off the Serrano peppers. Place the tomatillos and Serrano peppers on a baking sheet and toss with olive oil. - When the oven is preheated, place them on the top rack. Cook on one side for about 5 minutes then check them and flip them over. Cook for five more minutes and check. The tomatillos and peppers should be blistering and sort of soft. I needed a couple more minutes on the first side for mine but my oven does not heat very well.
- Take the blistered peppers and Tomatillos out of the oven and add them directly into your food processor and blend. Add in the diced garlic and onion and continue to blend.
- Once the ingredients are blended, place into a large bowl and add in cumin, cayenne pepper, garlic powder, salt and pepper, cilantro and the lime zest and juice. Stir all the ingredients together and taste. The lime juice adds a great tang to this salsa that would otherwise be very sweet due to the Tomatillos. Serve with homemade fresh chips or store bought.
