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Easiest Tomatillo Salsa Verde

Laurel Braun
This quick and easy salsa is sure to be a hit at the taco bar. As a fresh sauce, it has a lot of tang and refreshing bite. Serve with a spicy chipotle based taco or enchilada filling for the best pairing.
Adapted from Fine Cooking: Mexican 2015
Prep Time 10 minutes
Total Time 10 minutes
Course Appetizer, Sauces, Dips, and Spreads, Snack
Cuisine Mexican
Servings 4

Equipment

  • Blender

Ingredients

  • 1 (27 oz) can whole tomatillos OR 10-15 small fresh tomatillos
  • 1-2 serrano peppers stems removed and seeded if desired
  • ¼ cup white onion roughly chopped
  • 1 garlic clove roughly chopped
  • 10-15 sprigs fresh cilantro
  • ½ tsp fine sea salt

Directions

  • Open the can of tomatillos and drain and rinse them in a strainer or, if using fresh tomatillos, remove the husks from the tomatillos and rinse them well under cold water to remove the sticky residue. Roughly chop the tomatillos into halves or quarters. Add the tomatillos to your blender.
  • Add your de-stemmed and (opt.) deseeded serrano pepper(s) to the blender along with the white onion, garlic, cilantro (stems removed if serving a chunkier salsa), and the salt.
  • For a smooth sauce, blend the sauce on low until the ingredients begin to come together, then blend on high for 20 – 30 seconds to fully pulverize the ingredients. For a chunky salsa, pulse the ingredients until the desired consistency is achieved. You may need to scrape down the sides halfway through.
  • Serve immediately. Best if used within one hour of blending.

Notes

Fresh Tomatillos: To choose a good tomatillo, you should pull back the husk a bit to see if the fruit underneath is a bright green. You want to check for mold as well. If you’re making a charred or boiled salsa, you should find some that are the same size so they cook at the same time.
Make Ahead: Tomatillos tend to gelatinize when refrigerated, so just be aware and stir well before serving again if you refrigerated it. I regularly freeze 1/2 of the sauce when I make it, it does freeze and thaw well, it just tends to separate upon thawing.
Keyword any season, dairy-free, egg free, freezer friendly, gluten-free, vegan, vegetarian