Homemade Salsa Verde
This roasted tomatillo salsa is so easy to make. You're only six ingredients away from the best salsa verde you've ever tasted! Get the recipe here.
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on September 5, 2024
I’m never going back to store-bought salsa verde! This salsa verde is fresh, bright, and not too salty like those store-bought versions.
Sometimes I have to remind myself that simple is best. This salsa was originally a component in a seven-layer dip concept, but the salsa blew the dip out of the water. One part, on its own, was so much better than the other six combined. This salsa verde is so fresh and irresistible.
Then, I made it a couple more times, with the same ingredients, but each time, it tasted a little different. That’s just what happens with a simple recipe made with natural ingredients. You can pick up each tomatillo, squeeze it to gauge ripeness and peel back the husk to look for bright green skin, but you don’t know how flavorful it really is until you taste it.
Add eleven more tomatillos to the mix, plus jalapeño that may or may not be crazy spicy, plus onion and cilantro of varying freshness, and you’ll never make a batch of salsa that tastes quite like another.
Your salsa will be delicious, fresh and so much better than the salty jarred varieties. I can guarantee that much. That’s the beauty of simple recipes made with fresh, natural ingredients—they’re inevitably awesome. Don’t over think it. Trust the recipe. Adjust to suit your taste buds.
Watch How to Make Salsa Verde
Salsa Verde Notes
Tomatillos look like small green tomatoes with husks, but they aren’t tomatoes—they’re cousins. I’ve had an easy time finding them at grocery stores lately. I tried making this salsa with raw tomatillos, but they’re borderline sour. Roasting them really brings out their best side.
Some roasted tomatillo salsas I’ve tried taste too roasted or smoky, but not this one. You can also control just how roasted those tomatillos get when you roast them yourself. I think it turned out just right with the times specified in the recipe below.
Uses for Salsa Verde
Salsa verde is great with pretty much anything that goes well with regular tomato salsa. I think it’s especially fantastic with sweet potatoes (check out these burritos and this burrito bowl) and eggs (like chilaquiles verdes, huevos rancheros, frittatas and breakfast tacos).
I also really love creamy avocado salsa verde, which you can make by throwing some diced avocado into the mix. I decided to divide my salsa in two and blend one avocado into one-half of the salsa. I’ve included instructions below.
Or, serve it alongside my favorite guacamole recipe with tortilla chips for the best of both worlds!
Please let me know how you like this recipe in the comments! I hope you love it as much as I do.
Are you building a salsa bar or taco spread? Don’t miss my favorite red salsa, guacamole, pico de gallo, corn salsa or mango salsa.
Homemade Salsa Verde
This roasted salsa verde recipe is so easy to make. Just roast the tomatillos and pepper(s) and blend with a few basic ingredients for the best salsa verde you’ve ever tasted! Recipe yields about 2 ½ cups salsa.
Ingredients
- 1 ½ pounds tomatillos (about 12 medium), husked and rinsed
- 1 to 2 medium jalapeños, stemmed (omit for mild salsa, use 1 jalapeño for medium salsa and 2 jalapeños for hot salsa, note that spiciness will depend on heat of actual peppers used)
- ½ cup chopped white onion (about ½ medium onion)
- ¼ cup packed fresh cilantro leaves (more if you love cilantro)
- 2 tablespoons to ¼ cup lime juice (1 to 2 medium limes, juiced), to taste
- ½ to 1 teaspoon salt, to taste
- Optional variation: 1 to 2 diced avocados, for creamy avocado salsa verde
Instructions
- Preheat the broiler with a rack about 4 inches below the heat source. Place the tomatillos and jalapeño(s) on a rimmed baking sheet and broil until they’re blackened in spots, about 5 minutes.
- Remove the baking sheet from the oven, carefully flip over the tomatillos and pepper(s) with tongs and broil for 4 to 6 more minutes, until the tomatillos are splotchy-black and blistered.
- Meanwhile, in a food processor or blender, combine the chopped onion, cilantro, 2 tablespoons lime juice and ½ teaspoon salt. Once the tomatillos are out of the oven, carefully transfer the hot tomatillos, pepper(s) and all of their juices into the food processor or blender.
- Pulse until the mixture is mostly smooth and no big chunks of tomatillo remain, scraping down the sides as necessary. Season to taste with additional lime juice and salt, if desired.
- The salsa will be thinner at first, but will thicken up after a few hours in the refrigerator, due to the naturally occurring pectin in the tomatillos. If you’d like to make creamy avocado salsa verde, let the salsa cool down before blending in 1 to 2 diced avocados (the more avocado, the creamier it gets).
Notes
Recipe adapted from Rick Bayless, Serious Eats and Simply Recipes.
Storage suggestions: This salsa verde should keep well in the refrigerator, covered, for at least 1 week. If you added avocado, it will keep well for about 3 days—be sure to press plastic wrap against the top surface to prevent oxidation.
Change it up: Feel free to substitute red tomatoes for a more traditional roasted tomato salsa.
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
Thanks this really helped. I tried to short cut by not roasting the tomatillos!
I just made this recipe and its amazing!! We put it on some home tacos with corn tortillas and it was to die for. Its nice being able to make this instead of having the crap off the shelf full of additives and preservatives!!!! Thank you for this recipe
Just made this with fresh ingredients from my garden. It was amazing. I am saving some to use with homemade tamales later this week.
I love using verde salsa mixed with greek yogurt as a creamy and light enchilada “sour cream” sauce. But this is the first time I have had tomatillos in the garden in order to make it from scratch. It is so much better than the canned name brand variety we often purchase. I only had 15 tomatillos today but I promise when I get a few dozen at a time in a couple weeks, I will be making this in large batches to throw into my freezer.
can this be caned?
Incredibly flavorful and super-easy! Kate, have you ever tried canning this salsa? I wonder if it is acidic enough to keep well.
What would you change if planning to can? This is the best looking recipe I have found and would love to can for longer storage.
I love this recipe! It is so easy and the best tasting salsa verde I have ever made!
Thank you so much, Kimber!
Delicious
Thanks, Thomas!
Thanks. It was delicious and super simple.
Awesome, thanks Eduardo!
Thank you for your yummy recipes. I enjoy many of them very much. I just wanted to mention that on my computer after I click on the “print”
icon the new printable page opens without a button for the actual printing – It’s okay for me – I just use “control” – P and get my page. I haven’t tried this recipe yet but I would give lots of stars to your other recipes that I’ve used – the mango salsa for instance. Best wishes !
Thanks, Jan! I think that “print” popup is dependent on your browser, so I can’t do much about it. I am glad that you figured out how to make it work for you!
This turned out horribly. I am not sure what went wrong, but it just tastes bitter; I plan to throw the whole batch. I followed the recipe to a T.
Great flavor. Broiling worked well. I used one whole seeded anaheim (very mild) in place of jalapeno because I like the green pepper flavor. Tomatillos are naturally tart, so next time I may back off from 2 TBS of lemon. (Didn’t have lime). Also used 1/2 tsp cumin, 1/2 tsp oregano.
Most delicious and easy recipe. I will make again and again. Especially to go with my tamales….Thank you so much ….
I was just in Mexico and one of my FAVORITE salsa’s there was at a restaurant called Tomatoe’s in Cabo and the server was kind enough to give me her version of how to make it. She didn’t give me amounts of each so I googled ‘roasted’ green chili salsa and found this recipe. I make it after going to the store and it is delicious! I like my salsa pretty hot so I used 6 serrano peppers as well as red HOT pepper that we grew this year in the garden and that livened up to my liking for sure.. Great recipe to try for those of us who has never made this type of salsa before and it was really easy using your ingredients and times for roasting.. Thank you!!!
Thank you for your note, Kim! I’m so glad you enjoyed this one! I need to plan a trip to Mexico soon, I think. :)
Thank you for the recipe, very good! My first time making salsa ever. I grew tomatillos this year I always love the visual addition to the garden, but as in the past never knew what to do with them. I found this recipe and tried it and now I can’t wait till next summer to plant more and enjoy this homemade treat again.
Thanks, Donna! I bet it was extra delicious with your home-grown tomatillos.
I have been making a pretty awesome tomato salsa for years, that people asked me for the recipe for, but started to also like the salsa verde at a “real” Mexican restaurant that my daughter was the head jefa at. She can’t give me the restaurant’s recipe…sworn to secrecy.
Last year I bought a tomatillo seedling from the nursery for my garden in hopes of making salsa. I didn’t think about needing to have at least two plants, so beautiful large plant but no tomatillos! Bought 2 plants this year and have a wonderful harvest.
I think I will attempt canning in1cup jars but will do some investigating as to processing the jars.
My little hint….. when I broil/roast peppers or tomatoes, is to cut them in half, and lay them skin side up on the pan, then no need to turn them over. Depending on the shape, I cut them in the direction to have the most surface area exposed.
Excited to try your recipe.
Hi Jan, thank you for the tip! That’s a great idea. I hope you love this salsa.
this is almost just like my mothers in Mexico except she boils all the ingredients the tomatillos the garlic clove the onion n pepper the adds the seasons awesome recipe Ty!!
This is one of my favorite recipes. My family and I love making it. So yummy.
This will be the third time in a few months that I have made this. The last two times, I doubled the recipe. Yup, my husband and I are going through it that fast. I followed the recipe exactly the first time, added more cilantro (I am crazy about it!) for the next two. I also canned this with great success. Since several people have asked, I used the boiling water bath method, used pint jars and processed for ten minutes. It did “gel” and thicken quite a bit but I was able to stir it until it was more liquid-y. If you wanted more pour-ability, I would guess adding some water before you served it would do the trick.
Followed your recipe and very happy with results. Used 2 jalapeños and it’s hot but not too hot for my taste. Added to onion, red potato and tofu scramble and was very yummy. Will try with avocado soon. Thank you for sharing.
Hi Kate, great recipe! I have just one suggestion that I learned from my grandfather, who used to make fresh salsa every week. He said to let the tomatillos cool before adding them in with the cilantro becasue the hot tomatillos will cook the delicate cilantro and make them taste bitter :).
My wife is allergic citrus so lime/lemons are out. Any ideas how I could tweak this recipe? Would it work without the lime juice?
Thanks in advance!
Try using white vinegar. I’m not sure of the ratio I’m pretty sure it’s not 1:1 so I would just slowly add to taste.
Hope this helps
I’m very late to this party, but am very grateful that you rescued me when I needed a salsa verde recipe. I’m planning to make a dish this coming week that calls for salsa, and I detest bottled red salsa (I’m always happier when tomatoes aren’t involved in the dishes I make). So I figured to make my own salsa verde, and voila! There you were with the perfect recipe. I’m also pleased that there is no garlic in this recipe. I’m sure this will turn out very nicely.
Great! Glad to hear you found this right on time. Let me know how it works out!
Kate, this recipe is to die for good. I made it without jalapeños, and used two limes. It made the recipe I made the salsa for, and when my husband cooks next week, he’s going to use some of it to make breakfast burritos. Yum! I’m really glad that when I did a search for salsa verde that your blog was the top hit. The recipe is a definite keeper.
Glad this is so versatile, Susan!
Do you peel off the skins of the tomatillo or just blend dark spots and all?
I just blend the whole roasted tomatillos. That’s how to achieve that nice charred flavor.
Wish me luck! Gonna give this baby a try. Thanks for sharing and offering such beautiful process shots!
Good luck, Cakespy! Let me know how it turns out.
Thanks for this wonderful recipe! Due to cumin allergies, we can’t buy canned salsas very easily. Salsa Verde is such a great no-spices-needed way of getting serious Mexican flavors. You are absolutely right about how each batch can vary so much from one to the next, but still be delicious. I really like your tip about adding avocados. Thanks again, I learned a lot from this post!
I’m so glad this fit your needs, Mary! I appreciate the comment. :)
this looks great. I have all the ingredients and looked for a good recipe, now, I found it. Thank you
Perfect!
I am going to try this recipe. Sounds so yummy! I was just wondering if I add avocado how long would you say it is edible? I usually can’t leave guacamole too long in the fridge before it gets funky.
Really tasty and easy. Grow my own tomatillos in the garden. Good on crackers with cheese or just as a dip for chips. :) Good way to use them up when you have a lot.
Tip: I used spring onions and a red onion instead of white. Tastes a bit sweeter.
Oh, freshly-grown tomatillos sound delicious, Bonnie.
Have looked at alot! This looks perfect! Less creamy for me! Thank u!
You’re welcome, Julie! I hope it goes well.
Is this better if you eat it right away….I’m making it for a party that is in 2 days…I have time now and wondered if its something that is even better in a few days??? or better right away….
I like it both ways! Waiting allows the flavors to marinate more, so I don’t think it’d be a problem to keep for a couple days.
I made this recipe last year for Salsa Sampler Christmas gifts for my whole family (only homemade gifts for my family who has everything.)
Everyone who tried this salsa loved it. I jarred it up for the gifts (using USDA guidelines) so I couldn’t put the avocado in. I’m going to set a little aside this year to do the avocado recipe.
Glad I bookmarked your site so I can make it again this year. I’ll try to remember to post pics. Here I go, off to peel tomatillos… (STICKY!)
What a fabulous idea, Mary! I love it. I’m so glad your family enjoyed it. Definitely, post pics next time you make it!
I’ve made salsa verde before but my other recipe called for boiling the main ingredients and then blending so thought I’d give broiling a shot and I’m happy I did. I think it adds a little extra flavor.
I did make a few changes just based on personal preference: used 1.5 serrano chiles and 1 anaheim pepper in place of the jalepeno which gives it a medium spicy kick to it. Also added a few cloves of garlic (not broiled just thrown in the blender).
I’ll definitely be making this again!
Great! I’m happy you could dial up the heat to your tastes, Becky.
This was absolutely amazing and I’m playing with new combinations of chiles now to try and make it perfect for me. So far I’ve liked the combo of a poblano an Anaheim, a jalapeno and a serrano and then making a double recipe.
Thank you so much for an amazing salsa.
It also makes a fantastic chile verde, so thank you for that, too.
Yum! Happy experimenting, Doug!
Hi Kate,
We are in the middle of winter here in Australia’s blue mountains and I have recently seen red tomatillos with no husk in our local super market. I am guessing they would suit your salsa recipe? From memory they have a very tough skin.
Looking forward to hearing from you☺
Gaye
I can attest to the authenticity of your recipe.I was taught to make salsa by Mexican women. I can make red & green, but verde (green) is my favorite. The ratio of tomatillos to onions is really to your taste as is how much salt. Your ratio is good. The only thing I have to add is that the Mexican cooks who taught me used a cast iron skillet heated up on the stove to roast the tomatillos. You put in as many at a time as the skillet will hold and you roll them around every once in a while to roast all sides. You have more control that way.
Thanks, P! I’m happy this passes the authenticity test. :)
Happy to support you. Just a little disclaimer, I think your recipe might need a clove or two of garlic. I don’t think I ever cook Mexican without it.
STAGGERINGLY DELICIOUS! I added tomatillis to my garden this year and had a bumper crop. This recipe… Well, let’s just say that I almost literally can’t get enough of the stuff. My whole family is crazy for it. The happy noises around the dinner table are a bit obscene
This made me laugh out loud, Nicole! I’m happy to hear it was such a hit.
Great recipe! Just made this amazingly refreshing salsa verde and added garlic for a little more punch. Love it, no more store bought salsa for me!
Delicious!! I followed the recipe with two slight tweaks – First, I tossed in a little raw garlic (we’re huge garlic fans in my house :) ). Second, I personally prefer my salsa verde to have a little sour “twang” to it, so I roasted half the tomatillos and one jalapeno, and tossed the other half and another jalepeno in raw. The result was a wonderful half tangy/half smoky flavored salsa verde that I will definitely be making again and again!
*I scooped about 1/4 of the salsa batch into a bowl to enjoy by itself, but the rest I dumped in a crock pot with 1.5 lbs of chicken breast, cooked on high for 3 hours, then shredded the chicken and returned it to the pot to meld with the salsa. DELICIOUS!! I’ve made it with jarred salsa many times, but this was hands down the best batch so far, all thanks to your yummy recipe. Thank you for sharing it with us! :)
Awesome! I love this sauce, there are so many uses for it. Your tangy version sounds great.
I’ve seen recipes using green garden tomatoes in place of tomatillos. What do you think? I was wanting to freeze the salsa after.
Our family loved this salsa recipe! I will be making this for years to come!
This recipe is very good except you don’t have garlic in it. I roasted four garlic cloves with the tomatillos and peppers and it was very good. I canned mine in quart jars using a pressure canner.
Great basic Verde Sauce..
Play with the ingredients to bring this up to your standard(s).
I tend to parboil rather than roast (I’m lazy.)
Very little salt. Sparing use of spices (to start) gives a custom taste. It’s never the same result anyway… pc
Thank you for your comment and sharing your method! I appreciate the feedback and review.
This recipe sounds AMAZING!! Can’t wait to try it. Thank you!
Let me know what you think when you do!
Can I use a blender instead of a food processor?
Yes! Just make sure you what for the consistency you would like.
Thank you so much for the salsa verde recipe. My husband said it was a lot better than store version. I have made 2 batches since I found your recipe.
Hi Susie,
My husband and I simply love your salsa verde recipe. We made 1 batch and it was so good that we ate the whole batch so I had to make another one. This is definitely a keeper. Thank you.
That’s great! If you wouldn’t mind leaving a star review since you liked it so much, that would be great.
This salsa is absolutely delicious! My boyfriend is a chef and was super impressed. I left mine a little chunky and used it in your chilaquiles recipe. I used 2 jalapeños and it turned out really spicy. Next time I will only use 1. Will definitely make again.
Glad to hear! Thank you, Jessie for the comment and review.
My niece just gave me a Vitamix as a gift! I was looking for a recipe involving tomatillos. This was super easy and tasted great too. Thanks!!!
What a thoughtful niece and gift! You’re welcome.
Mine came out very sour, even after roasting the tomatillos. Any ideas on how to prevent this for next time? Tomatillos are naturally pretty sour so I’m wondering if the 1/4 cup lime juice was the problem as that seems like a lot.
Thanks!
Hi Jim, I’m sorry to hear that! A while back, I adjusted the recipe to suggest 2 to 4 tablespoons lime juice, to taste. Is that the version you were working from? It might also be that your tomatillos weren’t roasted long enough—they’re quite sour when raw, but become much sweeter when well-roasted.