Homemade Salsa Verde

Homemade Salsa Verde

I was gifted some tomatillos from a lady that I play ball with and they were screaming homemade salsa verde! Using the recipe she provided me, I whipped this super simple (and tasty) recipe up yesterday morning.

If you aren’t familiar with tomatillos, they are a Mexican variety of tomatoes, but differ quite a lot from the sweet flavour of your standard red beauties. Tomatillos are bright green and are covered in a really pretty husk. They are slightly more acidic and way less sweet than red tomatoes and they are more dense and less watery. I actually don’t love red tomatoes unless they are really hard, so when I tried a tomatillo, I was pleasantly surprised. Tomatillos are pretty versatile and can be used for more than just green salsa. Here are some interesting recipe ideas from Bon Appetit.

The process of making this homemade salsa verde is really easy. I was going to can some of it, but I didn’t end up with as much as I thought I would. If you are hoping to can it, I’d say double (or triple) the recipe and follow standard processing procedures.

Ingredients:

1.5 pounds of tomatillos
1/2 cup chopped white onion
2 cloves garlic
1/2 cup cilantro leaves
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
2 Jalapeno peppers
salt to taste

Process:

First, you need to de-husk and wash off about 1.5 pounds of fresh tomatillos. Once you remove the husks, they have an odd film on them, so it is important to wash them off.

Bowl of tomatillos sitting beside their husks
The husks are so pretty

After washing the tomatillos, it is time to cook them. I prefer roasting them, so I cut them in half and place them cut side down on a roasting pan. Add in a few cloves of garlic (with their skins on) to the baking sheet. Place the tomatillos in the oven on broil for 5-7 minutes or until the skins are slightly blackened. I broiled mine for far longer, not sure if my oven just wasn’t up to temp or if I broiled them for too long. I lost a lot of the juices, which could be why I ended up with less salsa in the end.

Tomatillos cut in half displayed on a cutting board
The texture of tomatillos is quite different from red tomatoes.
Tomatillos cut side down on a baking sheet with garlic cloves

While your tomatillos are roasting, chop up 1/2 cup of white onion, 1/2 cup cilantro and 2 Jalapeño peppers. Put all chopped ingredients into a blender and squeeze 1 tbsp of fresh lime juice over them. I have incredibly sensitive skin so I have to wear gloves when I chop peppers and sometimes garlic. You may not be as ridiculous as be, but make sure to either protect your hands or wash them really well after handling the jalapeño peppers. Nobody wants a spicy eye (or worse!).

The ingredients for homemade salsa verde chopped and ready to go in a bowl
Jalapeno peppers, a knife and nitrile glove on a cutting board
View of ingredients in a blender

When the tomatillos are done roasting, pop them in the blender with the other ingredients. Add in the garlic, making sure to remove the skins. Be careful, they are hot! Then pulse blend everything until it is finely chopped and mixed. Season with salt to taste.

View of all ingredients blended into homemade salsa verde
This is the consistency I blended mine to

Pour into a jar and cool in refrigerator.

My salsa was quite watery when I was done blending but as it cooled it thickened up quite a bit. This is the most perfect chip and dip accompaniment, and would taste great on eggs as well. I got one 500mL jar out of this recipe, so I will definitely triple the recipe next time I make this. It is not going to last me long!

Image of a jar of homemade salsa verde
One jar of deliciousness

I have always loved homemade salsa verde so much, but this recipe is reason enough for me to grow some of my own tomatillos next year! Mine is super zesty as I think I lost a lot of the tomatillos in over-roasting them, so I might dial back the lime juice a little next time.

Enjoy!

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