Roasting in the oven or browning on the stovetop will deliver more flavor. Each way works, though boiling is a more common way to cook the tomatillos. Garlic is optional. You can either cook a few cloves with the tomatillos in any of these steps, or add one or two raw garlic cloves when you go to blend the salsa.
Finish and season: Gather the cilantro into a tight bundle and thinly slice across it (leaves and stems) until you run out of leaves. Chop the onion into about ¼-inch pieces. For the freshest flavor, rinse in a strainer under cold water to get rid of that unpleasant “oniony” flavor. Shake off excess water and add to the salsa along with the cilantro. If the salsa is too thick to spoon easily, stir in water a tablespoon at a time until the salsa seems right to you. Taste and season with salt, usually a scant teaspoon. Because most ingredients are roasted, it’s harder to add more of one or the other of them to the finished salsa—except, of course, for cilantro and onion.
Roast ingredients: Though most people in Mexico roast ingredients for this salsa on a comal (griddle), I find it easiest to roast them under a broiler. Spread the tomatillos, unpeeled garlic and chiles on a rimmed baking sheet and roast about 4 inches below a hot broiler (my toaster oven is perfect for this) until the tomatillos and chiles are blotchy brown on one side, about 6 minutes, then turn everything over and roast the other side. The garlic should feel soft.
ingredients 12 oz fresh tomatillos (about 8 to 12 tomatillos) ½ white or yellow onion, diced 2 cloves garlic ¼ cup minced cilantro ½ tsp salt 1 or 2 jalapenos or other chile, chopped (use more if you like it spicy)
NOTE: To choose tomatillos, look for firm fruits with a dry husk. Tomatillos should not be soft and mushy. The colour of a tomatillo can range from bright apple green to pale yellow. Any colour within that range is fine, although the greener ones are less ripe and therefore less prone to spoiling. Local tomatillos are usually small, only slightly bigger than cherry tomatoes, and often have a dark purple tinge to the husks or fruit.
No matter how they look, local tomatillos taste (to be exact) 12.63 times more delicious than imported ones. They are so much better that sometimes they do not even taste like the same fruit.
Now, how to use tomatillos. There are two schools of thought when it comes to making Salsa Verde. The Boiling-is-Best school and the Roasting-is-Best school. (A third school, Raw-is-Best, does not warrant serious discussion – raw tomatillos, in my opinion, are inedible.)
One of my favourite September rituals is making a big batch of Salsa Verde. Salsa Verde is obscenely easy to make and yet it has so much wow-factor – it’s bright green, it’s delicious and tangy, it’s very ‘authentic Mexican,’ and it’s made with one the coolest fruit/vegetables I know of : tomatillos.
Rick Bayless Essential Salsa: Roasted Tomatillo Salsa
FAQ
Is it better to boil or roast vegetables for salsa?
Do you boil or roast peppers for salsa?
Do tomatillos have to be boiled?
Can tomatillo salsa be roasted?
Often, fresh tomatillos are used in salsas or jams. Green tomatillo salsa is primarily made of tomatillos combined with other green salsa ingredients, such as onions and jalapenos. Sometimes tomatillo salsa can be roasted, but I kept it simple by making a 5-minute fresh tomatillo salsa recipe instead!
Are tomatillos boiled or roasted?
In this recipe, the tomatillos are boiled instead of roasted, but you can opt to roast if you’d like. This authentic Mexican recipe for Salsa martajada de tomate verde chars the tomatillos till blackened, then combines them with nothing more than chile de arbol, garlic, and salt.
How do you make homemade tomatillo salsa with fresh tomatillos?
Zesty homemade tomatillo salsa with fresh tomatillos is a perfect late summer appetizer! Remove the husks from the tomatillos and wash them well, then chop them into bite-sized chunks. Mince ½ cup red onion, 2 cloves garlic, and ½ jalapeño pepper, taking proper care to wash your hands after handling the pepper.
How to make roasted tomatillos?
Chop the onions and jalapenos into smaller pieces. Toss the roasted tomatillos, jalapenos, onions, cilantro, salt, and lime juice into the food processor or blender. Process until the desired consistency.