Labor Day Weekend is coming up, and if you’re hosting, I know that you’re currently scrambling to figure out what crowd-pleasing dishes you need to prepare to keep everyone well-fed and be able to enjoy the yard games and barbecue. Well, you are in luck, because this tomatillo salsa is not only a major crowd-pleaser, but you can whip this up days in advance and pull it out of the fridge only when the hunger starts to kick in after that competitive game of cornhole.
are tomatillos tomatoes?
While they may look it, tomatillos are not little unripe tomatoes. The husked green balls that you tend to see at the farmer’s market come summer months are actually their own unique little fruits. When you remove the outer husk, tomatillos are a beautiful shade of bright green and have a sticky layer on the skin that can be rinsed off with water.
Tomatillos are pretty versatile, as they can be eaten raw, chopped up in a salad or salsa, and they can also be cooked. If you are cooking tomatillos, roasting or grilling them will help mellow out the acidic flavor of the fruits and give it a subtly sweet, charred flavor. Yummmm.
hot or not
Now, I know I mentioned this salsa is a crowd-pleaser, and I assure you it is. BUT, one thing I do morally need to warn you about is that my recipe uses a good amount of jalapeños, and late summer can sometimes yield some pretty hot peppas. If you know all your guests have a high tolerance for heat, go for this recipe as is. But if you know there are some people who are a little more sensitive or you’re just not sure, I would advise cutting back on the jalapeños (or at least taste-testing them first to monitor the level of heat).
Other than taste-testing there is another method you can use to gauge the heat of the peppers. The older the pepper, the hotter it tends to be. So, if you’re at the market, you can always ask the farmer how old the peppers are and when they were picked. If you’re just at the grocery store, you can also check the amount of striations (the little white stretch marks) on the pepper which indicate age and stress. A pepper that will be smooth and clear of striations will be less hot than a pepper filled with the white lines.
now, onto the fun part
Not only can you make this salsa ahead of time and store it for later, it’s also very easy to throw together in the moment. All you really need to do is roast the veggies and then toss everything into a food processor. Although, I would recommend allowing time for everything to cool off (also hot salsa is yuck).
Without further ado, here’s what you’ll need for this spicy chip dip:
Tomatillos This is a no-brainer. You’ll need about 1-2 pounds of tomatillos which, depending on the size, is anywhere from 6-10 of them
Jalapeños I used 3 of these, because I love the heat, but dial it back if you want a milder salsa
Garlic Make sure to keep the garlic peels in tact so you can roast them. If you peel the garlic beforehand, they can burn under the broiler. Keeping the peels on also makes it super easy to pop them out of their shells once roasted
Cilantro You’ll need a whole bunch of cilantro leaves that you can process into the salsa, but reserve a few for garnish if you’d like
Lime I will ONLY allow fresh lime juice for this one (and pretty much all of my recipes, TBH)
Salt Just a pinch to get the flavor going
White onion Don’t add this to the food processor or else it’ll get kind of mushy. Stir the onion chunks in at the end for some added crunch!
Now go whip up this salsa, throw it in the fridge, and breathe. a sign of relief. Just don’t forget a couple bags of tortilla chips!
⟶ the recipe
hot tomatillo salsa
ingredients
1-2 pounds tomatillos, husks removed
3 jalapeños, stemmed
2 cloves of garlic, peels in tact
½ cup loosely packed cilantro leaves
Juice of 1 small lime
½ teaspoon salt
¼ cup white onion, chopped
Prep time
20 minutes
Cook time
0 minutes
Total time
20 minutes
8 servings (~2 cups of salsa)
instructions
Line a baking sheet with foil, and turn the broiler on high. Rinse the husked tomatillos and jalapeños, and be sure to keep the peels on the garlic cloves. Place the tomatillos, jalapeños, and garlic on the baking sheet, and place under the broiler.
Broil for about 4 minutes, flip everything, and then broil for another 4 minutes. Everything should be slightly charred on both sides. Set aside to cool for about 10 minutes.
Once cool enough to handle, peel the garlic and remove the seeds from the jalapeños. Transfer them to a food processor or blender. Add the cilantro, lime juice, and salt. Pulse for just a few seconds until the salsa is blended but still slightly chunky. Stir in the onion, and refrigerate the salsa until ready to serve.
⟶ recipe notes
I used about 1 ½ pounds of tomatillos, which was about 7 of them. Weight will depend on the size of the tomatillos, but I don’t think you can go wrong with including more than fewer
If you have a lower heat tolerance or are serving a large group of people, reduce the amount of jalapenos to 1 or 2. If you have a super high heat tolerance, then leave some of the seeds before adding to the food processor
⟶ make it ahead and store it
I recommend giving yourself some cushion to roast the tomatillos, jalapenos, and garlic ahead of time. If you’re crunched for time, you’re going to rush adding everything to the blender, and you might burn yourself handling the garlic and peppers. You also want to leave time to refrigerate, because I doubt you want warm salsa!
If you made this full recipe for just a couple people like I did, you’ll have plenty of salsa leftover. Store it in an airtight container for up to one week or freeze it for longer
