It's easy to roast tomatillos and to make your own restaurant quality salsa with hatch chiles at home!
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Roasted tomatillo and hatch chile salsa
Cook time: 20 minutes
Do you ever make salsas at home? Roasted or raw, verde or roja, dried or fresh chiles, hot or mild, the combinations are almost endless. This week I was in the mood for a salsa with roasted tomatillos and hatch chiles. This is a salsa I hadn’t made before, but I was pretty certain it would work.
I learned how to make roasted tomatillo salsas from my friend Tom a few years ago, so making a tomatillo salsa with roasted hatch chiles seemed like a harmonious combination. For this salsa, I used frozen hatch chiles that were already roasted, peeled, seeded and diced. Hatch chiles actually freeze pretty well, but if it’s chile season (typically August and September) you can’t go wrong with freshly roasted hatch chiles. Also, depending on which chile dominates your region, and one that you have perhaps sworn an allegiance too, feel free to use that chile in this recipe. Just make sure it is roasted, peeled, seeded dice – and preferably green!
I didn’t test this recipe with canned hatch chiles or green chiles, but if you do use the canned variety, you may want to modify the amount of salt and vinegar in this recipe. The canned hatch chiles will have citric acid and salt added, whereas frozen or fresh hatch chiles will not.
Now it is important for me to address the heat level of this salsa. Since I know my audience, and by that I mean my wife, doesn’t like food that is very spicy, I used mild hatch chiles. If you are using hatch chiles that are hot or extra hot, well you probably like it that way and this recipe will be great with that extra heat. The serrano peppers will also bring some heat to this salsa. I use them because I just prefer the flavor of serranos over jalapenos. Most of the heat in these two peppers comes from the seeds and the white membrane, and when I remove the seeds and the membrane from a jalapeno, I just feel like I’m eating a bell pepper. But when I do the same for the serrano, it just brings a different flavor.
That being said, for this recipe I cut off about half-an-inch at the stem end of the serrano, since that is where most of the membrane and seeds are located in a serrano pepper. It still brings some heat, which I like. If you want to make this salsa as mild as possible while still having the same flavors, be sure to use mild hatch chiles and to remove all seeds and white membrane from your serranos.
Garlic, onion, tomatillo, and serrano pepper ready to be roasted
Can we get to the part where you tell me how to roast tomatillos? Yes, we can.
This is a roasted salsa because we are going to roast the tomatillos, onion, garlic, and serrano peppers. The hatch chiles are already roasted, so we are going to pardon them from a double roasted fate. And speaking of pardons, here is a confession: We are broiling, not roasting. If you have limited experience using your broiler, this recipe is a great place to start. Roasting ingredients for salsas is actually what got me more comfortable with broiling myself. The key is to not walk away, especially if you are new to using your broiler.
Since we are broiling, you are going to need to make sure you are using a cooking vessel that is broiler safe. I like to use a broiler safe casserole dish, because it’s easier to pour all of the juice into the blender after the broiling process is complete. You don’t want to leave that flavorful liquid behind. But you could also use a broiler safe baking sheet.
After 7 minutes of broiling
While broiling these ingredients, you want to get as much roasted flavor as you can out of them without actually burning everything. We are going for a really hard char, but not a burn. When broiling, the heat is only coming from the coils at the top of your oven. To maximize the surface area of that char, we will broil everything for about 7 minutes, then flip everything over and char the other side.
After broiling both sides
After broiling is complete, remove the skin from the garlic. We kept the skin on so that it could handle the broiling without burning. Then add everything to the blender along with the rest of the ingredients. The reason I have water on the ingredients list is just to thin the salsa out a bit. I have found that once I refrigerate this salsa, it gets a bit thick. If you are going to eat the entire batch as soon as you make it, feel free to omit the water.
Once you have the basic of making roasted salsas down, it really just comes down to your personal taste and the ingredients that you have on-hand.
Servings/Suggestions
Dig into this salsa with your favorite tortilla chips
Use this roasted salsa as a flavor base for a great soup or stew
Top off a bowl of beans or some grilled chicken with this roasted tomatillo and hatch chile salsa
Special Equipement
Broiler safe casserole dish or baking sheet
Silicon Tongs or spatula
Ingredients
10 tomatillos
Approximately 20 ounces of husked tomatillos
2 serrano peppers
1 white onion
5 garlic cloves, skin on
1 tablespoon neutral oil
such as grapeseed or canola oil
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 tablespoons white vinegar
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 cup roasted, peeled, seeded and diced mild hatch chiles
1/4 cup water
1/3 of a bunch of cilantro, stems chopped into 1 inch pieces
Directions
Step 1
Remove the husks from the tomatillos. Place them in a bowl and cover the tomatillos with water. Rub off any dirt or brown bits stuck to the tomatillos. Cut the tomatillos in half and place on a broiler safe casserole dish or baking sheet.
Step 2
Quarter the white onion. Remove the stem, skin, and leathery outer layer. Cut the stem end off of the serrano peppers. Add the onion, serranos, and skin-on garlic cloves to the casserole dish or baking sheet with the tomatillos. Add the oil and mix to coat the vegetables. Sprinkle with 1 teaspoon of kosher salt.
Step 3
Adjust the rack in your oven to the top position. Turn on the broiler. I can set my broiler between 450 degrees Fahrenheit and 550 degrees Fahrenheit. I always set it at 500 degrees. Depending on the settings for your broiler, it may take a little longer or shorter than the times that follow. It should only take a few minutes for the broiler to be ready to go. Place your cooking vessel on the top rack of your oven and set a timer for 5 minutes. If you are new to broiling, don’t walk away.
Step 4
After the 5 minutes have elapsed, parts of everything should be getting charred. As long as nothing is smoking, you are just building flavor. If you can go a little longer, let the tomatillos and everything else go for another 2 or 3 minutes.
Step 5
Remove your cooking vessel from the oven. Use tongs or a spatula to flip over the tomatillos, onion quarters, serranos, and garlic. Broil for 7 more minutes, but if anything starts smoking stop at that point.
Step 6
Remove the garlic from its skin. Add the tomatillos, onion, garlic, and serranos to your blender, and include any juices left behind. Also add the cilantro, white vinegar, ground cumin, mild hatch chiles, and water. Blend well. Taste. Add more vinegar, cumin, or salt as you see fit. The recipes yields just over a pint of roasted salsa.
Roasted Tomatillo And Hatch Chile Salsa
Ingredients
- 10 tomatillos
- 2 serrano peppers
- 1 white onion
- 5 garlic cloves, skin on
- 1 tablespoon neutral oil
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 tablespoons white vinegar
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/4 cup roasted, peeled, seeded and diced mild hatch chiles
- 1/4 cup water
- 1/3 of a bunch of cilantro, stems chopped into 1 inch pieces
Instructions
- Remove the husks from the tomatillos. Place them in a bowl and cover the tomatillos with water. Rub off any dirt or brown bits stuck to the tomatillos. Cut the tomatillos in half and place on a broiler safe casserole dish or baking sheet.
- Quarter the white onion. Remove the stem, skin, and leathery outer layer. Cut the stem end off of the serrano peppers. Add the onion quarters, serranos, and skin-on garlic cloves to the casserole dish or baking sheet with the tomatillos. Add the oil and mix to coat the vegetables. Sprinkle with 1 teaspoon of kosher salt.
- Adjust the rack in your oven to the top position. Turn on the broiler. I can set my broiler between 450 degrees Fahrenheit and 550 degrees Fahrenheit. I always set it at 500 degrees. Depending on the settings for your broiler, it may take a little longer or shorter than the times that follow. It should only take a few minutes for the broiler to be ready to go. Place your cooking vessel on the top rack of your oven and set a timer for 5 minutes. If you are new to broiling, don’t walk away.
- After the 5 minutes have elapsed, parts of everything should be getting charred. As long as nothing is smoking, you are just building flavor. If you can go a little longer, let the tomatillos and everything else go for another 2 or 3 minutes.
- Remove your cooking vessel from the oven. Use tongs or a spatula to flip over the tomatillos, onion quarters, serranos, and garlic. Broil for 7 more minutes, but if anything starts smoking stop at that point.
- Remove the garlic from its skin. Add the tomatillos, onion, garlic, and serranos to your blender, and include any juices left behind. Also add the cilantro, white vinegar, ground cumin, mild hatch chiles, and water. Blend well. Taste. Add more vinegar, cumin, or salt as you see fit. The recipes yields just over a pint of roasted salsa.
Notes
Don't forget to refer to the website for more details and notes!