Original video by @BrianLagerstrom — all credit to the creator.
3 Homemade Salsas: Restaurant-Style, Roasted Tomatillo, and Dried Chile Taquera
Three salsas that beat anything from a jar: a bright food-processor restaurant salsa, a smoky roasted tomatillo-poblano version, and a deep, fried dried-chile taquera salsa. Each one comes together with pantry staples and a blender or food processor.
Ingredients
Mexican Restaurant Salsa
- 100 gwhite onion · about 2/3 cup, 1/2 of an onion
- 50 gjalapeño · about 1 jalapeño; ribs and seeds removed
- 10 ggarlic · about 3 cloves
- 10 gcilantro · about 1/4 cup
- 10 glime juice · juice of 1/2 lime
- 5 gwhite vinegar · about 1 tsp
- 5 gsalt · about 1 tsp
- 200 gtomato sauce · about 3/4 cup
- 200 gfire-roasted diced tomatoes · about 3/4 cup
Tomatillo Salsa
- 450 gfresh tomatillos · about 1 lb; husks removed, halved
- 150 gwhite onion · about 1/2 of one onion, medium diced
- 200 gpoblano peppers · about 2 medium; de-stemmed, seeded, large chopped
- 20 ggarlic · about 6 cloves
- 8 gsalt · about 1 1/2 tsp
Dried Chile Taquera Salsa
- 20 gdried guajillo chiles · about 3-4; stemmed and seeded
- 1-2 gchiles de árbol · 3-6 chiles, stemmed
- 5 gancho chile · about 1/2 large, seeded
- 1 Lwater · for soaking chiles
- 200 gtomatoes · about 2 small, halved
- 275 gtomatillos · about 5-6 medium, halved
- 50 gwhite onion · about 1/3 cup
- 10 ggarlic · about 3 cloves
- 5-10 gwhite vinegar · about 1-2 tsp
- 2 gsugar · about 1/2 tsp
- 8 gsalt · about 1 1/2 tsp
- 100-120 gchile soaking water · about 1/2 cup; or fresh water
- 1 tbspneutral oil · for frying; about 2-3 tbsp used in the pan
Steps
- 1
MEXICAN RESTAURANT SALSA: Rough chop the onion, jalapeño (ribs and seeds removed), and garlic.
- 2
Add the onion, jalapeño, garlic, cilantro, lime juice, vinegar, and salt to a food processor. Pulse until you have a coarse mince.
- 3
Add the tomato sauce and fire-roasted diced tomatoes. Pulse in short bursts to your desired texture.
- 4
Taste for salt, adjust, and serve cold with thin salty chips.
- 5
TOMATILLO SALSA: Preheat the oven to 450F/230C.
- 6
Break the onion and poblanos down into a medium chop. Dehusk and halve the tomatillos.
- 7
Arrange the tomatillos, poblanos, onion, and garlic on a parchment-lined sheet tray.
- 8
Roast 15-22 minutes, until everything is roasty, blistered, and tender.
- 9
Move everything to a food processor, add 8g salt, put the lid on, and let it rest and steam for 10 minutes.
- 10
Pulse to your preferred texture. Taste for salt and adjust, then chill before serving.
- 11
DRIED CHILE TAQUERA SALSA: Preheat the oven to 450F/230C. Stem and seed the guajillo, ancho, and árbol chiles and tear them into a few pieces.
- 12
Toast the chiles in a dry pan 1-2 minutes until fragrant, stirring constantly, then add the water and soak 15 minutes.
- 13
Meanwhile, halve the tomatoes and tomatillos and rough chop the onion and garlic. Roast on a parchment-lined sheet tray at 450F for 15-18 minutes, until browned, blistered, and tender. Broil 2-5 minutes afterward if you want more char.
- 14
Add the chiles, roasted vegetables, vinegar, salt, and sugar to a blender jar. Put the lid on and rest for 10 minutes.
- 15
Taste the chile soaking water and reserve 120g if it tastes good, otherwise use fresh water. After the rest, add it to the blender and blend until smoothish — rustic is good, but avoid chunky chile skins.
- 16
Heat 2-3 tbsp oil in a saucepan until shimmering. Add the salsa and fry, stirring, about 2 minutes, until slightly darkened and thickened.
- 17
Cool completely, then serve.
Creator's notes
Three separate salsas in one video — make any one on its own. Detailed recipes are on Brian's blog at brianlagerstrom.com/recipes. For the taquera salsa, a slightly rustic texture is preferred, but avoid chunky chile skins.
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