This tomatillo red chili salsa is a staple in the Mexican cuisine. Roasted tomatillos, chile de árbol, and guajillo peppers are blended with garlic and salt to yield one of the most delicious salsas to drizzle over your tacos, tostadas, or sopes.
How to use tomatillo red chili salsa
This salsa can be used in so many ways. Let me show you just a few:
- APPETIZER: Serve it in a bowl with homemade corn chips. Perfect for game days!
- DRIZZLED: From steak tacos, to chicken tostadas, to a cheesy and gooey steak quesadilla, this tomatillo red chili salsa is the perfect addition to any Mexican street food.
- BASE: You can use this salsa to make nopales with pork, queso con chile, and even beef chile rojo.
What are tomatillos?
Tomatillos, sometimes called husk tomatoes are the produce of a plant from the same name which is native to Mexico, they look like a small green tomato wrapped in a papery husk, like some sort of alkekengi. In Mexico, tomatillos are used to make all types of salsas, especially salsa verde. But also to create many base sauces for more elaborated dishes, such as pozole verde or chicharrón en salsa verde.
SUBSTITUTES: If you can’t find fresh tomatillos where you live, you can add a can of tomatillos, they usually are just boiled and preserved in water and salt. Another solution would be to add a 14-oz bottle of green salsa.
The Chilies
I am using in this recipe for tomatillo red chili salsa two types of chilies. My mother usually added only one, and that’s it chile de árbol, but the result was a VERY spicy salsa since she need to add a good amount of those to achieve the brilliant and nice red color. So, a popular trick is to add also some mild red chile pepper, in this case, Guajillo. Guajillo not only adds color but also a mild delicious flavor.
SUBSTITUTES: If you can’t find guajillo where you live, you can also use 1 tablespoon of paprika (any type you prefer). New Mexico dried chilies are also a nice substitute, so are Anaheim.
The Recipe Steps
Useful Recipe Notes
- Pay attention when roasting chilies, as chile de árbol burns easily, so make sure you flip them almost immediately, they can be done in just a few seconds, the same as guajillo.
- I suggest roasting garlic with the skin on, I find that garlic tends to get a burnt flavor when roasted without.
- Always blend first chilies as those are harder to blend.
- If you add a bottle of tomatillo salsa instead of fresh tomatillos, make sure you reduce the number of chilies, as the store-bought salsa is already spicy.
- You can also use a molcajete or mortar to make this delicious tomatillo red chili salsa. Just grind first the chilies to pulverize them, then proceed with garlic, onions, and grind at last the tomatillos. This is the most traditional way of making tomatillo red chili salsa in Mexico.
How To Store
- Tomatillo red chili salsa can be stored in the fridge for up to 5 days!. Place it in a jar or a glass air-tight container before storing, as glass containers preserve best the flavors and are easier to clean.
- If you want to store it in the freezer, transfer the salsa to a plastic container or zip bags, label them, and store for up to 4 months. I love making a double bunch of this recipe, divide in bags and store for when I needed it.
Tomatillo Red Chili Salsa
Ingredients
- 1 ½ lb tomatillos (husks removed and washed)
- 6 chile de árbol peppers (stem removed)
- 3 guajillo chili peppers (stem and seeds removed)
- 1 small onion (cut in half)
- 3 garlic cloves (skin on)
- salt (to taste)
Instructions
- Place a comal or a cast iron skillet over medium heat and allow to heat up until smoky.
- Place tomatillos, allow to roast for about 10 minutes or until they soften and charred spots appears, make sure to flip them from time to time to roast evenly.
- Half way from tomatillos being roasted, add onions and garlic and roast until onions are translucent.
- Add chilies and roast those for a few seconds too (read notes).
Blend
- Peel garlic and add it to a blender with chilies, onions, and half of tomatillos.
- Add 1 teaspoon salt and ½ cup of water. Blend at high until you'll have a smooth salsa.
- Add the remaining tomatillos. Pulse a few times to blend and combine the ingredients.
- Adjust salt to taste and transfer the salsa to a bowl or jar.
Notes
- Pay attention when roasting chilies, as chile de árbol burns easily, so make sure you flip them almost immediately, they can be done in just a few seconds, same as guajillo.
- I suggest to roasting garlic with the skin on, I find that garlic tends to get a burnt flavor when roasted without.
- If you adding a bottle of tomatillo salsa instead of fresh tomatillos, make sure you reduce the amount of chilies, as the store-bought salsa is already spicy.
- You can also use a molcajete or mortar to make this delicious tomatillo red chili salsa. Just grind first the chilies to pulverize them, then proceed with garlic, onions, and grind last tomatillos. This is actually the most traditional way of making tomatillo red chili salsa in Mexico.
Nutrition Information
Enjoyed this tomatillo red chili salsa recipe? Please, don’t forget to rate it and leave us a comment below, we’d love to hear from you! Also, remember that you can share it using the buttons below and follow this blog on PINTEREST, INSTAGRAM, FACEBOOK and YOUTUBE!
Maricruz Avalos Flores is a Mexican cook and photographer living in Italy where she shares authentic Mexican & Italian recipes that can be easily made at home using easy-to-find ingredients.
Really lovely to find a recipe for Tomatillos that is not green. Admittedly, I used only 3 chilli de árbol but upped the Guajillos to 4 as I’ve spent the last week cooking for my parents. My Mother in particular only has to see the word “Habanero” to break out in a sweat!
I served it as an accompaniment to your Breadcrumbed fish recipe along with Guacamole and warmed (flour) Tortillas. I used Haddock. Everyone very much enjoyed the meal so as a collective thankyou from my parents and I, THANKS for the recipes. X
Hi Paul, glad your family enjoyed the meal. Say hi to your parents from me :)
I know that everyone has to warn everybody,
but you can store this for more than 5 days. Sealed container and it will be good for 5 Months. Look at it and the Nose Knows Good or Bad.
I really like it! As good as any of the good salsa that I’ve had at some small family Mexican restaurants.
Thank you.
How can I incorporate dried chilis? Don’t they need to rehydrate?
Hi Becca, chile de árbol are actually dried, so no, you don’t need to rehydrate the chilies for this recipe. Hope you like the salsa!
Can I used dried chilies? If so, I would rehydrate them and remove seeds and stems. Then add to the blender and move forward with recipe?
Hi Lynn, yes you can use dried chilies but you don’t have to rehydrate them. Just remove the seeds and membranes if you want to remove some heat (or just add a less chilies).
Make sure you blend the chilies first with some tomatillos (or tomatoes), so they will combine well.
Hope you enjoy this tomatillo chile salsa :)
Hi! Can I use dried chilis? It’s all I can get around here. Thanks!
Raquel, absolutely. Use any type of dried chili pepper you have available :)
Thank you! I ended up using dried chili de árbol and dried guajillos. I toasted them both for a few seconds and then soaked them in hot water for about 20 minutes before blending them up with all the other ingredients. It worked perfectly and this sauce was absolutely delicious with tacos. Even better than my local taqueria! Thank you so much!
We LOVE this recipe! Can you please tell us how long will it last in a Mason jar in the refrigerator? Can it be frozen or otherwise stored for future use? Thank you in advance for your consideration!
Hi Shelley, happy you enjoyed the recipe! You can find the storage recommendations in the post, right before the recipe card. However, this salsa keeps nicely in the fridge for up to 5 days and in the freezer for up to 4 months.
Definitely worth making a large batch and having it ready in the freeze for taco nights :)
This was spicier than I initially expected, need to tone it down a bit next time, my fiance could barely eat it haha, I had no problem though #spicelover here. At first this was thought of as a netflix snack but we had a lot left so we used it for taco as well. Great one, Maricruz!
Thank you Christine, you can also try my recipe for “guajillo sauce” it’s less spicer than this but also delicious :)
Estimada Maricruz,
¿por qué ya no encuentro tus recetas en español?
Gracias
Hola Verónica! Están donde siempre: https://www.maricruzavalos.com/es/
Dime si tienes problemas a ver el sitio en español por favor :)
This salsa looks delicious, and I’d like to make it for my son who is allergic to tomatoes, but is able to eat tomatillos with no problem. However, the recipe seems to be missing the amount of onion, even though I see it in the instructions. Can you let me know how much onion to put in this recipe? Thanks!
Hi Esther, thank you for letting me know, I fixed the recipe card now. You can use one small onion or a good chunk of a medium onion.
Thank you so much! I made the salsa for my son, and he absolutely loved it! He has been missing salsa for a long time, and this really made his day. He said he hasn’t enjoyed Mexican food so much in years. The rest of the family loved it too, so much that I already need to buy some more tomatillos so I can make another batch. Thanks again for a great recipe!
Glad you enjoyed it! :)