Charred Tomatillo Salsa Verde

By Sprig Originals ✓ · cooked up in Sprig

The salsa that sits in a squeeze bottle on every good taqueria counter: tomatillos and chiles blistered under the broiler until blackened and slippery, then blended with raw garlic, white onion, cilantro and lime into a loose, tart, smoky green sauce. Charring is the whole trick — it kills the raw tomatillo's grassy bite and gives you that dark, savory depth. Ten minutes of work, and it keeps for a week.

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 lb fresh tomatillos, husked and rinsed (about 10 medium)
• 2 serrano chiles, stemmed
• 1 jalapeño, stemmed
• 1/2 medium white onion, peeled and cut into 2 thick slabs
• 3 cloves garlic, unpeeled
• 2 tsp neutral oil, such as canola or avocado
• 1 cup cilantro leaves and tender stems, loosely packed
• 1 1/2 tsp kosher salt, plus more to taste
• 1 tbsp fresh lime juice
• 1/4 cup cold water, or as needed

• 1/2 avocado, for a creamy version
• 1/4 tsp ground cumin
• 2 tbsp finely diced white onion, for garnish

Instructions

1. Position an oven rack 5 to 6 inches below the broiler element and turn the broiler to high. Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil.
2. Pat the husked tomatillos completely dry — surface moisture steams instead of chars. Toss the tomatillos, serranos, jalapeño, onion slabs and unpeeled garlic cloves with the 2 teaspoons oil and spread them in a single layer on the sheet, tomatillos stem-side down.
3. Broil for 6 to 8 minutes, until the tomatillos are blistered and blackened in spots on top and the chile skins have puffed and charred. Pull the garlic out early if it darkens fast — 4 minutes is usually enough for it to soften.
4. Flip the tomatillos, chiles and onion with tongs and broil 4 to 6 minutes more, until the tomatillos have collapsed, turned from bright to olive green, and released juice onto the foil. Let the sheet rest 5 minutes; the juices are pure flavor, so don't pour them off.
5. Squeeze the garlic out of its skins. Scrape everything, including all the sheet-pan juices, into a blender. Add the cilantro, 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt and the lime juice.
6. Blend in short pulses, 8 to 10 one-second bursts, until you have a coarse, flecked sauce rather than a smooth purée. Over-blending whips in air and turns the color pale, so stop while you can still see specks of chile and cilantro.
7. Thin with cold water a tablespoon at a time until the salsa pours in a slow ribbon off a spoon — taqueria salsa verde should be loose enough to spoon over a taco without sitting on top of it. Add up to 1/4 cup total.
8. Taste and adjust: more salt for depth, more lime if it tastes flat, a pinch of sugar if the tomatillos were especially sharp. Transfer to a bowl or squeeze bottle and refrigerate at least 30 minutes — the flavor tightens up and rounds out as it chills.
9. Serve cold or at room temperature, garnished with a spoonful of finely diced raw white onion if you like the texture.

Chef's tips

Nutrition (per serving, estimated)

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