With red wine vinegar and Worcestershire Sauce, this salsa is just right spicy, fresh and robust in flavor. Don’t reach for another jar of salsa from the grocery shelf until you try making your own homemade roasted tomatillo salsa. Always better, less expensive and healthier. And did I mention easy?

This recipe was first published January, 2018 and updated October, 2020

Making Homemade Salsa and Why This Recipe Works

Where would we be without salsa? Game day would be less zesty, and our corn chips would be very sad and lonely.

I’ve started making my own Salsas. About time don’t you think?

As many Mexican and Southwestern meals that come out of this kitchen, it seems silly to reach for those jars at the store.

Plus, it seems I’m always trying a new brand every chance I get to find a flavor profile that I love. Jarred salsas always come up short handed, with something not being quite right.

So I’ve taken to my own test kitchen, researched recipes and ideas and after a few experiments have come up with a Homemade Roasted Tomatillo Salsa recipe.

One that I think tasted like a classic salsa verde recipe.

One can call this Salsa Verde Mexicana or Green Salsa using fresh tomatillos. But with the addition of Worcestershire and Red Wine Vinegar, I’d call this delightful.

What Goes Into This Recipe – Ingredients

Mise en place. Always gather ingredients before starting any recipe. It will save you time and organize your mind.

Ingredients used to make homemade roasted tomatillo salsa.

Fresh Tomatillos, The star of the show and the backbone of this recipe, look for tomatillos in the produce section. I find them next to the tomatoes. Their flavor is slightly acidic and tart.
Onions, One simply can’t make salsa without onions. Sweet or yellow onions work best for this recipe.
Jalapeno, We always need to bring a little heat to any salsa recipe. Control that heat by removing the veins and seeds of a jalapeno pepper, or leave them in for hot spicy salsa.
Limes, Fresh lime juice, a staple in many salsas, not only brings that tropical flavor, but brightens the overall flavor.
Sugar, Sugar will balance out the tartness of the tomatillos.
Worcestershire Sauce, I love what the flavor does to this salsa. Savory, sweet and salty, it adds a dynamic layer of goodness.
Red Wine Vinegar, Vinegar with a touch of sweetness. Red Wine Vinegar is a robust choice for this combination of ingredients.

Ingredient Swaps:

Pickapeppa Sauce: If you’ve got a bottle of Pickapeppa sauce in the fridge, don’t hesitate to substitute it for the Worcestershire. Similar to Worcestershire, but mildly spicy, it’a a great alternative.
If you don’t have Red Wine Vinegar, a great substitute is Apple Cider Vinegar or even White Wine Vinegar.
Add a squeeze of honey in place of the sugar.
With the same pale green color and similar crunch, Green Tomatoes are a good substitute for tomatillos.

And by the way, whats a tomatillo anyway? A tomatillo is a small round fruit that’s encased in delicate paper husk.

Tomatillos are indigenous to Mexico and Central America, they’re also known as husk tomatoes or tomatoes verdes.

They’re related to the tomato and widely used in Mexican cooking lending a tart zesty flavor to sauces and salsas. Their tangy citrusy flavor turns slightly sweet when cooked.

To prepare, just remove the paper husks and rinse.

How To Make This Recipe – It’s Easy!

Roasting tomatillos in a pan with garlic to make Tomatillo Salsa Sauce.

Roasting Tomatillos For Salsa: Start by removing the husks from the tomtillos, rinsing them and slicing them in half. In a frypan, stovetop, cook the tomatillos over medium heat until they start to brown on each side and start to soften.
The tart tomatillo gets a sweet caramelized flavor when pan seared.

Making tomatillo salsa in a food processor.

Then simply add all ingredients in your food processor. Pulse until the salsa is the consistency you’d like. Depending on what you’re using it for, chunky or thin is your choice.

Roasted Tomatillo Salsa Recipe

Homemade salsa verde using fresh tomatillos

I hope you give this recipe for Roasted Tomatillo Salsa Verde a try. And if you do, please come back and give the recipe a star rating. And leave a comment about your experience with the recipe.

And if you have a favorite green salsa recipe, let me know, I’d love to give it a try.

But What Do I Use Tomatillo Salsa For?

Everything! It’s basically just a different flavor profile than your favorite red tomato salsa.

Besides a dip for tortilla chips, here are some recipe I’ve used this green salsa for:

Roasted Green Chile Chicken Soft Tacos
Breakfast Tacos
Award Winning White Bean Chili
Black Bean Chicken Tostadas with Tangy Romaine
Scrambled Eggs
Chorizo Potato Shiitake Mushroom Tacos
Dollop a little onto Calabacitas con Queso

More Homemade Salsa Recipes

Chipotle Peach Salsa, A very special salsa recipe for fresh peach season.
Chipotle Black Bean Corn Salsa Easy using canned black beans, load up those corn chips with this tasty appetizer salsa.
Essential Mexican Restaurant Style Salsa A salsa recipe that tastes just like you’d find at your favorite Mexican Restaurant.
Big Batch Salsa for Canning Your tortilla chips will thank you when you have a stash of this fresh canned salsa to keep you warm all winter long.

And if you love Mexican Food as much as we do, take a look at my Mexican-Southwestern Category. You’ll find a ton of ideas for your next fiesta. Including the most popular recipe on my site for Hatch Green Chile with Pork.