Roasted Salsa Verde

How to make Roasted salsa verde? This post discusses the different methods for roasting salsa verde ingredients. Roasting is a dry cooking method technique that allows the food to be cooked at higher temperatures than boiling. Roasting produces browning, which makes food taste good.

I’ve tried different methods for roasting salsa verde ingredients. Each method has it’s advantages and disadvantages. That is why I decided to write about my experience with some of these methods. Now it is up to you to choose one.

Comal: Commercially available comales are usually made with carbon steel or aluminum. These materials are light in weight and heat up really fast. Roasting salsa in a comal is fast and efficient. It is one of my favorite methods. The only disadvantage here is that the tomatillos stick to the comal and you have to clean the comal right away by deglazing with water and scraping with a wooden spatula. If you don’t do it right away you will have to scratch later and could damage the comal coating, which who knows what kind of coating they have.

To roast the ingredients in the comal, just place the ingredients on it, with no oil and wait until charred and cooked through. Move the ingredients around now and then to cook evenly.

Cast Iron: Just like the comal, you heat up the ingredients over a metal surface. But a cast iron skillet takes longer to heat up than carbon steel or aluminum. The advantage of a cast iron skillet is that it has no toxic or dangerous coating. It is one of the best type of cookware to use overall. So, even though it takes time to heat up in the beginning, it gives you good results and is safe. However, there’d be some sticking as well, so you’ll have to make sure you clean it right after by deglazing with water and scraping the bits with a wooden spoon.

To roast the ingredients in the cast iron, just place the ingredients on it, with no oil and wait until charred and cooked through. Move around now and then to cook evenly.

Here are some tomatillos getting some charring on a cast iron skillet.

Here are the tomatillos after some heat 🔥. Can you see how they change from bright green to this olive/ pale green?

Broiler: The broiler works as a grill, except the heat source comes from above. It is fast, efficient and easy to clean. However, it doesn’t cook the ingredients evenly. You would have to take out the tray and turn them over to achieve good results. Also, never put parchment paper when broiling or it will caught fire.

To roast in the broiler, set one of the oven racks closer to the heat source. Then, place the ingredients directly on a baking sheet with no oil or parchment paper. Make sure you dry the ingredients before putting them on the baking sheet. Put the baking sheet inside.Turn the tomatillos and chiles every 5 minutes, so that it cooks evenly. Leave the ingredients in the broiler for about 12-14 minutes total. I suggest you set a timer since you cannot see the cooking process while on the broiler.

These tomatillos are getting ready to go in the broiler.

After a few minutes...

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Grill: Grilling salsa verde ingredients is really the best. By all means do it while doing a carne asada, or BBQ or whatever you are doing on your grill. Take advantage of that heat and put some chiles and tomatillos there. The only disadvantage is that is not always convenient. Sometimes, we just want a salsa for our day to day cooking

No that I have explained some of the methods I’ve tried, here is the recipe.

Ingredients

10 tomatillos

4 serrano peppers for spicy salsa, for mild salsa use 2.

1/4 white onion

2 garlic cloves

1/4 cup cilantro

3/4 tsp salt

Procedure

1. Remove the husk from the tomatillos, wash all the produce. Pat them dry.
2. Preheat your cast iron skillet or comal and place all the ingredients on the skillet. Leave the garlic peel on to protect it from burning and cook it on the side of the skillet. If using the broiler, see instructions above for the broiler.
3. Cook the tomatillos until they are soft, and have turned pale green. The chiles become soft and the onions charred.
4. Remove the skin from the garlic and place all the ingredients into the blender or a food processor.
5. Enjoy, with chips, enchiladas, chilaquiles, tacos etc.