Roasted Tomatillo Sauce (salsa verde | green enchilada sauce)

I have a current client who loves my verde enchiladas stuffed with chipotle tofu & cotija cheese. I have other clients who love this sauce with sliced skirt steak or sautéed chicken breasts. I also make this sauce as a salsa for tacos, tortilla chips and a topping for bean soup. Point is, I make this roasted tomatillo sauce A LOT.

This sauce is so easy to make, I simply roast all the veggie components until tender and slightly browned, then I blend it all together with some fresh cilantro. That’s it. The recipe I’m including in this post makes 3+ cups, which is great for a whole casserole dish of verde enchiladas. I recommend making the whole batch of salsa even if not making a whole tray of enchiladas because you’ll want to slather it on everything (quesadillas, burrito bowls, bean stews etc.). However, when making it for clients who are using it as a dipping sauce for meat or poultry, I make about half, or even a third of this recipe. It’s a very forgiving recipe and the proportions don’t need to be exact.


My Roasted Tomatillo Sauce is a personal cheffing gem because it’s easy, versatile, plant-based, gluten-free and delicious. Winner winner enchilada dinner.

Roasted Tomatillo Sauce
vegan | gluten-free | nut-free
Yield: 3 to 3.5 cups

Ingredients

1.5 lbs tomatillos (papery skins removed, rinsed to remove sticky residue)
1 small-medium yellow onion
4-5 cloves garlic, gently crushed and peeled
1 jalapeño, remove ribs/seeds for a mild heat level
1 medium-large poblano pepper, seeds removed
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
sea salt, fine grain
1/2 cup loosely packed cilantro leaves

To Make

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Prepare veggies for roasting. Cut large tomatillos in half, leave smaller ones whole. Remove outer layer of onion and cut into wedges. Chop jalapeño into 4 pieces and poblano into about 6 pieces. On a baking sheet, toss tomatillos, onion, garlic cloves, jalapeño and poblano with 2 tablespoons olive oil and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Spread into a single layer but overlapping. I nestle the garlic below the other veggies to prevent burning.

Roast veggies for 25-35 minutes, or until tomatillos have bursted and released their liquid and all veggies are super tender. Toss once during cooking if needed. There should still be a lot of liquid/moisture when they’re finished roasting, but if too dry, add a splash of water when blending.

Allow veggies to cool slightly then transfer everything (including as much liquid as possible) to a large vessel, like a 4-cup glass measuring cup, or a standard blender. Using an immersion blender or standard blender, blend until smooth. Add cilantro leaves and blend until cilantro is finely chopped. Season with salt to taste, about 1/2 teaspoon for me.