Easy Salsa Verde Recipe with Roasted Tomatillos or Green Tomatoes (Can or Freeze)
Making this salsa verde recipe from scratch is easier than you think! A simple roasting of green tomatoes or tomatillos brings out a flavor so sublime, you’ll never go back to the store-bought stuff. You can make this salsa as spicy as you like and then choose to water bath can it or freeze it for a burst of summer any time of year. This is perfect for a taco bar or anywhere you’d use salsa, and makes a great sauce for slow cooked chicken or pork.
✩ What readers are saying…
“I have never been a big fan of salsa verde, but I have an abundance of green tomatoes that I do not want to go to waste. So I gave your recipe a try, and oh my goodness! This is so amazing and the recipe is so easy to follow. Thank you! I now have salsa in my freezer that we will enjoy throughout the winter. This will definitely be my go-to salsa recipe!” -Debby
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This homemade salsa verde recipe is made with a simple roasting technique using tomatillos or green tomatoes – it’s equally good with whatever you have on hand! The tangy, slightly spicy flavor of green salsa gives such a great flavor to easy meals like tacos and enchiladas.
I love having this salsa verde on hand as another option, along with my red tomato based favorite canned salsa, as a dip for chips and using it in other southwestern recipes (a dollop of this on Chicken Chili? Yum.)
Salsa is one of the best things you can have in your pantry for quick meals and snacks – it really has saved us many times from the drive-through.
Every time we’re in a rush, or late coming home and I think about grabbing some food along the way, I remember that we usually have chips, cheese, salsa and sometimes tortillas. It takes about 10 minutes to make nachos or black bean quesadillas with salsa. Problem solved!
Can you use green tomatoes instead of tomatillos for salsa verde?
While the traditional Mexican salsa verde is made with tomatillos, the tangy flavor and firm texture of green tomatoes is a great substitute – with the added bonus of using up any green tomatoes you have on the vines at the end of the gardening season (and you know we love that!).
So it really is equally good with either fruit – feel free to use either.
Would you like even MORE ways to use up green tomatoes? Then check out this cookbook I created that features delicious recipes to both eat right away and preserve for later:
Ingredients Needed
- Tomatillos or green tomatoes: Like I mentioned above, you can use either. You can also use a combo of tomatillos and green tomatoes, which I have done often.
- Hot peppers: Use a combination of jalapeño and mild green Anaheim or Poblano chilies, to your taste and spice level – as long as the portions are the same, it’s safe for canning. I use half jalapeños and leave the seeds in because we like it spicy – use more Anaheims and Poblanos and/or remove seeds for less spice.
- Onions and garlic: Like all recipes to can, use only the amounts listed in the recipe card below – and follow the “coarsely chopped” guideline. NOTE: if you are freezing, you are free to adjust any of the ingredients!
- Bottled lime juice (or lemon): The lime or lemon are interchangeable, but it MUST be bottled (according to the USDA because bottled is a stable acid level). The tested recipe I based this on calls for lime or lemon, which means you cannot substitute vinegar (it’s not the same acid level as citrus).
- Oregano and Cumin: Feel free to adjust these amounts to your taste (though see note below).
- Salt and black pepper: You can also adjust these to your taste, though the salt needs to be a pure sea salt or a canning salt – basically a salt with no additives.
Spice Level Note: Over the years there have been a few comments about the flavor of the oregano or cumin taking over. One reader noted that the flavor is much more blended after canning and storage, so don’t make a quick decision right away if it’s not to your taste!
Freeze or can it, let the flavors meld, and then see what you think. In the words of reader Laura: “If you are not a green salsa fan, then maybe you still won’t like it, but this is one of the best recipes I’ve ever used!”
How to Prepare Tomatillos and Green Tomatoes for Salsa Verde
Tomatillos are such a fun plant to grow! All you need is 1-2 plants to harvest enough for salsa, so if you grow tomatoes, leave room to add a tomatillo for a change.
Harvest the tomatillos when they are firm and filling out the outer husk. To prepare them, simply rub or pull off the husk. You’ll notice a sticky residue left – that’s normal, simply wash the fruit to remove as much as you can. Then chop them (no need to core – there isn’t much of a core) and add them to the roasting pan.
As for green tomatoes, wash them as needed before coring and chopping them. The biggest question I see regarding green tomatoes is:
Do you have to peel green tomatoes for salsa verde?
No, you do not – no matter what you read. This recipe is based on a tested recipe from the National Center for Home Food Preservation where they state both that peeling and seeding aren’t necessary (and that you can substitute green tomatoes for tomatillos).
How to Make Roasted Salsa Verde
Step 1: Prep Ingredients. Wash, cut, and chop the tomatillos or green tomatoes, chilies, onion, and garlic placing them in a large roasting pan.
Step 2: Roast. Place roasting pan into a 425 degree oven and cook for 15 minutes. Stir ingredients and cook another 15-20 minutes until veggies are softened.
Step 3: Add remaining ingredients and boil. Transferring the roasted vegetables to a stockpot, add the lime juice and seasonings, and bring to boil before canning (to freeze, let it cool and pour into freezer jars).
Chunky or Smoother?
This is the point you can choose your salsa’s texture. Leave the salsa with larger chunks or use an immersion blender in the pot to gently chop to a finer consistency. The salsa pictured was blended with an immersion blender, pulsing just a few times, so all the vegetables were more even sizes, but not all the way smooth.
Step 4: Can or freeze. Wash and prepare jars for both canning and freezing while the salsa comes to a boil. Add hot to canning jars and can according to the recipe card below or let cool and add to jars for freezing (leaving at least a 1″ headspace for freezer expansion).
Safely Can Roasted Tomatillo or Green Tomato Salsa
Making your own salsa means you know exactly what’s in it and can tailor it to you and your family’s liking.
However, you can tailor salsa only to a degree if you’re planning to can: the only ingredients you can adjust or change when canning in a water-bath canner are the dry ingredients. All the fresh ingredient ratios must stay the same to remain safe.
In adapting this recipe from a National Center for Home Food Preservation recipe, I safely changed the following:
- Roasting instead of boiling the vegetables initially to increase flavor (like my safe-to-can roasted tomato sauce).
- Keeping the same pepper-onion ratio to tomatillos/tomatoes, but increasing the peppers and decreasing the onions.
- Adjusting the dry spices.
If you would like a more garlic flavor, for instance, it will have to be added as dry garlic powder when canning or you can add it as fresh when you serve it.
Your Questions Answered
Many people have asked me about adding fresh cilantro to this recipe. The tested recipe does not include it so the standard answer is no. The NCHFP website (where the recipe is from) suggests adding cilantro when serving since it doesn’t keep its flavor as well with canning.
If you have an abundance of tomatillos and can’t process them all while they’re at their ripest, you CAN freeze them for later. You freeze tomatillos similar to tomatoes, either whole or cut. Remove the husks, wash, dry and lay out on lined cookie sheets to freeze until firm before adding to freezer baggies/containers.
TIP: If you want to use in a canning recipe, do like tomatoes and weigh them first, writing it on the bag before freezing.
If you’re going to freeze this only, it IS okay to add more fresh garlic, fresh cilantro, more peppers, or whatever you’d like to your heart’s content.
You wouldn’t be able to can it after doing these changes, though. The good thing is, it freezes great, so it’s really your choice!
Safe canning recommendations are that you can substitute bottled lemon/lime juice for vinegar, but not the other way around – you can’t substitute vinegar for lemon/lime juice as the acidity of lemon is higher and the recipe has been tested with that (source). So it’s not safe to use vinegar in this recipe instead of (or partially) the lemon or lime juice.
Tacos, burritos, tostadas, quesadillas, any and all Southwest, Tex-Mex, or Mexican themed meals! It also makes a great sauce for chicken or pork in a slow cooker – simply add the meat, top with a jar of salsa and set to cook (so good!).
More Easy Preserving Recipes To Try
More Reader Raves
“We made this salsa using 2/3 green tomatoes from our garden and 1/3 tomatillos. It was excellent! Great flavor and nice and thick. I cut the cumin in half though, and I still would reduce that slightly when we make it again next year. My husband said it is the best green salsa he’s ever tasted.” -Anita B.
“(This) is my new favorite thing!! Everyone that has tasted it asked for the recipe. I might add I’m not a great (just okay) cook and no one ever asks for my recipes. lol.” -Teri
“This recipe is amazingly flavorful. I used it first last fall when I had a huge basket of green cherry/grape tomatoes and it was going to freeze. The friends I shared it with were so crazy for it they asked to join me in making a huge batch this fall. It was, again, fantastic. It’s kind of over the top how every single person I’ve gifted this salsa to is compelled to send messages about how delicious it is. Thanks Jami!” -Laura
I hope you love this salsa verde recipe, too! If you make it, be sure to leave a recipe rating so I know how you liked it!
Roasted Salsa Verde Recipe with Tomatillos or Green Tomatoes To Can or Freeze
Equipment
- large roasting pan
- 6-12 quart stock pot
- canning or freezer jars and lids
- water bath canner optional
Ingredients
- 2 pounds coarsely chopped tomatillos or green tomatoes, about 5-7 cups, washed (husks removed from tomatillos; green tomatoes cored)
- 3 cups coarsely chopped hot peppers: a combination of jalapeño and mild green Anaheim or Poblano chilies to your taste*
- 3 cups coarsely chopped onions
- 6 medium cloves garlic, chopped
- 1 cup bottled lime juice (or lemon juice)
- 2 tablespoons dried oregano, or to taste
- 1 tablespoon sea salt or canning salt, or to taste
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin, or to taste (Note: if you're sensitive to cumin, start with 1/2 tablespoon, though it does mellow after canning and storing.)
- 2 teaspoons black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
- Place tomatillos and/or green tomatoes in a large roasting pan. Add chilies, onion, garlic and mix.
- Roast vegetables for 30-35 minutes, stirring at the halfway mark, until the tomatillos/tomatoes are starting to break down.
- Scrape the roasted vegetables into a large stockpot and add the remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil and simmer, uncovered, about 10 minutes. While simmering, prepare water bath canner, lids and 4 pint or 8 half-pint jars if planning to can (or wash freezer-safe jars or containers for freezing).
- Blend the salsa further, if desired, with an immersion blender. Ladle into prepared jars leaving 1/2-inch headspace for canning (to freeze you'll need a good 1+ inch headspace for freezing to account for expansion).
- To Can: Wipe rims, seal, and process in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes, turn off burner, remove lid and let sit for 5 minutes. Remove jars to a cloth-lined surface and let cool 12-24 hours before testing the seals, labeling, and storing for up to 18 months.
- To Freeze: Let salsa cool and then transfer to clean freezer containers. Label and freeze for a year for best flavor.
Notes
Nutrition
This recipe has been updated- it was originally published in September of 2015 and updated in 2019 and 2024.
