This Fire Roasted Salsa Verde is smoky, tangy, and packed with flavor. The main ingredient in this recipe is……FIRE. So, stack the wood and light a fire!

The Ingredients

Tomatillo

Tomatillos are the main ingredient of salsa verde recipes. These lime golf ball sized, lime green fruits strongly resemble a green tomato. But, they are NOT a tomato. Unlike most tomatoes, a tomatillo will never “ripen” beyond this bright green appearance. The other distinctive difference between a tomatillo and a green tomato is the thin, papery husk that wraps the fruit. The interior of a tomatillo is dense and firm, rather than juicy and plump. When raw, they are bright and mildly acidic. But, with some cooking, they tend to take on a sweeter flavor. When you go to buy your tomatillos, pick them up and give them a little squeeze. They should be firm, but not hard.

Yellow Onion

For this recipe, I went with a sweet Spanish yellow onion. Really, there’s not a lot to say about onions.

Jalapeno

We want a little heat and flavor from the jalapeno. You can adjust this ingredient to reach your own desired spice level. For milder heat levels, remove the inner membrane and seeds. If you want it spicier, leave the seeds and add as many jalapenos as you can handle.

Scallions

Also known as Green Onions. This is an ingredient that could be left out or added raw. I just happened to have these in the fridge and they needed to be used up. Green onions are probably my favorite form of onion. I put these on and in so many dishes. We are actually planning on growing a ton of onions this year in the garden just for scallions.

Hatch Green Chiles

My entire family is pretty sensitive to spicy foods. These Hatch green chiles are pretty mild, so I utilized these, just so that I could have a chile component that I was missing by minimizing the jalapenos. You could totally leave this ingredient out if you wanted to. If you want to keep them in the recipe, you can buy them here.

Garlic

Let’s face it, there isn’t much that garlic can’t do.

Limes

Citrusy and tart. I added the juice from two limes, but you could probably scale it back to one if you want to tone it down a bit. The size of the lime will factor into your decision as well. My limes were not very big, so keep that in mind. The biggest part of cooking is TASTING your food and adjusting the ingredients as you go. If you are concerned, go light on the lime juice and add more as needed.

Fire as an Ingredient

This is where the magic happens. Live fire cooking just adds so much more flavor and fun to your food. Cooking over some form of fire is the story of all cultures. But, the one that comes to my mind the most is the American Cowboy. To me, there is nothing more badass than loading up the chuck wagon and hitting the trail with the boys….cooking pinto beans or some wild game over a live fire and just chilling after a long day of work. No other form of cooking can compare to cooking over a live fire.

The Wood

For this recipe, as well as MOST of my cooking, we cooked over White Oak. This is my favorite wood to cook with. It burns hot and long, while providing just the right amount of flavor without being too intense. Hickory is an example of an intensely flavored smoke. It’s good, but it is definitely a stronger flavored wood. Fruit woods are also good, but they don’t burn as hot or as long. Their smoke is also very mildly flavored…..good for smoking more delicate foods, like fish. So, I find that white oak is my favorite balance of heat, burn duration, and flavor.

Equipment

You don’t need a ton of equipment for this recipe. If you are motivated enough and have the forearm strength for it, you can make this with a knife and cutting board. But, be prepared to be chopping and mincing FOR A WHILE. However, you should probably invest in some equipment.

Food Processor

The food processor is a very useful tool for the home-cook. It usually comes with several different processing tools. Mine came with a cheese grater, sharp chopping knives, dull plastic blades for mixing up stuff like like dough for pie crusts or biscuits. If you make a lot of salsas, this tool will really come in handy. You can pick one up here. But, please, just try not to break your lid, like I did.

Some Sort of Fire Cooking Apparatus

You need a way to cook over a fire. This can be something as simple as a little camp cook rack that fits in your backpack. Or, it could be a fancy Cowboy Fire Pit Grill from a company like Bare Bones Living (they don’t pay me for this endorsement….YET). You CAN do this on a gas grill, but the smoke flavor won’t be as intense. However, if you go this route, you could grab one of these wood chip smoker boxes with some wood chips to achieve the smoke element of this recipe. You may just have to close the lid for a couple minutes to trap some of that smoke and infuse it into your veggies.

Fire Roasted Salsa Verde

Tony

Smoky, charred salsa with tomatillos, chiles, and more.

5 from 1 vote

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Prep Time 30 minutes mins

Cook Time 10 minutes mins

Servings 12 Servings

Ingredients

  

• 2 pounds Tomatillos
• 1 each Yellow Onion
• 5 each Scallions
• 1 each Jalapeno
• 4 cloves Garlic
• 2 small Limes, juiced
• ½ cup Fresh Cilantro
• ¼ cup Hatch Green Chiles
• ½ tsp Sea Salt

Instructions

 

• Make a hot fire with hardwood fire wood, or a gas grill.
• Remove husks of tomatillos. Peel the onion and cut in half, leaving the root end attached.
• Cook the tomatillos, jalapeno, onion, and scallions over the fire until a good level of blackened, charred bits are visible. The scallions will have the shortest cooking time.
• Remove the stem and seeds from the jalapeno
• Add all ingredients into a food processor and blend to your desired consistency