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Not all green salsas are created equal and the fact that every time I make it, my family asks me to make a double or triple batch of this mild, but super-flavorful hatch chili salsa recipe is living proof of that. Because this recipe uses convenient canned New Mexico hatch chiles, by the time you char some tomatillos you nearly have the whole darn thing made.
Recipe tips tailored to what matters most to you:
Naturally gluten-free. Tomatillos, canned hatch chiles, onion, lime and spices, so pour it on whatever you want.
Canned fire-roasted hatch chiles already did the roasting for you. Char the tomatillos, blend, and you're done in about 25 minutes.
Make a double batch and freeze half, it keeps 3 months. Way cheaper than buying jars of green salsa all year.
Spoon it over grilled veg, beans or tofu instead of heavy sauces. It's tomatillos, chiles, onion and lime with no oil at all.
Can't find tomatillos? Green tomatoes work, and you get to bypass the husking step.
The char is great but the real goal is getting the flesh of the tomatillos fully tender before they hit the blender. Rushing this step is the fastest way to end up with a flat watery salsa.
Pull the plug on the blender the second it hits mostly smooth with a little body still in it because over-blending kills the texture.
Oodles more tips, step-by-step recipe photos, info on weird ingredients, and FAQs are all still here. I just tucked 'em out of the way so you can start cooking sooner.
Here's the controversial fact about why this is more of a Tex-Mex salsa than a traditional Mexican one. Hatch chiles pretty much only grow in the Hatch Valley of New Mexico, and the specific combo of soil, altitude, and desert climate there gives them a flavor that just about no other pepper on the planet can really get close to. They're not just your average basic AF green peppers. They're a whole regional identity in chile form.
This salsa slots perfectly into the Tex-Mex sauce lineup that every serious home cook needs on rotation. If you're building out that arsenal, my New Mexico red chile sauce, vegan queso, and roasted habanero salsa are the other 3 heavy hitters you're gonna want in your back pocket.
Love this sauce on everything and in everything. In a taco, or for a tortilla dip. This homemade salsa sure beats anything from a jar,(of course). I was worried about the charring but kept a close eye on things and all was well. Truly scrumptious!
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🥰 Why you'll adore this hatch chili salsa recipe
✊ Vegan AF & GF: Like all of my salsa recipes, this one never had a single animal product near it and never will, which means it also slides right into your rotation of gluten-free vegan recipes without any fuss.
⏱️ 20 Minutes and Done: You're charring some tomatillos, toasting 2 spices, and hitting a blender button. That's genuinely the whole job.
🌶️ Custom Heat: By default, this is a super mild salsa. But you can customize it by adding up to a full jalapeño.
🛒 No Hard to Find Ingredients: Canned hatch chiles (available all around the country), tomatillos, cilantro, garlic cloves, lime. Nothing here is gonna send you to grocery stores 3 towns over.
Tested and Approved Worldwide: All of the vegan Tex-Mex recipes on this blog have to survive the scrutiny of 1,000+ real home cooks from dozens of countries before it gets the thumbs up for publishing.
I'm on my knees staring weirdly into your eyes, asking you in a soothing voice to be my taste-testing partner in crime. Sign up for the recipe testing crew and get early access to new recipes before they're published.
🌶️ Hatch Chile Salsa Ingredients
Tomatillos
You already know tomatillos from other chunky table salsas like jalapeño salsa, and chile de arbol salsa and they are WORKING overtime in this recipe.
Their natural acidity is sharp, bright, and kinda citrusy, especially when charred, which is exactly what keeps this salsa from tasting flat or one-dimensional. Green tomatoes are a legit substitute if tomatillos are being difficult at your grocery store and the bonus is you skip the husking step entirely.
The Spices
Cumin and coriander are the 2 little workhorses that enter this salsa decidedly into the Tex-Mex flavor zone, and we are toasting them before they go anywhere near the blender because raw dusty spices are simply not the move.
Fresh ground cumin from whole wild mountain cumin seeds is my personal preference and yes I will keep mentioning it because it genuinely slaps harder, but whatever ground cumin you've got works great as long as it isn't 400 years old and covered in old spider dust and miff miff from beyond the grave.
Get my fave cumin seeds for free!
Using this link, add the wild mountain cumin to your cart, spend at least $15 on some of the other absurdly good spices from Burlap & Barrel (they all seriously slap) and the bottle of this bangin' wild mountain cumin becomes FREE, and you will love it so much.
Canned Hatch Chiles
These smoky little canned guys are doing the most important unique flavor work in this entire recipe. Hatch chiles come in mild, medium, and hot. I get mine from Trader Joe's and I would say they are definitely on the mild end of the spectrum.
Any leftover chiles you might have go into vegan refried beans OK?
*See the recipe card at the bottom of the page for exact quantities, nutritional info, and detailed cooking directions.
🤯Variations
Salsa Verde
Ok, so pretty much if you take the hatch chilies out of this, you'll be making simple, yummy salsa verde. The good new is that my salsa verde recipe is second to none!
Hatch Mango Salsa
Take my avocado mango salsa and stir in ⅓ cup of canned hatch chiles and I'm warning you right now the smoky fruity spicy flavors that come out of that decision are genuinely incredible. About 30 seconds of effort for a fresh salsa that tastes like it has a whole heck of a lot of personality.
Hatch Chile Pico
Drain a full can of hatch chiles and fold the whole thing into a batch of salsa fresca and suddenly your salsa has this smoky flavor that makes the basic AF original version looks like it wasn't even trying.
📖 How to make hatch chili salsa
Become an absolute legend of homemade salsa by following these step-by-step instructions with helpful tips and you'll nail it on the very first batch. Or if your chip-to-salsa ratio is reaching an alarming emergency, scroll straight down to the printable recipe card below.
Step One
Shorty Got Tomatillo Lo Lo Lo:
Pull the husks off the tomatillos, rinse them well under water to get rid of any sticky residue, then cut each one in half.
Step Two
Guilty as Charred:
Preheat a wide skillet or comal over medium-high heat for 20 minutes. Once the surface is hot, lay the tomatillos cut side down and cook for 3 minutes until lightly charred. Flip and cook for another 2 minutes. Work in batches if your pan is on the smaller side.
You may also want to roll the tomatillo halves onto their sides, kinda leaning up against each other to make sure the internal flesh gets tender too.
Step Three
For Cumin Bell Tolls:
Add the cumin and coriander to a small dry pan over medium heat and toast for 2-3 minutes.
Make sure to immediately remove the toasted spices from the pan so they don't continue cooking from the heat of the pan beyond the point of just being toasted.
Step Four
Blendless Summer:
Transfer the toasted spices and charred tomatillos to a blender or food processor along with the hatch chilis, cilantro, jalapeño (if using), diced white onion, minced garlic, lime juice, black pepper, and salt.
Step Five
Smooth Criminal:
Blend until the salsa reaches a mostly smooth consistency, scraping down the sides as needed. Taste and adjust the salt as you like. Serve right away or refrigerate until ready to use.
💡Serving Ideas
Okay so the real question isn't what you CAN put this salsa on, it's what you SHOULDN'T, and I genuinely can't think of anything. Spoon it onto vegan taquitos, vegan tostadas, or jackfruit tamales.
Rock this salsa with some vegan enchiladas, and vegan torta de milanesa, or dump a generous amount into a vegan taco salad and call it the best decision you made all week.
👉Top tips
- Don't Rush the Char on the Tomatillos: The char is great but the real goal is getting the flesh of the tomatillos fully tender before they hit the blender. Rushing this step is the fastest way to end up with a flat watery salsa.
- Balance Blending Time for Texture Control: Pull the plug on the blender the second it hits mostly smooth with a little body still in it because over-blending kills the texture.
🤷♀️ Recipe FAQs
Both work, no need to start a whole appliance debate in your kitchen. Blender gets you smooth and restaurant-y, food processor keeps it chunky and rustic. Just don't let either one run so long that your salsa has an existential crisis and forgets it was supposed to have texture.
You can also make this the old fashioned way in a molcajete if you have one.
Listen, this recipe was literally designed around a can of hatch peppers so please do not stress about it for even one second. HOWEVER. If you live somewhere that gets fresh hatch chiles in season and you've got the time to roast them yourself, the flavor difference is so good it'll make you emotional and I am not even exaggerating that much.
❄️ Refrigeration
Store the salsa in a sealed container and keep it chilled in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
🧊 Freezing
Freeze for up to 3 months in a freezer-safe container, leaving a little space at the top since the salsa will expand as it freezes.
✌️You'll love these salsa recipes too:
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Hatch Chile Salsa Recipe
Equipment
- Comal (optional)
Ingredients
- 1 lb. tomatillos
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon ground coriander
- 8 oz. canned fire roasted hatch chiles
- ½ cup cilantro chopped (leaves and stems)
- 1 jalapeno stem and seeds removed (optional)
- 1 cup white onion diced
- 2 teaspoons garlic minced
- 2 tablespoons lime juice
- ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 ¼ teaspoon salt or to taste
Instructions
- Remove the husks from the tomatillos, rinse them thoroughly to remove any sticky residue, and cut them in half.
- Heat a wide skillet or comal over medium-high heat for 20 minutes. When the surface of the pan is hot, place the tomatillos cut side down on the surface and cook them for 3 minutes until lightly charred. Flip the tomatillos over and cook them for another 2 minutes on the other side. If you have a small pan, you may need to do this in a couple of batches.
- Toast the cumin and coriander for 2-3 minutes in a small dry pan over medium heat.
- Transfer the toasted spices and tomatillos to a blender or food processor. Add the hatch chiles, cilantro, jalapeño (if using), diced white onion, minced garlic, lime juice, black pepper, and salt.
- Blend until the salsa reaches a mostly smooth consistency, scraping down the sides as needed. Taste and adjust salt if needed. Serve immediately or refrigerate until ready to use.
Notes
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Kathleen Lewis says
Love this sauce on everything and in everything. In a taco, or for a tortilla dip. This homemade salsa sure beats anything from a jar,(of course). I was worried about the charring but kept a close eye on things and all was well. Truly scrumptious!