Try this grilled tomatillo salsa recipe to kick off a late summer dinner
I try not to say it too often but here goes: “This is the best salsa ever.” There, I said it. Try this grilled tomatillo salsa recipe as a starter for a late summer dinner and see what you think.
I’ve grown tomatillo plants since my wife Suzanne brought home a few tomatillo seedlings from the Southwestern Illinois College spring plant sale about eight years ago. They are easier to grow than tomatoes in our yard, where we don’t get a lot of sun. Also, squirrels and groundhogs don’t seem to care for tomatillos!
Since I had never heard of tomatillos before, I researched some tips on how to use them. My recipe is a blend of info gleaned from tomatillo salsa recipes published by Bon Appétit, Serious Eats and Martha Stewart.
The tomatillo plant, which is native to Central America and Mexico, is related to the tomato plant but tomatillos have a tart flavor profile that really distinguishes them from tomatoes.
Rick Bayless, a chef and restaurateur who is an expert in Mexican cuisine, wrote in “Rick Bayless’s Mexican Kitchen” that tasting a tomatillo salsa “transports you straight to Mexico.
“It is the gustatory essence of the country -- a gleaming contour of fresh green spiciness, herbal perfume and zest.”
If you didn’t grow your own tomatillos, they can be found in area grocery stores.
I also grow the garlic and serrano peppers that I use in this salsa recipe. I plant garlic bulbs in early November and harvest them in June. Serrano peppers are prolific and you can use them while they are green or after they turn red.
I make a “cool” version of this salsa for my wife and daughter with just a bit of a serrano pepper and I make a “hot” version for me with more serranos, including some of the white pith and seeds.
Special equipment
- A Weber grill pan. I use mine for fish and vegetables.
Ingredients
- 14-18 tomatillos. If the tomatillos are small, you may need more than 18. Remove the papery husk from the tomatillos. Underneath the husk, there’s a gooey coating that you need to rinse off. Cut large to medium ones in half.
- 2 or 3 serrano peppers
- ½ white or yellow onion, peel outer layer and chop into large pieces
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 1 cup of cilantro, or more to taste. I usually use the whole bunch because I like cilantro.
- ¼ cup water
- 1 or 2 tablespoons of olive oil or vegetable oil for coating cleaned tomatillos, onion and serranos.
- Cooking spray for grill pan
- 3 wedges of a lime
- Ground cumin, to taste
- 1 teaspoon sugar, optional
- Kosher salt, to taste
- Freshly ground black pepper, if desired at the end
Directions
- Put cleaned tomatillos, whole serranos and onion pieces in a large bowl. Coat them with olive oil or vegetable oil. Sprinkle some Kosher salt on them.
- Light a gas grill or start a charcoal fire. When coals are gray, coat the grill pan with cooking spray. Put the grill pan on the grill and fill it with the tomatillos, serranos and onion.
- Grill and turn the tomatillos until they begin to soften and have some charred spots. The peppers and onions will also have some charring. This can take 10 to 15 minutes, depending upon how hot your fire is.
- When the vegetables are about done, toss the garlic cloves in the pan and grill for about a minute.
- Put the tomatillos, onion and garlic into the large bowl you had earlier. Let them cool a little.
- Cut off the serrano pepper stems. On one pepper, I take out the seeds and white pith and put some of the pepper into a blender. To cut the peppers, I use a fork and knife so I don’t have to touch the peppers and risk getting the pepper juice under my nails or in my eyes.
- For the “cool” version, add the tomatillos, onion and garlic to the blender with the bits of pepper. Then add the cilantro, water, lime juice and cumin.
- Blend all of that until you like the consistency. You can add a little sugar if it tastes too tart. Season with Kosher salt to taste.
- At this point, I pour some of the salsa from the blender into a serving bowl for the “cool” version.
- Now I add about half the seeds and pith from one serrano and the rest of the pepper pieces to the blender and blend those in for the “hot” version. Of course if you like it hot, just skip the “cool” version step and put all of the grilled peppers including seeds and pith into the blender!
Notes
- You can add more lime juice and freshly ground black pepper if you want.
- You can thin the salsa with more water if you think it is too thick.
- If you serve this immediately, the salsa will still be “warm” from grilling but you can also serve it at room temperature. Refrigerate leftovers for two days.
This story was originally published August 20, 2025 at 4:17 AM.
