We take our standard-issue Mexican salsa verde recipe and simply swap in an avocado for the onion.
This is the other green sauce you may find in the salsa bar at your local taqueria.
This is a smoother, lighter version of fresh salsa verde. It is a family favorite – especially when consuming tortilla chips. It has a more delicate flavor than your typical green sauce. This recipe is for a raw sauce, but we like to roast the ingredients on a comal, on the grill, or under the broiler for a cooked version.
Salsas are traditionally smashed and ground using a Molcajete – the Mexican version of the mortar and pestle, dating back to the Aztec and Maya. In the Mexican kitchen, it is the tool of choice for pulverizing fresh or toasted spices, along with salsas and guacamoles. We are all about convenience, so we use a blender and pulse the salsa until it reaches the right consistency. We like it fairly smooth, so the blender works quite well. Besides, we don’t own a Molcajete right now. Simply coarsely chop the ingredients and grind away. Scoop out the seeds from the chiles during prep if you want it less spicy.
The difference between this recipe and our standard-issue Mexican salsa verde, is we substitute an avocado for the onion. That’s it! But this simple, single ingredient swap makes for two distinctively different sauces. Most taquerias stock both versions, along with two or three red “salsa roja” varieties in their salsa bars.
Consume this verdant sauce right away. We love to serve this with chips, spooned on top of tacos, in burritos, over nachos, eggs and meats. It keeps in the refrigerator, up to a week, but it is best when scooped straight from the molcajete or salsa dish.
Salsa Verde with Avocado
Equipment
- Blender
Mise en place
- 1 lb tomatillos husked, washed, and coarsely chopped
- 2 ea jalapeños stemmed, seeds removed, coarsely chopped
- 3 ea garlic clove peeled, coarsely chopped
- 1/4 cup cilantro leaves you can save the stems for another use
- 1 ea avocado seeded, peeled, coarsely chopped
- 2 tsp salt to taste
Method
- In a blender, combine the tomatillos, garlic, chiles, and cilantro. Pulse to a coarse puree.
- Add the avocado and pulse until the consistency you like. We like it pretty smooth. If needed, thin with a tablespoon or two of water.
- Taste and season with salt, scoop into a salsa dish and eat with chips or spoon over your tacos.
[…] on some cheese and garnish with chopped cilantro leaves and a few pickled red onions. Spoon some salsa verde with avocado on top, and devour […]