Chile Verde Sauce Without Tomatillos

A Chile Verde sauce with yellow jalapenos, serano chile , and NO tomatillos.

This chile verde sauce without tomatillos post was originally published on June 29th, 2012.  It’s one of my most popular recipes searched and pinned. Revisions to the recipe with new images were added April 30th, 2015.


Mi salsita favorita – Chile Verde.  Hands down my favorite type of salsa, or sauce in this case.

I’ve made the traditional Chile Verde sauce with tomatillos and ingredients almost identical to the ones here, but I have never made a Chile Verde sauce without tomatillos.  After having made this, I’m not sure that I will go back to using tomatillos as the base because I REALLY enjoyed this one.  The resulting product was light, not too hot, just enough spice  to give you a subtle hint of spiciness (not the burning-in-the-mouth feeling that kills all other flavors in a meal), smooth and runny enough to spread into all the nooks and crannies of a chicken taco or over a bean and cheese tostada.  Simply perfect in my tastebuds’ opinion.

Chile verde sauce without tomatillo

Salsa is one of those particular condiments.  Some people like it super hot, thick, thin, chunky or runny with lots or little lemon.  Everyone has a different palate and tolerance to heat and texture. The consistency and flavor also depends on what it’s being used for.   If you want a spicier sauce, add some of the seeds from the chiles.  Keep in mind, however, that a little goes a long way!

You could probably count the number of seeds I left on mine, and it was the perfect amount for me.
Chile verde sauce without tomatillo
Let’s begin.
On medium heat, warm up a 2qt pot with the olive oil and let it get nice and hot (but not smoking hot!)
Chile verde sauce without tomatillo
Chile verde sauce without tomatillo
I should warn you. Heating these chiles up makes the air spicy so you might wanna open your windows and let some of the chile smell out.  After they start to brown and caramelize, your nose will start to feel the spices in the air.  Trust me.  Open those windows.
Chile verde sauce without tomatillo

Add the chopped cilantro and both salts.  Mix everything really well until the cilantro wilts and starts to break apart.
Chile verde sauce without tomatillo
Add the water and stir everything well.  Bring to a low boil.  
Simmer on medium-low for 5 minutes, then turn off the heat and let it cool for at least 10 minutes.
Chile verde sauce without tomatillo

Transfer to a blender or use a hand blender to blend everything.
By the way, if you do not have a hand blender, YOU MUST go get one ASAP.  I love, love, love mine and would be very sad without it in my paraphernalia of cooking tools.  The sadness wouldn’t last long though because I would skip a night out at the movies just to replace it if I had to. Really!  A blender will work just fine too.  
You really should try to get one if you don’t already have one though.  Really really.
Chile verde sauce without tomatillo
After blending, at this point you can add a little more water if you feel it’s too thick.  Add the lemon juice, stir, and taste test.  Once it feels and tastes right to you, blend it again once more just for five seconds or so to make it a little smoother.  
I keep mine in a condiment bottle, so I like to make sure there are no chunks bigger than the hole on the cap.
Chile verde sauce without tomatillo

And that’s it!  This recipe makes a little more than one cup,  and so far it has lasted in my fridge for a week.  I recommend storing the sauce in the fridge in a condiment bottle such as these, or in a glass jar.  
You can use this chile verde sauce on quesadillas, tacos, eggs, enchiladas, top off some nachos and cheese.  Oh man, now I want some over-easy eggs with this sauce.
I hope you enjoy!

 

5 from 4 votes
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Chile Verde Sauce Without Tomatillo

Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 25 minutes
Servings 1 1/2 cups
Author Stephanie Chavez

Ingredients

  • 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
  • 4 yellow jalapenos chopped, seeds and veins removed
  • 1 serrano chile sliced in half, seeds and veins removed
  • ½ cup white onion chopped
  • 3 large garlic cloves
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 full cup cilantro chopped
  • 1 cup water
  • 1 lemon amount will vary according to your taste

Instructions

  1. On medium heat, warm up a 2qt pot with the olive oil and let it get nice and hot (but not smoking hot!). Add the onion, garlic, and chiles. Saute for about 3-4 minutes or until they are soft and begin to caramelize and change color. Add the salts and chopped cilantro. Mix everything really well until the cilantro wilts and starts to break apart (about 2 minutes).
  2. Add the water and stir everything well. Bring to a low boil. Simmer on medium-low for 5 minutes, then turn off the heat and let it cool for at least 10 minutes.
  3. Transfer to a blender or use a hand blender to blend everything. After blending, at this point you can add a little more water if you feel it’s too thick. Add the lemon juice, stir, and taste test. Once it feels and tastes right to you, blend it again once more just for five seconds or so to make it a little smoother. I keep mine in a condiment bottle, so I like to make sure there are no chunks bigger than the hole on the cap.
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by Stephanie Chavez

Author & Content Creator for Spanglish Spoon.

  1. Jennie

    Where do you find yellow jalepeno’s? We only have red or green here, even in the hispanic grocery stores. Could you sub a cubanelle? I am allergic to tomato and tomatillo so I super appreciate your recipe!

    • Stephanie Chavez

      Hi Jennie,

      I usually find them at most groceries stores around me (I’m in Central Valley, California). Maybe try the Asian Supermarkets? I haven’t tried this salsa with cubanelle peppers, but I think it would be worth a try!

    • James

      In my area (San Diego County), the chiles pictured are usually called güeros or güeritos, not yellow jalapeños (though chile nomenclature certainly varies from region to region). They are often used to make chiles toreados.

  2. Tracy

    I’ve got 2 bushels of freshly roasted green chiles sitting on my kitchen counter just waiting to be bagged and frozen. I’m hoarding them to get me through winter Ü Can’t wait to try your recipe! And my beloved Bullet® blender just died on me. What type of Ninja do you have? There are so many to choose from and I don’t really want another big one. I have a Vitamix but rarely use it because its too big for little jobs like salsas. Thanks so much!

    • Stephanie Chavez

      Hi Tracy, I know what you mean about blenders being too big for small jobs like this. For me, I find it easier to use the cups that came with my Ninja blender or a hand blender. I bought my Ninja blender as a set about three years ago I think. It came with the Blender, Food Processor and two 16oz Nutri Ninja cups. That’s the one I used in the pictures shown in this post. A hand blender would work for this too if you have one of those. I hope that helps!

      -Stephanie

    • A.Padilla

      my ninja came with 2 blender cups and the large pitcher, so you can just blend enough for a smoothie, or salsa like she used in the picture. Shop around. target.com or amazon.com has a variety of blenders.

  3. Martha Vineyard

    Wow! I have tried so many verde sauce recipes and none of them were anywhere near as good as this is! However, I could not find yellow jalapeno so used 2 anaheims plus the serrano. Otherwise I followed your recipe exactly and I just love it. Next time I will double it as we gobbled it all up. Thank you.

    • Stephanie Chavez

      Thank you so much for letting me know you liked it! I love the idea of using Anaheim peppers. Maybe I’ll try that next time, too!

  4. Meg

    I live in northern US and have never seen a yellow jalapeño in my life. Sad! I hope it will taste decent with green jalapeños as that is all we can get up here. We go to this Mexican food truck that has the best green salsa I’ve ever tasted in my life (I can just drink it. It is that good) and I am trying to get as close to replicating it as I can! I do not like the taste of tomatillos so I think your recipe may be close to what I like. Thank you so much!

    • Stephanie Chavez

      I think it will taste just fine with green jalapeños. I feel like the yellow peppers are less spicy (in my opinion at least), so maybe with green chiles the salsa might be a little more on the spicier side. Either way, I hope this recipe helps you get as close to your favorite version of salsa verde as possible. Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment!

      -Stephanie

  5. Laura

    Thank you for this excellent recipe. I tried it last week, and it tasted great . . . but the fumes nearly killed me!!! I forgot to open the window the first time, so I tried it with several windows open and a cross breeze this a.m., and it STILL nearly killed me. I’m still blowing, coughing, and sneezing from it, and it’s in the frig cooling off! But, hey, my sinuses are cleared out!! :0)

    Next time, I think I’ll try roasting the onions, garlic, and peppers in the oven to see if that works better. I really hope that not having to stir the pot constantly will make this a more doable recipe.

    • Stephanie Chavez

      Lol, yeah, they are pretty potent when cooking them on the stove! Roasting them in the oven should also work. As a matter of fact, I think I will test that method out and update the recipe with roasting as another option. Thank you so much for your feedback, Laura!

  6. Ry Dogg

    I used a few anaheim chiles and just one green jalapeno. Hoping to make an enchilada sauce out of it tonight

  7. Lauren

    Love it! I made this for dinner tonight as my mom is allergic to tomatoes and lemons (I added lemon later after I divided portions), and it was perfect. The instructions were easy to follow and appreciate the simple ingredient list. I will definitely make again.

    Thank you for sharing!

    • Stephanie Chavez

      So glad it worked out for you! Thanks for coming back to share your experience with this recipe. 🙂

  8. Melanie

    This turned out really good! I added like 2x the amount of peppers that I needed to use up so its pretty spicy but still really good!

    • Stephanie Chavez

      So glad you loved it! Thanks for coming back to share your experience with this recipe, Melanie. 🙂

  9. Mark

    I’ve made this several times. I have used Anaheim chiles, hungarian wax peppers, banana peppers, etc. My favorite version uses a green jalapeno instead of the serrano. I use this as the basis of my chile verde with pork.

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