Mild Three Chile Salsa
This quick smoky salsa can easily be made extra mild or super spicy, and is delicious as a dip or a topping on tacos, tamales, enchiladas, and more. Crank up the heat and use it as a hot sauce for anything that needs some extra flavor!
Dry toasting these chiles adds a richer and smokier flavor to this salsa. This recipe is ridiculously easy and can be made in a few minutes. It is best made ahead to allow the flavors to macerate and develop over time. So, it’s great for entertaining and quite easy to adjust the heat level on this salsa according to your spicy preferences. To find out how, read about this in our Blog Comments & Tips.
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RECIPE
(Check out our Step by Step Instructions below the recipe card.)
Recipe Updated: 4/1/22
MILD THREE CHILE SALSA
Ingredients
Instructions
- Heat a 10 inch nonstick fry pan over medium-high heat. Once the pan is hot, dry toast chiles for a few seconds per side until a little fragrant (about 15- 30 seconds for smaller chiles, and up 1 minute or so for larger chiles - do not over toast); starting with the dried Guajillo chili pod, and the dried California type chili pod (or Pulla chile), and finally the dried chile de árbol pods. Remove pan from heat and place chiles on a plate to allow them cool. Remove stems when cooled (keeping seeds in the pods).
- In a 2.5 quart saucepan, add tomatillos, the Roma tomato, 2 garlic cloves, and all the toasted chiles. Cover with cold water and place on high heat until water comes to a boil. Once boiling, turn off heat and drain veggies (tomatillos, chiles and garlic) through a strainer, reserving ¼ cup of liquid. Set aside to cool.
- To a high speed blender, add cooked veggies, squeeze of fresh lime juice (from half a lime), dried oregano, Better Than Bouillon, kosher salt, and 2 tablespoons of the reserved liquid. Blend until smooth (add a little more reserved liquid, as needed). Taste for seasoning and if needed, add more salt. Chill in the fridge for at least 1-2 hours to allow the flavors to macerate. Then transfer to a serving bowl.
Notes
- This recipe makes approximately 2 ½ cups of salsa and yields 24 servings (2 tablespoons per serving). Although you can serve immediately, we recommend making the recipe ahead (1 days before serving is perfect!). Flavors will macerate and become even better over time.
- Besides being a smoky chile salsa for tortilla chips, it is a great topping for other dishes, like tacos, enchiladas, and tamales. For the perfect complement of flavors, serve this salsa as a topping on our Potato Tacos (tacos de papa).
- Made according to the recipe, this is a mild, smoky salsa. Increase or decrease the number of chile de árbol pods for more or less heat, according to your taste. To adjust the heat level, use 1-3 chiles = mild, 4-5 chiles = medium-mild, 6-8 chiles = medium-hot, and 10-12 chiles = SMOKING hot!
- Store refrigerated in an airtight glass container or jar for up to 1 week. Or freeze in ice cube trays and then transfer to a plastic freezer bag, and freeze for up to 2 months.
Nutrition Facts
Calories
5.16Fat (grams)
0.13Sat. Fat (grams)
0.02Carbs (grams)
1.05Fiber (grams)
0.30Net carbs
0.75Sugar (grams)
0.55Protein (grams)
0.17Sodium (milligrams)
27.34Cholesterol (grams)
0.00Nutritional information provided is strictly an estimate and will vary based on ingredient brands and cooking methods.
Step by Step Instructions
PREPARATION
Organize all your tools and ingredients before you begin. Getting all your ingredients in one place at the beginning will shorten your prep time.
DRIED CHILES
You can find these types of dried chiles in most grocery stores in the International aisle. These are very inexpensive and last a long time in your cupboard.
The three chiles we used for this recipe are Guajillo Chili Pods, California Type Chili Pods, and Chile de Árbol.
Wondering which is the hottest? Chile de árbol provides most of the heat in this salsa.
STEP 1
Heat a 10 inch nonstick fry pan over medium-high heat.
Once the pan is hot, dry toast chiles for a few seconds per side until a little fragrant (about 15- 30 seconds for smaller chiles, and up 1 minute or so for larger chiles - do not over toast); starting with 1 dried Guajillo chili pod, and 1 dried California type chili pod (or Pulla chile). Then finally adding the 3 dried chile de árbol pods (2 - 10 pods for mild to spicy).
Remove pan from heat and place chiles on a plate to allow them cool. Carefully remove stems (keeping the seeds in the pods).
STEP 2
a) In a 2.5 quart saucepan, add 8 tomatillos (small to medium, or 6 large), 1 Roma tomato, 2 garlic cloves, whole and peeled, and all the toasted chiles (see Note below).
b) Cover with cold water and place on high heat until water comes to a boil.
c) Once boiling, turn off heat.
d) Drain veggies (tomatillos, chiles and garlic) through a strainer, reserving ¼ cup of cooking liquid. Set aside to cool.
Note: Stems should be removed before boiling (Oops…we forgot to in this photo and removed them once cooled!).
STEP 3
a) To a high speed blender, add cooked veggies, fresh squeezed lime juice from ½ a lime, ¼ teaspoon dried oregano, ¼ teaspoon Better Than Bouillon - vegetable (roasted veggie, or chicken), ¼ teaspoon kosher salt, and 2 tablespoons of the reserved cooking liquid.
b) Secure lid on blender cup and place on high speed blender.
c) Blend until smooth (if needed, add a little more reserved liquid).
d) Once fully blended, taste for seasoning and if needed, add more salt (see Note below).
Note: If you like a more acidic flavor to your salsa, once flavors have had time to macerate, taste, and add another squeeze of lime juice, if desired.
Storing & Serving Suggestions
STORING
When salsa is completely cooled, store in the refrigerator in an airtight glass jar or container. If you want to serve the salsa the same day, it’s best to chill in the fridge for at least 1-2 hours to allow the flavors to macerate. Although you can serve immediately, we highly recommend making this salsa ahead and chilling in the fridge overnight, to allow the flavors to fully develop.
SERVE!
Transfer to a serving bowl and serve as a dip with tortilla chips.
OTHER SERVING SUGGESTIONS
Serve as a condiment for tacos, tamales, enchiladas, stews, and more!
Our favorite way to serve this salsa is to drizzle it into our Potato Tacos (tacos de papa). This salsa is the PERFECT complement to the rich flavors in this fried taco.
Notes:
This recipe makes approximately 2 ½ cups of salsa and yields 24 servings (2 tablespoons per serving). Recipe can be made ahead. Flavors will macerate and become even better over time.
Besides being a smoky chile salsa for tortilla chips, it is a great topping for other dishes, like tacos, enchiladas, and tamales.
Made according to the recipe, this is a mild salsa with just a touch of heat that hits a few seconds later. Increase or decrease the number of chile de árbol pods for more or less heat, according to your taste. To adjust the heat level, use 1-3 chiles = mild, 4-5 chiles = medium-mild, 6-8 chiles = medium-hot, and 10-12 chiles = SMOKING hot!
Store refrigerated in an airtight glass container or jar for up to 1 week. Or freeze in ice cube trays and then transfer to a plastic freezer bag, and freeze for up to 2 months.
Blog Comments & Tips
This sauce is the perfect complement to tacos!
Making this sauce reminded me of my childhood. Toasting the dried chiles and peeling the tomatillos were a familiar sight growing up.
As a small child, I would watch my grandmother in the kitchen and was fascinated by the way she cooked. The way she handled all the various ingredients seemed like second nature to her. I can still remember the unique aroma when she toasted those strange looking dried chiles on the griddle. She would toast chiles and whole spices to enhance their flavor and then add them to sauces and stews. Even as a child, I could taste the difference in complexity in her dishes.
So, it brings me great pleasure to bring these types of authentic Mexican flavors and techniques to the Pimp My Recipe collection. Of course, PMR puts its own spin on these dishes. We want to make it less scary to try ingredients you have never used before. For this recipe, we toned down the sauce as a base recipe to allow you to make it spicier and even more mild, based on your taste. Made as is, it has a mild spiciness that hits a few seconds later.
This recipe is so versatile, just reduce the chile de árbol to 1-2 pods for a very mild flavor, or increase up to 10 or even 12 pods for a super spicy salsa.
If you cannot take any spice, or want it super spicy, take a look at our heat level scale in Pimp Our Recipe below for details!
Our Mild Three Chile Salsa is actually very similar to a Mexican Guajillo salsa. The authentic Mexican Guajillo salsa uses a lot more Guajillo chiles, and is rich, tannic, and smoky, and has a bit more spice than our salsa. The PMR Test Kitchens added a variety of chiles, including Guajillo, California, and chile de arbol to even out the flavors. This medley of ingredients results in a milder version of this traditional sauce. This salsa is delicious as is, on tacos, tamales and such, but if you want more intensity of flavor, it’s very easy to alter.
We also enhanced the rich, smoky flavor by dry toasting the chiles, instead of just boiling them. Adding more tomatillos provided texture, tartness, and mildness to the sauce. Adding two other types of chiles to this sauce brought more layers of flavor, and resulted in the ultimate complement to our Potato Tacos (tacos de papa).
Increase or decrease the number of chile de árbol pods for more or less heat, according to your taste.
Pimp Our Recipe:
To adjust the heat level, use the following number of chile de árbol pods:
Mild = 1-3 chiles
Medium-Mild = 4-5 chiles
Medium-Hot = 6-8 chiles
SMOKING HOT = 10-12 chiles
Make it Extra Garlicky: If you are wild about garlic, add just 1 whole garlic clove (peeled and raw) to the blender in Step 3. The combination of 2 cooked garlic cloves, plus 1 raw garlic clove, give this sauce a garlicky kick!
Make it Less Garlicky: Briefly cooking the 2 cloves of garlic, automatically softens the bite of garlic in this recipe. However, if you really want to make it less garlicky, just add only 1 garlic clove to the pot of veggies in Step 2. Reducing the amount of cooked garlic will soften the flavor. Do not eliminate the garlic in this recipe, as it really adds depth of flavor in this salsa.
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Happy Cooking!
Mich
Adapted from the Guajillo Chile Salsa recipe by Pati Jinich, we’ve taken the basis of this salsa recipe and made it with a little more flavor from the variety of chiles (including Guajillo chiles), and much more mild from the addition of the tomatillos, and easily adaptable, to make the heat level exactly to your preferred spicy tolerance.
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