Taqueria Style Salsa with Árbol Chile
Salsa Taquera, a tomato based, fiery, garlicky salsa prepared with dried árbol peppers. This type of salsa is served at taco stands throughout Mexico. It’s a good one.
The finished salsa will be shiny, smooth, and thick with a beautiful orange color. It only takes about 15 minutes from start to finish. Let’s get started.
Gather Your Ingredients
If you cook Mexican food regular you probably have all the ingredients on hand: plum tomatoes, garlic, árbol peppers, oil, and salt. You can find the peppers at any supermarket that carries dried chiles.
Ingredient List
- 2 plum (Roma) tomatoes
- 1 white onion
- 6 árbol chiles
- 3 cloves garlic
- 6 tablespoons oil
- ½ teaspoon of salt + as needed
If you prefer a milder salsa reduce the number of chiles by half.
How to Make
Roughly chop the tomatoes and onions. Peel the garlic and remove the stems from the chiles.
Preheat 2 tablespoons of oil over medium heat. Cook the tomatoes and onions for 5 minutes stirring occasionally.
Add the garlic and cook for 2 more minutes stirring occasionally.
Add the árbol chile and cook for 1 more minute. Do not cook longer which may make the chiles turn bitter.
This is how the ingredients should look before blending. Browning develops a deep rich flavor.
Add all of the ingredients from the pan to your blender and blend for 30 seconds.
While the salsa is blending add the oil to the blender and blend for 1 more minute until the salsa has a smooth thick consistency.
Taste and add salt if needed.
Serve
Serve this salsa as an accompaniment to your favorite tacos. We really like it on carne asada or shredded beef tacos.
Alternate names: salsa de chile de árbol, chile de arbol salsa.
Salsa Taquera
Equipment
- Kitchen knife
- Cutting board
- Frying pan
- Blender
- Serving bowl
Ingredients
- 2 plum tomatoes
- 1 white onion
- 3 cloves garlic
- 6 dried árbol chiles (pepper)
- 6 tbsp cooking oil
- .5 tsp salt + salt to taste as needed
Instructions
- Roughly chop the tomatoes and onion. Peel the garlic cloves. Remove the stems from the árbol peppers.
- Preheat a pan with 2 tablespoons cooking oil to medium hot. Add the chopped tomatoes and onions and cook for 5 minutes stirring occasionally.
- Add the garlic to the pan and cook for 2 minutes stirring occasionally.
- Add the árbol peppers on cook for 1 minute more.
- Blend all of the salsa ingredients for 30 seconds. While the salsa is still blending add 4 tablespoons of cooking oil and blend for 1 more minute until the salsa is smooth, shiny, and thick.
- Taste and add salt if needed.
Notes
Nutrition
More Salsa Recipes
Each one of these recipes is perfect for serving with tacos. Give them all a try.
Erick says
I have been making salsa for many years and don’t recall seeing a sauce like this, perhaps not having taken note. I live in California.
It’s oniony, it’s a tad spicy, it’s not tomatoey – but it’s delicious! It all comes together well. I can picture it tasting superb with fish, veggies, and chips of course! Thanks for sharing.
I have tried a few of your recipes with success.
Preston Michael Hinds says
This is the salsa we, in central texas, use on our burritos. Usually comes with one bright red and one bright green sauce ( tomatillo sauce). Have been looking for this recipe for ever now. Thanks
Sherry says
I have never seen salsa of this consistency. I doubled the garlic, and at least tripled the amount of chiles. I also added a bit of water to make it more blendable. The flavor is ok. Still not sure how I feel about this salsa.