Tomatillo sauce is a cooked Mexican sauce. Made using green tomatillos and with fresh kick of chilli, the sauce can be served hot or cold.
Michelle holidayed in Mexico last year and came home talking about a sauce she’d eaten there. A Mexican tomatillo sauce or cooked salsa verde. This sauce was served alongside other food as a salsa. It had a real kick of heat and was served both hot and cold. Tomatillos are fruits that look very similar to a green tomato but are bitter on the palate. We can’t buy tomatillos locally, however we were able to buy online.
We served the sauce with chicken enchilladas. Saute some chicken with sliced peppers, red onions and a good teaspoon of a Mexican style spice blend. If you don’t fancy chicken you can use steak, pork, or add more vegetables. We fried both sides of our corn tortillas (we used Santa Maria tortillas as these are readily available in supermarkets) in a little oil, this stops them going soggy, before filling them with the chicken mixture. We then layered up the dish as follows: pour half the tomatillo sauce in the base of an oven-proof dish, lay the chicken filled tortillas on top and then cover with the remaining tomatillo sauce and top off with a layer of grated cheese before placing in an pre-heated oven at 180CFan for 20 minutes or until golden.
Additional recipe suggestions:
Tomatillo sauce works well alongside Guacamole and Tomato Salsa. If you like this recipe then it is delicious served alongside our Refried Beans or our Smoked Chilli Beef.

Tomatillo Sauce
Ingredients
- 28 oz large tin tomatillos
- 1 red chilli (deseeded and sliced)
- 1 small onion
- 2 cloves garlic
- bunch coriander stalks
Instructions
- Place the tomatillos, together with the juices from the tin, in a saucepan along with the chilli and bring to the boil. Allow to simmer for about 5 minutes to infuse the mixture with the chilli.
- Place the tomatillos, chilli and remaining ingredients in a food processor adding a few tablespoons of the cooking liquid. Blitz well until a sauce forms, adding more cooking liquid if needed. You want a slightly thick sauce with the consistency of soup.
- Return sauce to the saucepan and continue to simmer for a further 15-20 minutes, allowing the raw ingrients to cook through and the flavour to soften.
Notes
• Please note that the nutrition information provided above is approximate and meant as a guideline only •
Chloe Edges
I am constantly on the lookout for tomatillo as I’ve loved this when I’ve been in the South Western States!
Lesley
Thank you Chloe, this sauce is a favourite of Michelle’s and now mine too. She made this after returning from holiday in Mexico. Lesley x