Chile de Arbol Salsa is a very spicy tomato and pepper salsa that's great added to Mexican meals like chicken tacos or beef tacos, crockpot enchiladas, loaded nachos, beef chili or turkey chili and chilaquiles. It's also great for simply dipping salty tortilla chips on game days and parties.
My arbol chile salsa is made with only 5 ingredients in a blender, so it's quick and simple to make, just like my mango habanero salsa. For those of us that love spicy foods, this recipe is a delicious alternative to restaurant-style red salsa, pineapple mango salsa, salsa verde and mango pico de gallo.
Ingredients
- Dried chile de arbol
- Tomato sauce: plain without any seasonings.
- Fresh tomatoes: your favorite kind!
- Onion: sweet onion is my preference but yellow onions work too.
- Garlic cloves
how to
USE FRESH PEPPERS
Dehydrated chiles de arbol are much easier to find in many locations so they are a popular choice. But if you have access to fresh chiles, lucky you! Go ahead and use them, but skip the soaking step. Use the same amount of fresh as you would dried.
How To Make Chile de Arbol Salsa
- Cut the tops off the dried chiles. Remove the seeds and discard (or use for extra spice). Roughly chop the tomatoes and onion.
- Fill a small pot with 3 cups of water. Bring to a boil over high heat. Remove from the heat when it begins to boil and add the dried chiles. Let sit for 10 minutes in the hot water.
- Remove chilies from the water and put into a blender. Add tomatoes, tomato sauce, onion, garlic and salt. Blend on high speed until the salsa is smooth, about 1-2 minutes depending on the strength of your blender.
- Cover and store in the fridge. Serve chilled or at room temperature.
Can I Make It Without Soaking The Peppers?
You must soak the dried peppers in hot water before making salsa. This softens their skins and makes them much easier to blend to create a smooth salsa. It will be more flavorful with soaked peppers.
Kristina's Tips
- This salsa is meant to be very spicy. If it's too spicy for you, add more tomato sauce to dilute the heat.
- If you're unsure about the heat factor, use half the peppers and remove all of the seeds. If that's not spicy enough use more the next time and use some seeds.
- But if you love very spicy foods, add those seeds! Don't deseed the chiles de arbol for the most significant spiciness.
- A little salsa goes a really long way here. Just a little drizzle over your tacos, eggs, etc. will add a lot of heat. You can always add more so don't add much in the beginning.
- This salsa has a thin, sauce-like consistency. To make it chunkier, blend it for less time, use less tomato sauce, or use more fresh tomatoes. The best way to make a chunkier salsa is to eliminate some of the water that the tomatoes produce when blended. Do this by removing their pulp before adding them to the blender. Another way to make it chunkier is to use a food processor to chop the ingredients rather than blend them.
Ways To Use Chile de Arbol Salsa
There are so many ways to use chile de arbol salsa. Some of them include:
- A dip for tortilla chips or pita chips
- Drizzled on tacos, nachos, and chilaquiles
- As a sauce for enchiladas and taquitos
- Add a few tablespoons to slow cooker chile rojo to spice it up a notch
- To dip your quesadillas into
- Drizzle it over taco pasta or jalapeño cheddar chicken
- Add to your favorite burritos
- Ddd to scrambled eggs and breakfast burritos
How To Store
Fridge: store in an airtight container for 5-7 days.
Freezer: store in a freezer-safe storaga bag for up to 6 months.
Recipe
Chile de Arbol Salsa
Equipment
Ingredients
- 15 dried arbol chiles *see notes
- â…“ cup tomato sauce
- 2 large tomatoes
- 1 small sweet onion
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Cut the tops off the dried chiles. Remove the seeds and discard (or use for extra spice). Roughly chop the tomatoes and onion.
- Fill a small pot with 3 cups of water. Bring to a boil over high heat. Remove from the heat when it begins to boil and add the dried chiles. Let sit for 10 minutes in the hot water.
- Remove chilies from the water and put into a blender. Add tomatoes, tomato sauce, onion, garlic and salt. Blend on high speed until the salsa is smooth, about 1-2 minutes depending on the strength of your blender.
- Cover and store in the fridge. Serve chilled or at room temperature.
Notes
Nutrition
Amy Liu Dong says
I have never tried to make this kind of sauce, but it looks delicious and easy to make. Thank you for sharing!
Pete says
I was looking for an Mexican recipe to make my food taste more authentic. This was the bomb! We drizzled it over our nachos and it was such a hit. Everyone was asking me where I got this sauce! I passed them your recipe!!