Chile de Arbol Salsa

5 from 46 votes

Chile de Arbol Salsa

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.

Prep Time5

Cook Time16

Total Time21

Course: Appetizer, Sauce

Cuisine: Mexican

Diet: Gluten Free, Low Calorie, Low Fat, Low Lactose

Keyword: chile de arbol salsa recipe, cooking blender salsas, instant ace nova blender recipes

Servings:

Calories: 19kcal

Author: Kristina Tipps

Equipment

cooking blender

Ingredients

15 dried arbol chiles *see notes
⅓ 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

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.

Nutrition