Roasted Salsa Verde

Bright, tangy, and packed with roasted Hatch Green Chile, this roasted salsa verde is perfect for feeding a crowd. Charred tomatillos meet smoky chiles in a fruity, slightly spicy salsa that disappears fast—ideal for game day or any gathering.

It is football season, which means you need to run and make a huge batch of this Roasted Salsa Verde to have on hand. What might football season and salsa verde have in common? Well, they don't have anything in common. BUT they are directly correlated in this way: football season means lots of guests and lazy get-togethers with family and friends, and roasted salsa verde is an easy recipe when you need to feed an army on command.

I love football season and everything that comes with it. I try so hard to like football, but I just can't get myself to focus. If you tell me a story about a player, I'll follow them forever, but it's not the actual sport that makes my heart leap for joy. Instead, it's the people, the spontaneous naps, and the universal acceptance of munching all Sunday long.

Seriously, this salsa verde is so delicious, and it makes a giant vat's worth without really trying. I roasted the tomatillos to give it that extra charred flavor, and blended them with already roasted Hatch Green Chile and a few spices to give it a deep and slightly spicy taste. Tomatillo salsa is a little more fruity than just your average tomato and chile salsa. But I LOVE the combination of flavors, and it's just spicy enough that I could do the football-watching dance: stuff your face with chips and salsa for an hour, inadvertently fall asleep for a bit, then wake up and do it all over again.

This salsa is SWEET, TART, SPICY GOODNESS. The charring is what sets it apart—broiling the tomatillos before blending gives this version a smokier, deeper edge than a classic stovetop salsa verde where the tomatillos are simply simmered.

Just a little note about the slight sweet and tart notes of the tomatillo: tomatillos are not as closely associated with regular tomatoes as you may assume. While they are part of the same family, tomatillos are more closely related to the gooseberry. They're sometimes called "green tomatoes," but that's actually a misnomer—a green tomato is just an under-ripe tomato, while a tomatillo is an entirely different fruit. Sorry for the nerd-out, but I learned that from Alton Brown at some point in my life, and I knew it was taking up brain space for a reason!