This easy and delicious salsa de chile de arbol is a traditional sauce from Mexico that is served with tacos, gorditas, sopes and pretty much everything that calls for a great spicy sauce! With only 6 ingredients, this sauce is as easy as it is practical to make! and being vegan, and low calorie, it fits into every diet!
My mom always use as a base tomatoes, onion, garlic and coriander for sauces. Everything else depends on people’s preferences. I enjoy adding some veggie stock when I want something very savory, and some oil to give it body, but they are not necessary! I even skip salt because I think that when you don’t add it, the flavor of the chilies really comes on top and you can feel the heat!
What is chile de arbol?
This is a relatively small chili, but with a strong heat! They start green but turn red once they are mature enough. If you want to know more, follow this link.
You can find them in Amazon following this link. And some supermarkets have them. It all depends on where you live. It is very different from chile guajillo which is sometimes used as a substitute for ancho chile (used in chamoy!).
Also, it has become popular to use powdered chili! I do not recommend it as it is very spicy and a bit more difficult to estimate how much you actually need. Also, dried chilies tend to give the salsa a better taste.
I use red tomatoes because it is not easy to find “tomatillos” in London! feel free to experiment and use tomatillos instead, or to use a mix of tomatoes and tomatillos!
Let’s make salsa de chile de arbol!
Get your ingredients:
- 12 Medium sized tomatoes
- 10 Dried chile de arbol If you are using fresh, go only for 5
- 1 Onion
- 3/4 ounce Coriander
- 1 teaspoon Veggie stock powder Optional
- 2 Medium sized cloves of garlic
- 2 tbsp Canola oil Olive oil also works, optional!
Put a non-stick pan or casserole, at medium fire
Chop the onion into relatively small pieces and add them to the pan
Mince the garlic
Once the onion is caramelized (about 5 minutes) add the garlic
Remove the stems and most of the seeds of the dried chilies and chop them into small pieces. If you are using fresh chilies, do the same, but add half the quantity as I found them more spicy
Add the chilies and the coriander
Reduce the intensity of the fire and stir everything from time to time with a wooden spatula
Chop the tomatoes in squares and continue stiring from time to time
Add the tomatoes and stir very well. Cover with a lid and let it simmer for about 20 minutes. Once it is ready it should look more or less like this 🙂
Let the sauce cool down and use it on everything!
Enjoy! Are you looking for great dishes that go great with this sauce? how about some gorditas? or some sopes?
We hope you love this recipe as much as we do ❤️, it’s:
Ideal for tacos, gorditas and sopes
An essential Mexican sauce
Spicy and delicious!
If you try this recipe, let us know! leave a comment, rate the recipe or tag a photo on our Instagram or Facebook with the tag #naturalGoodness! Get creative and make it unique, I love to see what you get up to when trying our recipes 🙂
Salsa de chile de arbol
Ingredients
- 12 Medium sized tomatoes
- 10 Dried chile de arbol If you are using fresh, go only for 5
- 1 Onion Go red for the antioxidants!
- 3/4 ounce Coriander
- 1 teaspoon Veggie stock powder Optional
- 2 Medium sized cloves of garlic
- 2 tbsp Canola oil Olive oil also works, optional!
Instructions
- Get your ingredients
- Put a non-stick pan or casserole, at medium fire
- Chop the onion into relatively small pieces and add them to the pan
- Mince the garlic
- Chop the onion
- Once the onion is caramelized (about 5 minutes) add the garlic
- Remove the stems and most of the seeds of the dried chilies and chop them into small pieces. If you are using fresh chilies, do the same, but add half the quantity as I found them more spicy
- Add the chilies and the coriander
- Reduce the intensity of the fire and stir everything from time to time with a wooden spatula
- Chop the tomatoes in squares and continue stiring from time to time
- Add the tomatoes and stir very well. Cover with a lid and let it simmer for about 20 minutes
- You'll have to "mash" the tomatoes once they have been softened
- Let the sauce cool down and use it on everything!
- You can blend it, but I actually prefer to see and feel the texture of all the different ingredients!
- Enjoy!
Notes
- Oil and veggie stock are not necessary! but they do give some extra kick to the recipe
- If you are too sensitive to spiciness, maybe start with one or two chilies and increase the amount until you are happy with the result. I think 10 chilies is just the right amount as long as you remove the stems and seeds!