How to Roast Tomatillos
Roasting tomatillos is easy and ideal for making sauces, salsas, and more. Learn how to roast them in the oven and broiler.
Roasting tomatillos for salsas or sauces is very simple. Roasting is important to encourage the full flavor of the tomatillos.
The easiest way is to roast your tomatillos under a broiler or in the oven. It doesn’t take long at all.
You’ll need a good dozen or so tomatillos along with some spray oil, and that’s pretty much it.
How to Roast Tomatillos in the Broiler
- First, preheat your oven to broil.
- Next, peel off the outer brown skin that wraps the tomatillos and discard. Rinse the tomatillos.
- Slice the tomatillos in half through the horizontal center (not up and down) and arrange on a large baking dish with the skin sides up. Spray lightly with oil.
- Bake about 12 minutes until skin side is blistering.
- Lastly, remove and cool before using.
NOTE: The tomatillos will be very soft at this point.
How to Roast Tomatillos in the Oven
If you prefer to bake instead of broil, preheat oven to about 400 degrees, then bake about 20 minutes. Then proceed. They will not char, but they will be just as good.
Here are the steps:
- First, preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
- Next, peel off the outer brown skin that wraps the tomatillos and discard. Rinse the tomatillos.
- Slice the tomatillos in half through the horizontal center (not up and down) and arrange on a large baking dish with the skin sides up. Spray lightly with oil.
- Bake about 20 minutes until skin side is blistering and the tomatillos are nice and soft.
- Lastly, remove and cool before using.
Enjoy your roasted tomatillos!
What should you make with your roasted tomatillos?
- Roasted Tomatillo Salsa, aka Salsa Verde, Recipe
- Avocado-Tomatillo Salsa Verde (Mexican Green Table Sauce)
- Homemade Green Enchilada Sauce
- Roasted Tomatillo Pork Chili
- Salsa Recipes
If you try this recipe, please let us know! Leave a comment, rate it and tag a photo #ChiliPepperMadness on Instagram so we can take a look. I always love to see all of your spicy inspirations. Thanks! — Mike H.
This post was updated on 9/3/19 to include a video and new information. It was originally published on April 6, 2014.
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Whats the taste difference between fresh tomatillos vs roasted vs boiled?
REPLY: Cooked tomatillos have a distinct flavor difference from raw. The raw tomatillos are very vegetal and have a slight bitterness, where the cooked tomatillos are more developed and mellowed. — Mike from Chili Pepper Madness.
We have always just rinsed the tomatillos, we don’t worry about the sticky stuff at all. We usually get 3-5 five gallon buckets of them and this would be hugely time consuming. You cannot tell the difference in taste anyway.
Can you freeze this salsa? How long does it stay good in fridge for? Thank you
REPLY: Shari, yes, you can easily freeze this. Just be sure to use airtight containers. It will last a good week in the fridge or so. — Mike from Chili Pepper Madness.
Made some turkey stuffed enchiladas using this sauce – great recipe! Regarding the sticky film, if it doesn’t rinse off is it necessary to remove it? I roast them under a broiler till the skins are somewhat charred and don’t notice any residual film. Does it negatively affect the flavor.
REPLY: Bruce, it is not a big deal if the stickiness does not wash off. It is just part of the tomatillo and does not affect the resulting flavor. — Mike from Chili Pepper Madness.
Re: Stickiness The smaller, greener tomatillos were stickier than the riper, lighter colored tomatillos. I grew them in my garden, and picked them before frost, so some of them weren’t as ripe.
I sprayed my tomayoes with a little vinegar to remove the sticky feelibg. 🙂
I tried to remove sticky coating from tomatillos following advice (run cold water and rub gently). That doesn’t work at all. I tried hot water and soap. Didn’t work. What does really work? Also I couldn’t get it off my hands.
REPLY: I don’t think there is any special trick with it, Irene. I just rinse mine as you describe and the stick film comes right off. I wonder if you got a weird batch or something? — Mike from Chili Pepper Madness.
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