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slasa ranchera close up with chips
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Salsa Ranchera, My Way!

This was one of mom's favorite store bought bottled salsas. This is my adaptation of the recipe according to the ingredients on the bottle.
Course Salsa, Appetizer
Cuisine Mexican
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Steeping Time 20 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 5 minutes
Servings 1 quart

Ingredients

  • 6 large tomatillos peeled and washed, 9-10 oz
  • 4 chile ancho 2 oz
  • 12 to 24 chile de arbol depending on your heat level. 5-10 oz
  • 4 cloves garlic 0.7 oz
  • 1/4 of a white onion 4 oz
  • 1/2 teaspoon oregano, optional
  • 1/2 teaspoon cumin, optional
  • salt to taste
  • 2 tbsp oil

Instructions

Directions

  • Remove the stems and seeds from the chile ancho and just the stems from chile de arbol.
  • Add all of the ingredients, minus the oregano, cumin and salt, to a pot. Cover with water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and cook for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and let steep for 20 minutes.
  • Drain most of the water and transfer to the blender. Add the oregano, cumin and salt to taste. For a coarse looking salsa, blend all of the dried chiles first on high until very smooth. Then add the rest of the ingredients and pulse to blend. For a smoother salsa, blend all of the ingredients on high until smooth. If salsa is too thick, you could add a little more water.
  • Add two tablespoons of oil to a medium sauce pan and heat to medium. Preheat for a few minutes. After a few minutes, pour in the freshly blended salsa. Cook at a steady simmer for 10-15 minutes. Taste for salt. Cooking the salsa will extend the life of the salsa by up to 10 days and yield a smoother texture.

Notes

In the original salsa ingredients, they added some fresh jalapeños. I have used some in the past. If using the fresh jalapeño, I would start with at least 2-4 depending on the size.
Simply boiling all of the ingredients is the easiest method of preparing this salsa ranchers. To add another level of flavor, you can toast the dried chiles before rehydrating them in hot water. You can also dry roast the tomatillos, onion and garlic on a preheated comal(griddle) at medium heat for 10-15 minutes before blending. I don't typically add cumin to any of my salsa recipes, but it's delicious with the chile ancho.