Mexican Salsa Roja Recipe

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Mexican salsa roja recipe is prepared with tomatoes and dried chilies. Use this Mexican red sauce to make enchiladas, chilaquiles, other Mexican dishes and also serve it with corn chips or tortillas.

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Salsa Roja
Ingredients
Preparation
How to Serve & Store?
FAQ & Tips
More Mexican Recipes
📖 Recipe

Post was originally published on Sept 17, 2015. Updated with new content and images.

Salsa Roja

There are two types of salsas, a red and green. Salsa roja is the spicy red sauce / salsa and is prepared with tomatoes & dry chilies. The green salsa is salsa verde prepared with tomatillos. Both these salsas are common condiments in Mexican and Latin cuisines.

Ingredients

The key ingredients for the red salsa are tomatoes, chilies peppers, garlic and cilantro. Onion is optional. Chili peppers used are arbol chilies, ancho chilies, anaheim chilies, guajillo or any Mexican variety of chilies.

Some versions of salsa roja also use jalapeno and serrano peppers as well. If you can not source the Mexican dry red chilies, use these instead. Since red chilies from India are common in my pantry and are similar to arbol chilies, I use those instead.

Preparation

There are many versions of salsa roja. However, the main ingredients are tomatoes, chilies, garlic, onion and cilantro. I usually avoid onions in this recipe.

There are two ways to prepare this sauce. One method is to oven roast or cook all the ingredients on stovetop, puree and then simmer for few minutes. I follow this method.

The other method is to puree all the ingredients and simmer until rawness of the vegetables is gone. I follow this method when preparing salsa for pupusa and also use onions, unlike in salsa roja recipe.

Cook tomatoes in some water until skin begins to peel off (#1 in below collage).
In another pan roast chili and garlic (#2).
Then add to cooked tomatoes, turn off the heat and let it sit for 10 minutes until chilies soften (#3).
When the tomatoes come to room temperature, peel the skin (#4).
Transfer tomato mixture, fresh cilantro to a mixie or a blender jar and puree (#5-6).
Transfer back to a pan and simmer for 5 minutes (#7).

Step by step preparation of salsa roja preparation.

How to Serve & Store?

Add salsa to enchilada, chilaquiles and any Mexican dish that calls for salsa. Serve salsa with tacos, tortillas and even pupusa. Store excess salsa in an air container for 2-3 days in the refrigerator.

Top down view shot of bowl of red salsa.

FAQ & Tips

What is the difference between salsa roja and salsa verde?

The main difference between salsa roja and salsa verde is use of tomatoes and chili peppers in salsa roja and, tomatillos and jalapeno peppers in salsa verde.

Which tomatoes to use for red salsa?

Use ripe red tomatoes for a flavorful salsa roja and any salsa recipe.

More Mexican Recipes

📖 Recipe

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Mexican Salsa Roja Recipe

Salsa Roja is a Mexican red sauce prepared with tomatoes and dried chilies. It is used in many Mexican dishes and also a dip for tortillas.

5 from 8 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Condiment, Side Dish

Cuisine: Mexican

Prep Time: 5

Cook Time: 5

Cooling Time: 10

Servings:

Calories: 13kcal

Author: Usha Rao

Equipment

Knife & Cutting Board
Sauce Pan, Frying Pan and a Spoon
Blender or a food processor

Ingredients

2 Tomatoes or ½ lb Tomatoes I used vine ripe but even roma can be used
¾ teaspoon Salt adjust to taste
1 Dry Chilies lightly deseeded
1 Clove Garlic
¼ cup chopped Cilantro loosely packed
½ cup Water

Instructions

Wash and cut tomatoes into 4-8 pieces depending on the size oof the tomatoes.
Take water in a saucepan, add tomatoes, salt and bring to boil.
While the tomatoes are coming to a boil, dry roast chili and garlic until chili is toasted.
Once the skin of the tomatoes start to peel off, about 4 – 5 minutes, turn off the heat.
Add the chili & garlic to tomatoes, cover the saucepan and let sit for at least 10 minutes until chili becomes soft.
Once the tomatoes cool, remove the skin of the tomatoes.
Add the tomato chili mixture to a blender, add cilantro and puree until smooth.
Transfer back to the saucepan and bring to a boil. Simmer for 5 – 8 minutes until sauce thickens.
It is ready serve or refrigerate until ready to serve. It stays good for at least two day in the fridge.

Notes

Chili Peppers - Use any Mexican chili peppers. I use Indian red chilies. If you can not source chili peppers, use jalapeno or serrano peppers.
Onions - I did not use onions. If using, cook along with tomatoes.