Chile de Árbol Salsa

Chile de Árbol Salsa is our go-to family recipe for salsas. We have it on hand to enjoy with tortilla chips as well as to drizzle over our favorite dishes. We serve it at almost every big family meal when we serve Mexican food or barbecue. Unlike other salsas that are tomato based and have chunks of tomato and onions, this one is comprised mostly of chile de árbol, but also includes chicken broth, tomato sauce, and garlic. Lots of garlic. Chile de Árbol Salsa is very much like sriracha in consistency and like sriracha, can be used on almost any hot dish from any cuisine.

Where to Find It

You can find chile de árbol in well-stocked grocery stores in the “hispanic” or “ethnic” aisle. It is also used in Asian dishes, so it might be in that section, too. You should be able to find it in any Latin or Asian grocery store.

This salsa leans into garlic, and that delicious garlicky-umami flavor is what lingers after the heat disappears. It’s what makes this a great all around dipping salsa as well as a sauce to be used on fried eggs, pizza, hamburgers, meatloaf, and whatever else you would like to season up a bit.

Serving Suggestions

• Fried eggs
• Meatloaf
• Hamburgers
• Pizza
• And nachos!

If that isn’t reason enough to fall in love with this salsa, here is another…it’s easy to make. The only “tricky” part is that it requires some light frying in the skillet…just to heat up and soften, not really to roast. The heat should be on medium and the chilis need to be watched constantly, for about two minutes. Don’t look away! These chiles take seconds to turn from perfect to burnt.

After that, throw it in a blender with a few other ingredients: garlic, tomato sauce, chicken bullion, water, blend, and chill for a few hours to let the flavors infuse and you have the perfect salsa.

Heat Index

Chile de árbol is one of the spicier chiles, giving this salsa a bit of kick…exactly how I like my salsa.  Heatwise, it can range between 30,000 and 50,000 on the Scoville scale. It is hotter than sriracha. If you’re making this recipe for the first time and are unsure if you’ll like a lot of heat, make sure every seed is removed.  My family likes a bit more zing, so we only remove some of the seeds, leaving a few in.

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Chile de Árbol Salsa

A spicy, garlicky salsa that is perfect for drizzling over tacos, eggs, pizza and of course for dipping with tortilla chips.

Print Pin Rate

Prep Time: 5 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 5 minutes minutes

Total Time: 10 minutes minutes

Servings: 3 cups

Author: Four to Cook For

Equipment

• large capacity (64 ounce) blender like Vitamix
• Skillet

Ingredients

• 16 dried chiles árbol stems and seeds removed
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 4 cloves garlic
• 29 ounce can tomato sauce (without salt)
• 1 teaspoon Knorr chicken bouillon powder
• 1 cup water

Instructions

• Put garlic, tomato sauce, garlic, chicken bouillon, and water in the blender.
• Heat up a skillet over medium heat (not higher) and put the oil in.
• Place the chiles in the oil for about two minutes. DO NOT WALK AWAY. The chiles head up very quickly. You're not roasting them...you're simply heating them to release the flavor, and soften them up a bit before placing in the blender.
• When the chiles are starting to slightly change color (deeper color of orange), then quickly scrape them into the blender.
• Blend or puree (to preference) and let sit a couple of hours in the fridge to blend the flavors.

Notes

The bouillon adds a salty taste, so you can adjust that to preference.

I've made this with tomato paste when I want to make the sauce a bit thicker.

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