This Salsa Taquera Recipe is a fiery taco salsa made with freshly roasted tomatoes, garlic, onions, and Arbol peppers. Salsa Roja Taquera is a perfect salsa for your favorite street tacos! This salsa recipe is also great for dipping chips, taquitos, and is perfect for most Mexican dishes.
I absolutely love Salsa Roja Taquera! You will too! Salsa Taquera is traditionally a taco sauce used in Mexico for street tacos. You will understand why when you take a bite! The reason is because the garlic flavors accompanied by smoky, spicy arbol peppers add so much flavor to any taco that’ll you’ll find yourself making this recipe a regular staple in your fridge!
Don’t forget to check out my recipe for Homemade Tortilla Chips if you planning on using this salsa as a dip!
Salsa Taquera Recipe
- Chile de arbol
- Roma tomatoes
- White onion
- Garlic
- Olive oil
How to Make Salsa Taquera
- Preheat skillet with 2 tablespoons olive oil to medium high heat. Add chopped tomatoes and onions and roast until they begin showing signs of blistering, roughly 5 minutes.
- Add garlic and roast for an additional 2 minutes.
- Include Arbol peppers and cook an additional minute.
- Place all ingredients in a blender and add 4 tablespoons of olive oil; blend on high until smooth, roughly 40 seconds.
- Add salt if needed.
What is Salsa Taquera?
Salsa Taquera is a very simple salsa and one that is popularly served in Mexico at good Taquerias (restaurants specializing in tacos). Some chefs make this salsa with tomatillos but Salsa Roja Taquera is commonly made with just chile de arbol, tomatoes, garlic, and onions. Chile de arbol has a nice smoky flavor which really sets this Salsa Taquera Recipe apart!
How Spicy is Salsa Taquera?
Salsa Taquera is made with arbol chilis so let’s start by comparing them to other chilis. While they are much hotter than jalapenos, they are just a bit milder than cayenne pepper. However, a straight answer would be: they are pretty darn hot! That’s because they register on the Scoville scale at 15,000 to 30,000. These peppers are very useful in Mexican cuisine; they can be used to make homemade chili powder or adobo sauce, commonly used as a marinade for many Mexican dishes.
Chili Pepper Types and Their Heat Level
While it would be very difficult to provide an exhaustive list of chili pepper types because there are thousands of varieties, here are some of the more common variety used in traditional Mexican cuisine. We use the Scoville Scale, a scale which determines the heat level of peppers, to assign a value to the heat of each pepper listed below. While there are some peppers that register as 16,000,000 on the scale (insanely hot), the peppers commonly used below are much milder. However, don’t be fooled, many of these peppers have quite a kick!
- Bell Pepper: 0 to 100
- Poblano: 2,500 to 5,000
- Jalapeno: 2,500 to 5,000
- Chipotle: 2,500 to 5,000
- Serrano: 5,000 to 15,000
- Chile de Arbol: 15,000 to 30,000
- Cayenne: 30,000 to 50,000
- Habanero: 100,000 to 300,000
In summary, Salsa Taquera is pretty spicy. However, if you’re looking for a milder salsa that’s still perfect for street tacos, try our Serrano Salsa or Fire Roasted Salsa.
Recipe Tips and Variations
- Heat. Many traditional Salsa Taquera recipes call for up to 15 Arbol peppers. However, if you don’t like spicy foods, this may be a stretch for you. That’s why I only included 4 peppers in my recipe here and this was actually enough for me, and I like spicy food. However, go for the whole 15 if you’re tough!
- Spices. I can see this recipe also being pretty good with a just a bit of cumin or oregano. Experiment and let us know how it worked out if you do!
- Tang. Maybe a little lime or lemon in this recipe would be delicious!
- Roasting your ingredients. We used a cast iron skillet for this recipe and it worked great! Remember, you want your ingredients to be slightly roasted. That’s because this is what adds to the flavor!
- Tomato seeds. We used all the tomato in this recipe so we didn’t lose any of the juice! Seeds are ok!
Health Benefits of Chili Peppers
Salsa Taquera is also relatively healthy because chili peppers have some rather impressive health benefits.
- One study found that eating chili peppers reduced symptoms of heartburn (1).
- Chili peppers may reduce appetite (2).
- One study revealed that consumption of chilis increased metabolism (3).
I enjoyed sharing this Vegan Plate recipe with you! I hope you love Salsa Taquera as much as I do. Don’t forget to check out my other salsa recipes just below!
Simple Salsa and Dip Recipes
- Serrano Salsa
- Salsa Ranchera
- Fire Roasted Salsa
- Vegan Nacho Cheese
- Black Bean and Corn Salsa
- Pineapple Habanero Salsa
- Chipotle Corn Salsa
- Chipotle Tomato Salsa
- Pico De Gallo With Avocado
- Mango Black Bean Salsa
- Salsa Verde
- Guajillo Sauce
- Salsa Roja
Vegan Mexican Food Recipes
Salsa Taquera
This Salsa Taquera Recipe is a fiery taco salsa made with freshly roasted tomatoes, garlic, onions, and Arbol peppers. Salsa Roja Taquera is a perfect salsa for your favorite street tacos! This salsa recipe is also great for dipping chips, taquitos, and is perfect for most Mexican dishes.
Ingredients
- 3 Roma tomatoes, roughly chopped
- 1/1 white onion, roughly chopped
- 4 garlic cloves, peeled
- 4 Arbol peppers, stems removed
- 6 tablespoons olive oil
Instructions
- Preheat skillet with 2 tablespoons olive oil to medium high heat. Add chopped tomatoes and onions and roast until they begin showing signs of blistering, roughly 5 minutes.
- Add garlic and roast for an additional 2 minutes.
- Add Arbol peppers and cook an additional minute.
- Place all ingredients in a blender and add 4 tablespoons of olive oil; blend on high until smooth, roughly 40 seconds.
- Add salt if needed.
Notes
If you are sensitive to spicy foods, please be advised that this salsa is intended to be spicy. However, you can add fewer peppers to reduce the heat.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
16Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 58Total Fat: 5gSaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 4gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 2mgCarbohydrates: 3gFiber: 1gSugar: 1gProtein: 1g
The Vegan Plate attempts to provide accurate information. However, this nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. The nutritional information provided comes from online sources and calculations.
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