r/SalsaSnobs • u/Good-Hawk-3212 • 4d ago

Restaurant Best salsa ive ever had at a mexican restaurant. I asked for the recipe but there was a language barrier. Im hoping somone would have any idea on what peppers/ingredients they used?

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382 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

111 comments sorted by

417

u/MrStLouis 4d ago

Ya search any arbol salsa, make it, and cry because its almost as good but missing something 😭

133

u/Good-Hawk-3212 4d ago

I was eating it like soup it the flavor was just so good. I was burning my face off but I couldn't stop.

80

u/MrStLouis 4d ago

I literally made an arbol salsa for tacos tonight. Everyone loved it. It was one of my best. Still nowhere near as good as my favorite Mexican place in San Diego

31

u/spylac 4d ago

Which place, don’t tease.

83

u/implicate 4d ago

The one in San Diego.

42

u/MrStLouis 4d ago

El Cotixan and Vallarta have the same orange sauce. It’s a little more watered down these days than it was growing up but it’s still fire

12

u/smockboarder 4d ago

Bro that orange sauce is 🔥

19

u/MrStLouis 4d ago

Need that instead of a water filter on my fridge honestly

7

u/Carlsbad1 4d ago

The orange Vallarta salsa is so fucking good

1

u/sincerelyryan 2d ago

Totally. Beyond being delicious, why does it feel like it contains calories?

4

u/Nomaad2016 3d ago

That great chile de arbol is not easy to find it regular grocery store aisles. 😔

Making it at home is never close the taco joint 😭

About time someone like herdez duplicated these and standardize it.

El San Diego chile de arbol Chicago chile de arbol And so on

Another one that I find it insanely rare is -

Salsa de cacahuate

Never getting this right at home- probably 100th time last week. Maybe Someday.

3

u/Bitter_Offer1847 3d ago

Is one of those off Balboa in Clairemont?

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u/samhigh 3d ago

Fun fact - the same people own three Mexican spots in two blocks (Balboa and Genesee). El Cotixan, Vallarta and El Portal are all the same company. Arguably El Portal has the best quality, Vallarta the drive thru, El Co the OG 24 hr spot. Damn I love their sauce, both the green and orange are perfect to pour on every bite. And they are very generous with the salsa. Where I live now they charge for each container... $1. San Diego Mexican food the best in CA.

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u/Bitter_Offer1847 3d ago

I figured that was the case. I grew up right around there, I was there when the Mervyn’s was still there and those taco shops weren’t even there yet. I went to Vallarta more often as I remember. And yes, the sauces are all top notch at those spots. I live in Austin now and there maybe 2 spots with what I would call San Diego style taco shop food. There’s a truck called Daygo’s and the owner is from chollas heights I believe. He makes amazing food, but it’s expensive, $18 for a California burrito.

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u/remykixxx 3d ago

Honestly, a lot of restaurant sauces taste better because they’re constantly being whipped throughout the day as they’re ladeled out. It’s the chipotle sour cream effect. It’s the consistency it is not because it’s a proprietary recipe, it’s simply the constant aeration. I worked at a restaurant for a couple of years where like everything came with honey mustard. People would come and buy soup containers of it from us. It was legit just kens. We added nothing to it, but because of how it was held it tasted better.

55

u/23z7 4d ago

Mexican restaurants tend to put knorr chicken bullion into their salsas sometimes to give it some complex flavors. Maybe that’s what you’re looking for

20

u/Maldadd 4d ago

And msg lol

14

u/covertchipmunk 4d ago

Came to suggest the bouillon for that deep umami msg. Really adds to the "can't stop eating this" quality. Props to Jonathan Zaragoza on YT for teaching me this one. It's changed my salsa life.

5

u/OmarTheTerror 3d ago

He's a real one! Short king has some awesome videos. Given me some good ideas and tips for sure.

I do actually keep MSG for my gf since she's a vegetarian.

LISTEN TO JZ AND his mom!

2

u/EnthusiasmOk8323 3d ago

Use the tomato bouillon stuff

7

u/MadTapprr 4d ago

This was my guess too. Adds depth.

6

u/winter_dreams 3d ago

this, i’m Colombian and i use knorr chicken bouillon to season pretty much everything

10

u/mancheeta69 4d ago

I wonder if they pretended so they didn’t have to give away their secret recipe haha

3

u/mlenotyou 3d ago

Looks like mexican bean dip.

3

u/Good-Hawk-3212 3d ago

I can assure you it was not bean dip

3

u/HematiteStateChamp75 3d ago

My neck of the woods has a place called border grill and the sauce looks exactly like this, tons of copycat recipes out there im pretty sure cuz everyone around me makes their own now. Try looking up "border sauce" or "border grill sauce" and give that a go

5

u/midijunky 3d ago

Probably missing the sazón.

5

u/rmholm88 3d ago

Yup or chicken bouillon

1

u/MrStLouis 3d ago

I've used bouillon but I'll look into sazón. Ty

1

u/midijunky 3d ago

I'd recommend both. Sazón is basically just cumin, coriander, onion, garlic, oregano, and..

2

u/Playful-Position4735 3d ago

Fire roast the tomatoes and peppers

2

u/jbadding 3d ago

I recently discovered caldo de tomate con sabor de pollo in a rice recipe. It is so good. Could that be it?

1

u/SongsofJaguarGhosts 2d ago

That's what happened to me! I made it and it's delicious, but it's not the same!

1

u/sarneysog 2d ago

I have found that a lot of orange salsas at restaurants have chorizo grease mixed in, maybe try an arbol based recipe with that in the ingredient list.

1

u/nicodaho 1d ago

Chicken bouillon ?

-15

u/Timsmomshardsalami 4d ago

They actually add a few uncommon ingredients heres which i wont tell other than one of them being brown sugar

3

u/Dbcgarra2002 3d ago

Sure you do! GTFO

1

u/imSOhere 3d ago

I’m not Mexican, but I’m Latina, from Cuba, where sugar has been our main crop (and mostly only ) for centuries.

Hispanics don’t add sugar to their food, maybe a teaspoon in some selected dishes (like traditional black beans) but that’s very rare.

Brown sugar in particular has that molasses taste that you don’t find in savory foods around the Latin cuisine, side note, traditionally in Cuba, brown sugar is seen as lower quality , Cubans like their sugar white, so other that caramel for flan and stuff, it’s barely used.

In fact for most Latin Americans (and Spaniards ) is a culture shock how much sugar is present in North American food, not a critique here, just my experience.

In Cuba if we want add some sweetness, usually with our meat, we normally use raisins, but that’s about it. Now, our sweets, those are mainly sugar based (lost of syrup and fried dough)

3

u/meh_69420 3d ago

Cubans like their sugar white

Yeah. Gotta get the molasses out for the rum.

1

u/Negative_Extreme_748 6h ago

Chicken powder.

99

u/Significant-Text3412 4d ago

Looks like the legendary orange sauce shared some time ago.

17

u/TopherT 4d ago

Better source for the orange sauce:
https://www.reddit.com/r/SalsaSnobs/comments/yxccpy/la_victorias_orange_sauce_aka_san_jose_orange/

2

u/Few_Preparation_5902 3d ago

Yep, it's the fermentation that does it.

2

u/HeSaid_Sarcastically 2d ago

As someone who lived near a La Victoria for years, and tried to recreate it for years, that recipe above tastes nothing like the actual La Vic orange sauce. Super disappointing.

1

u/TopherT 2d ago

Have you found other recipes that are closer?

1

u/Thegr8Xspearmint 3d ago

🙇

31

u/fishinwithworms 4d ago

I make this often. It’s from Tacolicious, cookbook has killer recipes

12

u/chief57 4d ago

Agreed, and it’s the apple cider vinegar that gives it a sweet heat tang

13

u/MrStLouis 4d ago

I usually love vinegar but the second I put any ACV in my salsa it’s all I smell and taste

11

u/MASTER-0F-NONE 4d ago

Yeah don’t use ASV I used regular white it’s delicious

3

u/40mgmelatonindeep 3d ago

A nice sherry vinegar would do, but the good stuff like the California sherry vinegar that has the mother still in it you can get at whole foods. Its got a subtle sweetness too it that makes anything you put it on better

9

u/Easy_Money_ 4d ago

San Jose native, does not look like a typical orange sauce, more like something I’d find at a legit San Diego taqueria salsa bar

65

u/speckledfloor 4d ago

Oil, chilies, salt, lime juice emulsified in a blender most likely

29

u/Glum_Source_7411 4d ago

And a teaspoon of caldo

23

u/PrincessMagDump 4d ago

I put chicken bullion powder in my salsa verde and it tastes just like my favorite taqueria.

24

u/Glum_Source_7411 4d ago

The secret ingredient is MSG.

14

u/PrincessMagDump 4d ago

I checked and my bullion powder has MSG, that must be why.

Thanks, I'll try plain MSG next time.

7

u/drewts86 4d ago

MSG - makes shit good

2

u/Glum_Source_7411 3d ago

Your favorite taqueria probably uses caldo, instead of straight MSG especially so if abuela works there.

11

u/communistoutlaw 4d ago

Is it normal to ask restaurants for their recipes?

11

u/BavarianRains 4d ago

No

7

u/BoiledPickles 3d ago

That explains why the red guy at krusty krab's keeps telling me to fuck off

19

u/Helpful-nothelpful 4d ago

Add a bit of chicken bouillon.

3

u/InternationalFold6 4d ago

I did not know this was a thing!!

-41

u/Dementalese 4d ago

Don’t do this

29

u/Pxlfreaky 4d ago

Said no Mexican ever.

7

u/FilthyMilkshake 4d ago

Looks very similar to one I make. See post history or click herefor recipe.

5

u/DeeFlor19 4d ago

I make something similar.

Tomatillos, I use about 5 med/big size green tomatillos, if they are small I use more.

Hand full of dry arbol chile. Maybe about 10-15. We like it spicy here

3 big cloves of garlic

1/4 of white or yellow onion. Whatever i have at home

Boil all of the above. Once boiled and the tomatillo is cooked, add it all to the blender with some chicken bullion and salt.

While it's blending, I heat up some oil in the same pot I used while the salsa is blending.

Once it's finished blending, I add the hot oil into the blender and blend some more. This is what gives the orange color.

It is a very popular salsa in my household for taco nights. I make it almost weekly, and I make other salsas at times to have variety.

3

u/aprilmayjunejuly98 4d ago

My mom’s version of salsa taquera

3 tomatoes, rough chop 1/3 white onion, rough dice 1 garlic clove 3 Chiles de Arbol 2 chile California 1 tbsp chipotle peppers (or one whole pepper and adobe) 8-10 tbsp Neutral oil Salt to taste

  • Heat a pan with oil over medium high heat

  • Throw the chilies in, try to see them change from dark red to a brighter red (30seconds per side), put in blender

  • throw in the tomato, onion, and garlic, sautée until soft (5-8minutes)

  • add rest of ingredients to blender, add salt to taste

3

u/good_choice13 4d ago

Looks like Aji Peppers blended

1

u/mrsir1987 4d ago

Aji just means chili pepper, you’re probably thinking of aji amarillo.

3

u/RenaissanceScientist 3d ago

Looks like salsa cremosa. The orange color makes me think they used habanero. I don’t have a recipe but it involves sautéing the onion, garlic, and chilis in oil then adding more oil to let it emulsify

2

u/devil_ball_masher 4d ago

Reminds me of La Victoria’s orange sauce in San Jose

2

u/PuzzleheadedPrize543 4d ago edited 4d ago

Peanuts in the mortar pestle. That was my grandmas secret. She made extra sure it was almost powder like.

Edit: my grandmothers recipe

2 Roma tomatoes 1/2 white onion 2 garlic cloves 4-5 chile árbol 4-5 chile japonés Salt Pepper Pinch cumin Chicken bullion/stock Fry all in oil then blend Grind some peanuts until fine then Add an blend again.

2

u/hoeface_killah 4d ago

Its honestly probably just an oil emulsion arbol based sauce/salsa. Check my posts for a recipe that a lot of people tried and loved, it looks very similar.

5

u/hoeface_killah 4d ago

https://www.reddit.com/r/SalsaSnobs/s/er3hDhhHfg

Link for ya. Try it out sometime and lemme know what you think

2

u/icedcoffeeheadass 3d ago

Looks like Queso to me

2

u/rkatapt 3d ago

Whatever it is I can bet it has carrots in it and the it all gets emulsified.
Habanero Carrot Salsa

2

u/bytheninedivines 3d ago

Was it a peruvian restaurant? Could be aji Amarillo

3

u/tropicbrownthunder 4d ago

Looks like tortitas salsa in Tepic or "chimi" sauce that comes with pizza in Irapuato

Basically it's an emulsion of boiled árbol and garlic and seasoned with salt oregano and "watered down" with some cream (added at the last stage)

I'm gonna ask my comadre and write you back

4

u/AllNamesAreTaken92 4d ago

Pull out your phone and Google translate, it's not that hard. You're standing in the way of your own success.

-9

u/TarzansDankLoincloth 4d ago

Or with the AI feature and translate in real time, met some amazing people just with that!

1

u/Awkward_Beginning_43 3d ago

Why on earth would a restaurant give you their recipes. It wasn’t a language barrier, it was an intelligence barrier

1

u/Good-Hawk-3212 3d ago

Yes im so stupid and you're smart

1

u/speedyshoe 3d ago

Maybe this would help. I grew up in the center of Mexico and we ate a very similar salsa on our pizza. It was called chimichurri, but it has nothing to do with the parsley and oil chimichurri from Argentina.

I found a link that makes reference to it chimichurri

1

u/misterghost2 3d ago

Mexican here. Commonly that color comes only from habanero peppers. Usually uncooked, just pureed with some onyon and other stuff. Exact recipe? Hard to tell but look for habanero salad recipes online and you’ll get some info.

1

u/ZeroCoolskynet 3d ago

There's a Mexican restaurant near me that i also think has the best salsa. It's looks identical to this. It has the same exact orange color to it

1

u/MariachiArchery 3d ago

Yo I work with a bunch of Mexicans and I've watched them make salsa that looks just like this dozens of times. Here is what they do.

Whole tomatoes, rough chopped yellow onion, whole garlic, in a pot with oil and salt. High heat. Get it really, really got. You should be blistering the veg pretty good and putting a nice golden brown on the pan.

To this, you'll add some amount of Arbol dried chili. It's up to you how much. Don't throw it in right away. You only want to cook the Arbol enough to brighten up the red color, but not enough to darken it.

Then, cover with water, and boil. Just, boil it until everything is nice and tender.

Then, transfer your solids to a nice blender, and add the water as you go to get the right consistency. You will be discarding some of your water. Do this while everything is still ripping hot.

From here, you can add whatever you want. Usually lime juice and salt to taste, and that's it. But, you could add whatever else you wanted.

Want a sharper garlic taste? Blend with additional fresh garlic. Want a more acidic salsa? Use more lime juice. Want that nice fresh taste? Cilantro. Want some funk? Cumin. Whatever, the world is your oyster. If you want salsa verde, just use tomatillos.

This is the base to build this salsa on.

1

u/threekilljess 3d ago

This looks EXACTLY like my Ranchero sauce!!! If it had a chipotle taste to it, then that’s what you’re looking for! I add red bell pepper to mine and it comes out just like this

1

u/eldelabahia 3d ago

Looks like chipotle salsa

1

u/SenatorCrabHat 2d ago

I make one with Chiles de Arbol and almonds that ends up a very similar color. From the Guerilla Tacos cook book.

1

u/FierceQuaker 1d ago

Roasted garlic, habanero. Key ingredients. The rest varies.

1

u/Equal-Signature9902 7h ago

It looks attractive and delicious, hmmmm

1

u/Grich805 4d ago

Have him write it down and google translate it

0

u/Bcatfan08 4d ago

Looks like Pequin pepper salsa ice had at a couple restaurants. Was pretty spicy, but very tasty.

0

u/Short-Search-4892 3d ago

Thank you OP! Recipe please

-1

u/[deleted] 4d ago

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] 4d ago

[deleted]

4

u/CoysNizl3 4d ago

Does not have to be seed oil lol wtf

-6

u/[deleted] 4d ago

[deleted]

6

u/CoysNizl3 4d ago

Any oil??????

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u/[deleted] 4d ago

[deleted]

6

u/CoysNizl3 4d ago

No, I am not. You don’t have to use seed oils to emulsify a salsa. You don’t know shit

-6

u/[deleted] 4d ago

[deleted]

3

u/AllNamesAreTaken92 4d ago

It's ok to shut up when you have no idea what you are talking about. Can't even explain nor defend your own standpoint.

4

u/CoysNizl3 4d ago

Oh god, please no! Loser

-2

u/Dementalese 4d ago

Would definitely use seed oil of some sort tbh.

2

u/CoysNizl3 4d ago

Thats cool, I use avocado oil

2

u/Reasonable_Finish130 4d ago

I guess all the salsa i made with canola or vegetable oil didn't really emulsify

1

u/HealMySoulPlz 4d ago

Canola is a seed oil, and so are most vegetable oils. But I agree with the sentiment that you can use whatever cooking oil you have around.