Salsa de Molcajete
By Jonathan ZaragozaPublished on April 20, 2026
Time
1 hour
Yield
2 cups
Ingredients
Before You Begin
You can use a 12-inch cast-iron skillet in place of the comal. If you don’t have a molcajete for mashing the salsa (2-cup or larger is best), you can use your hands and a fork: In step 5, mash the garlic, chile powder, and salt with the fork, adding tomato liquid as needed to form a paste. Then use your hands to break up the tomatoes. Leave the salsa chunkier for a more rustic texture or mash it further if you want it smoother. This recipe involves making your own arbol chile powder and using some of it in the salsa. Sprinkle the leftover powder on beans, vegetables, grilled meat, and eggs. Serve this salsa with meaty stews, braises, or any taco that wants a smoky, garlicky red salsa.
Instructions
- Heat comal over medium heat for 3 minutes. Place 30 grams arbol chiles, stemmed, on comal and cook, continuously moving around using wooden spoon or spatula, until very dark and crispy, about 7 minutes. Transfer arbols to large plate and let cool to room temperature, about 10 minutes. Transfer to spice grinder and grind into fine powder. Store in airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 month.
- Lay one 16 by 12-inch piece of aluminum foil on counter with short side of foil parallel to counter edge. Place 600 grams plum tomatoes, cored, in center of bottom half of foil then fold top half of foil over tomatoes, tightly crimping all open sides to make rough 6-inch square. Take second 16 by 12-inch sheet of foil and wrap packet, crimping sides in same way (second layer of foil will prevent tomato juices from leaking out while tomatoes cook).
- Lay one 12 by 6-inch piece of aluminum foil on counter with short side of foil parallel to counter edge. Place 25 grams unpeeled garlic in center of bottom half of foil and drizzle it with 2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil. Fold top half of foil over garlic, tightly crimping all open sides. Repeat with second piece of foil.
- Heat comal over medium heat for 3 minutes. Place tomato packet in center of comal and place garlic packet on comal next to tomatoes. Cook tomatoes and garlic packets for 20 minutes, flipping garlic packet after 10 minutes. Remove garlic packet from comal, then flip tomato packet and cook for another 10 minutes. (Tomatoes will have distinctive char marks, and garlic will be browned; both will be very tender.) Transfer foil packets to large bowl and set aside until cool enough to handle, 10 to 15 minutes. Unwrap tomatoes, allowing any tomato juices to run into bowl.
- Unwrap garlic and squeeze softened cloves from their skins directly into molcajete. Mash garlic with 1½ teaspoons kosher salt and ½ teaspoon arbol chile powder into rough paste, adding tomato juice a little at a time if needed. Add tomatoes and continue mashing salsa, adding additional tomato juice as needed until it reaches your desired texture (mash in batches if your molcajete is small). Season with salt and chile powder to taste. Serve. (Salsa can be refrigerated for up to 3 days; bring to room temperature and taste for seasoning again before serving.)
Time
1 hourYield
2 cupsIngredients
Ingredients
Ingredients
Why This Recipe Works
For Jonathan Zaragoza, a Chicago-based chef known for his live-fire cooking and deep respect for Mexican culinary tradition, this is the salsa that started it all.
When he was 18 and working at his family’s restaurant in Chicago, customers would often ask for a salsa roja to serve with their specialty, birria. But the restaurant didn’t have a broiler for charring tomatoes and garlic, and roasting them on the comal was too messy for a small kitchen dedicated to meat and tortillas.
The move that finally put a salsa on the Birrieria Zaragoza table was simple: wrapping the tomatoes and garlic in foil before placing them on the comal. The goal was to corral the mess, but it turned the salsa into something different—and even better. The tomatoes still char but also steam in their own vapor, which makes the skins very tender and easy to break down in a molcajete. Wrapped in foil, the garlic becomes soft, sweet, and mellow, almost like confit, but still takes on color; it tempers the deep, dark heat of the homemade chile de árbol powder. Crushed against a molcajete’s rough surface, the roasted ingredients release their flavor, and the salsa becomes incredibly concentrated and layered with character.
Before You Begin
You can use a 12-inch cast-iron skillet in place of the comal. If you don’t have a molcajete for mashing the salsa (2-cup or larger is best), you can use your hands and a fork: In step 5, mash the garlic, chile powder, and salt with the fork, adding tomato liquid as needed to form a paste. Then use your hands to break up the tomatoes. Leave the salsa chunkier for a more rustic texture or mash it further if you want it smoother. This recipe involves making your own arbol chile powder and using some of it in the salsa. Sprinkle the leftover powder on beans, vegetables, grilled meat, and eggs. Serve this salsa with meaty stews, braises, or any taco that wants a smoky, garlicky red salsa.
Instructions
- Heat comal over medium heat for 3 minutes. Place 30 grams arbol chiles, stemmed, on comal and cook, continuously moving around using wooden spoon or spatula, until very dark and crispy, about 7 minutes. Transfer arbols to large plate and let cool to room temperature, about 10 minutes. Transfer to spice grinder and grind into fine powder. Store in airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 month.
- Lay one 16 by 12-inch piece of aluminum foil on counter with short side of foil parallel to counter edge. Place 600 grams plum tomatoes, cored, in center of bottom half of foil then fold top half of foil over tomatoes, tightly crimping all open sides to make rough 6-inch square. Take second 16 by 12-inch sheet of foil and wrap packet, crimping sides in same way (second layer of foil will prevent tomato juices from leaking out while tomatoes cook).
- Lay one 12 by 6-inch piece of aluminum foil on counter with short side of foil parallel to counter edge. Place 25 grams unpeeled garlic in center of bottom half of foil and drizzle it with 2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil. Fold top half of foil over garlic, tightly crimping all open sides. Repeat with second piece of foil.
- Heat comal over medium heat for 3 minutes. Place tomato packet in center of comal and place garlic packet on comal next to tomatoes. Cook tomatoes and garlic packets for 20 minutes, flipping garlic packet after 10 minutes. Remove garlic packet from comal, then flip tomato packet and cook for another 10 minutes. (Tomatoes will have distinctive char marks, and garlic will be browned; both will be very tender.) Transfer foil packets to large bowl and set aside until cool enough to handle, 10 to 15 minutes. Unwrap tomatoes, allowing any tomato juices to run into bowl.
- Unwrap garlic and squeeze softened cloves from their skins directly into molcajete. Mash garlic with 1½ teaspoons kosher salt and ½ teaspoon arbol chile powder into rough paste, adding tomato juice a little at a time if needed. Add tomatoes and continue mashing salsa, adding additional tomato juice as needed until it reaches your desired texture (mash in batches if your molcajete is small). Season with salt and chile powder to taste. Serve. (Salsa can be refrigerated for up to 3 days; bring to room temperature and taste for seasoning again before serving.)
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