Authentic Mexican Salsa Verde is a fresh and bright green sauce that pairs perfectly with chicken. Now you can have a delicious salsa verde chicken enchilada in a hand held slice of pizza!
Recipe | Roasted Green Chiles | Peeling the Chiles | Making the Salsa Verde
Roasted green chiles
For this salsa verde, I’ve used mostly poblano peppers. Poblanos are on the low end of the spicy heat scale and they get even more sweet when carmelized by roasting. You can roast them in the oven or on the grill.
For this batch of salsa verde, I grilled the poblanos. I’ve got to admit that it definitely made it easier to peel the skin. Mom told me that some people cook the peppers right over a live fire. If you can get them good and charred quickly, that’s the trick. Even a hot oven with a broiler will give you the same effect, except they won’t have that smoky taste from grilling.
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Sweat the chiles
Once you have them charred like this, place the whole pepper in a ziploc bag and let the steam work its magic. In about 10-20 minutes, you will be able to take the peppers out of the bag and peel the thin skin. It looks like a thin plastic film in places. Sometimes, if you’ve done a good job with the charring, the skin will just slip right off, making the job much easier.
Once peeled, split the peppers so you can remove the seeds and stem. I’ve heard that some people will rinse the pepper to help remove the seeds. I decided not to do that this time. I was concerned about washing away too much of the taste. Anyone tried rinsing off the chiles after roasting?
While I was grilling the peppers, our puppy stayed in the shade under the lawn chair. Isn’t she cute? Her name is Pepper! Seems appropriate to mention her here.
Finishing off the salsa verde
While you’ve got the green chiles roasting, go ahead and get started on the other ingredients.
Because you’re going to put everything into a blender, there’s no need to chop it up before cooking it. I love not having to cut up the onion!
I quartered the onion because it was a REALLY big onion. For the first time, I used the entire garlic head. You can’t go wrong with garlic, right?
Process in a blender
Once the tomatillos are soft, you can add everying, including the roasted poblanos, into the blender and blend it until you’ve got salsa. Yay!
A little bit of salt, lime juice and cilantro then you’re all set.
You can make this homemade salsa verde ahead of time. It makes a quart but you’ll only need a cup of it for the actual pizza.
Use the remaining salsa verde for chips or as a dipping sauce. It freezes well and you can use it later for fajitas, enchiladas, tacos and quesadillas. I plan on using some of it to marinade a skirt steak for the grill this week.
Making the pizza dough
If you don’t have time to make your own from my Homemade Pizza Dough recipe, you’ll find ready-made pizza crust in the spaghetti sauce aisle at your local supermarket. I’ve seen a pizza dough in a roll-out version in the biscuit aisle. There may be something in the freezer section as well.
Cream cheese sauce
The sauce I’ve used for this Salsa Verde Chicken pizza is just cream cheese and a little bit of garlic powder.
Remember that I’m going for the “Can You Pizza It?” philosophy and this pizza is my version of salsa verde chicken enchilada in a pizza. I’ve used a cream cheese base for that smooth cheesy taste you get from enchiladas.
Do You Want More Pizza?
We have a lot of pizza here at 24Bite. You might say that it’s the reason we started this blog. Try one of these favorites.
Once I was ready to serve this Salsa Verde Chicken Pizza, I drizzled Mexican crema and sprinkled on some cilantro.
Recipe
Salsa Verde Chicken Pizza Recipe
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For more information, be sure to check the recipe details in the attached 24Bite® post.
Ingredients
Pizza Crust
- ½ recipe Pizza Dough
Salsa Verde Sauce
- Cooking Spray, like Pam
- 2 pounds Poblano Peppers, about 7 or 8
- 2 Jalapeno
- 1 ½ pounds Tomatillos, about 8 or 9
- 1 large Onion, quartered
- 10 Garlic Cloves
- Water
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- Juice of One Lime
- ¼ cup Cilantro, chopped
Pizza Assembly
- 1 Chicken Breast, boneless, fully cooked and chopped or shredded
- 4 ounces Cream Cheese, softened
- 1 teaspoon Garlic Powder
- 2 cups Mozzarella Cheese, shredded
Instructions
Homemade Salsa Verde Sauce
- Preheat oven to 400°.
- Wash and dry all peppers. Cut in half lengthwise. Remove stems, seeds and membranes.
- Place parchment paper on large sheet pan and spray with cooking spray. Place poblano and jalapeno peppers with skin side up and place in preheated oven. Roast peppers for 30-40 minutes until it looks like the skin is charred. Alternatively, try grilling the peppers outside. If grilling, grill the peppers whole, as shown above.
- Remove from oven and immediately place in bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap for 10-20 minutes. You could also use a ziploc bag. Once cool enough to touch, carefully remove the thin plastic-y looking skin.
- Remove husks from tomatillos and wash to remove the sticky residue. Place tomatillos, quartered onion and whole garlic cloves in medium sauce pan. Add enough water to cover. Heat on medium for about 25-30 minutes until tomatillos and soft.
- With slotted spoon, remove tomatillos, onions and garlic to blender. Add roasted peppers. Add enough cooking water to allow blender to chop properly. Run the blender on high until everything is incorporated. If there is too much for your blender carafe, try blending half at a time.
- Stir in salt, lime juice and cilantro.
Assemble Pizza
- Preheat oven to 425℉.
- In a small bowl, mix together about one cup salsa verde with chopped chicken. Set aside
- In a small saucepan, on low heat, melt cream cheese, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Stir in garlic powder.
- Spray pizza pan with cooking spray. Place dough on pan and pinch the edges a little, if you like. This helps to catch the sauce from spilling over.
- Using the back of a spoon, spread cream cheese mixture evenly over pizza dough. Evenly distribute chicken mixture over cream cheese mixture. Spread mozzarella cheese over top.
- Cook for 15-20 minutes, or until done. Cool slightly and cut into 8 pieces. If desired, garnish with cillantro and Mexican crema or sour cream sauce. Serve with extra salsa verde sauce or sour cream.
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Notes
Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet. All amounts are estimates and 24Bite® takes no responsibility for actual figures since calculations vary by packaging and supplier. Please calculate the amounts yourself based on package labeling if you have specific dietary requirements. 24Bite®, Kim Guzman or Christian Guzman shall not be liable for adverse reactions or any other outcome resulting from the use of recipes or recommendations on this website or actions you take as a result.
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