Salsa Macha
- Total Time
- 20 minutes
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
Yield:2 cups
- 1½cups vegetable oil
- 5garlic cloves, peeled
- 1cup mixed roasted nuts, such as peanuts, pecans and almonds (salted is fine)
- 78grams ancho chiles (about 5 large), stemmed and seeded
- 7large chiles de árbol, stemmed
- 2tablespoons raw sesame seeds
- 2dried bay leaves, crumbled
- 1teaspoon dried oregano, preferably Mexican
- 1½teaspoons kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal)
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)
1077 calories; 106 grams fat; 8 grams saturated fat; 1 gram trans fat; 70 grams monounsaturated fat; 22 grams polyunsaturated fat; 27 grams carbohydrates; 10 grams dietary fiber; 7 grams sugars; 15 grams protein; 575 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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- Step 1
Heat the oil, garlic and nuts in a large saucepan over medium until the garlic is golden brown, 6 to 8 minutes. Remove from the heat. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the garlic and nuts to a heatproof bowl to cool.
- Step 2
Add the chiles to the pan with the oil. Cook over medium heat, stirring and flipping the chiles, until the oil is slightly reddish and the chiles are brick-red in color, about 30 seconds. Remove from the heat. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the chiles to the nut mixture; let cool for 5 minutes.
- Step 3
While the nuts are cooling, add the seeds to the hot oil and set aside; they will toast as they sit. Purée the chile mixture with the bay leaves, oregano and salt in a food processor until coarsely ground. With the motor running, slowly drizzle in the seed-and-oil mixture until the chiles are finely ground.
Tip
- The salsa can be stored in an airtight container, refrigerated, for up to several months.
Private Notes
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Cooking Notes
Margot
I loved this one! I added a little thyme aswell
Diana
Typically I make some slight modifications after tasting, but this salsa recipe is amazing as written. For people who are trying to cut back on salt, I would taste before adding additional Crystal Diamond, although it is the perfect cooking salt (not as salty as other types of salt). Thank you Rick for a wonderful recipe. I add chile crisp to everything, now I will add your salsa!
Obsessed
Love. I used olive oil. No arbol so did mix of pasilla and ancho. Subbed tahini for the sesame. Like 2TBSP. use primarily peanuts with some walnuts and pecans. I would make this to give as gifts.
Mere
Didn't have enough ancho chiles, but I DID have a half-empty jar of chipotles in adobo that had been languishing in my fridge. Added that to make up for some of the chiles and kept the rest the same. Excellent salsa to spice up sweet potato black bean tacos
Chris
SO DELICIOUS. Great way to use up nuts that are on the verge of becoming stale. Next time I will experiment with different chiles… pasilla, cascabel, guajillo…
PCG
Brilliant flavors. For more crisp and that lovely oily separation (think what we like about Chile Crunch, etc): follow directions through oil toasting nuts, chiles, and seeds. Pulse nuts and chiles until coarse. Then, in separate bowls, mix together pulsed nut/chiles mixture with seed/oil mixture. This should give you all the flavors and the textures that you want. Drizzle on everything!
Did i do something wrong?
Please help. My salsa macha looks nothing like the photo and it’s more of a liquified salsa consistency and less puree and there is no oil to chile separation. I followed all the instructions perfectly, but maybe I went wrong on this step: Does “Purée the chile mixture” does this mean with the peanuts? Or is the mixture simply the Chiles, bay leaves, and salt?
Susie
For me this was missing just a little acidity to brighten it up. I had some Trader Joe’s pumpkin vinegar so I added about a tablespoon and I really like it. I’m sure apple cider or even rice vinegar would work as well. All in all a great salsa recipe.
Kard
This is the second time I've made this recipe and the fourth time I've made salsa macha. I prefer this recipe it over the other macha recipe in NYT cooking. I used fewer ancho chiles and made up for that with morita chiles, plus the chiles de arbol. I prefer the flavor with the addition of the morita chiles vs the first time I made this recipe. One issue: I don't get how you can say it only takes 20 minutes to make. I doubled the recipe and just de-seeding the chiles took me 2X that.
Lisa
Beyond delicious. Subbed epazote for oregano, and used olive oil since we were out of grapeseed oil. My 9 yo said it looks and tastes like spicy chocolate!
Obsessed
Love. I used olive oil. No arbol so did mix of pasilla and ancho. Subbed tahini for the sesame. Like 2TBSP. use primarily peanuts with some walnuts and pecans. I would make this to give as gifts.
Carol in Queens
Made this for a job, to serve on top of Melissa Clarks Simplest Lentil Soup, as part of a "drop-off" lunch buffet. People went crazy over it. Rave reviews! It's a great recipe, easy method, and good on so many things.
Diana
Typically I make some slight modifications after tasting, but this salsa recipe is amazing as written. For people who are trying to cut back on salt, I would taste before adding additional Crystal Diamond, although it is the perfect cooking salt (not as salty as other types of salt). Thank you Rick for a wonderful recipe. I add chile crisp to everything, now I will add your salsa!
Margot
I loved this one! I added a little thyme aswell
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