Artificial Food Coloring Free Salsa Verde Stir-Fry Sauce
Bright, tangy, and loaded with fresh herb flavor, this salsa verde stir-fry sauce is the kind of weeknight shortcut that actually tastes like you put in serious effort. Simmered tomatillos form the backbone, blending into a silky, deeply savory base that gets layered with jalapeño heat, cilantro freshness, and a squeeze of lime. A splash of tamari and a touch of maple syrup round out the edges in a way that feels surprisingly complex for such a short ingredient list. For anyone navigating artificial dyes and synthetic additives, bottled stir-fry sauces are a minefield — the vivid colors in many commercial versions come straight from certified dyes rather than real produce. This sauce skips all of that entirely, pulling its gorgeous olive-green hue from real tomatillos and fresh cilantro, nothing else. Every ingredient here is whole and recognizable, which makes it genuinely easy to trust what you're pouring over your vegetables or protein. The cornstarch slurry at the end gives it that glossy, clingy texture you want in a proper stir-fry sauce without any mystery thickeners or color-stabilizing additives. Make a batch on Sunday and you'll have a vibrant, clean-label sauce ready to go for most of the week.
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Learn more →Ingredients
4 servings
For the sauce
- 8 oz (about 5–6 medium) tomatillos, husked and rinsed
- 2 tbsp garlic-infused oil
- ½ cup scallion greens, thinly sliced (green tops only)
- 1 medium jalapeño, seeded and roughly chopped
- ½ cup fresh cilantro leaves and tender stems
- 2 tbsp fresh lime juice (about 1 lime)
- 1 tbsp tamari
- 1 tsp maple syrup
- ¼ tsp ground cumin
- ¼ tsp fine salt, or to taste
For the slurry
- 1 tsp cornstarch
- 1 tbsp water
Instructions
- 1
Place the tomatillos in a medium saucepan and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce to a steady simmer and cook for 8–10 minutes, until the tomatillos are fully softened, have turned from bright green to olive-drab, and are just beginning to split.
- 2
Drain the tomatillos and transfer them to a blender. Add the scallion greens, jalapeño, cilantro, lime juice, tamari, maple syrup, cumin, and salt. Blend on high until completely smooth, about 30 seconds.
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