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Charred Tomato Salsa (Salsa Tatemada)

Name: Charred Tomato Salsa (Salsa Tatemada)
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 30 min
Cuisine: Mexican
Ingredients: 0.5 White onion; 1 cda Vegetable oil; 3 Serrano or árbol chilli; 1 cdita Salt; 3 cloves Garlic; 4 Tomato

30 min (10 prep + 20 cook) Easy 6 servings Centro de México

Edmond Bojalil

Recetas Mexas

Published: 29 Mar 2026 · Updated: 30 Mar 2026

Smoky salsa with ingredients roasted directly on a comal or embers until charred, intensely flavoured.

About this recipe

Salsa tatemada is a deeply smoky salsa from central Mexico, where 'tatemar' means to roast directly on embers or comal until the ingredients - tomato, onion, garlic and chilli - are blackened on the outside but juicy inside. This technique concentrates sugars, creates Maillard compounds and adds those smoky, toasted notes that radically differentiate a tatemada salsa from any fried or blended salsa. It is the salsa of Sunday carnitas gatherings, basket tacos and family barbacoa feasts.

History & Origin

Tatemado is one of the oldest culinary techniques in Mexico, practised since pre-Hispanic cultures that roasted ingredients directly on wood embers for salsas and stews. The term 'tatemar' comes from the Nahuatl tlatema, meaning to place in the fire, and appears in the chronicles of the Florentine Codex by Fray Bernardino de Sahagún, who described how the Aztecs prepared their salsas by roasting tomatoes and chillies directly on clay comales. The fundamental difference between a tatemada salsa and other techniques - frying, boiling, oven roasting - lies in that direct contact with dry heat that creates a surface charring without eliminating the inner moisture of the ingredient, concentrating flavours and creating the characteristic smokiness. This technique remains alive today in tortillas and street tacos, where the metate and comal are still the protagonists.

Estimated cost

£2.00

Total cost

£0.33

Per serving

* Approximate prices based on UK supermarkets

Nutritional information per serving

Calories

Protein

Carbohydrates

0.5g

Fat

1.3g

Fibre

160mg

Sodium

* Approximate values. May vary depending on ingredients used.

Method

1
Place the whole tomatoes on a dry comal over very high heat. Leave them without moving until the bottom is completely blackened, about 5 minutes. Turn and repeat.
💡 Do not move them constantly - prolonged contact with the hot comal creates the smoky flavour.
2
Roast the halved onion, unpeeled garlic and chillies on the same comal until charred on the outside.
3
Peel the roasted garlic. If using dried chillies, soak them in hot water for 10 minutes first; if fresh, use directly.
4
In a blender, blend all the charred ingredients with a little water and salt until you have a textured salsa.
5
Optional: heat a tablespoon of oil in a saucepan and add the blended salsa. Fry for 3-4 minutes, stirring, until it changes colour and intensifies.
💡 This step of 'frying the salsa' makes it glossier and concentrates the flavour.
6
Adjust salt and serve hot or at room temperature. Perfect for carnitas and barbacoa tacos.