Red or green: the best salsa for tamales, and how much to order

People ask me about the best salsa for tamales almost as often as they ask how many to order, and I understand why. A tamal without salsa is a good thing. A tamal with the right salsa is the reason people drive across Richardson to find us. Here is how I match salsa to filling, and how much of it a party really goes through.

The short answer: The best salsa for tamales is the one that matches the filling. Pork wants a red salsa made from dried chiles; chicken wants a green salsa made from tomatillos. For a party, put both on the table plus crema, and plan on roughly two tablespoons of extra salsa per tamal, which works out to about a cup for every dozen tamales served.

That is the rule I cook by every morning. Our pork tamales are already cooked in red salsa and our chicken tamales in green, so the salsa is inside the husk before it ever reaches your table. Extra salsa on the side is for the people who want more, and there are always more of those people than you expect.

Why red salsa belongs with pork

Red salsa starts with dried chiles. I toast them on a comal until they smell like raisins and smoke, soak them, and blend them with garlic and a few spices. The result is deep, a little sweet, a little bitter at the edges, and it clings to meat. Pork is rich and fatty, and it needs a sauce with enough backbone to stand next to it. Red chile does that. A lighter sauce would disappear.

The color of a good red salsa comes from the chiles, not from tomato. When you open one of our pork tamales the masa around the meat is stained red because the sauce cooked into it in the steamer. That is what people mean when they say a tamal is “packed with flavor,” and it is why I do not make a pork tamal in green.

Some of the chiles I use are the ordinary guajillos and anchos you can find in any Texas grocery store. Some are specialty chiles my family brings back from Mexico in my grandpa’s suitcase, and those go into the batches for the holidays. If you want the full comparison of the two sauces, I wrote it out in red salsa versus green salsa tamales.

Why green salsa belongs with chicken

Green salsa is built on tomatillos, the small green fruit that grows inside a papery husk. Roast them with fresh green chiles, white onion and cilantro and you get something bright and tart, almost citrusy. Chicken breast is lean and mild. It does not need a heavy sauce; it needs one that brings acidity and freshness, and tomatillo does exactly that.

The heat in green salsa is quicker than the heat in red. It shows up fast and fades fast. That is why I point guests who worry about spice toward the chicken in green. They get all the flavor with a bite that does not linger.

A fried egg on a green chicken tamal is breakfast in half the homes I know. A spoon of crema on top is lunch. Either way the tomatillo is doing the work.

What about a third salsa on the table?

You do not need one, but a lot of hosts like to offer something raw and chunky next to the two cooked sauces. A pico de gallo, which is just diced tomato, onion, jalapeño, cilantro and lime, gives people crunch and freshness and it is easy to make at home in ten minutes. A chipotle salsa gives the heat lovers something to reach for. A creamy avocado salsa is the friendliest thing you can put next to a pork tamal for a guest who finds red chile too strong.

My rule for a party table is: one red, one green, one cool thing. The cool thing can be crema, sour cream, crumbled cheese, or that avocado salsa. Dairy and avocado both calm chile heat better than water ever will, and having them within reach means nobody gets a surprise they cannot recover from.

Whatever you add, keep it simple. A tamal is already a complete bite of masa, meat and sauce. The salsa on the side is there to adjust, not to bury it.

How much salsa to order for a party

This is where most hosts guess wrong, and they guess low. Because our tamales are already sauced inside, a lot of people assume nobody will want extra. Then the bowl is empty twenty minutes into the party and the shy guests go without.

Here is what I have seen across years of watching buffet tables. About half of adults will add salsa to a tamal that is already sauced. The ones who do add a generous spoonful, call it two tablespoons. So the average across the whole table is roughly one tablespoon per tamal, and I plan for two to be safe, because salsa also ends up on rice, on chips, and on the burritos if you ordered those from the lunch menu.

Two tablespoons per tamal is one cup per eight tamales, or about a cup and a half per dozen. I round that to a cup per dozen for an office where people eat at their desks and two cups per dozen for a backyard party where people go back for seconds and there are chips out.

Split the total roughly in half between red and green, then lean toward whichever tamal you ordered more of. If you ordered mostly pork, send more red. Crema is separate: plan on a tablespoon per tamal as well, because the people who use crema use a lot of it.

When you order catering from us, tell me you want salsa, crema and serving spoons for buffet-style service and I will pack them with the trays, labeled by filling. The headcount math for the tamales themselves is in how many tamales per person, and the numbers above assume the party portion of two per guest.

Serving salsa so it stays good for hours

Salsa is forgiving, but it is not immortal. Both of ours are cooked sauces, so they hold up on a buffet better than a raw pico de gallo, which starts weeping water after about an hour. A few habits keep the table looking right from the first guest to the last.

• Put the salsa out in smaller bowls and refill from the container in the kitchen, instead of one giant bowl that sits out for four hours. A cup or two at a time is plenty.
• Give every bowl its own spoon. The moment one spoon travels between red and green, both bowls turn brown and nobody wants either.
• Keep the cool things cold. Crema and avocado salsa belong on a bed of ice, or in the refrigerator between rounds, especially outdoors in a Texas summer.
• Label the bowls. “Red, medium” and “Green, mild” stops the spice-shy guest from guessing wrong and lets the heat lovers go straight for what they want.
• Set the salsa at the end of the line, after the tamales and rice, so people sauce a plate they can already see.

For an office lunch, the same rules apply on a smaller scale. One bowl of each, spoons, napkins, and the little cups from the supply closet so people can carry salsa back to their desks. I have watched an entire Tamale Day go through a quart of green because someone put out the small cups.

The best salsa for tamales works on the whole plate

The best salsa for tamales is also the best salsa for everything around them. Red chile salsa is wonderful stirred into rice or spooned over refried beans. Green salsa is what you want on a chicken burrito, on eggs, and on a plain tortilla warmed on the stove. If you are building a full table, the pairings I use are all in what to serve with tamales.

One more thing about leftovers. Salsa keeps in the refrigerator for about a week in a closed container, so an extra cup is never wasted. Stir it into a pot of beans, spoon it over a baked potato, or warm it and pour it over the last two tamales the next morning. The husks come off, the salsa goes on, and you have a second breakfast that is better than most first ones.

Ready to order tamales with the right salsa?

Tell me the date, the headcount, and who is coming, and I will suggest the mix of pork in red and chicken in green, and pack the extra salsa and crema to match. Maggie’s Tamales & Catering delivers hot to homes and offices across Richardson, Plano, Frisco, Allen, McKinney and Dallas, and every quote is priced by me the same business day. For a plate or a dozen, order through DoorDash on the order page; for a party, an office, or a holiday, request a catering quote and I will take it from there.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best salsa for tamales?

Match the salsa to the filling. Pork tamales are best with a red salsa made from dried chiles, because the deep, smoky sauce stands up to rich meat. Chicken tamales are best with a green tomatillo salsa, which brings brightness and acidity to lean chicken breast. For a party, put both on the table along with crema, so guests can adjust the heat themselves.

How much salsa do I need for a party?

Plan on about two tablespoons of extra salsa per tamal, which is roughly one cup for every dozen tamales at an office lunch and two cups per dozen at a party where chips are out. For 100 guests eating two tamales each, that is around one to two gallons total. Split it between red and green, leaning toward whichever filling you ordered more of, and add crema separately.

Do tamales already come with salsa inside?

Ours do. The pork tamales are cooked in red chile salsa and the chicken tamales in green tomatillo salsa, so the sauce is inside the husk and soaked into the masa before delivery. Extra salsa on the side is for guests who want more, and on catering orders we pack salsa, crema, utensils and serving spoons on request, labeled by filling.

Is red salsa or green salsa spicier?

Red salsa has a warmer, slower heat that sits at the back of the throat, and I would call it medium. Green salsa has a quicker, sharper bite that fades fast, and it lands between mild and medium for most people. Neither is meant to hurt. If you have guests who avoid spice, steer them to the chicken in green and set out crema or sour cream, which calm chile heat better than water.

Can I put salsa verde on pork tamales?

You can, and some people love the contrast of tart tomatillo against rich pork. Traditionally, though, pork is paired with red chile because the sauce has enough depth to match the meat, and green is paired with chicken. At a party the easiest thing is to set out both salsas with separate spoons and let guests mix as they like. I only ask that you keep the spoons from traveling between bowls.

How long does leftover salsa keep?

Both our red and green salsas are cooked sauces, and in a closed container in the refrigerator they keep for about a week. A raw pico de gallo is best eaten the same day. Extra salsa is never wasted: stir it into beans or rice, spoon it over eggs, or warm it and pour it over leftover tamales the next morning after you take the husks off.