A simple nightshade free salsa verde that tastes so delicious, you won’t miss the tomatillos.
Who loves tacos, chips, salsa and basically all Mexican food? Everyone. Everyone loves Mexican food. Who wants to give it up because they can’t have nightshades? No one. This nightshade free salsa verde will make your taste buds do a happy dance. Nightshade free’ers and nightshade eaters will all love it.
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Why are nightshades bad?
Nightshades contain saponins and glycoalkaloids, which can cause inflammation in people with autoimmune conditions. They gained popularity when it became known Tom Brady doesn’t eat them (with the reasoning being he doesn’t want to eat any foods that cause inflammation and sticks to an anti-inflammatory diet). Not everyone has adverse effects when eating nightshades. Those who are sensitive will know after eliminating them for a week or so. In the book The Psoriasis Diet, Dr. Pagano suggests eliminating nightshades as they can be a trigger for psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis (my personal reason for bidding them farewell).
What is in nightshade free salsa?
Instead of making the base of this salsa from tomatillos and chilies (both nightshades) as it’s done traditionally, it’s made from cucumbers and onions, which are roasted and then blended with fresh cilantro and spices.
Is cilantro a nightshade?
Cilantro is not a nightshade. Eat all the cilantro on all the things.
Is cucumber a nightshade?
Cumber is not a nightshade.
What are nightshade vegetables?
- Tomatoes
- Tomatillos
- Egg plant
- Peppers and chilies, such as bell peppers and all spicy peppers (not black pepper, the spice)
- White potatoes (not sweet potatoes)
- Gogi berries (not a vegetable, but a nightshade)
- Ashwagahnda
- Chili powder
- Paprika
- Most curry powders
How to make nightshade free salsa
First chop your cucumber and onions, drizzle with olive oil, cumin and salt and roast until slightly charred.
Next, add to a high speed blender with fresh garlic and cilantro, a little lime juice, a little water and blend until smooth.
Serve with chips and salsa or slathered over your favorite tacos. Shown here with grain free tortilla chips.
Can this salsa be used as a nightshade free enchilada sauce?
You better believe this salsa can be used as an enchilada sauce! Use it the same way you would use a nightshade rich enchilada sauce. It’s delicious.
Run, don’t walk, to your kitchen to whip up a batch of this salsa. It will satisfy your salsa love 1,000 times over. Add it to nightshade free tacos or just dip it with some tortilla chips. You can even mix it with an avocado for a quick and easy guacamole.
What’s your favorite way to eat salsa?
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Nightshade Free Salsa Verde
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 2 cups 1x
Description
A simple nightshade free salsa verde that tastes so delicious, you won’t miss the tomatillos.
Ingredients
- 1 large cucumber (about 3/4 lb), peeled
- 1 yellow onion
- 1/4 teaspoon cumin
- 3/4 teaspoon salt, divided
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice (about one lime)
- 1/4 cup loosely packed fresh cilantro
- 1.5 teaspoons dried oregano
- 2 medium cloves garlic
- 1/3 cup water
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Slice the peeled cucumber into spears and the onion into medium size chunks and place on lined baking sheet.
- Top cucumbers and onions with olive oil, cumin and 1/4 teaspoon of salt and bake on the upper middle rack for 15-20 minutes. You want the onions and cucumber to char slightly.
- Remove from oven and let cool until you can touch, then add to the blender with the remaining salt, lime juice, cilantro, oregano, garlic and water.
- Blend until smooth, about 20-30 seconds.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Category: Basics
- Method: Bake/Blender
- Cuisine: Mexican
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/4 cup
- Calories: 58
- Sugar: 1.2g
- Sodium: 221.1mg
- Fat: 4.8g
- Saturated Fat: 0.7g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 3.9g
- Fiber: 0.8g
- Protein: 0.5g
- Cholesterol: 0mg
Hi there, this might be nightshade free, but the cumin isn’t AIP compliant, so wouldn’t be something we could use (it’s a seed spice)!
What do you suggest to use for those of us still on phase one as a replacement?
Thank you.
Hi Louise, I haven’t tried anything else, so I can’t say for sure, but I bet a little sprinkle of garlic powder or onion powder would be a good substitute. If you try something, please come back and let us know how it worked.
I made this but added 2 medium radishes for a bit of spice instead of cumin or peppers because I’m on AIP Nightshade Free protocol. I’ve missed my salsas being from South Texas and this was a nice replacement. I quartered them and roasted them along with cucumber, onion and garlic. I’ve used wasabi powder in the watermelon red salsa i tried and it wasn’t bad. As I read the ingredients in this I realized radishes might do the trick. I think they did a pretty good job of adding the needed bite I was craving.
Thank you so much, Karen! That’s a great idea! I’m going to try radishes on my next batch.
This was really good! Its crazy how it has almost a sweet taste. We had with chips right now to try it, but I’m looking forward to slathering it on some breakfast tacos tomorrow. Yum!
Thank you so much, Liz! I love to hear that. Breakfast tacos sound amazing! 🙂
Jennifer, this is one of my all-time favorite recipes. I’ve been nightshade free for about 15 years and have been suffering through a salsa desert. These combined ingredients somehow tell my brain I’m eating tomatillo sauce with jalapenos. Who knew? A whole recipe was gone in under 24 hours because my family went to town on it too. This will be a staple. I’m making more today. Thanks – it feels like a GIFT!
Hi Amy, I’m so glad! Thank you so much for such a nice comment. I’m so happy you love it as much as me. 🙂
How long can this sauce be refrigerated?
About 3 days or so. I have frozen it with great success as well.
I would have never thought to roast cucumbers! Can’t wait to try this recipe out, it’s been years since I could eat salsa. Thanks!
Come back and let us know how it goes! It’s so delicious. 🙂
So dang good! Have you canned this recipe?! I’m trying to find a way! I would love it on my shelves!
Hi Tamara! Thank you so much! I haven’t tried canning it as I haven’t learned how to do that yet. I’d love to try it as well. That would make it so easy to keep around for quick enchiladas. Please let me know if you try it!
This is delicious! I’m currently needing to eat Low Histamine and I just can’t get on the Mango Salsa bandwagon 🙂 I’ve tried! I did some searching and came across this recipe. It’s delicious! I even left out the lime (hope to add back in sometime soon) and it still tasted great. I replaced the lime juice with about 1 tsp of white distilled vinegar. I also used shallots instead of onion since that’s what I had on hand. It really tastes like I’m eating regular salsa verde with tomatillos. My next batch will be a bulk batch and I’ll be freezing this to always have some on hand.
Thank you, Bridget! I’m so glad to hear it worked for you. I love a good mango salsa, but I agree, it doesn’t replace a good tomato or tomatillo salsa.
do you think zucchini could replace cucumber? i am intolerant of raw cucumbers, i can eat pickles, so i dont know if i could handle roasted. and im not willing to try, it cause stomach pain that last for hours and is a ten.
Hi Lisa, I haven’t tried zucchini, but I bet it would work! It may alter the flavor a bit and be a little less like a tomatillo, but it would probably still be great. Please come back and let me know if you try it.