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Ninfa's Green Sauce

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Submitted by tr33s3

Ninfa’s green sauce is the legendary Houston Tex-Mex table dip: simmered green tomatoes, tomatillos, and jalapeños puréed with avocado, cilantro, sour cream, and garlic. Pale jade, creamy, dangerously dippable.

YIELD

8 servings

PREP

15 min

COOK

15 min

READY

30 min

Ninfa’s green sauce is the most copied Tex-Mex table dip in Texas, and for good reason. Mama Ninfa Laurenzo’s original recipe at her Houston restaurant, Ninfa’s on Navigation, has been launching baskets of fried tortilla chips since 1973 and remains the gold standard. The sauce is somewhere between salsa verde and guacamole: pale jade green, creamy, with just enough heat to keep you reaching for it.

The technique is part-cooked, part-raw. Green tomatoes, tomatillos, jalapeños, and garlic simmer together for fifteen minutes until soft, which mellows the raw vegetable bite and concentrates the flavor. Then ripe avocado, fresh cilantro, and salt go into the food processor with the cooked mixture and purée smooth in batches. Sour cream stirred in at the end gives the signature tang and turns the color from bright green to that distinctive pale jade.

Pro Tips

  • Use truly green tomatoes (unripe), not regular under-ripe red ones. They have the right tartness to balance the rich avocado and sour cream.
  • Process in batches as the directions specify. A crowded food processor leaves chunky bits and won’t get you that signature creamy texture.
  • Make it the day you serve it. Avocado in any form goes brown overnight even with the lemon and sour cream, and the sauce is at its best fresh.
  • Cover with plastic wrap pressed directly onto the surface (not just over the bowl). This buys you a few extra hours of green color.

Variations

  • Add a squeeze of fresh lime juice and a quarter cup of crumbled queso fresco for a creamier, tangier version.
  • Use Greek yogurt instead of sour cream for a tangier, lower-fat sauce.
  • Stir in a roasted poblano pepper for deeper, smokier flavor.

Ingredients

3 3
MEDIUM MEDIUM GREEN TOMATOES
coarsely chopped
4 4
EACH EACH TOMATILLO
coarsely chopped
2 2
EACH EACH JALAPEÑO PEPPER
stems removed and coarsely chopped *
3 3
CLOVES CLOVES GARLIC
3 3
MEDIUM MEDIUM AVOCADOS *
4 4
SPRIGS SPRIGS CILANTRO *
1 5
TEASPOON ML SALT
or to taste
1 ½ 355
CUPS ML SOUR CREAM

Directions

Place green tomatoes, tomatillos, jalapeno peppers and garlic in a saucepan, bring to a boil, lower heat, simmer 15 minutes or until tomatoes are soft.

Remove from heat, cool slightly. Peel, seed and slice avocados, set aside.

In food processor, place part of the green tomato mixture with part of the avocados, cilantro and salt, cover.

Process until smooth, turn into large bowl.

Repeat with remaining green tomato mixture and avocado.

Add to mixture in bowl, stir in sour cream, cover with plastic wrap.

* not incl. in nutrient facts Arrow up button

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Nutrition Facts

Serving Size 110g (3.9 oz)
Amount per Serving
Calories 113 74% from fat
 % Daily Value *
Total Fat 9g 14%
Saturated Fat 6g 28%
Trans Fat 0g
Cholesterol 19mg 6%
Sodium 324mg 14%
Total Carbohydrate 2g 2%
Dietary Fiber 1g 4%
Sugars g
Protein 5g
Vitamin A 12% Vitamin C 24%
Calcium 6% Iron 2%
* based on a 2,000 calorie diet How is this calculated?
Low Cholesterol, Trans-fat Free, Low Carb
 

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