Has your pantry been a bit lifeless lately? Have you been searching for a seasoning, sauce, or dip that can elevate even a painfully plain chicken breast into a total flavor bomb? Chef Rick Martinez has exactly what you need: Salsa macha.
But what is salsa macha, exactly? In his vibrant cookbook Salsa Daddy: Dip Your Way into Mexican Cooking, Martinez explains that it’s a sort of Mexican chili crisp “typically made of fried chiles ground with garlic and salt, to which fried peanuts and seeds are added.” (And to answer your next question, this savory concoction has nothing to do with Japanese matcha tea.)
To learn more about preparing this trendy, versatile salsa, our very own Katie Couric stepped into the kitchen with chef Martinez to observe his techniques firsthand. The end result is a bowl of smoky, tangy, spicy sauce — the pair sample it with plain tortilla chips, but don’t feel pressured to do the same. Martinez suggests serving the dip with everything from pizza to dumplings.
Salsa Macha Recipe
Peanuts, guajillo, and chile de árbol
Makes: 1½ cups
Ingredients
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 1 cup roasted peanuts (4.8 oz/135 g)
- 6 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed (but still holding their shape)
- 3 chiles guajillos (0.8 oz/24 g), stemmed and seeded
- 10 dried chiles de árbol (0.4 oz/10 g), stemmed
- 1 chile morita (0.1 oz/2 g), stemmed
- ½ cup raw sesame seeds (1.8 oz/80 g)
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 1½ teaspoons Diamond Crystal kosher salt (0.21 oz/6 g), plus more to taste
- 1 teaspoon grated piloncillo (0.14 oz/4 g) or dark brown sugar
- ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
Instructions
- In a medium saucepan, combine the oil, peanuts, and garlic and cook over medium heat until the garlic is golden brown and the peanuts are slightly deeper in color, 7 to 9 minutes (but not too dark! They burn quickly). Using a slotted spoon, transfer the garlic and peanuts to a heatproof bowl to cool.
- Add the guajillos, chiles de árbol, and morita to the pan with the hot oil and cook over medium heat until the oil is slightly reddish and the chiles are brick red, about 30 seconds. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the chiles to the peanut mixture. Let cool for 5 minutes.
- Remove the pan from heat and add the sesame seeds to the hot oil and set aside. They will toast as they sit.
- Transfer the toasted chiles and garlic to a food processor and purée until coarsely ground (it should look like red pepper flakes). Add the peanuts and pulse 4 times to coarsely grind them but not make peanut butter.
- Return to the heatproof bowl and stir in the vinegar, salt, piloncillo, and toasted sesame seeds (and the oil in the pan). Stir in the olive oil, taste, and season with more salt if desired.
Do ahead: The salsa can be made up to 2 weeks ahead. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.
Serving suggestions: Use anywhere you’d want chile oil or chili crisp, like dumplings, roasted veggies, on pizza, soups, and stews — on anything, really.
Reprinted with permission from Salsa Daddy: Dip Your Way into Mexican Cooking by Rick Martínez, copyright © 2025. Published by Clarkson Potter/Publishers, an imprint of Penguin Random House. Photography copyright: Alex Lau © 2025
