Cooking Salsa · H-E-B Produce dept.

Salsa doesn’t come with dinner.
It makes dinner.

Five tubs. Empty one into a hot pan and it turns into the dish — a guisado, chilaquiles, a pot of beans. Here’s what to do with each one.

The kitchen

The meaning of Comida Casera.

None of these photographs came from a studio. They came from a kitchen that works: steel trays, pans on the fire, salsa in plastic tubs. What you see is what there is.

Overhead view of a steel tray holding more than a dozen different salsas in white containers, each one with its own spoon.
A tray of salsas, each one with its own spoon.
Seven pans of different guisados, all on the fire at the same time, on a steel industrial range.
Seven pans on the fire at the same time.
Four plastic tubs of mango salsa, each one sitting on a different-colored salsa base, seen from above.
Mango salsa over four different bases. The recipe never changes; only the tub under it does.

The product

Five bases. Not five dips.

The label says cooking salsa and it means it: these are made to be heated. They are good with a chip too — that just isn’t what they came for.

The recipes

Cook like a Mexican Abuela.

Two recipes, exactly as they were written. In ounces, with the substitutions that actually work. Nothing rounded off.

Tortilla with shredded chicken in salsa verde and cream, served in a dark square dish on a wooden board.
With Verde.

Full recipe

Chicken Verde Yucatan

Cooked chicken, the tub, and sour cream. One skillet, six minutes of heat.

  • 20 min
  • 4 servings
  • 13 ingredients

What goes in

  • 16 oz Cooked Chicken — Fajitas, Roasted or Grilled, Sliced, Roughly Shredded or Chopped
  • 12 oz CHULALINDA Cooking Salsa Verde your tub
  • 4 oz Sour Cream
  • 3 oz Chopped Spinach
  • 3 oz Canned or Frozen Corn
  • 3 oz Fajita Sliced Onions
  • 3 oz Fajita Sliced Bell Peppers
  • 3 oz Length Quartered Roma Tomatoes
  • 3 oz Cooked or Canned Cubed Potatoes
  • 0.5 oz Chopped Garlic or ½ tsp Garlic Powder
  • 1 tsp Chicken Bouillon Powder (Knorr or similar)
  • 2 Tbsp Vegetable Oil
  • 0.5 oz Chopped Cilantro

How it’s made

Mix CHULALINDA Salsa Verde and Sour Cream thoroughly. In a Skillet on High heat add Vegetable Oil, then add Bell Peppers, Onions and chopped Garlic until Garlic is browned, the idea is to get the Garlic browned and the Onions and Peppers Sautéed. Add Tomato for one minute, then add Chicken then Spinach, Corn, Salsa-Cream mix, Chicken Bouillon and Simmer for 5-6 minutes. Turn off and add Cilantro.

You can exchange vegetables as you prefer.

A hand dipping a tortilla chip into a square glass bowl of red salsa.
With Fresca, Verde or Árbol.

Full recipe

Mango Salsa

Four ingredients. Works with Fresca, Verde or Chile de Árbol.

  • 5 min
  • 6 servings
  • 4 ingredients

What goes in

  • 1 Cup CHULALINDA SALSA Fresca / Verde / Chile de Arbol your tub
  • 8 oz Finely Diced Fresh or Frozen Mango
  • 0.4 oz Chopped Onion
  • 0.2 oz Chopped Cilantro

How it’s made

Mix all ingredients and serve.

3 variations

  • Partially mash diced mango
  • Blend everything in blender to desired consistency
  • Cook salsa for 2 minutes
Tacos in a cast-iron skillet on a wooden board, with browned potatoes, guacamole and tortilla chips.
Tacos in a cast-iron skillet, with potatoes and guacamole.
Three beef tacos with salsa verde and cilantro on a steel tray, with sliced radish, roasted chiles and onion.
Steel tray, sliced radish and roasted chiles.

The rest

From True Mexican to Mexican Inspired.

Eleven more dishes, already cooked and photographed — enchiladas and chilaquiles at one end, a pizza on a verde base at the other. Pick the tub you have in your hand.

The dishes are real; the writing is not yet. What you read under each photograph is sample content — not copy the brand has approved.

Pick your tub

  • An open tortilla with shredded beef, melted cheese, red salsa and cilantro, on a grey dish.

    Sample content

    Red Enchiladas

    Tortilla, salsa, cheese, baked.

    Fresca Ranchera 30 min

  • Chilaquiles with beans, crema, queso fresco and cilantro in a deep bowl.

    Sample content

    Chilaquiles with Beans

    Chips, crema, cotija, cilantro.

    Fresca Árbol Ranchera 15 min

  • A chicken quesadilla on a white plate, under a pour of salsa verde with strips of chile.

    Sample content

    Quesadilla Drowned in Verde

    Chicken and cheese, under a pour of salsa verde.

    Verde Tomatillo 12 min

  • Beef caldo with corn and squash in a white bowl, a tortilla chip resting on top, on a wooden board.

    Sample content

    Beef and Corn Caldo

    The salsa as the base of the broth.

    Fresca Ranchera 90 min

  • A burrito cut in half and wrapped in foil, filled with chicken, potato and bell pepper.

    Sample content

    Guisado Burrito

    Last night, wrapped up.

    Fresca Verde 20 min

  • Whole shrimp in red salsa in a metal pan, with a spoon.

    Sample content

    Shrimp in Salsa

    Five minutes and it is done.

    Árbol 15 min

  • A large pot of picadillo with potato on a stove, steel trays behind it.

    Sample content

    Picadillo with Potato

    Ground beef, potato, carrot.

    Fresca Ranchera 35 min

  • Ribs in salsa with rice and refried beans with cheese, on a white plate.

    Sample content

    Ribs in Salsa

    Low heat, a long while.

    Fresca Árbol Ranchera 120 min

  • Corn tortilla tacos with meat, salsa verde, onion and cilantro on a white plate.

    Sample content

    Guisado Tacos

    Whatever you have, in a tortilla.

    Verde Árbol Tomatillo 25 min

  • A pizza built on a salsa verde base, with melted cheese and chicken, on a dark tray.

    Sample content

    Pizza on a Verde Base

    Salsa verde where the tomato usually goes.

    Verde Tomatillo 25 min

  • Black beans over a guisado with strips of chile, queso fresco and cilantro, on a white plate.

    Sample content

    Black Beans

    With chips and queso fresco.

    Árbol 25 min