Rick Martinez’s new salsa book will transform your weeknight cooking

Homemade salsa is a cheat code for adding tons of flavor to the simplest meals.

Meal-prep books and so many new books focused on easy recipes have started to blur together a bit for me.

I want more varied flavor. I want recipes that aren’t pulled from the same generic list of commonly-searched terms.

But I still want ways to make my cooking life easier. Which is why I feel especially grateful for Salsa Daddy, the new cookbook from Rick Martinez.

“A good sauce makes a dish,” Rick tells me in this week’s podcast conversation. “It can elevate the most mundane, boring, boiled chicken breast into something really, really sophisticated and elegant.”

When working on the recipes for this book, Rick found himself with towers of deli containers full of all the salsas he was testing, and while he gave a ton of them to his neighbors, he also got to see firsthand how flexible these sauces were.

“I was turning salsas into glazes; was using them as marinades. I was freezing them and then making stock out of them” by just adding water, he says. “I started making soups, and using them for rice and beans—and barbecue sauces.”

It was eye-opening: “I was like, whoa, this actually is much bigger than salsa. This is a way to meal prep and save yourself a lot of time during the week.”

Rick makes a lot of quick quesadillas, tucking in leftover bits and bobs and dunking the whole thing in salsa. But a salsa can also dress rotisserie chicken, or quickly-cooked shrimp, or add deep flavor to scrambled eggs and beans. Salsa brings brightness and freshness to simply cooked fish or crispy roasted mushrooms or planks of tofu. It can be loosened into a salad dressing or cooked down and concentrated on the surface of whatever you’re grilling.

I talk to Rick about which types of salsa can be frozen, so that you can keep portions of every batch and have lots of options around, and which are best eaten fresh. He also walks us through ways to transform watery leftover chopped salsa into a totally new cooked dish.

Rick shares his strategic thinking for matching up different salsas with proteins for really great flavor, and recalls the wild and creative salsas that inspired his early fascination with the topic.

You’ll get a taste of the book below with Rick’s recipes for guajillo salsa and tostadas de tinga—but I think you’re going to want to listen in for the whole conversation. It’s a fun one.

Win a copy of Salsa Daddy

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Rick mentioned:

Sopa de fideos with chile relleno
Rick’s quesadillas (Today.com)
Rick’s Salsa Tejana with peaches charred habanero, and toasted pecans (Plate)
Masala y Maiz, also on Chef’s Table
Chilhuacle Amarillo
Kay Chun’s Sticky Coconut Chicken and Rice (NYT Cooking, gift link)
Eric Kim’s Sheet-Pan Bibimbap (NYT Cooking, gift link)
Joshua McFadden’s Six Seasons
Ottolenghi Plenty
Ottolenghi Flavor

Maggie mentioned:

Alexa Weibel’s Roasted Broccoli and Whipped Tofu With Chili Crisp Crunch (NYT Cooking, gift link)

Photo: Alex Lau

Tostadas de Tinga de Pollo

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.

By now you may have realized that rotisserie chicken is my secret weapon. When I’m busy and facing a fridge full of salsa, it’s the answer. One of my favorite ways to use it is just to pull the meat and warm it in salsa to make a quick tinga. A typical tinga has a guajillo salsa (see below), but don’t let that limit you. A salsa verde, or any chipotle salsa, would be wonderful, and even a tomato/avocado salsa, which will create a rich, creamy sauce for the shredded chicken. The recipe also includes homemade bacon-y refried beans for a comforting contrast.

SERVES 4

4 ounces (113 g) smoked bacon, sliced into thin strips
½ medium white onion (7 oz/198 g), chopped
2 (15-ounce) cans black beans, undrained
1 chipotle chile in adobo, chopped
2 tablespoons adobo sauce
Diamond Crystal kosher salt (optional)
2 cups cooked shredded chicken (from a roast chicken or rotisserie chicken)
1½ cups Salsa Guajillo (below) or other salsa
8 tostadas (homemade or store-bought)
4 ounces (113 g) queso fresco, crumbled

For serving:
Cilantro leaves and tender stems, for serving
Chopped white onion, for serving

1. Place the bacon in a large (room-temperature) skillet, preferably cast-iron, and heat over medium-high. (We are starting in a cold skillet so that the bacon fat starts to melt as the pan heats and won’t stick.) Cook, stirring occasionally, until the bacon is browned and crispy, about 6 minutes. Transfer to a small heatproof bowl.

2. Add the onion to the bacon fat in the skillet and cook over medium-high heat, tossing occasionally, until tender and brown, about 6 minutes.

3. Add the black beans and their liquid (that’s right—don’t drain them!), the bacon, chipotle, and adobo sauce and bring to a boil. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the liquid has reduced slightly, about 5 minutes.

4. Using a potato masher, smash the beans until almost no whole beans remain and the mixture is thick, smooth, and creamy—the consistency of sour cream. Remove from the heat, taste, and season with salt if desired. The refried beans will thicken as they sit.

5. In a medium saucepan over medium high, heat the chicken and salsa guajillo, stirring occasionally, until the chicken is completely coated and warmed through. Taste and season with salt if desired.

6. Spread about ⅓ cup of the refried beans over each tostada. Top with about ½ cup of the chicken tinga, the queso fresco, cilantro, and chopped onion.

Do ahead: The tinga can be made up to 5 days ahead. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Photo: Alex Lau

Salsa Guajillo

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.

I’m almost always on Team Verde. But I wanted to make a salsa roja that would make me question my life choices. This salsa guajillo is deep and hearty, but it’s not heavy— thanks to juicy tomatoes and a single sneaky tomatillo. It’s lighter and brighter than you’d expect. I made it with chilaquiles in mind (the acid balances against the earthiness of the crispy corn totopos), though it’s a versatile salsa for pulled chicken sandwiches or for turning into compound butter to make shrimp scampi. I mean, come on.

Turn this salsa into compound butter:
Soften a stick of butter and then mix in 2 to 4 tablespoons of salsa depending on how salsa-forward you want it to be. Roll it into a log or smash into a container and store in the fridge for scampi night.

MAKES 1 QUART

7 chiles guajillos (2.6 oz/76 g), stemmed and seeded
3 dried chiles de árbol (0.1 oz/3 g), stemmed
4 medium Roma tomatoes (15 oz/ 432 g), cored but left whole
¼ medium white onion (3.7 oz/105 g)
1 medium tomatillo (2.2 oz/64 g), husked and rinsed
3 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed (but still holding their shape)
3 cups low-sodium vegetable or chicken broth (or water)
2 teaspoons vegetable or chicken bouillon powder (optional)
½ teaspoon dried oregano, preferably Mexican
¼ teaspoon cumin seeds or ground cumin
2½ teaspoons Diamond Crystal kosher salt (0.35 oz/10 g), plus more to taste

1. Arrange a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350°F.

2. Arrange the guajillos and chiles de árbol on a sheet pan in an even layer and roast until the chiles are beginning to brown, are very fragrant, and smell almost like toasted nuts, about 5 minutes (you don’t want to char the chiles or they’ll taste bitter and burnt, just a medium toast). Remove from the oven and set aside to cool.

3. Line a large cast-iron skillet with a sheet of foil and heat the skillet over high until very hot. Add the tomatoes, onion, tomatillo, and garlic and cook, using tongs to turn occasionally, until everything is charred on all sides, about 3 minutes for the garlic, 6 to 8 minutes for the onion, and 8 to 10 minutes for the tomatoes. (Alternatively, arrange an oven rack in the top position and preheat the broiler on high. Arrange the vegetables on a foil-lined sheet pan and roast under the broiler, turning occasionally, until all sides are charred.) Transfer to a plate to cool.

4. In a large saucepan, combine the broth, guajillos, chiles de árbol, tomatoes, onion, tomatillo, garlic, bouillon (if using), oregano, cumin, and salt and bring to a boil over high heat. Cover, reduce to a gentle boil over medium-low heat, and cook for 20 minutes.

5. Carefully transfer to a blender and purée until smooth. Taste and season with more salt if desired.

Do ahead: The salsa can be made up to 3 days ahead. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator, or freeze for up to 3 months.

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