I adore Chipotle's Tomatillo-Red Chili Salsa. I wish they sold it in volume, instead of 55 cents for about a tablespoon. Like dozens of other people, I searched for a recipe online, and found a lot of recipes that may or may not make good salsa, but are not even vaguely similar to Chipotle's salsa. According to Chipotle's website, the ingredients are Tomatillo, Water, Chile de Arbol, Salt, Cumin, Garlic, Black Pepper, Red Tabasco� Sauce. Note that none of the online recipes available (until now!) involve that set of ingredients. This is a bad start, and it is not surprising that they don't taste the same. Now mine doesn't preserve the order of ingredients, so can't be the same exactly, but is much closer than any of the half dozen I actually made to test, and the others that are so obviously different that they couldn't possibly be the same.

McAfee's Faux Chipotle Salsa

15 large tomatillos, loose skin removed and washed
3 tbsp powdered chile de arbol
1 tbsp salt
1 tbsp cumin
1/2 tbsp powdered garlic
1 tbsp black pepper
3 tbsp Frank's Hot Sauce or similar
water to thin (typically 6+ tbsp)

Quarter the tomatillos (cutting off and disposing of any hard stem base), place on a rimmed baking pan, cut sides up, green skin down. Bake at 450 (or broil) in the oven until soft and slightly blackened (typically 25 minutes). Put tomatillos (including liquid from the pan!) in a blender/food processor with other ingredients and blend very thoroughly (e.g. 3-4 minutes). Add water to thin (personal preference). Refrigerate.

I like the flavor of Frank's over Tabasco brand, and Frank's is much cheaper. Any red pepper sauce will do here.

That's it. Enjoy!

Update: I've started using dried Arbol peppers from a Mexican grocery. I run them through the blender with the tomatillos. This makes the recipe less red in color but otherwise tasty. I've also been gradually reducing the garlic. I'm making a gallon at the time, so about four times the recipe above.

You might also enjoy McAfee's Kick-Ass Texas Chili.