Have you ever tried Lizano salsa? If not, you’re in for a treat! Instead of searching the web for a bottle, give this Lizano salsa copycat recipe a try.
Lizano salsa is a popular Costa Rican condiment packed with savory, sweet, smoky, and spicy flavors. Similar to vegemite in Australia, you’ll find this condiment at almost every restaurant, souvenir shop and market throughout Costa Rica.
Salsa Lizano is vegetable and water-based sauce that distinguishes itself from typical Latin American salsas. It has a smooth texture with a distinctive brown color and flavor that makes it incredibly addictive. It’s unique taste is a combination of slightly sweet, slightly hot with a subtle tanginess which makes it ideal for seasoning and complementing a variety of dishes.
After trying it for the first time, ideas for how to use it (and include it in recipes) began to swirl in my mind. Despite its distinct and complex taste, this salsa is remarkably versatile. It took some time, but this copycat version is pretty spot on. The flavors are there, as is the aroma, and best of all, it’s easy to make.
Why You’ll Love This Lizano Salsa Copycat
Minimal cooking required – The only ingredient that needs any cooking (in a sense) is the guajillo chiles; they just need to be rehydrated. Other than that, all you need to do is blend everything to make this Lizano salsa copycat.
Super fresh flavor – This Lizano salsa copycat is made with fresh ingredients, so the freshness is expected, but wow, that flavor is addictive. It really leaves you wanting more.
Inexpensive ingredients – Nothing special is required.
Easy to edit to your taste – Adjustments are straightforward with blended sauces. Just taste and edit as needed to achieve the desired flavor profile.
Lizano Salsa Ingredients Notes
For this Lizano salsa copycat, you’ll need:
- Guajillo chiles: They come dried in medium to large bags. Guajillos are relatively large, so this recipe only calls for two. These chiles are sweet, fruity, tangy, and smoky with a mild, pleasant heat.
- Carrot: This Lizano salsa copycat calls for one large carrot. Choose one with a deep, vibrant color, and look at the leaves to determine freshness, as they are great indicators. Bright, healthy green tops are a go, while sad, wilted ones are a no.
- Onion: The sauce recipe calls for a yellow onion since they are the most widely sold onions; however, white will work as well.
- Garlic: Remember, the fresher the garlic, the stronger the garlic flavor. Look for plump, firm cloves covered by white (or even purple-tinted) husks. Since they’re raw, the cloves add their pungent taste and aroma to the salsa.
- Water: It helps bring the ingredients together to create a pourable sauce. Instead of diluting the flavors, water is used to rehydrate the chiles, which makes a flavorful liquid to use in the sauce.
- Mango: A ripe mango contributes to the salsa’s fruity sweetness and adds body.
- Molasses: The thick syrup is a color contributor and adds much more than sweetness. Molasses’s bitter, smoky, and savory notes lend themselves well here.
- Cumin: The spice is a key contributor to Lizano salsa’s signature taste.
- Mustard powder: Works with the acidic ingredients to add a zippy tang to the sauce.
- Vegetable bouillon: Lizano salsa is vegan, so to impart that discernible veggie flavor, granulated bouillon is the way. It’s a deliciously savory flavor enhancer.
For comparison, here the Salsa Lizano ingredients as listed on the each bottle:
Lizano Salsa Ingredients: Water, Sugar, Iodized salt, Mixed vegetable paste, Sweetener (Molasses), Spices, Modified corn starch, Acidulant (Acetic acid), Ground hot chili, Hydrolyzed vegetable protein, Preservative (Sodium benzoate)
Lizano Salsa does not contain artificial flavors or dyes.
Check out the recipe card below for a complete ingredients list with measurements.
How to Make This Lizano Salsa Copycat
This Lizano salsa copycat takes mere minutes to prepare. Rehydrating the chiles requires the most time, and most of that time is inactive. To make the salsa:
- Rehydrate the chiles: Lightly toast them first to activate the flavor. Then, cover them with water, bring the water to a boil, and leave them to rehydrate.
- Chop and blend: Chop up the mango, add all the ingredients to a blender or food processor (except the salt), and process until smooth. I suggest using a high-powered blender since it makes quick work of breaking down a raw carrot.
- Salt: Once all the ingredients are pureed, taste and add salt as needed. It is important to do this at the end since the sodium content in granulated bouillon varies from brand to brand.
Variations, Substitutions, and Cooking Tips
Replace the mango with another fruit – The sauce needs a tropical fruit; mango works best, but pineapple or papaya will work, too. Since the average mango yields 1 cup of fruit, you can replace it with a cup of one of the other fruits mentioned.
Replace any sugar with dark brown if you do not have molasses – Brown sugar contains molasses, so you’ll still get some of that complexity and color. Dark brown is best!
Use vegetable broth instead of bouillon – If you have broth on hand instead of granulated bouillon, skip the bouillon and use broth to rehydrate the guajillo chiles. This way, you still get that additional layer of vegetal flavor. For this swap, you’ll notice that the savory factor is more muted; therefore, you may need to add more salt.
This Recipe Is NutriBullet Friendly – If you have the large NutriBullet with the blender cup attachment, like the NutriBullet Rx, you can chop the carrots and onions into small chunks and it works just as well as a regular blender.
Storage and Freezer Tips
The sauce is best stored in an airtight container, preferably glass, and refrigerated. This Lizano salsa copycat will stay fresh for up to a week. Freezing is not recommended.
How To Use Lizano Salsa
With our Lizano Salsa, we use the Costa Rican condiment to make Costa Rica’s National dish, Gallo Pinto. Traditional Gallo Pinto is a rice and beans recipe made with Lizano Salsa, fresh cilantro, red bell peppers, onions, and garlic. Other popular Costa Rican dishes that use Lizano sauce include arroz con pollo (chicken and rice), arroz con camarones (shrimp and rice), frijoles rojos con Salsa Lizano (beans), and Frijol molido (black bean dip). It’s so easy to make, and it is typically served for breakfast with a side of eggs — you can also add sour cream, cheese, or avocado, and if you’d like you can wrap it all up in a warm corn or flour tortilla. Here are a few other ways to use Lizano sauce:
- Use it like normal salsa for dipping tortilla chips
- Add to other recipes like tamales, enchiladas, tacos, soups, empanadas, etc.
- Stir it into your vegetables or meat while sautéing
- Add on top of eggs, rice, beans and fish.
- Add it to other dips like cheese sauces and guacamole
- Add a dash to your Bloody Mary
- Use a a mix-in for dips such as cream cheese or sour cream
- Use as a meat marinade for chicken or steak
- Snack on fried Plaintains (tostones) with Lizano sauce
Lizano Salsa Copycat
Have you ever tried Lizano salsa? If not, you’re in for a treat! Instead of searching the web for a bottle, give this Lizano salsa copycat recipe a try.
Ingredients
- 2 guajillo chiles, stems and seeds removed
- 1 ½ cups hot water
- 1 ripe mango
- ½ yellow onion, chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, peeled
- 1 large carrot, peeled and chopped
- 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon white vinegar
- 1 tablespoon molasses
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 2 teaspoons granulated vegetable bouillon
- ½ teaspoon mustard powder
- 1-2 teaspoons fine sea salt
Instructions
- Heat a pan over medium heat.
- Add the chiles to the pan once it’s hot—toast for 20 seconds per side or until toasty and fragrant.
- Pour in the water and bring it to a boil.
- Remove from the heat and let it sit for 10-12 minutes.
- Meanwhile, peel and chop the mango. Transfer the edible portions to a blender or food processor.
- Remove the chili peppers from the water and place them into the blender along with 1 cup of the soaking liquid.
- Add the remaining ingredients to the blender or food processor, except the salt. Process until smooth.
- Taste and add salt as needed.
- Depending on the efficiency of your blender or food processor, you can serve the salsa as is or strain it to remove solids before serving.
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