
I'm pretty new to making salsa, but I'm really enjoying it so far. This is my 4th batch. The others have come out great! I was going to smoke the onion too, but I like it to stay a little firmer. Here is the base recipe that I kinda follow, but I do add some tweaks to it from batch to batch to see how results vary:
Ingredients:
4 cups tomatoes (chopped) – I use Roma
2 cups Jalapeno peppers (chopped) – if smoking the peppers, I cut 3 slits evenly spaced, length ways on each pepper to allow more smoke in and smoke them for 2-3 hours on 180 (225 works too, but they are usually done around 2 hrs)
1 cup bell pepper
5 cloves of fresh garlic (not jarlic!!!)
1/4 cup fresh cilantro (minced)
1/2 tsp cumin
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
2 tbsp of bottled lime juice (supposedly better than fresh)
pinch of sugar (I use maybe a teaspoon or so, but the sugar is optional)
Instructions:
- Wash tomatoes thoroughly and cut an "X" into the bottom of the tomato (opposite side of stem, this helps when peeling). Then, bring a pot of water to boil and blanch the tomatoes for about 30 seconds
- After 30 seconds, quickly move them to a ready waiting ice bath and let them sit there for about 3-5 minutes
- Remove the cores (spot where stem was attached) and peel the tomatoes (skin should come off fairly easy because of the blanching)
- Cut tomatoes into larger pieces with a vegetable chopper or finely dice them (matter of preference)
- Remove stem of jalapeno and bell pepper (and seeds if you would like), I used SMOKED jalapenos, bell, pepper, and habanero, and finely chop them. Habanero is optional but I usually use 12-15 in a batch to make it pretty hot. If you don't want it plenty hot, I would suggest using maybe 5 or so.
- Peel and finely chop your onion and garlic (I usually double the listed amount because I love garlic). Once everything is prepped, combine all the ingredients in a large saucepan and bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat.
- Once boiling, lower the heat and let it simmer for 7-10 min.
- Meanwhile, prepare your water bath canner by filling it with enough water to cover the PINT size mason jars (this recipe will typically fill at least 3 jars), and bring it to a rolling boil.
- Place the jars into the water to heat them up for 2 minutes
- After the jars are hot, carefully remove them and ladle the hot salsa into the jars, leaving about 1/2" of headspace.
- Use a knife to remove any air bubbles at the top of salsa.
- Return the full jars to the pot of boiling water and boil for 15 minutes.
- Remove from water after 15 minutes and allow to rest overnight. I find it's definitely best to let them sit for about 2 weeks before cracking one open.
by Successful-Fly2489

5 Comments
Do you follow a recipe you can share?
Looking good, end game in sight
I found my people on Reddit finally
Usually, I don’t see the return of investment for removing skins from tomatoes unless I’m using a molcajete. But I guess if you’re just chopping them with a knife and invoking zero use of a blender, that makes sense.
Have you compared the flavor you get from smoking those vegetables versus charring them under a broiler, which is way more common?
Looking good