Sauces & Marinades

Homemade Salsa

Homemade Salsa

This is my story. It’s the story of a love affair. A love affair between me…and salsa. Sweet, spicy, glorious salsa.

Homemade Salsa

Have you ever made homemade salsa? Yes, it’s a bit quite labour-intensive. Yes, canning can be a scary thing. But once you get over those two things, homemade salsa is the bomb.

My parents live on an acreage with a giganterrific garden that produces a giganterrific amount of tomatoes and hot peppers. They’ve been making this salsa for a number of years now and I stole the recipe from them so that I can share with you! Once you make it, I promise that you will fall in love with it as much as we have.

My biggest pet peeve in making salsa is in getting the tomatoes peeled. You have to blanch in batches, which takes forever and is a serious pain in the derrière. Over the years, I kept hearing snatches of conversation of people making salsa with frozen tomatoes and this year, decided to investigate. Wow. Never going back.

The perks of using frozen tomatoes are:

  1. You can wait until you are ready to make the salsa. Feel like making salsa in December? No problem!
  2. Peeling the tomatoes is insanely easy and takes way less time than blanching.
  3. There is absolutely no difference in the consistency of the end product.

To freeze and use your tomatoes:

  1. Wash the tomatoes (no need to dry), place in plastic bags and freeze until ready to use.
  2. When ready, remove tomatoes from bags and place in a sink full of hot water.
  3. Peel – the skin should slip off easily.

Here’s a quick video showing how simple they are to peel:

I’ve added lots of notes to the recipe below, but I want to give you a quick rundown on some basic tips for making this salsa.

1. Sterilizing your jars – my favourite method is the simplest one. I wash my jars (because they’ve been sitting in my basement gathering dust for the last year), rinse them, and place them upright on a large baking sheet. Heat them in a 225°F oven for a minimum of 10 minutes.

2. Ingredients – I stick pretty true to the original recipe except for a couple small things. I don’t like green peppers, so I use a mixture of red, orange and yellow. If green peppers are your thing though, feel free to switch it up. I make two variations of this salsa: one with fresh jalapeno peppers and one with canned chipotle peppers (in adobo sauce). **NOTE: Please don’t vary the amount of tomato ingredients (chopped tomatoes, sauce and paste), as the acidity is needed to keep a safe pH level for canning.

3. Chopping size – I chop all my ingredients by hand to get a thick, chunky salsa. If you prefer a thin, smooth salsa, you can chop the ingredients (excluding the tomatoes) in a food processor.

4. Heat level – Jalapenos and chipotles get the majority of their heat from the membranes and seeds. We like a spicy salsa so I generally leave all the seeds and membranes in, chopping the jalapeno pepper up whole. For a milder salsa, you can leave out some or all of the seeds. Keep in mind though that hot peppers vary in heat, depending on growing season, variety and source. Every year, my salsa has a different heat to it, and there’s really no way of knowing until you crack open the jar. And most importantly: don’t forget to wear gloves when chopping hot peppers!!

Homemade Salsa

Homemade Salsa

Homemade Salsa

Homemade Salsa

Homemade Salsa
Print Recipe
4 from 1 vote

Homemade Salsa

Prep Time1 hour
Cook Time20 minutes
Total Time1 hour 20 minutes
Course: Canning
Servings: 6 pints
Author: The Gourmet Housewife

Ingredients

  • 8 cups peeled and chopped tomatoes drained
  • 2 1/2 cups chopped onions
  • 1 1/2 cups chopped bell peppers red, orange or yellow
  • 1 cup chopped jalapeno or chipotle peppers
  • 6 garlic cloves minced
  • 2 tsp cumin
  • 2 tsp pepper
  • 1/8 cup canning salt
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 1/3 cup vinegar
  • 2 cups tomato sauce (16 ounces)
  • 1 13 oz can tomato paste

Instructions

  • In a large heavy bottomed stock pot, mix all ingredients together on medium high and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and boil for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  • Seal in sterilized jars and process in a hot water bath for 10 minutes.

Notes

• To sterilize your jars: first wash and rinse them (no need to dry). Place them upright on a large baking sheet. Heat in a 225°F oven for a minimum of 10 minutes.
• For a chunky salsa, make sure to chop all the vegetables by hand.
• If using fresh tomatoes, score an "x" in the bottom of each one and blanch (boil for 2-3 minutes and plunge into an ice bath).
• You can freeze your tomatoes after washing them and placing them in plastic bags. When ready to use, put them in a sink full of hot water and peel.
• When making chipotle salsa, I use the canned chipotles in adobo sauce.
• When making jalapeno salsa, I leave the seeds and membranes in and chop it all up. This makes for a spicier salsa. For a milder version, deseed the peppers and remove all the membranes.
• You can use any colour of peppers you want, but I prefer a mixture of red, orange and yellow.

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15 Comments

  • Reply
    Julie
    August 25, 2017 at 3:10 pm

    This recipe doesn’t have cilantro – when would I add that?
    Also, we are used to lime juice in it, can the vinegar be replaced with lime juice?

    • Reply
      Jack
      September 4, 2017 at 7:02 pm

      4 stars
      Aftercooled down, just before canning or freezing

  • Reply
    Natalie
    October 4, 2018 at 7:27 pm

    Once in jars, what is the shelf life of this salsa?

  • Reply
    lisa
    September 1, 2019 at 3:51 pm

    what does 2 cups 16 ozs tomato sauce mean? Is it 2 cups PLUS 16 ozs? please advise :)

    • Reply
      Jacquelyn Bauer
      September 6, 2019 at 10:49 am

      Hi Lisa!

      Sorry about the confusion! I switched tools for posting recipes and it looks like this one suffered a hiccup in the conversion process.

      It should read:

      2 cups tomato sauce (equivalent to 16 ounces)

  • Reply
    Corinn
    January 10, 2020 at 11:49 am

    This is the best recipe that I have ever used!! I fell in love with cumin when I first made this recipe. It’s easy to do and especially delicious! I have people who are always asking me to make this for them.

  • Reply
    Judy
    August 31, 2020 at 7:50 am

    Can this be frozen instead of canned?

  • Reply
    CJ
    August 31, 2020 at 2:14 pm

    This salsa is worth every second of time it takes to chop! Oh my, you’ll totally wish you’d made two batches! Thanks!

  • Reply
    Susan
    March 3, 2021 at 8:57 am

    I plan to make this salsa but there is no cilantro. When would you add cilantro and approximately how much. Thanks.

  • Reply
    cummings_heather@hotmail.com
    August 10, 2021 at 4:54 pm

    Hello! Can I use a mixture of cherry and beefsteak tomatoes for this salsa? Or do you recommend not using cherry tomatoes?

  • Reply
    Carol Jean Blakely
    October 5, 2021 at 10:00 am

    I have lots of peppers and onions – can I chop them and freeze them now and make salsa later. I have also frozen tomatoes for this?

  • Reply
    Kait
    October 22, 2021 at 2:34 pm

    This was great! Thanks!

  • Reply
    Debra Anderson
    July 9, 2022 at 11:05 am

    Any suggestions on peach, mango or pineapple salsas

  • Reply
    Jake
    October 10, 2022 at 7:17 pm

    Just made and canned this recipe, it’s fantastic! Great way to use tomatoes and peppers from my garden.

  • Reply
    Paulette
    November 10, 2022 at 6:26 pm

    I am using my frozen tomatoes. After they thawed there was a good bit of juice left. I drained the water from the pack and separated the tomatoes into a strainer and kept that juice. Do I use that juice in my salsa or save it and use it for something else. I needed 18 lbs of tomatoes for my salsa which I had weighed and vacuumed sealed before freezing. After I processed them for my salsa it only weighed 6 lbs. Is that correct or do I need to add more tomatoes until I reach 18lbs processed? Still learning about canning🙁

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