Easy fire-roasted salsa – spicy and flavorful!
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I really Find my Easy with this simple homemade fire-roasted salsa.
When it’s tomato-harvesting time, the first priority goes to canning them and making homemade spaghetti sauce to can. But as the season goes on and other vegetables need my attention (e.g., apples), and some of the tomatoes might not be as pretty, my thoughts turn to salsa.
My favorite, easy, go-to salsa is fire-roasted (it’s really over-roasted…) salsa. This is a versatile, fast, delicious salsa. You can change up the ingredients—I am a staunch advocate of using what’s on hand. Isn’t that what putting food by is all about?
The key ingredients in this simple fire-roasted salsa
Most recipes call for Roma tomatoes, but I don’t grow those well, preferring Better Boy, Early Girl, Big Boy, Mortgage Lifter, and now Brandywine, from High Mowing in Vermont. Thus, when those recipes call for halving the tomato lengthwise, I usually end up quartering.
This fire-roasted salsa recipe uses green, yellow, or red peppers, whatever is available, and either jalapenos or habaneros. I’m a little heavy-handed with garlic. What can I say?
This recipe contains some flavor enhancers (chipotle in adobo) and brightening ingredients (cilantro and fresh lime juice).
I love that there’s very little chopping involved in making this salsa. I was never truly satisfied that to preserve salsa, I had to process it—basically, cooking it. This recipe does not masquerade as fresh salsa. It is yummy, roasted salsa.
Another reason I like this recipe is that it can easily be modified according to your taste. The ratio of ingredients can be changed, the chipotle and jalapenos can be omitted, and cumin can be added.
Fire-roasted salsa recipe
Ingredients
- 3 green peppers
- 2 red onions, peeled
- 10 cloves garlic, peeled
- 4 jalapenos
- 20 tomatoes
Instructions
- Quarter the tomatoes. Cut away the stem end and any brown areas. You don’t need to discard the entire tomato if there are some less-than-perfect areas. If the tomatoes are really juicy, squeeze the quarters gently into a bowl to releast some juice and excess seeds. Strain, save, and use in soup or sauce.
- Remove the seeds from the green peppers and cut them into chunks. Leave or remove the seeds from the jalapenos. Cut them and the onions into big chunks. There’s no need to cut the garlic.
- Spread the vegetables on a baking sheet and drizzle them with olive oil.
- Roast at 425 degrees for about 20-30 minutes or until the edges of the vegetables get a little charred.
- Cool slightly and add in batches to a blender or food processor. BE CAREFUL WHEN BLENDING HOT FOOD.
- Add 1 chipotle in adobo if you’d like extra smoky, spicy flavor.
- Blend until you like the consistency, making it chunkier or smoother as you desire.
- Then, I chopped some cilantro and stirred that in with the juice of a fresh lime and some salt.
- Mix all the blended vegetables together in a large pot. Heat to boiling.
- Add to sterilized jars (keeping about ¾” of head room), wipe the rim and cover with a lid and band. Do not tighten the band tightly, only finger-tight. Air bubbles must be able to escape when processing.
- Process pints for 20 minutes in a boiling water bath.
Notes
Add some cumin to taste if you like a smokier flavor.
Besides eating with tortilla chips, I add it to sour cream for dipping and spoon it over nachos. I know someone whose secret ingredient in his scrumptious chili recipe is salsa.
One day, I was chopping garlic, onions, peppers, and tomatoes to mix with hamburg for stuffed peppers and realized that I was basically making salsa. Now, I add salsa instead. I found my easy there, too!
Have too many cucumbers or other fresh veggies? Here’s a super easy quick pickle recipe.
Just typing the recipe makes my mouth water! I love giving this fire-roasted salsa as gifts, but I bet these jars don’t last until Christmas.
