An easy homemade salsa with few ingredients that tastes just as good as store bought or restaurant!
I was going to start this post about how much I love Mexican food, but in all honesty I love ALL food. Mexican food does make me extra happy, though. I especially love tacos, taco salads, and burrito bowls—all which are even better with this homemade salsa.
My mom has made this salsa for years and I finally started helping her a couple years ago. We usually buy veggies from local farmers, but this year we had all but the onions and cilantro in our gardens, which makes this salsa taste even better. As I mentioned in my stewed tomatoes post, my tomatoes are out of control! We canned the salsa and ended up with 50 pints this year, which is actually less than last year. That’s a lot of salsa… This recipe makes one batch, or about 5 to 6 pints. Keep this in mind if you’re just planning to make this for one occasion!
The original recipe my mom uses calls for sugar, but I thought how much of a difference could it make not including the sugar? Verdict: no difference at all. There are so many products on the market with sugar in them and it really isn’t necessary in most situations. The less sugar, the better. Always check your labels and try to make products yourself!
The only effort you’ll have to make for this salsa is cutting up the veggies (wear gloves with the hot peppers), adding them to a pan with tomato sauce and paste and spices, then cooking it! If you wanted more of a fresh pico de gallo, skip the tomato sauce and paste and don’t cook it. Simple as that.
Feel free to add more cilantro if preferred. It seems people either love or hate cilantro and I’m one of those people who absolutely loves it. I always wonder why they don’t make a cilantro scented candle? Okay, maybe that would be gross, but I double the cilantro when I make this salsa! Same with jalapenos. I don’t like mine TOO hot, but the original recipe actually calls for one cup so add more if you prefer.
I’m all about cooking as much as you can from scratch and this is one of those foods that is too easy not to make. Hopefully this recipe will end up getting passed down in your family like it has in mine!
(Pin this image! Just scroll over the image and click “pin” in the top corner. Or click here.)
Homemade Salsa
https://www.thesmalltownfoodie.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/HomemadeSalsa4SMALL.png
| Prep: | Cook: | Yield: 5-6 pints | Total: |
An easy homemade salsa with few ingredients that tastes just as good as store bought or restaurant!
You'll Need...
- 8 cups chopped, drained tomatoes
- 2 ½ cups chopped onion
- 1 ½ cups chopped green pepper
- ¾ cup chopped jalapenos
- 6 minced garlic cloves
- 3 teaspoons cumin
- 2 teaspoons black pepper
- 2 tablespoons canning salt
- 1/3 cup white vinegar
- 15 ounces tomato sauce
- 15 ounces tomato paste
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
Directions
- Add all ingredients, except cilantro, to a large pot and bring to a boil.
- Boil for 10 minutes.
- Add cilantro and mix well.
- Seal in jars and cook in a hot water bath; 10 minutes for pint jars, 20 minutes for quart jars*
Additional Notes
*Visit www.freshpreserving.com/waterbath-canning.html for water bath canning instructions
I got this recipe from your mom this summer. We made and love it! We processed pint jars to preserve it over the winter months. It is good either right off the stove or a few months later when you open a jar and can enjoy fresh salsa! Thanks for sharing this.
I saw it was shared with you on the Google Doc 🙂 I’m glad you love it! I forgot about this, but I’m going to add some instructions on how to preserve it, too!