I’ve been making homemade salsa for quite a few years already. I used to make it into taco sauce (few more steps involved) because I didn’t like chunky things. Now, I have gotten lazier matured my palate, I don’t mind having the peppers & onions in chunks (although, it’s still in small chunks, thank goodness for a food processor).
My Mother-in-law gave me this recipe years ago, and although I’ve tried maybe one different recipe for salsa, I’ve never found the need to look for anything else. This one is simple, with few ingredients, but has great flavour. And now that the whole family eating it (kids included), I find that we go through it quite quickly.
The last few years I’ve started my tomatoes from seed. I prefer to use romas, but will use whatever I can get my hands on. This year my tomatoes ended up being diseased, and from all 24 plants, I have enough tomatoes to make only 2 batches of salsa. Better than none though! 🙂 Let me teach you How to Can Your Own Homemade Salsa.
How to Can Your Own Homemade Salsa
When I made salsa, I prefer to peel the tomatoes first. You don't have to do this, however, if you don't, you will have pieces of rolled up pieces of tomato peel in your salsa. The easiest way to do this is to blanch your tomatoes. You do this as follows: Fill sink with some warm water and wash your tomatoes. Remove green stems and leaves, and with a sharp knife, cut an "X" into the bottom of your tomato. Fill a large pot about half full of water, and bring to a boil. Have another large bowl filled about half way with cold or ice water. Working in small batches, first put the tomatoes into the boiling water, allow them to cook for 30-60 seconds. Remove from boiling water with slotted spoon, and place in ice water. Once the tomatoes have cooled for a few minutes, you should be able to easily remove the peel from the tomato. I also like to cut the stem part away at this time. Continue with this long, tedious process until you have peeled all of your tomatoes. 🙂 Now that your tomatoes are all peel-less, you can go ahead and start cutting them up into chunks. They don't need to be cut too small, as they will break down & fall apart some while cooking.
Ingredients
- 16 cups tomatoes, peeled and chopped
- 4 jalepeno peppers (approximately, I used a hot pepper blend this year, as seen in the picture above, I also left the seeds in, for some extra heat)
- 2-3 green peppers, seeded & chopped
- 3 medium onions, chopped
- 6 tablespoons pickling salt
- 1 cup white vinegar
- 3 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1/4 cup cold water
Eliana says
Awesome lookig salsa. Love that it's so easy tomake yet has so many great flavors.
Jeanine says
Thanks! 🙂 Sometimes simple is just better, isn't it?
Shoshana says
This sounds great. What kind of canning lids do you use? All of mine are metal, which would make the microwave step a bit tricky. How long would you process the salsa in a water bath instead?
Jeanine says
I use the 2 piece snap lids (lid & ring), they are metal, but they do work in the microwave. Seriously! 🙂
I'm not sure about the water bath. I googled it, and found this (it varies based on your elevation): http://www.pickyourown.org/salsa.htm
Susan says
I did mine in the microwave as well. It will be ok as long as the metal doesn't touch the side and if there is more glass than there is metal..it won't spark. place the lid on the jar ,not covering the opening completely so steam can escape. worked for me..
betty r says
I should make my own salsa but in the meantime I'll just sit here and drool:)
Jeanine says
Betty, how ya gonna make salsa without onions?? 😉 Did you find any tomatoes this year? Seems everyone's are rotting at the stem before they ripen.
betty r says
Well Jeanine..that's why I won't make salsa..you can't taste so much of the onion in the store bought salsa so I shall just stick with that.
Tomatoes in the garden did not do well but I had one in a pot which did very well although they were a smaller variety of tomatoes. Some hybrid kind..forget the name.
Tasty Eats At Home says
Yum! I just canned salsa myself. Yours is really pretty. That stinks about your tomato plants! But what would you do if all 24 plants were prolific? That's a LOT of tomatoes! If you succeed next year, ship me some salsa…and canned tomatoes…and homemade ketchup…lol!
Jeanine says
Ha! Actually, the past 3 years I've had that many tomatoes. I can the salsa (a LOT of it, usually), and usually make a few batches of canned tomato soup. I've done tomato juice, veggie juice, spaghetti sauce & taco sauce. I admit, by the end, I'm really tired of looking at tomatoes! lol Your salsa looks really good too! Wow! I bet it tastes great!
ATTIC CLUTTER says
yum
thanks for the recipe(:)
Chris Neufeld says
Try adding a tablespoon of cumin, or cilantro, or both.
Gisel says
How long will canned salsa last?
Jeanine Friesen says
From what I’ve read, canned salsa can be stored for 12-18 months. No matter how much I make, mine never seems to make it past 10 months before it is gone. 🙂
rose says
This was one of 5 different salsa recipes that I tried this weekend. I liked the flavor but WAY to salty. I remade it by making it again without the salt and then mixed the two together. Still a little salty but the flavor was pretty good. Thanks!
Jeanine Friesen says
Hi Rose, I noticed that my last batch seems salty too, I’m not sure why. I’ve been using this recipe for years. I did, however, make sure to have very little liquid this time, and my salsa turned out thick, so it could be from that.
Amber Siar says
I used your recipe for canning salsa last year because it was my first time making salsa and wanted to find the easiest possible recipe. This was very easy and everyone in my family loves the salsa much more than store-bought! I made two batches and that lasted me about 6 months. Many people asked me to bring it every time we had a family get-together, and with 2 kids (now 3 kids) who love salsa, it didn’t last long. I’m making at least 3-4 batches this year and needed to reprint the recipe, so I thought I’d let you know how much we love it. The only substitution I made was Hungarian hot peppers instead of jalapenos because that’s what I had on hand. Thank you!
Jeanine says
Thanks so much, Amber! My family loves it too, and I usually have to make 3 or 4 batches just to make it through the year. 🙂 Once you’ve had homemade, store-bought just doesn’t do it anymore. 🙂 Thanks for the review, i appreciate it!