Have you ever bought a jar of salsa at the store and been disappointed?? This happened to us so often, we finally decided to make our own. We always find the store bought salsas to be too chunky, have too much onion, not enough lime, etc. We don’t like to brag, but I think our homemade roasted salsa is by far our favorite salsa we’ve tried! It’s perfect for serving with tortilla chips, but also great to top off your favorite Mexican dishes like enchiladas, tacos, quesadillas, etc. We prefer our salsa on the spicier side, a smoother consistency (we are not fans of the chunkier Pace style salsas), and made with simple ingredients.

We’ve tried making fresh salsas in the past, but have found that by roasting your ingredients before blending it, the salsa turns out much more flavorful. We use tomatoes, onion, garlic, jalapenos, serranos, cilantro, and lime juice. The tomatoes, onion, garlic, and peppers get roasted for about 30 minutes. This can be done on the grill or in the oven. The grill lends a great charred flavor which can be even more delicious! So if you’re planning a weekend BBQ, just throw on your salsa ingredients and by the time you’ve finished cooking your meats, your salsa will be ready!

All salsa use some combination of peppers. We opted for jalapenos and serranos in ours. We deseed the jalapenos and use them more for flavor than for spice. The serranos are where the spice level comes in! We recommend to omit the serranos for a mild salsa. Use one serrano for a medium salsa, and two or three for a HOT salsa. We like two for our tastes! You can always blend two batches, one with some serranos and one without if you’ve got a house divided on spiciness level. We love our Vitamix blender for this job, but you can also do this in your food processor.

This homemade roasted salsa is the ultimate party appetizer and pairs even better with a nice margarita. We’ll have a big bowl on the table today for our Memorial Day BBQ!

Homemade Roasted Salsa

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Prep Time 5 minutes mins

Cook Time 30 minutes mins

Servings: 2 Cups

Course: Appetizer

Cuisine: Mexican

Ingredients Equipment Method

Ingredients

  

• 6 Roma Tomatoes
• 5 Jalapeno Peppers
• 2 Serrano Peppers omit for mild salsa
• 2 Cloves Garlic Unpeeled
• 1/2 Medium Yellow Onion
• 1 Lime Juiced
• 1/2 Cup Cilantro
• 1/2 Teaspoon Black Pepper
• 1/2 Teaspoon Sugar
• 1 Tablespoon Kosher Salt
• 2 Tablespoons Distilled White Vinegar

Equipment

• Blender

Method

 

1. Preheat the oven to 450F.
2. Place the tomatoes, onion, garlic, and peppers on a foil lined baking sheet and roast in the oven for 30 minutes, removing the garlic at the 10 minute mark and setting aside.
3. Remove from the oven and let cool until cool enough to handle.
4. Peel the garlic, deseed the jalapenos and remove the core of the tomatoes.
5. Add the whole serranos, deseeded jalapenos, cored tomatoes, onion and garlic to the blender along with the salt, pepper, lime juice, vinegar and cilantro.
6. Blend until smooth. Adjust salt to taste. Refrigerate until ready to serve.