Picture this: It’s summer, and all your friends are coming over for a backyard barbecue. Someone shows up with a bag of tortilla chips, and you run to the kitchen and return with a jar of homemade tomato salsa. The crowd goes wild!
Though it’s easy to find various brands of salsa at the grocery store, there’s nothing like making your own. This recipe for canning salsa will set you up to have jars on hand when you need them. Using 10 pounds of tomatoes, this is definitely batch cooking, so plan time for chopping, dicing and peeling the fresh tomatoes.
Our mild salsa is perfect for tortilla chips, tacos or taco salad, and burrito bowls.
Mild Salsa Recipe for Canning Ingredients
- Tomatoes: Use medium-ripe, fresh tomatoes for this recipe. Overly ripe tomatoes will be harder to peel and quarter, and underripe tomatoes won’t provide the flavor that makes homemade salsa so amazing.
- Green peppers: Green peppers bring freshness and tender crunch.
- Onions: Use white or yellow onions in this recipe for canning salsa. Like the bell peppers, the onion chunks add bite to the salsa.
- Tomato paste: For full-blown tomato flavor, combine fresh tomatoes with canned tomato paste. The paste has a denser, slightly caramelized tomato taste, while the fresh tomatoes may be more or less tomato-y depending on the variety and the weather.
- Vinegar: Using vinegar in canning recipes helps safeguard the product by keeping the pH within the correct range. If you wish to use a different kind of vinegar, make sure it has the same pH as white vinegar.
- Sugar: Sugar balances out the acidity in this salsa. Use granulated sugar here.
- Red pepper: Where green bell peppers are vegetal and crunchy, red peppers are sweet. (Most, but not all, green peppers are less-mature versions of other colored peppers.) It’s fine to use an orange or yellow pepper instead of a red pepper.
- Celery:Â Before chopping the rib, discard the celery leaves, as the leaves are bitter.
- Garlic: This recipe uses a lot of garlic, so use a food processor to do the mincing for you. To make your work easier, choose heads of garlic with a few sizeable cloves rather than heads with lots of tiny cloves. And check out our hack for peeling garlic.
- Jalapeno peppers: This is a mild salsa recipe, but there is a hint of heat from jalapenos. When you cut the peppers, wear disposable gloves and avoid touching your face.
- Canning salt: This type of salt, also called pickling salt, is a fine-grained salt for preserving that doesn’t include anti-caking agents or iodine. If you can’t find canning salt, pure sea salt is a good substitute.
- Hot pepper sauce: A simple hot sauce, such as one made with cayenne peppers and vinegar, will add a dash of extra heat to the salsa. You can omit it if you’re looking for a truly mild experience.
Directions
Step 1: Peel and quarter the tomatoes
In a Dutch oven, bring 2 quarts water to a boil. Using a slotted spoon, place the tomatoes, a few at a time, in the boiling water for 30 to 60 seconds. Remove each tomato and immediately plunge it into ice water. Drain and pat dry. Peel and quarter tomatoes, then place them in a stockpot.
Editor’s Tip: To make the tomatoes easier to peel, score a small “x” in the base of each tomato with a paring knife before placing the tomatoes in the boiling water.
Step 2: Simmer the salsa
Cook the tomatoes for 20 minutes, uncovered, over medium heat. Drain the tomatoes, reserving 2 cups liquid.
Return the tomatoes to the pot. Stir in the green peppers, onions, tomato paste, vinegar, sugar, red pepper, celery, garlic, jalapenos, canning salt, hot pepper sauce and reserved tomato liquid. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, for one hour, stirring frequently.
Step 3: Fill Mason jars
Ladle the hot salsa mixture into 10 hot 1-pint jars, leaving 1/2-inch headspace in each jar. Remove air bubbles and adjust headspace, if necessary, by adding additional hot salsa. Wipe the rims, center lids on the jars and screw on the bands until fingertip tight.
Step 4: Process the salsa
Place the jars into a water-bath canner (one of our most-used canning supplies) with simmering water, ensuring that each jar is covered by at least 1 inch water. Bring to a boil, and process for 20 minutes. Remove jars and cool.
Recipe Variations
- Medium tomato salsa: To increase the heat, swap in another type of pepper, such as serrano or chile de arbol, for the jalapeno. Or, dash in some extra hot sauce at the end. If you’re really brave, there are always the wildly spicy peppers, such as habanero, ghost pepper or Carolina reaper.
- Salsa with herbs and spices: Increase the flavor of the salsa by adding fresh or dried herbs such as oregano and cilantro or spices such as coriander, cumin and smoked paprika.
- Fruit salsa: Juicy fruits, such as peaches, pineapple and mango, are great add-ins for salsa recipes. Just swap in some fruit for the tomatoes. These additions will change the pH of the recipe, so add them only if you are planning to eat the salsa right away or intend to freeze the salsa instead of processing it in a water bath.
How to Store Mild Salsa Recipe for Canning
This salsa is ready to eat right away. Generally, canned goods should be stored in a cool, dark place. And according to the USDA, all home-canned food should be used within a year. When you’re ready to eat your salsa, check to make sure that the center of the canning lid has not popped, that the lid is vacuum-sealed to the jar, and that the color and aroma of the salsa haven’t changed. If you hear any fizzing or bubbling, throw it away. Find more preserving tips on our Canning 101Â page!
Can you freeze mild salsa recipe for canning?
Because this salsa is preserved by the canning process, there’s no reason to freeze it. However, if you don’t want to go through the process of water-bath canning, you can freeze salsa in airtight containers, leaving enough headspace for the mixture to expand as it gets colder.
Mild Salsa Recipe for Canning Tips
Do you have to peel tomatoes before canning salsa?
You don’t have to peel the tomatoes, but many people feel that salsa has a nicer texture when made with peeled tomatoes.
Is vinegar or lemon juice better for canning salsa?
It is safe to use bottled lemon juice in canning recipes, provided that the pH is lower than or equal to the pH of the vinegar that you’re replacing.
Do you have to cook the salsa before canning?
Yes. Whenever you’re following a recipe for canning salsa, you should keep to it exactly.
What are the best jars for canning salsa?
Any commercial canning jars with rings and new lids will be suitable for canning salsa.
