This canned salsa recipe is a new favorite! It's smokey, spicy, and easy to prepare. I'll show you how to can salsa so you can enjoy it all year long! Serve with my amazing California burritos, chicken enchiladas, or as an appetizer with chips!
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🧐 Why This Recipe Works
- This recipe comes in really handy when you have a surplus of tomatoes and you are looking for ways to harness their wonderful flavor all year long!
- Canned salsa has a long shelf life but it has to be acidic enough and processed correctly to keep it from spoiling.
- Jarred salsa makes an excellent gift, just don't forget the tortilla chips so they can dig in right away!
🛒 What You Need For This Recipe
🔖 Recipe Ingredients And Substitutions
- Tomatoes: Fresh, home-grown tomatoes are used in this recipe. However, you can find amazing Roma tomatoes at a farmers' market or even a grocery store.
- Peppers: Canned chipotle peppers bring the heat to this recipe. I thought about using fresh jalapeno peppers but decided on canned chipotles and so glad I did. They add so much roasted flavor!
- Onions: You'll need one medium to a large yellow onion. Your favorite onion variety can be substituted including white onion, purple onion, or green onion.
- Garlic: The garlic is slightly charred along with the tomatoes and onions. If you prefer to roast it, here is how to roast garlic. Roasting the garlic will mellow the garlic flavor.
- Vinegar: To preserve salsa, you need acidity. I added apple cider vinegar but you can try other kinds of vinegar or lime/lemon juice!
*Find the full ingredients list in the recipe card at the bottom of the page.
🍅 How to Make And Can Salsa
Step 1: Core tomatoes, roughly chop onions, and remove garlic cloves from a garlic bulb until you have approximately 5 cloves remaining. Slice the top of the bulb and wrap it in foil. Place the veggies on a baking sheet.
Step 2: Drizzle garlic with olive oil then broil the veggies on high for 3 minutes. Remove the garlic if it's getting too charred and flip the tomatoes over and broil for an additional 2 to 3 minutes or until charred.
Step 3: Pour canned chipotles into a food processor. Add roughly chopped cilantro, peeled garlic, and onions. Peel tomatoes and add to the food processor.
Step 4: Process salsa ingredients until you have the consistency you like. Pour salsa into a saucepan along with the salt, sugar, and vinegar. Simmer for approximately 10 minutes. Taste and adjust the seasoning if needed.
Step 5: Ladle hot salsa into sterilized jars leaving ½ inch headspace (room from the top of the jar). Wipe rims with a damp paper towel, add lids, and hand-tighten. Gently place jars into a boiling water canner. Process for 20 minutes.
Pro Tip: Make sure the jars are covered with at least 1" of water. Reprocess any jars that don't seal, store them in the refrigerator, or give them out as gifts!
🤷🏻♀️ Recipe FAQs
Boiling salsa for 10 minutes or so, brings all the flavors together and makes canning the salsa easier since the salsa is already hot when ladled into sterilized jars.
Homemade salsa should be processed in a water bath to seal and preserve the jars for longer storage. 
When canning salsa, you need to make sure that your salsa has enough acidity to keep it from spoiling. The acidity can be added in the form of vinegar or lime juice.
It's not absolutely necessary to peel tomatoes before canning them. However, taking that extra step ensures that those pesky peels don't get in the way of enjoying the salsa.
Canned salsa should be good for up to a year when stored in a cool (50°F — 70°F) and dry location, for example, a pantry or a root cellar.
👩🏼🍳 Pro Tips
- This recipe makes seven 8-ounce jars (or 3.5-pint jars) but can easily be adjusted to make smaller or larger batches of salsa.
- The heat level can also be adjusted. For less spicy salsa, don't use the whole can of chipotle peppers. If you prefer it hotter, reduce the tomatoes to 2 lbs.
- My friend Lori asked if we absolutely had to add the cilantro to the salsa we were canning together. She despises cilantro like many people seem to. So much so that she didn't even want to store it in the fridge and sent it home with me. 😂 We did end up adding cilantro to the recipe and she STILL loved it. Cooking the salsa tames the flavor of the cilantro.
- If you don't have a canner, you can use a large pot instead.
- Label the jars with contents and date before you store them.
🥑 Related Recipes
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📖 Recipe
How To Can Salsa
Equipment
- 1 baking tray
- 1 food processor
- 1 Saucepan
- 7 8-ounce canning jars
- 1 canner
Ingredients
- 2½ lbs tomatoes
- 1 large yellow onion
- 5+ cloves garlic
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 1 12 ounce canned chipotle peppers
- ⅓ cup chopped cilantro
- 1½ teaspoon sea salt
- ½ teaspoon sugar (optional)
- ¼ cup apple cider vinegar
Instructions
- Core tomatoes, roughly chop onions, and remove garlic cloves from a garlic bulb until you have approximately 5 cloves remaining. Slice the top of the bulb and wrap it in foil. Place the veggies on a baking sheet.
- Drizzle garlic with olive oil then broil the veggies on high for 3 minutes. Remove the garlic (if it's getting too charred) and flip the tomatoes over and broil for an additional 2 to 3 minutes or until charred.
- Pour canned chipotles into a food processor. Add roughly chopped cilantro, peeled garlic, and onions. Peel tomatoes and add to the food processor.
- Process salsa ingredients until you have the consistency you like. Pour salsa into a saucepan along with the salt, sugar, and vinegar. Simmer for approximately 10 minutes. Taste and adjust the seasoning if needed.
- Ladle hot salsa into sterilized jars leaving ½ inch headspace (room from the top of the jar). Wipe rims with a damp paper towel, add lids, and hand-tighten. Gently place jars into a boiling water canner. Process for 20 minutes.
Notes
- If you find jars that did not properly seal, consume those first or store them in the fridge. The rest can be stored safely in the pantry. According to Healthy Canning, homemade jarred salsa has a shelf-life of 12-18 months.
- Make sure the jars are covered with at least 1" of water.
- This recipe makes seven 8-ounce jars but can easily be adjusted to make smaller or larger batches of salsa.
- The heat level can also be adjusted. For less spicy salsa, don't use the whole can of chipotle peppers. If you prefer it hotter, reduce the tomatoes to 2 lbs.
- My friend Lori asked if we absolutely had to add the cilantro to the salsa we were canning together. She despises cilantro like many people seem to. So much so that she didn't even want to store it in the fridge and sent it home with me. 😂 We did end up adding cilantro to the recipe and she STILL loved it. Cooking the salsa tames the flavor of the cilantro.
- If you don't have a canner, you can use a large pot instead.
- Don't forget to label your jars with the contents and the date.
Jennifer Coffee says
My husband loved this salsa....The chipotle peppers really give it a delicious flavor!
Hilda Sterner says
I'm so glad, now you can make him some! 😉