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Homemade Garden Salsa

The garden is exploding and you're looking for the perfect recipe to enjoy all those fresh flavors - you're in the right place. This homemade salsa recipe is the perfect and most delicious way to enjoy your hard work.
Now, my family does not love spicy. So if you're looking for a salsa that is full of zing, you may need to add some hotter peppers or at least keep the jalapeno seeds in. This salsa as we make it is just a step above mild.
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Prep Time 1 hour
Cook Time 2 hours
Total Time 3 hours
Cuisine Mexican
Servings 10 pints

Ingredients
  

  • 4 + 1/2 quarts tomatoes once cored & skinned. This is about 9-10lbs before cleaning
  • 3 + 1/2 cups onion
  • 4 cups mixed peppers
  • 2/3 cup jalapeno peppers
  • 4 tbsp canning salt
  • 4 tbsp vinegar
  • 4 garlic cloves
  • 1 tbsp dried cilantro or 3 tbsp fresh
  • 1/2 tsp dried cayenne pepper powder optional
  • sprinkle sugar and black pepper

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 400°F.
  • Clean, core, and halve tomatoes. Place tomatoes cut side down on a baking sheet & roast in the oven until the skins are wrinkled and are just starting to appear roasted (brown). This should take 20-40 minutes depending how many pans of tomatoes you have.
  • While tomatoes are roasting, clean and chop the other ingredients. I highly recommend using a food processor.
  • Once tomatoes are roasted, remove from the oven and let cool until you can touch. Remove the skins from the tomatoes. This is when I checked to see that I have approximately 4 + 1/2 quarts of tomatoes.
  • transfer all the ingredients to a large pot and cook for 1-2 hours or until the tomatoes are breaking down.
  • You don't have to, but I prefer to use an immersion blender and break up the larger tomato chunks once the salsa has cooked for a couple hours.
    • DO NOT run your immersion blender very long or you will have sauce, not salsa.
  • Sometimes, I like to add a little sweet corn once I have it completely made. It adds a nice sweet depth to the flavor, and is super helpful at balancing out your salsa if it seems a little too salty or spicy for your liking (ask me how I know!).
  • Because this is not an "approved canning recipe", you can choose to water bath can at your own discretion. It will keep in the fridge for 7-14 days.

Notes

This recipe makes approximately 10 pints of salsa.
Keyword dairy-free, gluten-free