If you haven't had a Homemade Canning Salsa Recipe, then you haven't lived! There are so many different types of salsas out there, with so many different flavors, like this Chipotle Salsa. With homemade salsa, you get to control the flavors and the spiciness. You'll never want to buy salsa again.
Tomato Season Recipe
Every summer I plant tomatoes, and when they ripen, Tomato-geddon happens. I know I'm not the only one looking for ways to use up lots of tomatoes all at once. They all seem to ripen at once. The best reason to make tomato salsa in the summer is because vine ripened tomatoes taste amazing, and are also the cheapest to buy when in season. You can use any tomato you want when making salsa. Paste tomatoes are often used as they are meaty and have less juice and seeds.
What Peppers Are Used In Salsa?
The majority of your peppers that you use to make salsa are sweeter chili peppers, low on the Scoville heat scale. The spiciness in the salsa is typically provided by one pepper variety, which allows you to control the heat. The rest of them are sweet and colorful. You might have your favorite sweet pepper that you prefer. I like to vary with a variety of colorful peppers, red, green, orange, yellow. Depending on where you live will determine what peppers are available to you, unless you grow them yourself. The varieties you want to use are up to you, here's some suggestions.
- Sweet Bell Peppers, Red, Orange or Yellow - 0 to 100 Scoville Units
- Sweet Paprika Peppers - 0 to 100 Scoville Units
- Banana Peppers - 0 to 500 Scoville Units
- Cubanelle Peppers - 100 to 1000 Scoville Units
- Poblano Peppers - 1000-1500 Scoville Units
- Anaheim Peppers - 500 to 2500 Scoville Units
How to Make Salsa Spicy?
As this is a Chipotle Salsa recipe, the hero of this salsa recipe is Chipotle Peppers in Adobo Sauce. They are smoked and dried, and rehydrated in a tomato chili sauce. They are sold in cans and can be pretty spicy. I used a 3.5oz can or 100g can of peppers, and used about half of it. It's a generous 2 tablespoons, and I found the chipotle salsa to be mild with a bit of a kick. If you want it spicy, add the whole can of chipotle peppers. My suggestion is to start small, one tablespoon and taste it before adding more. You can't take away spice, but it's easy to add in!
The fresh spicy peppers you want to use are up to you. Jalapeño Peppers are what most people think fo when they make homemade salsa. Jalapeños are the starting point when looking for spicy peppers. In fact, they aren't actually very hot at all in comparison to many peppers. Jalapeños are classed as a medium spicy pepper, and you could increase to 1 cup of chopped spicy peppers. Remember to keep the jalapeño seeds in the salsa! Here are some medium spice pepper suggestions, keep an eye on the Scoville Heat Units as your heat guide. Replace Jalapeños with any spicy pepper of your choice.
- Jalapeno Peppers - 2500 to 8000 Scoville Units
- Fresno Peppers - 2500 to 10,000 Scoville Units
- Serrano Peppers - 10,000 to 23,000 Scoville Units
- Cayenne Peppers - 30,000 to 50,000 Scoville Units
Chunky Chipotle Salsa
This is a homemade canning salsa recipe that is flavored with Chipotle Peppers. It's not a copycat recipe from Chipotles, and it is not pureed or blended. Roughly chop all your tomatoes and dice your peppers, and as it cooks down you're left with a tasty chunky salsa! This recipe is so easy to make. No pre-roasting of tomatoes or peppers, no blender, all you need is a cutting board, sharp knife and a large pot!
How to Make Canning Salsa
Firstly, there is no need to remove the skin from the tomatoes before chopping. This is an easy salsa recipe, and you don't need to take unnecessary steps. The tomato skins will cook down when you salsa is simmering on the stove. Coarsely slice and chop the tomatoes. 8 cups of tomatoes is about 4-½ pounds or 2 kg. If there is a bit extra tomatoes or peppers, don't worry, throw it in the pot!
Next, decide on which peppers you will use. The majority of the peppers are sweet peppers, and it doesn't matter which ones you choose. To make a colorful salsa, choose different colored sweet peppers. Mix it up with Red Bell Peppers, Orange Bell, Yellow Bell, and Banana Peppers. As long as it equals a minimum 6 cups of chopped peppers, you're good! And if there is extra pepper, just throw it in.
Jalapeno Peppers are easily found everywhere and is most commonly used in salsa. Don't skip the canned Chipotles for the smokey rich flavor that defines the salsa. If you can't find chipotles, used 1 cup of jalapeño peppers and leave the seeds in. Throw all your prepared ingredients into a large stockpot except the cilantro. That gets added in last. Apple Cider Vinegar is needed for canning salsa to increase the acidity to limit bacteria from growing.
Canning Homemade Salsa
Canning is the best way to preserve your salsa, but it can be tricky. As mentioned, the recipe needs to have enough acid in it to limit bacteria, and your jars and lids need sterilization. Even to sterilize jars and lids, they need to be boiled for at least 10 minutes if you're at sea level height. If you live in the mountains, then you should add 1 additional minute for each 1000 feet higher than sea level. So it can be easy to make mistakes.
I always use a water bath canning method, and boil my jars of salsa for at least 15 minutes. But even that can go wrong. The jars can be difficult to remove from the boiling water, you can drop the glass jar, break the jars, burn yourself. And after all that, sometimes the jars don't seal. So why do we do it? Because it homemade always tastes better than store bought, you know what's in the ingredients, and it's more economical if you regular do it. However, you need to arm yourself with information and instructions from the experts (not me) but the government. Here are the links to the USDA Canning Guidelines and FDA Canning Tips. If you choose not to preserve your salsa, keep it refrigerated, give it to family and friends and eat it fast!
Homemade Salsa Recipe Tips
- Choose colorful peppers to make your salsa look and taste interesting! If the recipe calls for 1 cup of pepper and you have extra left over, it's ok to throw it in! More pepper makes it chunkier!
- Instead of Apple Cider Vinegar, use Red Wine Vinegar or White Wine Vinegar
- Be generous with your teaspoon measurements. It's a large batch and can handle it.
- If you want a mild salsa, skip the chipotle peppers, but keep the jalapeño peppers without seeds
- When preparing canned foods, If in doubt, throw it out! Don't risk something you are unsure of!
Tomato Recipes You'll Love
This Homemade Canning Salsa Recipe with smokey Chipotle peppers will blow you away. A delicious way to use up your summer veggies, with plenty of salsa to share with others. Seriously, who can eat 11 cups of tomato salsa at once? Bon Appetit! Приятного аппетита!
Chunky Chipotle Salsa Canning Recipe (Video)
Ingredients
- 10 cups coarsely chopped tomatoes about 4-½ pounds or 2 kg
- ½ cup Jalapeño peppers chopped with seeds in for extra spice
- 3 cups Banana Peppers, chopped and seeded I used red Sweet Paprika Peppers
- 1 cup Red Bell pepper diced (or use entire pepper)
- 1 cup Yellow Bell pepper diced (or use entire pepper)
- 1 cup Orange Bell pepper diced (or use entire pepper)
- 2 large onions chopped
- 1 ½ cups Apple Cider Vinegar
- 5 cloves garlic minced
- 2 tablespoons Chipotles in Adobo sauce chopped
- 1 can tomato paste 6oz/140g can
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 2 teaspoons paprika powder
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- ½ cup cilantro chopped
Instructions
- Prepare the vegetables by coarsely chopping the tomatoes, and dicing the peppers, onion, chipotles and garlic.
- In a large non-aluminum stock pot, combine all the ingredients except the cilantro.
- Over medium-high heat, bring to a boil then reduce to simmer for about 1-½ to 2 hours.
- Add the cilantro and cook for 5 minutes.
- Prepare sterilized jars and carefully fill them with salsa. Prepare a water bath as per government canning guidelines, or eat fast and keep the salsa refrigerated.
Video
Notes
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