Katie Woosley

I. Love. Salsa. I eat it with chips, on eggs, in wraps, in burrito bowls…the list goes on and on. I could never seem to find a store bought salsa that I love, so one day, during the 2020 quarantine when there wasn’t much else to do, I decided to make my own. Now, I can never go back to store bought salsa because this one is just too good.

My roommate loves salsa even more than me, and we have been slowly modifying this recipe over the past year after having the BEST salsa we have ever tasted at a local Mexican restaurant. We have been trying to recreate it by adding different seasonings, more peppers to increase the heat, and even liquid smoke to help get that smoky flavor. Although it still doesn’t taste quite as great as the restaurant salsa, it’s pretty darn close. And the best part is, it’s so easy! You’ll notice that this recipe uses canned tomatoes instead of fresh, so you don’t have to worry about prepping and peeling a bunch of tomatoes. I was a little skeptical of this at first, but don’t worry it will be amazing. I have actually tried it with fresh tomatoes and personally prefer it with canned. You simply roughly chop everything, throw it into a food processor, and blend. It doesn’t get much easier than that! It’s also easy to customize this recipe to your liking. As written, I would classify this salsa as medium, but I made a couple notes of how you can modify it to be mild if desired.

Homemade Salsa

Ingredients:

• 1/2 red onion, roughly chopped
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 jalapeño pepper, roughly chopped, seeds and membranes removed*
• 1 serrano pepper, roughly chopped, seeds and membranes removed*
• 15oz can fire-roasted tomatoes, drain most of the liquid*
• 10oz can Rotel*
• 1/2 tbsp honey
• heaping 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp cumin
• dash of smoked paprika
• juice from 1/2 a lime
• 1/2 cup cilantro
• 1/2 tsp liquid smoke, optional

Directions:

• Add the onion, garlic, and peppers to the food processor. Then, add the tomatoes, Rotel, honey, salt, cumin, paprika, and lime juice. Mix until it nearly reaches the desired consistency.
• Add in the cilantro, and mix again until desired consistency. Taste and adjust seasonings as needed.
• Store in the fridge for about a week. This makes a little less than two 16oz mason jars.

Notes:

• I like to leave a few seeds in the jalapeño for more heat.
• You can leave out the serrano pepper if you like a more mild salsa.
• If you like a slightly thinner salsa, don’t drain the tomatoes.
• I use original Rotel, but you can use mild or hot for more or less heat.

If you try out this salsa, let me know how you like it!