How to Make Organic Homemade Salsa Recipe

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homemade salsa photo

OH YUM – I LOVE days that I head down the road to the sweet farmer to buy fresh organic produce from her. She’s so nice to my kids & always lets them pull up their own carrots, pick their own beans, and help with the other items that we buy.

Lately I’ve been making homemade salsa because, well, I simply couldn’t resist the smell of her cilantro!! My actual ingredients vary from batch to batch as I’m always trying new ways to make it taste better, but typically this is what I use.

Ingredients Needed:

  • 9 Large Tomatoes
  • 3 cloves fresh garlic
  • 1 bunch fresh cilantro
  • 1 tsp. sea salt
  • 2 green peppers
  • 2 limes (juiced)

Since I am very particular about being completely set up before I start the following two pictures will show you how I initially set up my “work” station. On the stove top I have one pot of water (boiling) and one large bowl filled with ice water.

This is for blanching the tomatoes in order to remove the peel easily. (OR you can skip all of the tomato prep steps if you want a smooth salsa by using a tomato strainer or tomato press – I have just been dying to get this one!!)

Then directly next to that I have a large cutting board (preferably with grooves to catch the “juice”) and a big pot or bowl of some sort for the scraps.

If you’ve never blanched tomatoes it is SO EASY! I just recently learned how to do this myself. First, bring your pot of water to boiling. Then place in your tomatoes for approximately 2 minutes, no more.

Immediately remove them and submerge them in ice water. You don’t need to keep them there long, about two minutes is sufficient.

Then cut your tomatoes in half and the skins will peel right off in one big piece! That’s it! Easy peasy huh?!

Next you’ll want to cut up your tomatoes and take out all of the extra juice and tomato seeds. This is what my “scrap” pot is for! It gets a bit messy & juicy which is why I like my cutting board with the extra groove in it.

Dice your tomatoes as small as you want them for your salsa and place them back in your pot that you boiled water in (without the water in it of course). Your pot will look something like the photo below.

Notice how there isn’t a lot of liquids at the bottom? As you work through your recipe you will begin to notice some liquids and that is totally fine. Just try not to make it too “soupy” to start out with!  Then dice your green peppers, onions, cilantro, press your garlic – add anything else that you want to add in!

I personally add my lime juice at the very end. You’ll notice all the liquids in the photo below – there is NO difference between that and the photo above except that it’s about a half hour later & I’ve added green peppers. You’ll see there is a lot of liquids which is why I try to start my recipe less “soupy”!

MMMMMMMMmmmmm – doesn’t it look great?! After you’ve added all your ingredients you have two options. You can leave it this way which is more chunky and thick, or you can warm it up on the stove top which helps to blend the flavors even more and make it more liquidy.

Personally I warm it up otherwise it taste just like chopped tomatoes instead of salsa! I warm it on the lowest setting on the stove top for about 10 minutes. That’s it! It’s done!!

canning salsa

One of my FAVORITE things to do with my homemade salsa (other than just plain eat it!) is to put it on homemade tacos and burritos!!

Add some cheese, sour cream, meat, the salsa, and some grilled onions….YUM! It’s MUCH healthier than going out to eat or a frozen dinner and tastier too!

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2 Comments

  1. I love homemade salsa! I’ve never heated it (except for canning), and I’ve never peeled the tomatoes. I like to add peppers for heat and flavor. I usually add equal amounts of jalapenos and serrano peppers. If you remove the seeds and white part (wear gloves or wash your hands really well afterwards), you get the flavor without quite as much heat. I also toss in some green onions. Now I’m hungry for salsa! I love to make it in the summer with home grown peppers and tomatoes.

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