This Homemade Salsa Recipe is a canning recipe made with fresh ingredients. Flavored with cilantro and jalapeno that is easily adjusted to match preferred heat factors, from mild, to medium, to hot and spicy. An easy to make salsa recipe that preserving the garden harvest and canned in pint jars to enjoy year-round.
What is more delicious to serve your family and guests than a recipe made from the fruits of your labor? The fresh and delicious flavor is so addicting, you may go through all 6 pints lickety-split! I love it so much I will make this Venison Burger recipe and top it with the salsa instead of the sun-dried tomato pesto.
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🍅 Preserving Garden Produce
Tomatoes are one product I cannot get enough of in the garden. You can do so many things with them and it actually takes quite a few tomatoes to get a decent amount of end results. One of my favorite things to make with fresh tomatoes is this homemade salsa recipe for canning.
The freshness of homemade salsa can’t be beaten. When your own homemade salsa, it is easy to can control the flavors and heat of it yourself whether you like hot, medium, or mild salsa.
🔪 Ingredients
9 ½ to 10 pounds of Roma tomatoes are needed for this recipe.
I prefer to use White Onions in this salsa recipe. They are sharper and balance out nicely with the tomatoes.
Green Bell Pepper is a super food high in iron and vitamin C and are less sweet with a bitter grassy flavor.
Jalapeno Peppers are used to add heat to this homemade salsa recipe. They also add vitamins A, C, and potassium to the table.
Garlic cloves, fresh garlic is the best and it helps pump up the flavor of salsa. It is also a heart healthy ingredient that aids in preventing colds!
Cilantro, also known as coriander, is an important ingredient in homemade salsa.
🍽 Canning Equipment needed
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💭 Top Tips
- Roma tomatoes are best for salsa making. They are a meatier fruit with few seeds and less water.
- The tomatoes need to be blanched before using them. This means immersing the tomato in boiling water for a few seconds. Then remove and immediately place in ice-cold water. Then remove the skins, seeds, and the core from the tomato.
- Dice the tomatoes and place them in a colendar to allow any remaining water to escape. I let the tomatoes drain while I am prepping the rest of the ingredients.
- This Homemade Salsa is not meant to be thick. If thicker salsa is desired, mix in some tomato paste to help thicken it.
The Canning Process
- Wash and sterilize the canning jars and lids before using them.
- When filling the jars with salsa, use a funnel to aid in a clean transfer. Fill the jar with homemade salsa until it just reaches the neck of the jar. Wipe the rim of the jar with a paper towel, and place the sealing lid on the jar and screw the cap on. Be sure the screw cap is on tight.
- Place the jars in your water bath canner on the rack, and lower the rack into the bottom of the canner. Fill the canner with water until it just covers the top of the jars.
- Cover the canner with the lid and bring to a boil. Once boiling, process the homemade salsa in the canner for 15 minutes.
- When the the boiling process is finished, turn off the heat, remove the lid from the canner, and let the jars sit for at least 15 minutes before lifting the rack up.
- Once the homemade salsa jars have been removed from the canner, place them on a kitchen towel. Cover the hot jars with another towel to prevent drafts on the jars. This helps to prevent the hot jars from coming into contact with circulating cool air.
📖 Variations
- If you like a thicker salsa, add ¼-1/2 cup of tomato paste to your salsa while it is simmering on the stovetop.
- This recipe is keto-friendly – just use Monkfruit in place of sugar.
- You can make this as hot or mild as you like. This recipe has a hint of heat from the jalapeno. I personally would call this recipe mild. Go for hot and double the jalapenos.
- Always remove the seeds and the liquid membrane inside the tomato. This part holds a lot of water and the seeds are bitter.
- If a few seeds make it into the salsa, that will not destroy the recipe.
- Canned green chiles can be substituted for the jalapenos.
- Reduce the number of carbs by cutting the amount of garlic used in half.
Other Canning Recipes To Make
📖 Recipe
Homemade Salsa for Canning
Ingredients
- 9.50 cups fresh tomatoes diced
- 2 cups onions diced
- 2 cups green bell pepper diced
- 10 cloves fresh garlic minced
- ¾ cup jalapeno peppers diced
- ½ cup cilantro chopped
- 2 tbsp kosher salt
- [¼ cup Classic Monkfruit Sweetener] or granulated sugar
- 1 cup apple cider vinegar
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil. While water is boiling, core tomatoes and score bottom of tomato with an X with a knife.
- Blanch tomatoes by placing into hot water for 10-20 seconds. Remove tomato from hot water and immediately place in cold water.
- Remove skins and seeds with membranes from tomatoes. Set aside to compost later.
- Dice the fruit of the tomato. You should have 9-½ cups of diced tomatoes for this recipe.
- Dice and mince remaining ingredients. Add to a large stockpot with the tomatoes. Bring to a boil.
- Reduce heat and cook for 15 minutes.
- While salsa is cooking, sterilize the canning jars and lids by boiling for 1-2 minutes in hot water.
- When ready to pack homemade salsa into jars, using a funnel, scoop salsa into jar until salsa reached the neck of the jar.
- Wipe the rim of the jar with a towel, place sterilized lid on jar and screw on cap.
- Place jars of salsa in a water bath canner filled with water until it just covers the top of the jars and bring it to a boil.
- Boil for 15 minutes. Remove from heat. Lift rack in canner and let cool 15 minutes.
- Carefully remove jars from canner and place on a counter lined with kitchen towel. Cover hot jars with another towel to prevent drafts.
- Jars will pop and seal as they cool down. Any jars that have not sealed should be reprocessed in the canner or placed in the refrigerator.
Hi, can you please tell me how many pints will your salsa recipe make. Also, I am omitting the bell pepper, so what adjustments should I make? Thank you
Hi Mikki, this recipe makes 6 pints. Omitting the bell pepper requires no adjustments but you will likely have less volume.
Is it ok to double this recipe, I am using quart jars and would still like To end up w/ 6 jars (quarts 🙂
Hi Lynn, its ok to double the recipe, but as for canning in quart jars, I don't recommend it. I did a lot of research before canning salsa myself and there is no recommended processing time for quart jars (as per Ball). I highly recommend researching on your end before using quart jars. Pint jars are the only safe method I am aware of. I know some people process in quart jars, but until I find a viable source approving it for a certain amount of time, I can't recommend it. I hope you still make the recipe, and doubling it is not a bad thing! I plan to make plenty of jars this year! Let me know how it goes 🙂 Shelby
I have lots of poblano peppers. Could I use a combination of green peppers and poblanos? I also have Hungarian hot wax peppers. Could I substitute those for the jalapenos? Thank you.
Hi Catherine, I feel you could use poblano peppers. I would roast, peel, and seed them first though. There are already 2 green peppers in the recipe so I think I would just substitute the poblano for the jalapeno. I feel the Hungarian Hot Wax Peppers would be better pickled on their own, but I don't have a lot of experience with them so I really can't give you a recommendation for using them in this recipe. Thanks for stopping by and let me know how it turns out if you use poblano. Thanks! Shelby
Could you use canned tomatoes
I don't recommend canned tomatoes. I created this recipe using fresh tomatoes and have never used canned tomatoes to make it. I am also not sure about using a canned product to can something made out of it. I haven't done that and not sure what the recommendations would be. Thanks for stopping by! Shelby
Can I omit onions without changing acidity
Yes, the vinegar adds enough acid. Thank you for stopping by!
So I made this salsa the other day and it turned out amazing! I have some leftover fresh corn. Would that be a good addition to a batch of this? Again it was amazing as it is I juts like corn sals and just wondered. Thanks so much!
Can do without any kind sugar?
Hi Cathy, you can leave it out if you want, however the sugar helps balance out the flavors, I recommend it, but your recipe shouldn't fail by leaving it out.
Can I replace the apple cider vinegar with white distilled vinegar?
Yes, you should be able to substitute with white vinegar.
I made it without sugar, and it was great.
That's awesome, thank you for letting me know! Shelby
Is the vinegar enough to preserve in jars long term or should lemon juice be added as well? Thank you
Vinegar is sufficient.
I agree with some of the comments. this is a soup. i followed the recipe to a "T". not my first time canning a salsa. was looking for something different. but it turned out very liquidy. not happy with the outcome.
Hi Garry, in the tips for this recipe I indicate to add tomato paste to the salsa if you want a thicker salsa. You could still do so by putting the salsa back on the stove top and adding enough tomato paste to thicken to your taste. Also, I do not see where anyone has indicated it is like soup, for us this was more like fresh salsa and we completely enjoyed it. Shelby
What if I forgot the vinegar? Are the canned salsa still ok to eat?
I would open the jars, bring the salsa to a boil with the vinegar added, then reseal.
Hi, I canned your recipe today but put in a cup of fresh corn. Is this safe to store in my pantry or should I keep in the refrig?
Thanks in advance.
I would keep it in the fridge. Corn is a low acid vegetable that requires pressure canning.
Thank you for your response. How long would you recommend it being left in the frig unopenned?
Hi Christine, As long as it has not been opened, it could stay in the fridge at least up to a year. Shelby
I added 1 1/2 tsp of ground cumin, it needed that little punch.
Hi Tom, thanks for sharing!
Made the salsa. Drained my tomatoes, so not soupy. I substituted 1-4oz can of diced jalapeños for the 3/4 cup fresh jalapeños. Also added 1 small can of tomato sauce to equal 9.5 cups of tomatoes to make the salsa thicker. Love this recipe. It turned out great. Thank you for sharing.
Hi Sharon, happy to hear it worked out well for you! Thank you so much for coming back and sharing your experience! Shelby
I followed recipe to a Tee(I think) and the Apple cider vinegar taste is very strong. How can I save this batch??
Pickles usually have a vinegary taste due to the pickling process. These pickles should have that vinegar tang with sweetness from the sugar. Reducing the vinegar reduces the safety of the recipe.
Hi I cut this recipe in half. So I used half the amount of all the ingredients is it still safe? Should I keep it in the fridge ? Thanks
As long as you hot packed everything in sterilized jars and the jar is sealed you should be ok. If you have any concern that it is not safe, store it in the refrigerator. I hope you enjoyed the recipe!
Thank you for this absolutely delicious recipe!!! We tried three different recipes this year, and this was by far the family favorite. It’s bookmarked for next year and years to come. 🙂
Hi Bianca, Thank you so much for trying the recipe and coming back to rate it! So happy you enjoyed it and plan to make it again. Shelby
Can I substitute red, orange, or yellow bell peppers for the green?
Hi Holly, yes, I would think any of those peppers would work.
? After cutting up the tomatoes I have a lot of liquid juice. Should I drain the juice off before cooking?
You can do this if you wish, it will make the salsa thicker if you drain the liquid. Good luck!