Zesty Salsa for Canning Recipe - Food.com (2024)

104

Community Pick

Submitted by Marg (CaymanDesigns)

"I got this years ago from the lady in our church who canned it. I've never made it but I've eaten lots of it! It's the best salsa I have ever had. Especially good with lime tortilla chips or on taco salad (recipe #102234)."

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Ready In:
1hr

Ingredients:
9
Yields:

6 pints

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ingredients

  • 10 cups roughly chopped tomatoes
  • 5 cups chopped and seeded bell peppers
  • 5 cups chopped onions
  • 2 12 cups hot peppers, chopped, seeded
  • 1 14 cups cider vinegar
  • 3 garlic cloves, minced
  • 2 tablespoons cilantro, minced
  • 3 teaspoons salt
  • 1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste

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directions

  • Combine all ingredients except tomato paste in large sauce pot.
  • Simmer until desired thickness.
  • Stir in tomato paste.
  • Ladle hot salsa into hot jars leaving 1/4 inch head-space.
  • Process 15 minutes in a hot water bath.
  • Note: use more hot peppers for a very hot salsa or less for mild.
  • It depends on how hot your peppers are and how hot you like your salsa.
  • I never get close to 2 1/2 cups for our mild salsa.

Questions & Replies

Zesty Salsa for Canning Recipe - Food.com (13)

  1. Will adding fresh squeezed lime juice to the recipe change how the salsa is processed?

    Celestialseeker

  2. How long do you simmer for? I am looking for a chunky salsa. Thanks!

    kendrajones3414

  3. I love this recipe! I've used it for a few years now. Nice and chunky like we like it. I use a mix of peppers as we grow a variety. My question is... since the pandemic I can't find many pint jars and half pints are too small for us. Can I use quarts and if so, how long would the process be? I'm thinking double the time of pints but want some clarification.

    mimiinkc

  4. Is this recipe tested safe and approved for canning? Im new and have been told to be sure to only use approved recipes. Thank you!

    danahorn11

  5. Do I have to use tomato paste?

    Barb W.

see 4 more questions

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Reviews

  1. WOW! This is a very nice salsa to can. I did only use about 3/4 c of seeded jalepeno's and it was Z-E-S-T-Y! Maybe my crop is just hot. The only thing I might add is that when I shared my salsa with a veteral canner (this is the first time I have canned) she stated that I should have skinned the tomatoes by dipping the whole tomatoes in boiling water then chilled water and removing the skins. The only effect leaving them on had was I have some curled skin in my salsa but hey next time I will know to do that.....live and learn. Thanks for sharing a wonderful recipe.

    Petdrwife

  2. I am not a fan of canned salsa (I like fresh), but this recipe is great! I had about a half a cup left after canning. When I tasted that I thought it tasted too vinegary, but 2-3 weeks later, we opened a jar, and it was awesome. I thought this would be the salsa we would eat over the winter. I am not sure it will last till then! Obviously you can change this recipe to your taste. I agree with others that posted, the paste brings it all together! I would not make it without it! Thanks for the post!

    Dad the cook

  3. Very good and so easy! Thank you for posting :) Followed your recipe (with a few exceptions), let simmer for about 90 mins. and this made 6 pints of thick, zesty salsa. We used mild jalepenos from our garden and the flavor was fantastic. A little kick, but tasty. We did peel the tomatoes and used white vinegar instead of the apple cider vinegar and added about 3 T. of sugar. For the bell peppers, we used a combination of red, yellow, orange and green -- everything was fresh from the garden and what we had on hand. Word of caution: wear gloves when working with jalepenos.

    dunnylou

  4. Turned out great with some little changes. Cut hot peppers to 1/2 cup, tripled the garlic and added roasted green chiles, a teaspoon of black pepper, oh and replaced the vinegar with 100% lime juice. The USDA canning guide states Vinegar can be replaced with lemon or lime juice but lemon or lime juice can't be replaced with vinegar, because vinegar is less acidic then lemon or lime juice. I have a high grade PH meter (Oakton 50S) and check everything I can, and this recipe with 100% Lime juice had a Ph of 3.67 and I'm confident it's safe. I really don't like vinegar in any tomato product even if you add sugar.

    k L.3278

  5. I've been making this salsa for about 5years now and it's absolutely wonderful! I get lots of compliments and my it's easy to make!

    rugdlr

see 96 more reviews

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Tweaks

  1. This is my first review. I am new to canning and this is the first salsa I've made. I followed the recipe with the following exceptions. I only used four cups of onions because of personal preference. I also only used four cups of bell peppers. I used 2.5 cups of peppers though. I prefer heat. I used 4 habaneros, 4 Serrano, and the rest were jalapenos. I added some cumin. I used all fresh roma tomatos I picked up at a local farm. <br/><br/>When I first put this into the pot, I was worried that I'd just made the biggest batch of pico de gallo I'd ever seen. But as it cooked a while, it began to smell more like salsa and less like chopped onion soup. I was still quite nervous because it just wasn't what I was expecting. I cooked mine for quite a while because raw onions don't set well with me. I can eat cooked onions but hate raw onions. So I let it simmer on the stove for a full 90 minutes. <br/>As I scooped it into my pint jars, I saw that it was not as liquid as I prefer, most likely because I cooked it down so long. It was a bit chunkier than I expected. I used my ladle to crush the tomatos a bit to make it more scoopable. I also added two ladels of water to the pot. <br/><br/>I ended up with 7 pint jars and two 4oz jelly jars of salsa that reminds me of Pace Picante Sauce in color and texture. I wish it were a brighter red. Perhaps it's the Roma tomatos or the orange bell pepper and cumin that makes it a less bright red than I am used to. I can't be sure since it's my first time. <br/><br/>It does taste very tangy from the vinegar. I hope the reviewers who said it mellowed in time are correct. I planned ahead for taste testing - that's the reason I canned a couple of 4 oz jars. I want to test it in a couple of week, and again if it needs more time. <br/><br/>Although this is good, it's not the best salsa I've ever tasted. I am counting on it improving with time so I've given it a 4 star rating when I feel it is only average "for now". I think my next attempt will be a salsa with lime juice instead of the vinegar. This was very time consuming with all the prep chopping by hand. I will be looking for some sort of gadget for chopping before I tackle the next recipe.

    jenaijenai

  2. This was the best salsa I have ever made tasted just like the store bought but way better cause it was all fresh.... I let this simmer for 90 mins and only used 1 1/2 cups of jalapeño and used white vinegar instead of apple cider vinegar that's all I changed and it came out great... I am going to let set for about 3 weeks to blend all the flavor together more... I got 13 half pints and 1 pint out of this batch I made....

    Bullfalls taxidermy

  3. This is hands down our favorite recipe! Instead of bell peppers I use hot banana peppers as well as the jalapenos! Spicy and good. Thank you for posting!!

    katie in the UP

  4. I make this every year, good recipe originally from Ball Canning website--I use bottled lemon and lime juice instead of the vinegar, to add up to the originally measure of vinegar. I think the vinegar can be a little strong. Only other thing I do different is a little more sugar, I like the combination of hot and sweet flavor, especially if I use a lot of really hot peppers.

    linka23

  5. Delish! I used about 1 cup of jalapenos (with seeds) and it is medium-spicy. Just perfect. I substituted lemon juice for about 1/2 cup of the vinegar for a milder taste (still safe for canning). It made about 7 pints.

    Red Jenny

see 2 more tweaks

RECIPE SUBMITTED BY

Marg (CaymanDesigns)

United States

  • 368 Followers
  • 444 Recipes
  • 52 Tweaks

With the changes to the email notifications and removal of private messaging, I am no longer able to respond to questions about my recipes. Yet another feature change that has made the website less user friendly. It's sad to watch a fantastic site deteriorate over the years. Some of my recipes are on my blog.

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Zesty Salsa for Canning Recipe  - Food.com (2024)

FAQs

Is vinegar or lemon juice better for canning salsa? ›

Acidic Ingredients

Lemon juice is more acidic than vinegar and has less effect on flavor. You can safely substitute an equal amount of bottled lemon juice for vinegar in salsa recipes using vinegar. However, do not substitute vinegar for lemon juice because this would reduce acidity and produce an unsafe product.

How much lemon juice for 1 pint of canned salsa? ›

Pour ¼ cup bottled lemon or lime juice for each clean pint canning jar. Pour in hot salsa ingredients leaving ½ inch headspace. Attach two-piece canning lid. Invert jar several times to mix salsa and lemon/lime juice.

Does salsa have to be cooked before canning? ›

Do You Have To Cook Salsa Before Canning? Yes, otherwise, if you can raw or fresh salsa, you will have to process it for a longer time than cooked salsa. This will take much longer, so it is better to cook the salsa before canning.

How to make salsa thicker when canning? ›

Slicing tomatoes produce a thinner, more watery salsa. If you use slicing tomatoes, you can thicken your salsa by adding tomato paste or by draining off some of the liquid after you chop the tomatoes. Never add flour or cornstarch to salsa before canning because an unsafe product may result.

How much vinegar do you put in salsa when canning? ›

Add one of the following for acidification:Pint JarsQuart Jars
Bottled Lemon Juice1 tablespoon2 tablespoons
Citric Acid¼ teaspoon½ teaspoon
Vinegar (5 percent acidity)2 tablespoons4 tablespoons
1 more row
Aug 11, 2020

Why can't you use fresh lemon juice for canning? ›

Fresh lemons, however, have an inconsistent acid, or pH, level. This can vary within the same variety of lemons, but also vary due to maturity, growing conditions, soil, fertilizer, rootstock, and storage conditions. While safe to eat fresh for a great meal, they are not the safe choice for food preservation.

What happens if you forgot to put lemon juice in canned tomatoes? ›

Tomatoes by their nature are high in acid!! They will be fine. clarification from a canning company.

Why put lemon juice in salsa? ›

Acidification of a tomato, onion, and pepper salsa

Lemon and lime juice (¼ cup per pint) provided the best acidification of the salsa to pH 3.8 4.0. Lemon juice had a milder flavor, while lime juice provided a lime flavor that would be appropriate to this type of salsa. Lemon juice was chosen to continue experiments.

How long does salsa need to be in a water bath? ›

Water must cover jars by 1 inch. Adjust heat to medium-high, cover canner, and bring water to a rolling boil. Process pint jars and half pint jars for 20 minutes, adjusting for altitude. Turn off heat and remove cover.

Can you leave skin on tomatoes when canning salsa? ›

Can you leave skin on tomatoes when making salsa? You sure can! This is the easiest way to make salsa Making this food processor salsa for canning your tomatoes and peppers is the perfect way to save some time!

Why did my salsa separate when canning? ›

During storage, pulp and juice in home canned tomatoes may separate, especially in sauce or juice made with crushed or puréed tomatoes. Separation is caused by an enzyme, Pectose (Pectinesterarse), found in high concentrations in tomatoes. The enzyme is activated when tomatoes are cut.

Why did my salsa turn to jelly? ›

Once it's refrigerated, it will gel a bit because of the pectin in the tomatillos. to break it up, give it a stir and let it sit at room temperature.

Can I use cornstarch in canning? ›

Other thickeners like cornstarch clump when canning and may interfere with heat being able to reach throughout the jar. Without heat penetrating throughout the jar, yeast, mold, or other harmful bacteria can form.

Can I use lime juice instead of vinegar when canning salsa? ›

Acids and Canning

When canning salsa, it is recommended to use store-bought lemon juice or lime juice or vinegar to add to the acidity of the salsa. If I am making fresh salsa and not canning it I like to use fresh lime rather than the vinegar or bottle juice.

Do you use vinegar or lemon juice when canning tomatoes? ›

To ensure safe acidity in whole, crushed, or juiced tomatoes, add 2 tablespoons of bottled lemon juice, 4 tablespoons of 5 percent vinegar, or ½ teaspoon of citric acid per quart of tomatoes. For pints, use 1 tablespoon of bottled lemon juice, 2 tablespoons of 5 percent vinegar, or ¼ teaspoon of citric acid.

Can I use lemon juice instead of vinegar when canning? ›

It is substituted on a cup for cup basis (i.e. equal amounts). This is a safe substitution because lemon juice is more acidic (lower pH), than vinegar.

Should vinegar be added to salsa? ›

All great salsa need a hit of acidity to lighten and brighten their flavors. Perry and Damuck like lime juice (skip the zest; it's too perfume-y), plain white vinegar, or red wine vinegar, which is a nice match for the tomatoes.

What acid for canning salsa? ›

Acid ingredients must be added to preserved salsas, because there may not be enough natural acid to protect the low acid ingredients added to the salsa. Common acids used are vinegar and lemon juice. Lemon juice is more acidic than vinegar. Use vinegar that is at least 5% acid and use only bottled lemon juice.

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