Roasted Tomato Salsa. Any good Mexican knows the mouth-watering smell of chilis roasting. It’s one of those smells that in a SNAP takes me back to my childhood and into my grandmother’s warm and loving kitchen. As a kid, we made salsa almost everyday from scratch. None of that jarred stuff. (No place for Pace). This is one of those recipes I can make in my sleep. (“Sleep cooking” is a lot like sleep walking, but breakfast is already made when you wake up). I sometimes get the “Mexican food is hard” comment from my peeps. Then I think of recipes like this one, and I know I can have those nay-sayers becoming yay-sayers in no time flat.
Open up the windows, and heat up the griddle! It can get smokey when you’re make this Roasted Tomato Salsa so save the batteries in your smoke detector – the voice of experience.. If you’re doing this old school (aka “on the griddle”), you will need to watch your food and turn and turn again. (Note: Turn the food, not yourself. That’s just silly and also makes you dizzy). It’s not rocket science though. Unlike anything you’ve ever heard before about cooking, all you need to do is burn your food. Burn, baby. Burn! 🙂
If you’re not into charring your tomatoes on the stove, making this Roasted Tomato Salsa in the oven is even easier. I’m just a traditionalist, but when I’m running around, I use my trusted friend, Señor Caliente, aka the oven. Mix tomatoes, onion, and jalapeño with olive oil, and put them in a 450 degrees oven for 20 minutes. Then jump to the blending part of the recipe.
I’m only using 1 jalapeño here. If you do this on the griddle, you’re going to hear it popping. The flesh of the chili pepper does that. Once everything is ready, blend it with the rest of the ingredients. I use the pulse feature on the food processor to get the consistency I like. If you want it smoother, keep blending away to your heart’s content. Me, I prefer my Roasted Tomato Salsa chunky style. I blend everything first except for the jalapeño, then add the pepper and pulse only once. DELICIOUS!
Tell me that wasn’t easy? You’ll be making fresh salsa everyday too! Sorry Mexican salsa companies. 🙂
- 5 tomatoes
- 1 jalapeño pepper
- ½ onion
- 1 garlic
- Juice of 1 lime
- Handful of cilantro
- Pinch of ground cumin
- Salt and pepper
- Olive oil (if using)
- On the griddle, add tomatoes, jalapeño, onion.
- Char on all sides.
- Or, in the oven, brush tomatoes, jalapeño, and onion with olive oil.
- Place in a 450 degree oven for 20 minutes.
- In a blender, add the tomatoes, jalapeño, onion, garlic, lime juice, cilantro, cumin, salt and pepper.
- Pulse until you get the consistency you like.
- Serve!
Lauren says
I LOVE roasted tomato salsa, this recipe sounds amazing!
Maggie Unzueta says
It’s SO good. We love this salsa at our house.
Kimberly @ Berly's Kitchen says
Good salsas are hard to come by. Yours sounds amazing!! I stopped making salsa because I kept messing it up, but this sounds simple. I may have to give it a try.
Maggie Unzueta says
You can’t mess this one up. It’s so easy!
Rachel says
I have never tried making my own salsa before but this recipe looks so good I might have to start!
Maggie Unzueta says
Thank you! Making salsa is super easy. Hope you like this recipe. 🙂
Cait Weingartner says
This salsa sounds incredible. Roasting tomatoes gives them such a delicious flavor, and combined with all the other ingredients, must make for a very tasty salsa. I can’t wait to try this soon.
Maggie Unzueta says
Awesome. You’re going to love making your own salsa. It’s the best!
Melanie @ Nutritious Eats says
Yes, yes, yes! This reminds me of one of my favorite salsas that we eat warm. I will eat any salsa, but homemade is a million times better than the store bought stuff!
Maggie Unzueta says
Completely agree. Homemade is best!
Willow says
I love homemade salsa, and this recipe sounds amazing! My husband used to make two different kinds of salsa all the time, but doesn’t anymore. Now that I post recipes on my blog, I do a lot more cooking, which means coming up with new recipes constantly. Time to make some salsa for the fun of it!
Maggie Unzueta says
Yes! Homemade salsas are the best and SO easy too.
Judy says
Thanks for recipe will try it soon.
Maggie Unzueta says
Hope you enjoy it. 🙂
Tracy says
“Señor Caliente”…he licks my arms every time I use him. I’m dyin’ with all these salsa recipes. My grocery list has grown from 4 tomatillos to TWELVE ♥ Thanks for all you do!