The BEST Homemade Roasted Salsa Recipe
This homemade roasted salsa recipe has such a unique, bold flavor and it’s super easy to make!
I don’t even know how many salsa recipes I tested before I landed on this one. I’ve been making this fresh homemade salsa recipe for years & years, but after tasting (and plowing through) a warm, roasted salsa at a local Tex Mex place a couple of years ago, I knew I had to figure out a recipe for that kind of flavor, too!
I tested and tweaked, and finally settled on this combo of ingredients & flavors. It is an absolutely DELICIOUS recipe that you are going to LOVE.
Here’s what you’ll love about this roasted tomato salsa recipe:
- The flavor is just SO good. I played around with so many different variations to finally come up with a recipe that had all of the flavors and consistency that salsa needs. This recipe is SO tasty – it definitely has the quality of a restaurant-style salsa! Lots of natural flavors with a hint of smokiness (but not too much!) from the chipotle peppers.
- It’s very easy to make. There’s hardly any prep work involved – simply slice some veggies in half, roast ’em, and then toss everything into a blender. No need to crank up the grill, no need to peel charred skins off of peppers, etc. It’s so simple.
- You can easily adjust the spice level to your personal preference. This recipe has a little bit of a bite, but you can easily add a bigger one with more peppers!
I have a feeling this might just become your new favorite salsa recipe.
The full recipe is at the bottom of the post, but let me give you a quick rundown of the ingredients.
Here’s what you’ll need:
- Ripe large tomatoes (I use large ripened-on-the-vine tomatoes)
- Yellow or white onion
- Jalapeno peppers
- Serrano peppers
- Poblano peppers
- Fresh cilantro
- Garlic cloves
- Fresh lime juice
- Olive oil (helps with the creaminess of the salsa)
- Chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (adds unbelievable flavor!)
- One can of tomatoes with green chiles (yes, this really does help with flavor!)
- Onion powder & salt
A note on the ingredients:
- I landed on this recipe after I tinkered around with several different veggie and canned tomato combos. Ironically, in my fresh homemade salsa, I use canned tomatoes, but in this roasted salsa recipe, fresh tomatoes worked well. However, I do include one can of tomatoes with green chilies in here – they help with an added depth of flavor that I just couldn’t get without them.
- Unless you want a much smokier and spicier flavor, you’ll only use one chipotle pepper + a little bit of the sauce, but do not skip this part! It adds SO much flavor.
- I’ve only ever used vine-ripened tomatoes for this recipe, but I imagine if you use any larger ripe tomatoes from a garden, grocery store, or farmers market, you should be good to go!
Here’s how to make the BEST homemade roasted salsa recipe:
Step 1: Roast veggies on a rimmed baking sheet
Preheat oven to 450. Place tomatoes, peppers, and onion open side down on the sheet pan. Add cloves of garlic (in the peel) to the pan. The cloves will pop right out of the peels after they bake.
You’ll roast everything until they have charred skins – about 8 minutes – which thankfully, you don’t even have to remove for this recipe! We’re going to make this the easy way – no skinning, and everything goes straight into the blender or food processor.
Here’s how everything should look coming out of the oven:
See that nice char? So much flavor & texture there! 🙂
Step 2: Add your roasted ingredients + fresh ingredients to your blender/food processor
Let the roasted vegetables cool for a few minutes, and then add everything to your blender or food processor.
I add them when they’re still pretty hot, but if you feel more comfortable waiting, you can give it 15-20 minutes until they’ve cooled down quite a bit before adding them to your blender.
Give the ingredients a few rounds in the blender/food processor and you’re done!
Step 3: Enjoy!
Serve this flavorful salsa with your favorite tortilla chips, tacos, or over burrito bowls, and enjoy!
Tips for making this yummy roasted salsa:
- Serve this warm! You can eat it cold, but it’s absolutely delicious if you serve it warm, or at least at room temperature. It’ll still be very warm right after you make it (since you’ll blend all of the ingredients together soon after your roasted veggies come out of the oven), but when you want to eat the leftovers the next day, give ’em a little zap in the microwave or on the stovetop before digging in.
- This salsa is probably medium heat. If you want a milder flavor, simply eliminate the serrano pepper and perhaps one of the jalapenos. If you want a really spicy salsa, feel free to add in another pepper + seeds or two!
- You could easily make this by roasting the veggies on the grill, but know you’ll get a much smokier flavor if you do it that way. We’ve made this type of salsa recipe from grilled veggies a few times, but after finally settling on this recipe, I prefer roasted veggies vs. grilled ones. You’ll still get that hint of smokiness from the chipotle pepper & adobo sauce, but it’s not overpowering.
- You can store this in the fridge in an airtight container for several days. I probably wouldn’t let it go longer than a week, but it’ll be fine for at least 5-6 days.
- You can freeze it, but it’ll lose some of it’s flavor after freezing & thawing. If you do decide to freeze it, you can liven it up a little bit with some extra spices – salt, garlic powder, and onion powder.
Whip up a fresh batch of homemade guacamole and invite some folks over to enjoy some Tex Mex together! 🙂
The BEST Homemade Roasted Salsa Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
For Roasting:
- 6 cloves garlic
- 1 white or sweet onion peeled
- 2 large ripe tomatoes
- 3 poblano peppers
- 2 jalapeños
- 1 serrano pepper
To Add Later
- Juice from one lime
- ½ bunch cilantro
- 1 chipotle pepper + about a tsp of sauce from can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
- 1 15 oz can diced tomatoes with green chiles
- ¼ c olive oil
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp onion powder
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450.
- Slice onion, tomatoes, and all the peppers down the middle. Remove seeds from the poblanos, one of the jalapenos, and the serrano.*
- Place those open face down on a large rimmed baking sheet. Add 6 cloves of unpeeled garlic.
- Bake pan in preheated oven for 8 minutes.
- Remove from oven, allow veggies to cool for a few minutes, and then add them to your blender/food processor along with the remaining ingredients. (Make sure to pop the garlic cloves out of the peel.)
- Puree everything until you get an even texture. Pour into a large serving bowl and enjoy with tortilla chips, tacos, or over burrito bowls!
Notes
- Serve this warm! You can eat it cold, but it's absolutely delicious if you serve it warm, or at least at room temperature. It'll still be very warm right after you make it (since you'll blend all of the ingredients together soon after your roasted veggies come out of the oven), but when you want to eat the leftovers the next day, give 'em a little zap in the microwave or on the stovetop before digging in.
- You could easily make this by roasting the veggies on the grill, but know you'll get a much smokier flavor if you do it that way. We've made this type of salsa recipe from grilled veggies a few times, but after finally settling on this recipe, I prefer roasted veggies vs. grilled ones. You'll still get that hint of smokiness from the chipotle pepper & adobo sauce, but it's not overpowering.
- You can store this in the fridge in an airtight container for several days. I probably wouldn't let it go longer than a week, but it'll be fine for at least 5-6 days.
- You can freeze it, but it'll lose some of it's flavor after freezing & thawing. You can liven it up a little bit with some extra spices - salt, garlic powder, and onion powder.