Name: Home Made Salsa Recipe
Prep time: 45 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 1 h
Yield: 10
Ingredients: 7 cups chopped tomatoes (about 6 lbs); 2 cups chopped onions; 1 cup chopped green bell pepper; 8 jalapeno peppers; 3 gloves minced garlic; 1 can tomato paste; 3/4 cup white vinegar; 1/2 cup chopped cilantro; 1/2 tsp ground cumin

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This homemade salsa recipe is so easy to make, and you can even can it yourself! Keep reading for tips on how to use a hot water bath to can your homemade salsa.

Fresh Salsa being cooked on the stove. — This homemade salsa recipe is so simple and delicious, and you can also can it yourself!

Why You’ll Love This Homemade Salsa Recipe

Making and canning Salsa is pretty much a yearly event here. After all, who doesn’t love homemade salsa?

We often have a pre-dinner snack of salsa and tortilla chips, usually with a cold mug of home brewed beer. Here is the ultimate homemade salsa recipe for you to try.

Make a small batch to eat fresh or make a large enough batch to can some up to enjoy come Winter. The canning instructions are included below!

Ingredients

chopped tomatoes – form the base of this delicious homemade salsa recipe.
chopped onions – another commonly found ingredient in salsa.
chopped bell pepper – I used green to give this salsa a pop of extra color, but any kind of bell pepper will work just fine!
jalapeno peppers – provides some real heat to the salsa, but these can be omitted if you prefer something milder.
minced garlic
tomato paste – aids in bringing out the delicious tomato flavors.
white vinegar – gives the salsa a nice bite and acidity.
chopped cilantro – a classic herb found in salsa, cilantro helps to marry all of the other flavors and bring them out more strongly.
ground cumin – adds a bit of heat and warm flavor!

How to Make Homemade Salsa

Coarsely chop all the veggies (I actually dice them quite small.)
Remove the seeds from peppers (Hah! that’s no fun – we throw some seeds in the pot too for an extra kick.)
Combine all ingredients in a large stainless steel saucepan and put on the stove on medium heat.
Bring to a boil and boil gently, stirring occasionally, until it has the desired consistency.
Let it cool and it is ready to eat!

Fresh ingredients are on the stove for making and canning salsa. — Mixing ingredients for homemade salsa.

How to Can Salsa

Ladle into clean sterilized jars and wipe the rim.
Put on the seal and ring. Boil in a boiling water bath 20 minutes for pints. We can for 25 minutes, because we are above 1000 ft elevation. Check your elevation; it makes a difference.
Remove from the canner and let jars sit for 24 hours. Don’t move them and keep the jars out of drafts. You can just put a towel over the jars if you need to keep them from a draft.

Jars of home canned Salsa ready for the pantry. — Jars of home-canning ready for the pantry.

This homemade salsa recipe makes 5 pint jars of salsa. Then, this winter, enjoy this salsa, I think you’ll like it! You may find yourself planning to make even more jars next year.

More Tips for Canning

If you are new to canning, you need to know which foods can be safely canned in a water bath canner and which foods need to be canned using a pressure canner.

Fresh homemade Salsa sits on a taco chip ready to be eaten. — Making and canning salsa is a yearly delight here.

Salsa can be safely canned in a water bath – I usually put mine up in half pint jars. Perfect size for us and if we have company to visit, I just open up another jar.

And water bath canning is an GREAT way to start canning if you are a beginner. It’s easy, inexpensive and a good way to start building up your pantry.

A complete water bath canning kit sitting on a counter. — Complete water bath canning kit is what you need!

Here’s the water bath canner set up that we use here and we get a LOT of use from it. Some years I put up hundreds of jars of vegetables and soups. Graham loves canning stews and fish, so he often adds hundreds more jars to our cold room.

These need to be pressure canned, which is a bit different than water bath canning. I’ve included some links to other canning articles here on the website – you’ll find them at the bottom of this post. Canning is a very worthwhile skill to learn – you can save so much money! Plus, you are serving your family healthy food.

Home made Salsa on taco chips in a basket. — Home made Salsa with chips and beer for an afternoon treat.

Get yourself a copy of the Ball Blue canning book – it has all the information you need. And there’s some great recipes as well!

There is a difference between canning fruits, vegetables and meats – you need a good reference book, one that you can count on.

home canned goods sitting on a stove — Canned Salsa is added to our pantry shelves for winter eating.

I am extremely careful when it comes to canning. Some would call me anal about canning, and that’s just fine with me.

When I see all my canned jars on the shelf, I want to KNOW for sure that every one of them is safe to open and feed my family.

More Info on Canning

Using a Pressure Canner – here’s what you need to know.
Pressure Canning Beans – grow your own and then can them up!
Pressure Canning Salmon – and other fish.

More Recipes

Our entire Country Living in a Cariboo Valley Recipe Collection can be found here, and here are some more recipes!

Once you’ve got the hang of canning, try this Pickled Pearl Onions, which you can also can for yourself!
This No Cook Strawberry Jam is another great homemade delicacy that can be jarred and kept around.
Love garlic? This Roasted Garlic with Oil Drizzle is the recipe for you!