One of my favorite snacks is tortilla chips with restaurant-style salsa. I really don’t like the chunky style salsas that line grocery store shelves. I find that the vegetables in those jarred salsas seem neither raw nor cooked. The texture reads slimy to me and far from fresh.
And, while the flavor is fine, every time I pop a jar, I long for a smooth restaurant-style salsa—the kind that comes with an endless supply of warm tortilla chips and that fills me up before my actual meal hits the table.
♥ Related: Smoky Chipotle Tomato Jam
So, I’ve learned to make my own. And, it turns out, making a smooth restaurant-style salsa at home is super fast and very economical with one key ingredient: a large can of whole, peeled tomatoes. This is an ingredient that I have on my shelves at all times because canned tomatoes are clutch in a thousand recipes and are inexpensive to hoard.
The food processor makes light work of combining canned tomatoes with a few ingredients that I always have on hand. This salsa comes together in 10 minutes or less. No lying!
I do find that the salsa is a bit better once it’s had time to rest in the fridge, but this recipe makes such a big batch that you can eat some immediately and store some for later. This will last a week in the fridge, but it will be gone long before the 7-day mark!
♥ Related: Sweet Potato & Black Bean Quesadillas
Pro-tip: to mimic that endless basket of warm chips you get at your local cantina, pop a sheet pan of tortilla chips into a 300 degree oven for about 3 minutes before serving with your home-blended salsa.
Restaurant-Style Salsa
Ingredients
- 1 28 oz can whole, peeled plum tomatoes
- 2 green onions roughly chopped
- 1 cup cilantro roughly chopped
- 1/2 jalapeno pepper seeds and membrane removed
- 1/4 white onion roughly chopped
- 1 small lime
- salt to taste
Instructions
- Set a wire mesh sieve over a medium bowl. Open the tomatoes and pour into the sieve allowing the tomato juice from the can to drain into the bowl.
- Add the roughly chopped green onions, cilantro, jalapeno, and onion to the bowl of a food processor. Juice the lime into the bowl of the food processor. Put the lid on the food processor and pulse until the ingredients are finely minced.
- Add the tomatoes to the food processor and pulse 2-3 times until the salsa is as smooth as you would like it to be. Add a pinch of salt and pulse one more time to combine.
- Move to a air tight container. This salsa will last about a week in the refrigerator. Serve with warm tortilla chips–or tacos or enchiladas…
Notes
- You might decide that you want a thinner salsa; if so, add some of the remaining tomato juice to your salsa until you’re happy with it.
- Feel free to adjust all of the ingredients to your liking; if you hate cilantro because it tastes like soap to you, remove that and add parsley instead–or more green onions. If you like a lot of heat, add more jalapeno or add some of the membrane.
- This salsa is perfectly delicious right from the food processor, but you’ll find a few hours (or overnight) in the fridge will make this an even more tasty salsa as the flavors have time to mingle.
Things you might want for this recipe:
Whole Peeled Tomatoes: The foundation of this entire recipe, a large can of whole, peeled tomatoes. I like to buy these in bulk and keep them in my pantry. They come in handy for all sorts of recipes from soups to salsa.
Food Processor: This salsa comes together in 10 minutes with the help of a true kitchen buddy, the food processor. I have plenty of appliances in my closet that are a bit over-the-top (corn dog maker, anyone?) But I think a food processor is a must-have appliance. It’s a workhorse that makes so many recipes easier. You don’t need a super expensive model either; my food processor is a $30 special from 20 years ago and it’s still going strong.
How to Video: Watch Me Make this Recipe
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Smoky Chipotle Tomato Jam
Two thumbs up from a variety of ages! Also, the simple but excellent tip of pre-warming the chips is a game-changer.
The spice level in this would be good for people with low tolerance for hot peppers.
I’ve made it three times now – and having green onion AND not adding in all the tomato juice (which I did the first two times to make more volume) resulted in the best balance (as you suggested :)).
We haven’t bought salsa in a store since we started making this salsa. We’ve added a twist by adding one chipotle pepper, 1 tsp of the adobo sauce, a cap full of white vinegar and 1 tsp of sugar to amp up the tomatoes. So good!
I love these twists! Chipotles are so good and I will have to try this version soon!
This is ridiculously good and ridiculously easy/simple. Sooooo yummy! Kerry does it again!!