Best Copycat Rotel Recipe (Canned Tomatoes & Chilies)
It’s so easy to make your own Rotel-style tomatoes and chilies at home with fresh ingredients! This simple copycat Rotel recipe uses fresh tomatoes and mild chilies for that familiar flavor you love — perfect for water-bath safe canning or freezing. Created with the ingredients list on the back of a can combined with a safe home canning recipe, you’ll have jars of homemade Rotel ready to add to soups, dips, casseroles, and more all year long.
✩ What readers are saying…
“You nailed it! I like it even better than the store bought variety. Thanks for this. I’m going to use this recipe a lot!” -Mike
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We use a lot of tomato products at our house for soups, stews, casseroles, and more, so I’ve preserved our homegrown tomatoes and garden produce for years in an amazing roasted tomato sauce for freezing, canned salsa, canned pizza sauce, and of course, our favorite addictive tomato chutney.
One year when I had a great harvest of chili peppers, I looked for a homemade Rotel-style tomatoes to add to my canning list because there are always a few recipes that call for this tomatoes-and-chilies product so it would be nice to have some on hand.
Want growing tips to get abundant harvests, too? Check out the Ultimate Tomato Guide and the Ultimate Hot Pepper Guide – both also have lots of recipes to use them, too.
However, the search for a good, safe, canned Rotel copycat with tomatoes, chilies, and seasonings just like the store-bought version was surprisingly hard to find. If I did find a recipe online it included things like onions (um, then isn’t it just salsa?), or more disturbingly, sugar – sometimes as much as 1-1/2 cups!
What are the ingredients in Rotel?
A quick look at the ingredient list on a can of Rotel shows no sugar or onions, only:
- Tomatoes
- Chilies
- Salt
- Spices
- Citric acid
- Cilantro – Note: this is the last ingredient making it the smallest amount compared to the others. Since it’s not safe to add fresh ingredients to a tested canning recipe (the one I adapted below), I have used dried coriander (which is cilantro seed) instead to add some of the same flavor profile without the fresh ingredient. If you really want the cilantro (the flavor would be very mild after canning), you can add a chopped tablespoon as long as you remove a tablespoon of chilies to keep the fresh vegetable ratio the same. You can always add cilantro when using to get more flavor.
Safe canning recipe for tomatoes and chilies
Since chilies are a low-acid ingredient and tomatoes are right on the edge of being safe for water-bath canning (with the addition of citric acid or lemon juice), I needed to find a tested recipe that I could feel good about canning and storing.
When I found the Minnesota Method for canning a tomato mixture I knew I could use it to create a safe canned copycat Rotel recipe. It is very clear that the ratio of tomatoes to low-acid ingredients has been tested as is and can’t be increased, but that it is safe for water bath canning.
However, I didn’t want celery or onions – just chilies, so in adapting the recipe I omitted the 1-1/2 cups chopped celery and onions and increased the chilies by only 1/2 cup (because that would’ve been too many chilies for Rotel-style tomatoes), so the total ratio of low-acid ingredients to the 12 cups of tomatoes went down from 2 cups to 1 cup.
All this is to assure you that although I did technically increase the amount of chilies, I decreased the total low-acid ingredients overall, so this is actually a better, safer ratio than the original recipe.
Boiling Water Canning Tutorial
If you’re unsure about canning, please check out the written water-bath canning tutorial I wrote here, or the video below – it’s really easy and I know you can do it! It’s worth investing in the few items you need to safely can at home.
Do I have to can this – can I just freeze it?
Yes you can freeze it. Like other tomato products (salsa, chutney, sauces), this freezes just fine. I haven’t noticed any difference when I’ve used it between frozen and canned. It’s just more convenient to use canned (no defrosting needed) and it’s easier to store.
To Freeze: cool completely after cooking the 10 minutes and transfer to freezer-safe containers (I only use glass mason jars to freeze food now), leaving an inch of headspace for expansion. Label and date. Freeze for up to a year.
Note: A reader asked if you could leave out the citric acid or lemon juice if you didn’t can the Rotel and the short answer is yes. However, citric acid is on of the ingredients in the commercial version, so it may taste different without that citrus flavor.
Recipe Ingredients
The ingredients of the recipe are simple and straightforward, mimicking the Rotel ingredients:
- Tomatoes: You can use any type you have, but paste/roma tomatoes will hold together better and produce a less runny product.
- Mild chili peppers – Anaheim and poblano are the two I use – Hatch peppers would also work.
- Salt & black pepper: You can use either canning salt or pure sea salt.
- Spices: oregano, coriander (the ground seed of cilantro for flavor)
- Citric Acid: You’ll need this is you’re canning the Rotel (see note above in freezing section about leaving it out of freezer Rotel).
Supplies Needed
- Large stock pot – I use a 12-quart heavy-bottomed stock pot. An 8-quart would work as well.
- Water-Bath canner – this stainless steel version with a clear lid was a game-changer for me, plus it has a flat bottom compatible with glass top stoves.
- Canning jars – the recipe calls for pint (16-ounce) jars. You can use them or half-pint (8-ounce) jars OR if you’d like to replicate the 10-ounce Rotel cans for recipes, you can use 10-ounce canning jars like these.
- Canning Funnel – I recommend a stainless steel funnel when working with hot liquids.
- Stainless Ladle & Jar Lifter – both needed for filling the jars and moving the jars in and out from the hot water.
See more of the essential (and nice-to-have) canning supplies I recommend here.
Tips & Variations For Copycat Rotel Tomatoes
- Dry Spices: I think the flavor of the finished recipe is really good as is written, but the dry spices are totally adaptable and safe to change or increase, so adjust to your tastes. I chose oregano and coriander (the dried seeds of cilantro in the US – if in the UK, you’d want the dried form of coriander) because both are used in Tex-Mex cooking. You can play with other dry spices (since they aren’t revealed on the Rotel ingredient list) if you’d like.
- Using some hot peppers. Use all mild peppers like Anaheim or poblano to make your Rotel most like the store-bought product. We like things spicy, so I added 1 jalapeño in my 1 cup of chilies. It wasn’t very spicy, actually, so now I add 2-3, depending on the size. Remember, you can’t go OVER the total amount of chilies, but you can play around with the type of chilies you use.
- Quartering tomatoes: I found that even though quartered tomatoes seemed too big for a Rotel-type product, they cooked down so much in the 10 minutes that when I tried it with chopped tomatoes, it came out more like a chunky sauce, so I’m recommending simply quartering the tomatoes. However, if you have really firm and large paste tomatoes (like I’ve gotten some years from stores), then you’ll probably want to cut the quartered sections in half.
- Citric acid vs. lemon juice: I’ve been using only citric acid in tomatoes for the last few years as most bottled lemon juice is full of preservatives and the Rotel ingredient list uses citric acid as well. However, you can use lemon juice if that is what you have (the option is included in the recipe below).
Let’s Make the Copycat Rotel Recipe
Step 1: Prep ingredients. Gather and prepare all your ingredients, adding them to a large stockpot as you go. (TIP: here’s my super-easy tomato peeling method)
Step 2: Cook. Over medium-high heat, bring the contents of the pot to a boil, reduce heat and cook for 10 minutes, stirring often. If freezing, cool and pour into containers – continue with steps below if canning.
Step 3: Prep jars. Gather your canning supplies (warm, clean jars, lids, rings, jar lifter, citric acid and 1/4 teaspoon, ladle, funnel). TIP: place everything on a tray next to your stove for easy clean-up! One jar at a time, add citric acid and then an even amount of tomato mixture and juice, leaving 1/2-inch headspace.
Step 4: Finish filling jars. Wipe the rims with a damp cloth or paper towel and attach the lid and ring. Place the jar in the raised canning rack above the simmering water in the canner. Repeat with each jar and then lower the rack with all the jars into the water.
Step 5: Can jars. Bring to a boil and THEN start timing for 40-50 minutes. Monitor the water – keep it at a low boil, not super-high roiling – and make sure there is always 1-inch water over the jars. Turn off burner and let jars sit for 5 minutes.
Step 6: Cool jars. Remove jars with a jar lifter from the canner to a towel-lined surface to cool. TIP: I use a cutting board or tray so that I can move the jars without disturbing them if I have to.
What to Make with a Can of Rotel
- Chili – add it to this wonderful chili instead of plain tomatoes.
- Dips like the classic cheese-Rotel dip
- Chicken Chili like this easy, flavorful slow cooker chicken chili.
- Taco soup/enchilada soup
- Mexican/Spanish rice
- Cook pinto or black beans with a can for a ton of flavor.
- Slow cook chicken breasts with a can and shred for tacos, bowls, and more.
I sure hope you enjoy this Rotel recipe and that it makes your cheese dips, soups, and stews that much better!
Reader Raves
“Thank you so much for sharing this wonderful recipe. My hubby and I can’t get enough of it! I made 15 half pints (froze 3) and I can imagine they will be gone in no time! This was the first time canning anything and you made the process easy! I thank you!” -Deb
“I’ve been canning these for 5 years or so – delicious!” -Kris
“Made this today. I looked for a true Rotel recipe without the onions, etc. Your recipe hit the right spot. It is a fairly easy recipe. It’s lovely in the jar and tastes so good. Thanks for posting it.” -Karen
I hope you love this recipe for Rotel canned tomatoes and chilies – if you make it, be sure to leave a recipe rating so I know how you liked it!
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Best Copycat Rotel Recipe (Canned Tomatoes & Chilies)
Equipment
- large stock pot
- water bath canner
- canning jars and lids
Ingredients
- 12 cups cored, peeled, and quartered tomatoes, about 12 pounds (or 32 medium-round tomatoes)
- 1 cup finely chopped chili peppers- anaheim, poblano, or other mild pepper *
- 1 tablespoon canning salt or pure sea salt
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano leaves
- 1/2 teaspoon coriander (powdered dried cilantro seed)
- Citric Acid to add to jars if canning: 1/4 teaspoon for each pint 1/2 teaspoon for quarts OR 1 tablespoon bottled lemon juice for pints (2 tablespoons for quarts)
Instructions
- Wash, core, peel and quarter tomatoes. Add to a large stockpot.
- Wash, stem, and seed chilies (leave the seeds to increases spiciness if you’d like). Finely chop by hand or cut into large pieces and finely chop in a food processor.
- Add chilies, salt, pepper, oregano, and coriander to tomatoes in stockpot, bring to a low boil, reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
- While tomato mixture is simmering, prepare canner, jars and lids (see note for a tutorial for water-bath canning).
- To clean, hot, pint canning jars, add 1/4 teaspoon citric acid or 1 tablespoon lemon juice (if using quart jars, add 1/2 teaspoon citric acid or 2 tablespoons lemon juice).
- Ladle the tomato-chili mixture into each jar, leaving 1/2-inch headspace. Remove bubbles with a spatula, wipe rims, and attach lids.
- Add jars to canner, cover, bring to a boil and process 40 minutes for pints (50 minutes for quarts), adjusting heat as needed to maintain a soft boil. When timer goes off, remove lid, turn off heat and allow jars to sit in canner 5 minutes.
- Remove jars from canner to a towel-lined counter and let cool 12 to 24 hours. Remove rings for storage and check lids to be sure they’ve sealed (gently pull up with your fingers). Refrigerate any that didn’t seal.
Notes
- At step 3, remove from heat and let cool a bit before transferring to freezer-safe containers (if using plastic, cool completely before transferring).
- Label and date containers and freeze for up to a year.
- Note: if freezing, you could leave out the citric acid if you want, but since it is an ingredient in the commercial Rotel, it may affect the flavor.
Nutrition
More Easy Canning Recipes To Try
This recipe has been updated – it was originally published in September of 2012, updated in 2019 and 2025.
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I am a little confused. This is part of the recipe that I copied and pasted
“citric acid to add to jars: ¼ tsp. for each pint (1/2 tsp. for quarts) OR 1 TB.
bottled
lemon juice for pints (2 TB. for quarts)”
What is the word “bottled” mean?
In reading the entire blog you say you use citric acid but lemon juice will work. Here you are adding lemon juice AND citric acid. Is that right?
Sorry, maybe I am just a little thick
No, you either choose citric acid OR lemon juice. IF you choose lemon juice, though, it must be bottled (that’s the USDA’s recommendation) because that’s the only way to have a standard acid level. Fresh lemons vary too much, so your variety may not be acid enough. Hope that helps!
Can you roast the peppers first to steam and then take off their skins? Would I have to reduce the 1 C of peppers if I did this?
You can roast first, Sandra, as that won’t change the pepper’s acidity, but you’re right, their volume would be smaller and if you measured after that you’d have too many which would mess up the acid levels. Wondering if you can get a measurement of the peppers before roasting… like a large sweet bell pepper typically equals 1 c. diced (depending, of course, but generically). I don’t know how many Anaheim peppers would be needed for 1 c. though. Maybe if you needed diced peppers for a salsa or something, you can measure them and write it down to remember or something.
I have 25 tomato plants that are producing like gang-busters.I use Ro-tel tomatoes in our “taco meat” because my husband won’t eat raw tomatoes on his tacos and it is a cheaper alternative in the winter. Thanks for the recipe idea!
So glad this will help you, Linda! We use it all winter, too. 🙂
Rotel fav recipe:
Polish sausage and rice
Ingredients:
1 – 12 -16 0z. Polish Sausage link cut into 6ths or sliced thick
1 can rotel, undrained, mild, medium or hot approx. 12 oz? size
1 can water approx. 12 oz.
1 can brown rice approx. 12 oz.
Directions:
In a large skillet, mix rotel, water and rice
Lay polish sausage chunks on top.
Bring to a boil, cover and reduce heat to a slow simmer and cook until water is absorbed and
rice is tender.
serves 4
Sounds wonderful, Karen, thank you for sharing!!
Hi Jami,
Since I have a lot of bell peppers in the garden, could I use sweet bell peppers in place of the chili peppers?
Lori
Yes, Lori, you can substitute the same amount, just don’t increase it. 🙂
It would have been helpful to have some weight measurements. For instance, I’m not sure you mean one cup of peppers that you then chop finely or if you chop them all and then measure out one cup. It’s hard to know how many peppers to even start with, as well as not knowing if you mean a cup of finely chopped or a cup of chunks that you then finely chop. I hope I’m making sense!
Sorry, Emmie, I don’t have a scale in my kitchen (other than a vintage general one I use for pound measurements). I did specify finely chopped peppers, though I understand it’s hard to know how much if you’re buying peppers. Err on the side of more and whip up a batch of fresh salsa if you have leftover peppers.
And in all recipes if it states “1 cup finely chopped peppers” it means to chop and then measure the chopped peppers, otherwise it would state “1 cup peppers, finely chopped.” See the difference? This is how almost all American recipes are written. Hope this is helpful to you!
Can you use fresh lemon or lime instead of bottled? Why or why not?
All the safety experts say that you can’t be sure of the acidity level of fresh lemons, so you need to use bottled lemon juice. Most of which has preservatives, so I really prefer not to if I can help it. Problem is I like the flavor of lemons & limes more than vinegar in these applications, so I’ve been spending a bit more for organic bottled juices to bypass the preservative issue. Hope that makes sense, Chris!
I can’t wait to make this! I just carried in about 20 tomatoes from the garden and I think the grocery store still has some Hatch chiles. I’m a Texas girl living in South Dakota, and we buy Rotel by the case at Sam’s. One of our favorite meals I call Cabbage Skillet: brown 1 lb. hamburger with onion, salt & pepper. Add 2 cans of drained Rotel and a small head of cabbage sliced in ribbons. Cover and simmer, stirring occasionally until cabbage is tender. Serve over rice. We like to add a slice of American cheese, too. Easy, healthy, and filling!
Oh, my goodness, Nichole, that dish sounds wonderful, just like an ‘unstuffed cabbage’ type meal with spice. 🙂 I’m going to try it! Sure hope you enjoy the homemade version, too!
I am originally from Texas but now live in Central America. Rotel is a rare find in these parts, so this recipe is gonna be part of my recipe history.
My fav use for Rotel outside of chip and dip stuff, is to use it in a meatloaf.
Drain water, add egg, bread crumbs, more onion and chili sauce instead of ketchup. cook meatloaf as usual and i make ranch dressing mashed potatos for a side. My friends love my southwestern meal
That’s a fantastic idea, cd – I bet it would make great meatballs, too, in a fun spicy sauce. Mmm, my wheels are turning now – thanks!
Is “fruit-fresh” the same thing as citric acid? I have some of that. Also, my friend told me she was told by an extension home economist that you can buy vitamin c pills and crush them up or dissolve them in place of citric acid-have you heard of this? Thanks for the recipe-I got on to look for your salsa recipe which I used and loved last year but never printed, and I was going to go searching for a rotel recipe, but here it was! my lucky day!
No, Leah, fruit fresh is not pure citric acid, though it’s one of the ingredients:
Ingredients:Dextrose, Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C), Citric Acid, Silicon Dioxide (Anti-Caking).
You need pure citric acid (which I buy in the canning section) or bottled lemon juice. Vitamin C is not citric acid, it’s ascorbic acid and is used to preserve color, not for acidity, so that wouldn’t work. If you have a hard time finding CA, just use the lemon juice. 🙂
In the recipe I’m assuming that the 1/2 tsp. of coriander is ground coriander?
Also, as far as citric acid is concerned, if it can;t be found in a regular grocery, try a health food store or a grocery such as Whole Foods.
I’m going to make a couple of batches of this today (We can’t get Rotel up here).
Yes, although coriander is the seeds of cilantro and in the US (at least where I live) it is always ground – can you get coriander seeds where you live?
I every time spent my half an hour to read this blog’s articles or reviews everyday along with a mug of coffee.
For sure want to try this. Not sure what citric acid is though….is it easy to find in most grocery stores?
yum. I usually just use our homemade salsa, but the flavor is different.
I have a crazy questions about your first picture. Can you tell me how you got the transparent background for your text or point me to a tutorial? Thanks
That’s not crazy, Angi! It’s a good question – I actually have photoshop and I do all my photo graphics with it, but it’s a program we purchased. I know there are free online photo editing sites like Picmonkey (where I do collages), but I haven’t looked into how much they offer.
The background for the letters is created by putting a box and filling it with a color and then dropping the opacity down to what you’d like. Then I write my title.
Wish I could be more help, I just do the minimum to get by, unfortunately! 🙂
Thanks, Jami!
Which type of tomatoes did you use for this recipe? Thanks!
I used what I had that was needing to be used – ha! That said, it was a combination of paste and slicing tomatoes. The Minnesota recipe doesn’t specify one type of tomato, just that they aren’t overripe or from dying plants. So use what types you’d like. 🙂
Really basic side dish – can of Rotel tomatoes w/ chilis and a canned of drained rinsed black beans, heated on the stove or in the microwave. Great flavor – very yummy!
It does sound yummy. 🙂
I have never used rotel before. I appreciate the recipe left by shannon above. Sounds delicious. How else it this used?
I use Rotel to make my homemade salsa and queso. It’s delicious!
I use it in any recipe that calls for canned tomatoes, but that I’d like spicier. Soups, stews and such. Like Rhonda H., I’ve sometimes used it to make salsa in winter if we’ve run out of our home canned stuff. And of course, the famous “queso dip” of a can of rotel with velveeta cheese (uck). But it’s easy to make a cheese sauce and add the rotel for a real food version – I’m sure Google could help you find a real food recipe for it. 🙂
One of my favorite recipes of all time, and also the easiest: Put chicken pieces ( I usually use legs ) in the crock pot. Top with rotel, a diced onion, salt and pepper, and a generous glug (2-3 T) of red wine vinegar. Cook on low for 8 hours or so. Before serving, drain the liquid from the crock pot and use it to cook rice. Serve the chicken and tomatoes over the rice. YUM!
Sounds wonderful, Shannon. I’m definitely going to try this!
Can you run you recipe by the county or state home extension program in Oregon? And of course pressure canning would be another choice.
I probably could, but the original recipe was developed by an extension program and I’m well within their parameters, so I’m comfortable with the recipe as it is written. Pressure canning would be another option, though I’ve read that you still need citric acid or lemon juice, even when pressure canning.
Have you checked out Minute Maid frozen lemon juice? It’s made from lemon juice concentrate from Argentina, no preservatives.
I did look into it, but it doesn’t (or didn’t a few years ago) that it was a certain acidity so I wasn’t sure about it for canning. I feel better with the CA and it doesn’t add liquid. Good idea, though, for those that don’t want to use CA.