Favorite Thick Salsa For Canning Recipe (Step-by-Step Tutorial)

 

Learn how to make an easy and flavorful salsa for canning that’s safe, uses all-natural ingredients, and is thicker than typical canned salsas. It’s our family’s favorite and I know it will become yours, too!

Our family LOVES salsa – if we don’t eat it everyday, at least I think it’s safe to say we eat it every other day. So of course I would want to make our own salsa for canning from the garden tomatoes, peppers, and onions we grow. It took a number of years, though, to find a safe salsa recipe that was “the one.”

When I finally did find my favorite salsa for canning, there was no going back – every August and September I make enough batches to see us through to the next season. Store-bought canned salsa can’t hold a candle to this!

Finding a Safe Salsa Recipe to Can

The one thing I learned when teaching myself to can salsa was that in order to use a water-bath canner to make salsa shelf stable, it’s important to use a recipe from a trusted source that uses USDA guidelines. This is because there are so many low-acid ingredients in salsa (peppers, onions, and garlic) that it creates a delicate balance between the acid (tomatoes and usually another ingredient like vinegar or lemon juice) and the low-acid ingredients.

So I started testing recipes from a Kerr canning book, the Ball Blue Book, the Oregonian newspaper, and some preserving books from the library that all used safe guidelines. While they all had good flavor (I was using wonderful produce, after all!), they were usually really watery and/or vinegary. Boo.

I think others felt the same way, because a recipe soon appeared on the USDA website for a Tomato-Tomato Paste Salsa. It called for two 12-oz cans of tomato paste and 2 cups bottled lemon juice instead of vinegar, which produced a thick sauce and minus the overly vinegar taste.

Sadly, my search for the best recipe wasn’t at an end, though. We found that the salsa wasn’t very spicy and when I took the time to look at the ingredients of bottled lemon juice (it must be bottled – fresh lemon juice doesn’t have the consistent acid level for canning) I saw that it’s full of preservatives! Great. I’ve got all these organically grown vegetables and I’m adding preservatives. Double boo.

The Best Salsa Recipe

I continued looking for the perfect canned salsa recipe and finally found the one that is now our favorite in a book from the library that published only tested recipes (I wish I had the title, but I just copied the recipe all those years ago before blogging). It used just one small can of tomato paste and only 3/4 cup of vinegar, so it’s still thick and the vinegar doesn’t overpower the flavor. (NOTE: according to the USDA, it is safe to substitute bottled lemon juice for the vinegar in this recipe if you wish, but NOT the other way – it is not safe to substitute vinegar for lemon juice in other recipes, since lemon is more acidic than vinegar.)

I did adapt the recipe it by increasing the peppers by 1/2 cup, and then decreasing the onion by a 1/2 cup to keep the recipe in balance. This makes the salsa a bit more spicy, which we like. I also added a few more dry seasonings which is okay to change in canning recipes since it doesn’t affect acidity.

This salsa is really easy – the majority of time is spent prepping the ingredients, though a food processor makes it quicker. It cooks for only 30 minutes, which gives you just the right amount of time to get all the canning equipment in order and jars cleaned. Perfect, right?

Salsa for Canning Tutorial

1) Start with 5-6 pounds of washed tomatoes.

I use about 1/2 slicing tomatoes and 1/2 paste tomatoes- the slicers have some of that great flavor and the paste tomatoes add thickness, so I like to include both.

2) Peel, Core & Chop

You’ll need to peel and core them (or not – see update below!). You can see the easy peeling method I use here.

Chop Tomatoes By Hand

Coarsely chop peeled tomatoes by hand – measure them into a bowl until you’ve got 7 cups.

Major Update: Use a Food Processor

I now just core and quarter the tomatoes and use the food processor to chop them– peel and all! I can’t tell in the finished salsa and it goes much quicker now. This is awesome – do it and you wont’ be sorry.

Prepare the tomatoes like I do as described here and pour from the processor to measure 7 cups. There are both large and small tomato chunks since the processor isn’t perfect, which is fine with me.

NOTE: When hand-chopping tomatoes, you can drain any water that accumulates while cutting them, which helps make a thicker salsa. However, this doesn’t work with the quicker processing method, so the resulting salsa is a bit thinner, but the savings in time totally makes up for it, in my opinion.

3) However you cut your tomatoes, once you have 7 cups, place them in a large stockpot.

4) Prepare Peppers

You’ll want to break out gloves for this next step – trust me, you will want gloves for this part. The one time I didn’t use them I couldn’t sleep that night because of the burning sensation in my hands that no amount of washing could remove!

Once you’re gloved up, cut in half and seed enough Anaheim chilies to equal 1 cup chopped. You can use other mild, long green chilies or even add some sweet peppers if you’d like. It’s okay to change the variety of peppers, just not the total amount in canned recipes.

Note on the photos: I was doubling the recipe when taking these photos, so there is more in each one than a single batch would call for – so yes, you can double the recipe!

You can simply cut the peppers in large chunks and put them in a food processor to do the rest, or chop them by hand. I like the way the processor chops them mostly fine, but also leaves a few larger pieces so that there are some peppers in every spoonful.

Once chopped and measured, put the mild peppers in the stockpot with the tomatoes.

Then chop jalapeño peppers to equal 1/2 cup, seeding if desired (leaving the seeds will result in a spicer salsa). Add them to the stockpot.

TIP: if you want a milder salsa, you can skip the jalapeños and use 1-1/2 cups of milder peppers. If you’d like it spicier, decrease the mild peppers to 3/4 cup and increase the jalapeños to 3/4 cup. You can play around with the types of peppers you like best, just not the amount – a total of 1-1/2 cups of peppers for one batch is the limit for safety.

5) Prepare Onions

Peel and quarter onions, chopping enough to equal 1 cup, either by hand or in a food processor, and add to the pot.

6) Mince Garlic 

Again, by hand or throw them in the processor, too.

NOTE: there are 6 cloves instead of the 3 the recipe calls for – remember I’m doubling the recipe, in order to get 10 to 11 pints out of each canning session.

7) Cook Salsa

Once the garlic is in the pot, add the remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil then reduce the heat and boil gently for 30 minutes. Stir often, making sure it doesn’t burn on the bottom

TIP: cheap, thin-bottomed stock pots tend to burn, but thicker-bottomed pots don’t – it’s worth it to pay a few dollars more. #lessonlearned

Go here to see the canning essentials tools I use and recommend.

8) While the salsa is cooking, you can prepare your water-bath canner, jars, and lids. Here’s step-by-step canning guide where I take you through the whole process if you’ve never canned before. And here is a video tutorial you can watch as well:

Wait, do I have to can it? Can I freeze salsa?

Nope, you don’t have to can salsa – you can freeze salsa! Just let the finished salsa cool enough to put into freezer safe containers and be sure to leave a good 2-inches headspace to allow for expansion. 

TIP: If you are freezing, you can put as much peppers or other fresh ingredients you want in the salsa. You don’t have to worry about low-acid food ratios or anything if you’re not canning to make them shelf stable.

After 30 minutes, the salsa will have cooked down, looking nice and salsa-y, with flavors all melded into yummy goodness.

You can taste it at this point to see how spicy it is (every year my peppers are different, depending on our summer weather) and add cayenne pepper if you’d like to increase the spiciness. You can also add salt, pepper, or dried herbs (again, dry ingredients are fine to add – you just can’t add anything else fresh).

9) Can Salsa

Fill pint jars with salsa leaving a 1/2-inch headspace, attach lids and place in canner.

Bring to a boil and process pint jars for 20 minutes. Turn off heat and let jars sit for 5 minutes. Remove jars from canner to a towel-lined surface. Cool completely, check the seals, label and store in a dark, cool pantry for a year to a year and a half.

Update: I now use and l.o.v.e the stainless steel, glass-topped canner I mention here. SO much better than the cheap enamel one shown here!

That’s it – you’ve made and canned your own salsa!!

Having home-canned garden salsa in the depths of winter is always worth it. Not only do you save money, it can’t compare with the typical flavorless bottled stuff!

Click the arrow for the full printable salsa for canning recipe!