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!
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 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 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
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.
You’ll need to peel and core them (or not – see update below). You can see the easy peeling method I use here.
Major Update! 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. Awesome.
You can, of course, still coarsely chop peeled tomatoes by hand – measure them into a bowl until you’ve got 7 cups.
OR use a food processor like I do now 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.
If 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.
However you cut your tomatoes, once you have 7 cups, place them in a large stockpot.
Okay, 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 can change the variety of peppers, just not the total amount.
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 peppers in the stockpot with the tomatoes.
Then chop jalapeno 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 jalapenos 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.
Peel and quarter the onions, chopping enough to equal 1 cup, either by hand or in a food processor and add to the pot.
Mince 3 cloves of garlic. You can throw them in the processor, too. (Yes, there are 6 cloves here. I’m not throwing caution to the wind, remember I’m doubling the recipe, in order to get 10 to 11 pints out of each canning session.)
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.
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:
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 (again, dry ingredients are fine to add – you just can’t add anything else fresh).
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. Remove from canner, cool completely, check 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!
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!
Subscribe to Organize, Plan, Cook & Beautify Your Home with Free Printables
Subscribe to AOC's popular weekly Newsletter full of useful information, behind-the-scenes updates, and occasional offers AND get access to this printable in the VIP Subscriber Library that also includes eBooks, checklists, organizing helps, and recipes - with more added regularly. We'll never send spam - read our Privacy Policy here.
Can you substitute canned tomatoes for canned paste?
No, the tomato paste provides the thickness needed from using all the fresh tomatoes. It might be safe (though not tested) since it’s just tomatoes, but the end product wouldn’t be similar at all.
I only got four pints – reduced so much during boiling. I followed recipe to a T.
Should I have measured 7 cups of tomatoes after they were pureed?
★★★★
Yes, the tomatoes should be measured after whatever chopping method you choose, by hand or in a food processor.
I have been inundated with massive amounts of tomatoes this year! At one time I had 90 pounds of them on my porch… staring at me. I made your salsa yesterday. A bigger batch and a little more spices added, but it is great! I put up 10 pints and 6 half-pints. It at least made a dent in the buckets. Thank you for a great recipe. (Today there were 2 contractors that came by to give bids for some work we need done, they walked away with tomatoes!) I’m almost a neighbor- in Damascus, just southeast of Portland.
★★★★★
I’m so glad you found this useful in using up your bounty (plus, lucky contractors!). I’m the opposite this year – the tomatoes didn’t like being eaten by the deer and then didn’t like being covered the whole season to protect them. 🙂 I keep looking at my few pounds of paste tomatoes and can’t decide what I want to make with them – this salsa, Addictive Chutney, or the freezer marinara it’s so nice to have on hand. Choices, choices. 😉
PS – waving to you from the south!
Can I add corn to this recipe?
No, Ashlee, you can’t safely add any low-acid ingredients to this recipe like corn and have it be stable for shelf storage. You can add it when you open the cans to use them, or you can add it when making and just freeze the salsa.
why do you omit the standard recommendation to add lemon juice to the jars before filling with tomato-based sauce or salsa?
When the recipe includes vinegar or lemon juice like this one does, you don’t need to add more when you’re filling the jars.
★★★★★
This sounds like just the recipe I am looking for. But I have a question about the peppers. My husband and I don’t like green, red or yellow peppers. But I do like to put some jalapeno peppers in salsa. Can I just put the 1/2 c of jalapenos in the salsa and leave out the 1 c of other peppers without causing problems? Thanks.
Yes, you can always leave out low-acid ingredients without affecting the safety – it’s adding more that’s the problem. That said, you could add more onions to equal some of the peppers if you like onions. Just keep to the published amounts – or under – and you’ll be good!
Please advise if I could omit onions and just use peppers. I have a family member that is allergic to onions and would like to can them some salsa for the winter as they only get it in the summer right now. THis is a wonderful recipe that I use for myself. THank you for sharing.
Yes, you can leave out the onions, Michelle. You can increase the peppers to equal the onion amount if you want or just leave them out, it’s up to you. Glad you like the recipe!
Can I double or triple this recipe? Second year and really like this recipe. Thank you
★★★★★
I’m so glad you like this recipe. Yes, I often double it, but I don’t have a big enough pot to triple it!
Could I use this recipe without onions but increase the pepper amount to equal both? I have a family member that is allergic to onions but loves homemade salsa during season. Was wanting to can or freeze him some salsa for winter
Yes, you can adjust the types of low acid ingredients, just not the amounts. So substituting more peppers for the onions would be fine. It may be too many peppers, though – you may want to increase some tomatoes (which are neutral to high, so not as much worry) and just a few more peppers. 🙂
★★★★★
Oh my goodness! I made one batch of this and it was very good. But I “chopped” the tomatoes in my Vitamix so it wasn’t very chunky. Just made a double batch and hand chopped the tomatoes. I let them drain as I was chopping them. I’m always concerned about the measurements for tomatoes since that is the iffy, low-acid ingredient. (When I read about cooks reducing the salsa or draining the salsa with a slotted spoon as they jar it, I wonder how you know if your final product is safe?) At any rate, I added 3t of bitter-sweet Spanish paprika and 2T of sugar. I literally had to swat my husband away from the pot while I was working after I gave him a taste. Phenomenal! (And I’m assuming that those minor amounts of extra spices won’t alter the acidity unfavorably.) Thanks for a great recipe!
Yes, I agree Pam – you don’t want to drain or remove the liquid after cooking all the ingredients, that would impact the ratios. Your additions sound wonderful – I’m so glad you and your hubby liked it! (And no – you can always add dry herbs and sugar to recipes like this – they don’t affect the acid ratio.)
★★★★★
Hi!
I would love to make this salsa. Can I
Make w/grape tomatoes & sungold cherry
Tomatoes? I hope i can just use food
Processer and not peel!! Also can i add
Fresh cilantro at start of cook time?
Thank you!
No, Linda, this would not be safe to can using grape and/or cherry tomatoes, they are much to low in acid. There might be a salsa recipe developed specifically for them, but I don’t know of one. You can always freeze it and then it would be fine – and yes, process all in a food processor without peeling! I’ve frozen this salsa before and it does fine, so this may be a good option for using up your small tomatoes.
Also, have you seen this roasted cherry tomato sauce I developed to use these little guys? It’s SO good, though it’s for the freezer only, too.
I’ve made this salsa to years in a row. It’s great! But when I made it this year, I measured all my ingredients AFTER chopping. I only got 7 half pints! 😔 Not sure how that could happen!
It is absolutely wonderful salsa! My husband kept dipping into the pot to put salsa on his pasta! 😂 But not a pint’s worth! Now I’ll have to make more!!! Love this recipe!
Goodness, Nena, I have no idea how that could’ve happened either! If you’re using all those cups of ingredients, I can’t imagine how you’d come out with a few half-pints! I’ve made this recipe for years and years and never had that happen. Hopefully your next batch will produce more!
★★★★★
what abiut using quart jars?
No, there are no safe recipes or times to can salsa in quart jars. See more here: https://www.extension.iastate.edu/benton/sites/www.extension.iastate.edu/files/benton/HS21%20Canning%20Salsa.pdf
I made this recipe and canned it today. I pretty much followed the recipe except that I put in 1/4 cup chopped cilantro (and left out a little bit of the onion and jalapeno, about 1/4 worth). Instead of cayenne pepper, I put in a finely chopped cayenne pepper since I had so many from my garden. My tomatoes were not Roma and were pretty juicy. Result: Very Hot!!! (so maybe a whole cayenne pepper was too much??), and only made 3 1/2 pints (I realize results can vary, and my tomatoes probably cooked down quite a lot). All in all, very tasty! PS: Thanks for reminding people to wear rubber gloves when handling hot peppers! I will probably try this again with the other variety of tomatoes that I grew this summer, Russian Black (the ones I use today are called Stupice).
Yes, I get 4-5 pints normally, though it does seem to depend on if I’m exact with the tomato measurements. For example, I always weigh them first and then cut and core – maybe I’m losing more flesh when I seed them, or having to cut some spots off. Then after processing if I’m 1/2 cup or so more than the measured amount, I throw them in, since the tomatoes are the acidic veggie and so more can be added. Lots of variables when canning!
Hello, Love the salsa recipe. Just curious if I could change the amount of time to cook. I like it chunkier and it seems like it was the consistency I preferred when I first began heating. After the full time required it was much smoother than I hoped for. Nevertheless it was delicious. Please let me know. Thanks. Brigitte
It must be thoroughly heated through, so I wouldn’t do it less than 20 minutes – maybe that will be enough? You can always cut your vegetables larger so they stay through the cooking and canning process.
I’m really looking forward to trying your salsa recipe, this year is the first year I’ll be canning and there are now 2 of your recipes I’d like to try. Is it possible to replace citric acid for the vinegar in this recipes? I already plan on using the citric acid for your canned roasted tomato sauce. Thanks!
I hope you enjoy it, Katie. Unfortunately citric acid can’t be directly subbed for vinegar in salsa. There are no tested recipes for that. However you can sub bottled lemon or bottled lime juice for the vinegar (same amount) and some prefer that flavor (I think I mention that in the recipe?).
The vinegar in salsa also makes the consistency fluid enough for the heat to penetrate the bottle in the canning process. This is needed because of all the added low-acid ingredients (the peppers, onions, and garlic) – when canning tomato sauce this isn’t necessary, so the citric acid works.
Hope that makes sense!
Thank you, Jami! That explanation makes perfect sense. I’ve been researching canning a ton and the different acid types for different foods was the only thing that still had me stumped. Friends and family tease me about stressing out over botulism, but that is NOT a risk I am willing to take despite them telling me to “do it just like your grandma did, we loved her stuff” so I was very happy to come across your blog (way too many sites with recipes that are not approved). I had a huge crop of San Marzano tomatoes this year so I can’t wait to make your sauce and salsa (and my tried and true salsa for the fridge – but not to can ;).
I’m currently making your salsa recipe. I’ve cooked it over 30 minutes and it’s still soupy. I will let it cook for another hour and see if it thickens a bit. Otherwise, I quite like the taste.
That’s okay to cook longer, Barb – your tomatoes may have been juicier. When I use mostly paste tomatoes it is thick enough in 30 minutes.
I made this salsa exactly as the recipe stated with all home grown ingredients. I didn’t want to stray from the recipe since I spent so much effort in growing all the produce in it. There was one small exception in that I used orange peppers instead of green peppers since my green peppers were not ready to harvest. This salsa is incredible! Best I have ever tasted. My sons are salsa fanatics and they fought over the last jar! So often recipes don’t turn out to taste as one would hope but this surpassed all expectations. Plus it is so easy! I am making a double batch as we speak so I can give some to my boys to take to college with them.
I am so glad to read this, Lee, thank you!! I pretty much always make double batches now, too. 🙂