Best Thick Canned Salsa Recipe with Step-by-Step Tutorial
Say goodbye to store bought salsa and hello to the homemade canned salsa recipe of your dreams! Learn how to create a delicious salsa for canning with this easy step-by-step tutorial that’s safe, uses all natural ingredients, and is thicker than typical canned salsas. Perfect for parties, potlucks, and snacking at home – it’s our family’s favorite and I know it will become yours, too!
✩ What readers are saying…
“Having grown up in Southern California and Arizona, we are salsa SNOBS! I can’t tell you how many recipes I’ve gone through canning only to be disappointed. This is the second double batch of your salsa I have canned this season because the family can’t stop eating it! Thank you so much!” -Sommer
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 homemade canned salsa from the garden tomatoes, peppers, and onions we grow – in fact after jams, it was one of the first types of foods I canned.
It took a number of years, though, to find a safe salsa recipe that was “the one.” Many were just way to runny, or were bland tasting, or too strong with one flavor. But mainly they were usually too watery.
When I finally did find my favorite salsa recipe 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 amazing salsa!
Finding a Safe Salsa Canning Recipe
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, Oregon Extension Agency, 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 still really watery and/or vinegary.
I think others felt the same way, because a recipe soon appeared on the USDA home preservation 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 bottled lemon juice is full of preservatives!
Great. I’ve got all these organically grown vegetables and I’m adding preservatives. Boo.
Finding The Best Salsa Recipe for Canning
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 tested recipes (I wish I had the title, but I just copied the recipe all those years ago before blogging).
UPDATE: A commenter shared that my base recipe is the same as this recipe on the Bernadin Canning website! You can see what I changed and added, especially standardizing the jalapenos since they can differ so much in size from year to year and variety. ALSO – you can add fresh cilantro if you want, even though I’ve suggested to not in the comments (I never add it and forgot it was originally included…).
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 (since the recipe calls for vinegar you can substitute bottled lemon or lime juice – I’d look for organic that doesn’t have all the preservatives in it).
IMPORTANT NOTE: according to preservation educators it is safe to substitute bottled lemon juice OR bottled lime juice for the vinegar in salsa recipes 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 adapted the recipe 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. But if your spice level is lower, use 1/2 cup more onions and 1/2 cup less peppers!
I also added a few more dry seasonings which is okay to change in canning recipes since it doesn’t affect acidity.
You can NOT add any other ingredients to this recipe, including things like mango, pineapple. It has not been tested with these ingredients.
This homemade salsa recipe is really easy, too – 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 ingredient & equipment notes
Here are notes on a few of the main ingredients:
- Tomatoes – If you will be leaving the skins (see notes below) you’ll want garden grown or organic tomatoes. Roma style paste tomatoes create a thick texture, but slicing and heirloom tomatoes add a lot of flavor, so I use some of each. You can use all paste tomatoes, but using all slicing tomatoes will produce a thinner salsa (though it’s totally safe to do if you only have slicing tomatoes!).
- Peppers – Keeping to the amounts listed, you can use literally any pepper you’d like, hot, mild, or even sweet bell peppers. The combo I like best is to use mainly mild Anaheim or Poblano peppers with a few spicy jalapenos. Find any combo you like, but do not go over the total pepper amounts listed in the recipe card.
- Vinegar (or bottled lemon juice) – I prefer vinegar to preservative-laden bottled lemon juice, but you can use an equal amount of juice if you can’t do vinegar. Make sure the vinegar is listed at 5% acidity – I’ve seen some at 4% and that’s too low for canning recipes.
Here are the tools and equipment you’ll need to safely can salsa:
- Cutting board (over the sink type makes it easier), sharp knife, and nitrile gloves (for cutting peppers).
- Food processor – optional but highly recommended.
- Large stockpot – at least a 6-quart for a single recipe, 10-12 quart for a double recipe.
- 8 cup glass measure – 4 cup would work, too.
- Pint canning jars and lids – quart size will not work – see below.
- Water Bath Canner – I strongly suggest a flat heavy bottom stainless steel canner with a clear lid, not only does the clear lid make it easier to monitor the boil, the flat bottom can be used on glass top stoves.
Salsa Canning Recipe: Step-by-Step
1) Start with 4-6 pounds of washed tomatoes
I use about half slicing tomatoes and half paste tomatoes- the slicers have great flavor and the paste tomatoes add thickness, so I like to include both. You can do any ratio or all of one or the other.
2) Chop Tomatoes
You can peel, core, and chop the tomatoes by hand OR use the food processor method to cut your prep time drastically!
After many years of blanching to peel and hand chopping, I now just core and quarter the tomatoes and use the food processor to chop them- peel and all!
No one can tell there are peels in the finished salsa and it takes SO much less time. This is awesome – do it and you won’t be sorry.
Either way you chop, you want to measure out 7 cups. There are both large and small tomato chunks in the processed option, but it’s not a big deal.
The One Drawback to Processing
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.
Do I have to peel tomatoes for canned salsa?
Update on safety of using skins in canned products: After a number of readers mentioned that they wondered if it was safe to keep the tomato skins on, I reached out to the Oregon State Extension Office about it. The professor I emailed with spent quite a bit of time researching this, saying, “this one has been killing me – very difficult to track down any reliable information.”
It basically boils down to this:
“Due to the consistent history of using peeled tomatoes in canning recipes, processing conditions using skin-on tomatoes have never been evaluated. It is possible that the skins have minimal to no impact on the thermal transfer, but this has not been verified.” Joy W., Associate Professor, Oregon State University Extension
She cited the studies that have been done on tomatoes, finding some bacteria in the cores but that the remainder of the tomato was low in bacteria, as well as the recommendation to always add citric acid or lemon juice since the 1970s.
There’s nothing else, and the NCHFP mainly states removing the peels are for texture reasons.
So here’s my take that I wrote back to her:
“With modern appliances like food processors, we can chop the tomatoes and skins for products like chutney and salsa and have no issues with taste and texture. The tomatoes are still cored, so the root and stem ends that might have bacteria in them (according to the study you mentioned) are removed. Also, my tomatoes are grown and harvested by me using no pesticides.
Since we eat the skins of my peppers grown right next to the tomatoes and can them with the skins in jellies and chutneys, why not the tomatoes?
Because of this, I’ll keep processing the tomatoes for chutney and salsa with the peels because it saves so much time, but I will mention the caution to my readers with your recommendation and let them make their own decision.”
So – you choose!
Option: one commenter said he has been canning tomatoes for 40 years with skins – he simply gives them a bath in a bowl of white vinegar and water before coring. So if this makes you feel better, go for it!
3) Transfer tomatoes to a stock pot
Once you have 7 cups, place the prepped tomatoes into a large 6-8 quart stock pot (use a 12 quart for a double recipe).
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 or Pobalano chilies to equal 1-1/2 cups chopped, using a food processor or chopping by hand.
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!
TIP: Just use the food processor you used the tomatoes for. You can simply cut the peppers in large chunks and put them in a food processor. 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 all milder peppers. If you’d like it spicier, decrease the mild peppers and increase the jalapeños. You can play around with the types of peppers you like best, just not the amount – a total of 2 cups of peppers for one batch is the limit for safety.
5) Prepare Onions
Peel and quarter onions, chopping enough to equal 1-1/2 cups, either by hand or in the same food processor you’ve been using, and add to the stock pot.
6) Mince Garlic
Again, finely chop the garlic by hand or throw them in the processor, too.
TIP: I usually add these in with the peppers or onions as they chop better with other ingredients, even though the photo doesn’t show it.
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 listed in the recipe card.
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) Prep For Water Bath Canning
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: A bonus to freezing salsa is that you can put as many peppers or other fresh ingredients you want in the salsa, including more fresh cilantro. You don’t have to worry about low-acid food ratios 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) Water Bath Canning Salsa
Fill pint jars with salsa leaving a 1/2-inch headspace, attach lids and place in a boiling water bath 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.
That’s it – you’ve made and canned your own salsa!!
Having homemade canned salsa from garden fresh ingredients 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!
Reader Raves
“This salsa recipe is the ONLY one I now preserve. Our family absolutely adores it.” -Mary
“My dad did us a building project favor, and instead of money he asked to be repaid in this particular salsa. His exact words were ‘Ambrosia…food of the Gods.'” -Amanda
“Made this today from my frozen garden tomatoes and some frozen chillies from my mums garden…and frozen garlic from my garden! It’s DELICIOUS! My main chilli fan 14yo son wants to eat it now! He’s disappointed all the lids sealed! I will be making this my every year salsa recipe!” -Linda
“We love this salsa! Canning salsa is our main garden goal. We tried a few different recipes our first year of canning, and have since used yours for three or four years now.” -Megan
“Perfect salsa! And half the work!” -Debby
I hope you love this canned salsa recipe! If you make it, be sure to leave a rating so I know how you liked it!
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Best Thick Canned Salsa Recipe
Equipment
- Food Processor optional
- large stock pot 6-12 quarts
- boiling water canner,
- 5-6 pint canning jars
Ingredients
- 7 cups chopped cored, peeled tomatoes (if using a food processor, no need to peel), about 4-6 pounds depending on how big cores are and how much needs to be cut out and if processing
- 1½ cups chopped onion
- 1½ cups mild chopped green chili peppers *anaheim, poblano, or even red/yellow sweet for a milder salsa
- 1/2 cup jalapeños ** finely chopped (and seeded if you’d like – leaving the seeds makes it spicer)
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
- 3/4 cup white or apple cider vinegar***
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 to 2 teaspoons pepper
- 1 to 2 teaspoons dry oregano
- 1 to 2 teaspoons cayenne powder to taste
NEW Option:
- 1/2 cup lightly packed cilantro this is a safe addition according to this site with the base recipe I used
Instructions
- In a large stainless steel stockpot, combine all the ingredients. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring constantly to prevent scorching.
- Reduce heat and boil gently until thickened, about 30 minutes. Stir often to prevent burning.
- Prepare canner, jars, and lids.
- Ladle hot salsa into hot jars, leaving 1/2-inch headspace. Wipe rim and attach lids.
- Place jars in canner, covering by at least 1-inch and bring to a boil. Process for 20 minutes, turn off burner, remove lid and let jars sit for 5 minutes before removing them to cool on a towel-lined surface for 12 to 24 hours. Check seals before labeling and storing.
Notes
Nutrition
Your Questions Answered
This is a question I get a lot but unfortunately, it is not recommended to can salsa in any jar larger than a pint (16 ounces) because there are no tested recipes that use quart jars.
That said, you can find recipes on Google that show canning in quarts, but they aren’t official, tested recipes found in publications like Ball Blue Book of Canning and the National Center for Home Food Preservation.
In the end, it’s up to you, but I can’t recommend it – and definitely not for this recipe, as the processing times have only been tested for pint jars.
Yes, in order to be able to safely can in a boiling water canner or pressure canner, you must heat the salsa to boiling before canning.
Both are used in salsa recipes – it depends on the flavor you’d like and if you don’t mind the preservatives that are found in bottled lemon juice.
Lemon juice has slightly less effect on flavor than vinegar and is more acidic. Vinegar is a bright, classic flavor with less acidity.
Since lemon juice is more acidic, you can safely substitute an equal amount of bottled lemon juice for vinegar in a recipe that calls for vinegar (like I mention ou can do in this recipe), but you cannot substitute vinegar for lemon juice in a recipe that’s been tested with lemon juice because vinegar would reduce the acidity, making the salsa unsafe after canning.
Yes, when the recipe calls for vinegar, you can substitute an equal amount of bottled lime juice, just like using bottled lemon juice.
The acidity of fresh lemons and limes vary too much for safely canning salsa. Bottled juices are standardized according to FDA regulations providing the consistency needed for home food preservation. “The final acidity of a food product is critical to deter the growth of microorganisms that can cause spoilage or foodborne illness.” source
This is another question I get quite a bit, so I did some researched and found that according to Oregon State Extension it is not okay since there are no reliable research based recipes that use citric acid. They do not recommend it as it would be too risky.
An alternative that the extension agent mentioned if you can’t do either lemon or vinegar is to can garden tomatoes plain with citric acid and then use the canned tomatoes to make salsa and eat fresh.
More Easy Tomato Canning Recipes
- Safe-to-can Roasted Tomato Sauce
- Perfect Homemade Canned Pizza Sauce
- Homemade “Rotel” Canned Tomatoes and Chilies
- Roasted Chipotle Salsa (Can or Freeze)
This recipe has been updated – it was originally published in September of 2009 and updated in 2017 and 2024.
Tried this recipe and really enjoyed. My neighbor friend and I can together and we ended up coring and freezing some beautiful red tomatoes as we weren’t going to be able to can them quickly enough. Those worked great for this recipe. We used bottled lime juice and 1/2 mild, half jalapeños. This was delicious. Thank you for the recipe.
So glad you like this and it worked with your frozen tomatoes!
I have been searching for a tested salsa recipe which included roasting the ingredients in the oven beforehand. Could I modify your recipe to roast things first then proceed with chopping and cooking? Would it still be safe for canning?
Based on my conversation with a preservation specialist at our local extension office with regards to my water-bath roasted tomato sauce, I’d say yes! The specialist said when everything is kept the same and only the initial cooking technique is changed, it’s okay. You will have to bring the sauce to boil before filling the jars so that it will be hot before canning like the recipe, but it seems like you already knew to do that. 🙂
Has anyone tried to lacto ferment this recipe (looking for thick LF salsa) – I typically use salt/whey in my salsa – but it is thin – I like idea of tomato paste.
I have been trying several different salsa recipes for the last few years and this recipe by far was the best. I had to use a combination of Roma, Slicing, and Cherry tomatoes and was afraid the salsa would be too runny. It turned out to be a perfect consistency. I made a mild batch and am looking forward to making a hotter batch when my tomatoes are ready! Oh another thing: I tried the recipe with Apple Cider Vinegar which at first tasted too strong but mellowed out once boiled. Next batch I will try the White Vinegar. Thank you for sharing the recipe.
I’m so glad, Carrie! I’ve found the same thing, that even when I don’t have all paste tomatoes, this still produces a thicker salsa than other recipes. Thank you for the review and your experience with the recipe!
Can I use 1/2 pint jars? (You mentioned quart but not going smaller).
Yes, you can go smaller, but process the same time since there isn’t a tested time for the smaller amount.
Last year I made a salsa recipe that turned out extremely bitter (vinegary).
I tried your recipe , without cilantro, and it is DELICIOUS. I’m definitely going to add this one to my recipe file.
I’m so glad you tried this, then!! Thank you for the great review!
How would this work with cherry tomatoes. I have a ton! The only thing is I don’t like the skins in salsa, and I can’t seem to get them to blend enough so you don’t get those little bits of skin. Any thoughts?
Yeah, you can’t really remove the skins easily on cherry tomatoes for salsa – they sort of disintegrate. I’d use the cherry tomatoes for tomato sauce and run them through a food mill after cooking to remove the skins (I have a roasted cherry tomato sauce on the site if you search for it!).
Followed the instructions, quantities, peppers, tomatoes and processor. Great results.
Wonderful! Thanks for the review!
Hi this is my third year making this recipe. Followed it exactly as written. It’s fantastic! Thank you for all the testing and research. If you are reading this and are looking for a salsa recipe … I suggest you try it. The cilantro is key as well ! Thank you for the recipe !
Thank you so much for the great review, Lisa – I so appreciate it and am glad this is a staple recipe for you!
Thank you for doing the science and math. I was falling into a canning “rut” over the last few years because what I had come across was blah to say the least, I have made 3 of your tomato canning recipes starting with pizza sauce, and each one has been a winner! I had my boys taste test the salsa before processing and they gobbled up instantly. I can’t thank you enough for reinvigorating my love for canning, I hope there is more coming down the pike. Your passion certainly shows through. Side bar: I did roast my tomatoes beforehand, and took skins off, but that’s all I changed.
Wow, Dawn, you kinda brought tears to my eyes to read this – it just MAKES my day to know that these recipes have reminded you how great canning your own food can be!! Truly one of the best comments I’ve ever gotten – thank you!
Just made my first batch yesterday. Excellent and clear instructions – so important to mention the details, especially to those who haven’t canned before. It turned out wonderfully by using mostly Roma tomatoes – past recipes and attempts with regular tomatoes resulted in a runny mix. This was perfect!
I’m so glad to know this, Emma – thank you so much for the great review and rating!
Good stuff! I made a double batch and it was well received! I am getting ready to make some more! I did add 2 red habanero peppers to the jalapeño mix.
Yay! I’m glad you like it. That’s a good way to spice it up a bit.
You say we can use lemon or lime juice, but I don’t even see that in this recipe that I miss something
That’s a substitution for the vinegar – it’s mentioned in the notes section of the recipe card. You’d use the same amount as the vinegar.
Trying first time
Hope you enjoy this!
2nd time using this recipe. I appreciate the thought that Jami put into the instructions including clear discussion of safety considerations. The resulting salsa is a delicious staple in our house.
Oh, thank you Patrick – I’m so glad this is a staple for you!
Thank you so much for this recipe! Can I use tomato paste that has garlic powder in it?
Yes, any dry ingredients are okay to add to canning recipes, Emilie. Hope you enjoy this!
Hello again! I did the recipe and oh! Wow is it SO GOOD! Thank you so much for sharing it. I have two other questions:
1- I grow my own garlic, and the cloves are ginormous (good problem to have, right?). I used three cloves that resembled in size what one could find in a grocery store. Would it be possible to include the weight of the cloves, so people do not put in too much garlic with three enormous cloves?
2- I am currently making my second batch and I realized that I put a bit more tomato paste in my first batch. I read a 6oz can, but when I measured the paste in a measuring cup after emptying the can, it showed a bit short of 5,5oz (156ml). So I added more to go up to 6oz. In the end, it went up to 177ml (a real 6oz). Should I be worried about the pH level for that batch? (I used bottled lemon juice instead of vinegar). (I have no idea why a 156ml can would also says 6oz!)
This was my first time making this recipe. It is delicious and is nice and thick. I roasted the tomatoes which worked well; the skins popped right off, it added a nice flavour and evaporated some of the liquid . For the tomatoes I used six lbs of plum tomatoes which I cut in half and placed on a two sheet pans, they were very full. After picking off the skins and chopping I got the seven cups needed for the recipe.
That sounds wonderful, Helen – thanks for the review and sharing your tips!
How long is the homemade canned salsa good for?
Water-bath canned, sealed jars are good for up to 18 months on the shelf (according to the lid manufacturers).
I appreciate that you use tested recipes, especially for salsa. However you stated that it is okay to leave the skin on if you use a food processor. That’s not okay. The only approved recipe for water bath canning is for cherry tomatoes.
Tomatoes must be peeled and seeded.
Did you read the article? I have a whole section on this where I consulted an agent at the Oregon State University extension office. There are NO reliable sources for this recent concept that it’s not safe to can tomatoes with peels. I even asked an online influencer for her sources and she couldn’t provide any (although an extension agent is much more knowledgable). Please read the whole article before commenting (and no, you do not have to seed tomatoes!).
Can I use Citric Acid instead of the vinegar?
Hi there – I actually answered this in the FAQs: “This is another question I get quite a bit, so I did some researched and found that according to Oregon State Extension it is not okay since there are no reliable research based recipes that use citric acid. They do not recommend it as it would be too risky.”