Want to make Mexican style salsa at home? It’s much easier than you think! This Easy Homemade Salsa (Salsa Roja) takes less than 20 minutes to make and tastes a million times better than shop bought salsa!
This blog post contains affiliate links, this means if you click on a link and go on to buy the product I recommend, I will get a small commission, but you will not be charged a penny more – thanks in advance!
I have a confession to make…
I scratch cook most things, but for YEARS I always bought salsa whenever I was making Mexican and Tex-Mex meals, like fajitas, enchiladas and chilli con carne.
I had it in my head that making proper Mexican style salsa (Salsa Roja) at home was way too difficult and time consuming… But I’ve been on a bit of a mission this year to eat less Ultra Processed Food and so I challenged myself to make proper Homemade Salsa Roja.
I poured over dozens of authentic Mexican salsa recipes and, me being me, I figured out how to make salsa as authentically as possible, while also being as quick and easy as possible… and the result is this wonderful Easy Homemade Salsa recipe!
I am delighted with the result – it’s utterly delicious and just a million times better than shop bought salsa, and yet it’s easy peasy to make and takes just 20 minutes!
How to make homemade salsa from scratch…
It really is much easier than you think it’s going to be! All you need to do is place the whole tomatoes, whole chillies, and onion quarters under a hot grill and grill on both sides until lightly blackened. Then place all the ingredients into a blender (I recommend using a Nutribullet or similar) and blend until smooth. Next, place a frying pan over a high heat for 1 minute. Tip the salsa into the pan and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Finally add salt and lime juice to taste.
If you are really pushed for time, you could skip the grill part and just blend the salsa ingredients, then cook in the frying pan. But I really do recommend you do the grilling part if possible, as you get a much better (and more authentic) flavour.
(Full recipe given in the recipe card below.)
What to serve homemade salsa with
Homemade salsa goes brilliantly with all your Mexican and Tex Mex favourites, such as:
- Chicken Tinga Tacos
- Mexican Chicken And Rice (Arroz Con Pollo)
- Easy Peasy Chilli Con Carne
- Slow Cooked Chunky Beef Chilli
- Easy Beef Enchiladas
- Easy Refried Bean Quesadillas
- Easy Homemade Chicken Fajitas
- Easy Sheet Pan Chicken Fajitas
- Mexican Pulled Pork Tacos
- Mexican Style Avocado Toast
- Mexican Roasted Sweet Potato Cubes
(Shown in the photos with Easy Turkey Fajitas, Easy Homemade Refried Beans and Easy 4 Ingredient Guacamole)
Should salsa be smooth or chunky?
Ultimately this is up to you and your own tastes. The majority of the authentic Mexican salsa recipes I read in my research were for smooth salsa, so that is what I have gone for in this recipe.
I used my Nutribullet to achieve this smooth consistency, but any good blender will work – so long as it’s strong enough to really blitz the skins down.
However, if you prefer a chunkier salsa, by all means do that! In that case, you’ll need to use a food processor, or the kind of blender that allows you to pulse the salsa to achieve that chunky consistency. You may also want to remove the tomato skins before blending, since otherwise you’ll end up with large bits of skin in your salsa.
What to do with leftover salsa
Place any leftovers in a lidded container in the fridge, where they will keep for about a week.
Personally, I think this salsa is even better cold, but if you want it warm, simply reheat in a saucepan or microwave, until piping hot.
Can you freeze salsa?
Absolutely! Salsa freezes beautifully. Place the cooked and cooled salsa in a lidded container in the freezer, where it will keep for up to 6 months.
Defrost overnight in the fridge, or for a couple of hours at room temperature.
Eat cold or reheat as above.
If you like this recipe…
…you might also like:
Easy Homemade Salsa (Salsa Roja)
Ingredients
- 450 g good quality tomatoes (I used Tesco Finest tomatoes on the vine)
- 2 green medium-hot chillies (I use the green ones from Tesco Mixed Chillies - See Note 1)
- 1 small onion skin removed and quartered
- 2 cloves garlic skin removed and roughly chopped
- 5 g fresh coriander roughly chopped
- Juice of ¼ lime or to taste
- ½ teaspoon salt or to taste
Instructions
- Place the whole tomatoes, whole chillies, and onion quarters under a hot grill. Grill until the top side is lightly blackened. Turn and grill the other side until lightly blackened. (Roughly 5 minutes each side, but do keep an eye on them – you want them lightly blackened, not burnt to a crisp!)
- Remove the stalks from the chillies, then place all the ingredients into a blender (I recommend using a Nutribullet) and blend until smooth.
- Place a frying pan over a high heat for 1 minute. Tip the salsa into the pan and bring to the boil.
- Reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes
- Add salt and lime juice to taste.
Notes
- I recommend using 2 medium hot chillies in this salsa. But if you prefer a milder salsa, just use 1 chilli OR use 2 but take the seeds and membranes out before blending. If you prefer a hotter salsa, use more chillies or use hotter chillies!
- Suitable for freezing.
- Nutrition information is approximate and meant as a guideline only.
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Disclosure
This blog post contains affiliate links, this means if you click on a link and go on to buy the product I recommend, I will get a small commission, but you will not be charged a penny more – thanks in advance!
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