How to make tomato salsa that’s better than anything you can buy at the store! For this easy tomato salsa, we char tomatoes, garlic, and peppers, and then then add them to onion, cilantro, and lime for a flavorful and addictive homemade salsa. Jump to the Roasted Tomato Salsa Recipe
This is our favorite homemade tomato salsa and we promise you’ll always want to go back for more. The method and ingredient list is inspired by our Roasted Salsa Verde. There has been so much positive feedback for it, that we decided to try the same recipe, but use red tomatoes instead of using tomatillos. Just like the tomatillo salsa, this tomato salsa tastes amazing!
How to Make Ultra Flavorful Tomato Salsa
If you are looking for a fresh tomato salsa, you might want to check our homemade pico de gallo recipe or this 15-minute blended salsa. They both take minutes to make and are perfect served with just about anything. We love them, but when I have a few more minutes to spend in the kitchen, I love making this roasted tomato salsa instead.
The salsa is really simple to make. Here are the basic steps (the full recipe is in the recipe box below).
Step 1, Char the tomatoes, peppers, and garlic. Place tomatoes, peppers, and garlic under the broiler on high, turning each ingredient so all sides become slightly charred. This can also be done on a barbecue (I’d use medium-high heat).
Step 2, Peel away the skins. Let the tomatoes, peppers, and garlic cool down a little, and then pull away the skins from the tomatoes, peppers, and garlic (it should be easy). For a little color and char, you can leave some of the black skins from the tomatoes and/or the peppers intact.
Step 3, Blend into a salsa. Remove the core of the tomatoes, and then add them along with the peppers and garlic to a food processor. Add some onion, fresh cilantro, and fresh lime juice, and then blend until you are happy with the consistency of the salsa. I like it a little chunky.
You can enjoy the salsa straight away, but if you have the time, cover it and place into the refrigerator. As the salsa sits, it becomes even more flavorful.
One note about the tomatoes: I love using fresh ripe tomatoes in this recipe since they have so much flavor. You can use canned if you prefer, but this will prevent you from roasting the tomatoes. You can, however, still roast the peppers and garlic.
More Easy Salsa Recipes
- Smoky Black Bean and Corn Salsa — Perfect as a side salad or with chips as a salsa.
- Pico de Gallo — With just 6 simple ingredients, you’ll have fresh, zesty, delicious tomato salsa in no time.
- Roasted Salsa Verde — Try our easy roasted salsa verde recipe with lots of flavor thanks to roasted tomatillos, peppers, and garlic.
- Easy Pineapple Avocado Salsa — With fresh pineapple, avocado, jalapeño, red onion, and fresh lime.
Recipe updated, originally posted October 2009. Since posting this in 2009, we have tweaked the recipe to be more clear. – Adam and Joanne
Roasted Tomato Salsa
- PREP
- COOK
- TOTAL
For this easy tomato salsa, we char tomatoes, garlic, and peppers, and then then add them to onion, cilantro, and lime for a flavorful and addictive homemade salsa. As this tomato salsa cools, it becomes really flavorful. In fact, if you have the time, leave it in the refrigerator for an hour or two before serving. Or make it a day or two in advance.
You Will Need
1 pound tomatoes (3 to 4 medium)
1 jalapeño pepper
1 serrano pepper
2 unpeeled garlic cloves
1 small onion, chopped (about 1/2 cup)
1/4 cup loosely packed cilantro leaves and tender stems
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice, or more to taste
Salt and fresh ground black pepper, to taste
Directions
1Heat the broiler with a rack about 4 inches below the heat source. Place the tomatoes, jalapeño, serrano pepper, and garlic into a baking dish. Broil, turning occasionally, until they’re blackened in spots, about 8 minutes. Let tomatoes, peppers, and garlic cool. See notes for using a grill.
2When the tomatoes, peppers, and garlic are cool enough to handle, peel most of the skins from the tomatoes and remove the cores. Peel most of the skins from the peppers and remove the seeds. For a spicier salsa, leave in some or all of the seeds. Remove the softened garlic from peel.
3Add roasted tomatoes, peppers, garlic flesh, onion, cilantro, lime juice, and a pinch of salt to a food processor or blender. Pulse 3 to 4 times or until the salsa is mostly smooth and no big chunks of tomato remain, scraping down the sides as necessary. Adjust with more lime juice, salt or pepper based on consistency and taste. Cool to room temperature then refrigerate about 1 hour for flavors to develop.
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- Using canned tomatoes: I love using fresh ripe tomatoes in this recipe since they have so much flavor. You can use canned if you prefer, but this will prevent you from roasting the tomatoes. You can, however, still roast the peppers and garlic.
- If you cannot find serrano peppers, substitute with jalapeño.
- Using a grill instead of broiling: You can grill the tomatoes, peppers, and garlic on a barbecue. We recommend using a grill basket over medium-high heat.
- Nutrition facts: The nutrition facts provided below are estimates. We have used the USDA database to calculate approximate values.
If you make this recipe, snap a photo and hashtag it #inspiredtaste — We love to see your creations on Instagram and Facebook! Find us: @inspiredtaste
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I’ve made this twice. It is very good. The first time with Hatch peppers was my favorite. Second time, delish, but needed a little more heat. I used poplano, serano and jalepeno. Roasting everything is the key!
I usually do a big batch of salsa for canning but my tomatoes aren’t producing enough at the moment. After trying this recipe I will not be going back to my old one. Do you know if it’s been tested for canning stability?
How long does this stay? It’s an awesome recipe.
The salsa will keep covered in the refrigerator for 5-7 days.
Fantastic recipe here! I made this for a family salsa contest for Mother’s Day and it took second place. The only difference is that I went with jalepeno, serrano and poblano peppers and then doubled the recipe. My husband couldnt get enough of it!
I have tried a lot of salsas – but your recipe, especially the method of roasting, created the best Salsa. In fact, I am getting ready to prepare another batch now!!
Melfox – No we did not oil the pan before roasting. After roasting, the ingredients come out of the pan easily and we did not have much cleaning up to do, but if you are concerned, you could certainly lightly oil the bottom of the pan.
~Joanne
i have a few tomatillos in my kitchen at the moment…do you think i should add a few to the tomato salsa? and did you oil the pan before roasting? thanks
Melfox, We personally have never used both tomatoes and tomatillos in the same salsa recipe, but that certainly does not mean it wont work. I bet it would be really flavorful, the tomatoes should give a slightly sweet and light flavor and the tomatillos should give a slightly sharp / tart flavor to the salsa. I looked around on the web and found a Gourmet recipe using both, you should give the combination a try and let us know how it goes. You may want to increase the garlic, but I will leave that up to you.
Good Luck! Joanne
Roasting the tomatoes first is such a great idea. It brings out so much more flavor!
I love the simple ingredients in this salsa but I bet roasting everything first makes them taste that much better! I’ll have to give that a try.