Restaurant-Style Salsa (for Canning!)
This classic restaurant style salsa is so tasty! It is great canned to keep on hand in your pantry for any time the craving strikes, or to use as gifting!
★★★★★
Marilyn says –
“Thank you! This was amazing. I normally make fresh salsa and this was my first time trying water bath canning. Total success! I’ve given some jars to my friends and family and they loved it! Very impressed with the recipe.”
My Go-To Salsa Recipe for Canning
If you’ve been searching for a super quick, easy, no-fuss Mexican salsa recipe that’s good for canning — you found it!
This is a variation of my popular Restaurant-Style Salsa recipe. That recipe never fails me, and I love to make a big batch for canning so I can pop open a bottle when a salsa craving hits.
✔ Quick Blender Recipe: Making the salsa is as simple as blitzing the ingredients in a blender or food processor. That’s it!
✔ Simple Water Bath Method: I prefer following the water bath canning method when processing this salsa recipe, because it’s straightforward and requires no special equipment.
✔ Restaurant Quality: Sometimes canned salsas can taste “flat” or have a weirdly mushy texture. Not this one! By blending up the salsa, its texture isn’t affected by the canning process.
Happy canning! Katie
The Main Ingredients
This is such an easy salsa recipe that works great for canning. It’s a blender salsa that starts with canned tomatoes. Scroll to the recipe card below for the full list of ingredients — but here’s an overview.
- Canned Tomatoes (3 Kinds!): I prefer using a blend of whole canned tomatoes and two types of Rotel to achieve a more nuanced flavor. Mix and match your canned tomatoes however you like!
- Tomato Paste: Adds a deep tomato flavor, minus the acidity that fresh or canned tomatoes add.
- Garlic and Onion: Fresh aromatics are essential when making homemade salsa.
- Jalapeños: Feel free to substitute the spicy jalapeños for another favorite pepper (just make sure to substitute an equal amount and do not add any more than the recipe calls for).
- Sugar and Salt: Just a little of both balances out the flavors going on in this Mexican salsa.
- Herbs: I used a blend of ground cumin and fresh cilantro.
- Lime Juice: Use the exact amount the recipe calls for! When water bath canning salsa, you have to be very mindful of the amount of low-acid vs high-acid ingredients.
A Quick Overview of the Canning Process
Detailed instructions can be found in the recipe card at the end of this post. Below is just a broad overview of what canning homemade salsa looks like to give you an idea of what you’re signing up for.
- Make the salsa. This is a quick blender salsa recipe that’s as easy as dumping everything in and blending until smooth!
- Simmer the salsa for 15 minutes. This step is essential for thickening the salsa and killing any bacteria lingering on the fresh or canned ingredients.
- Transfer to clean jar. I walk you through how to wipe the rims, adjust the headspace, and so on in the recipe card below.
- Process in a water bath canner. Pint jar need to process for 20 minutes, then the canner lid is removed and the jars need to hang out for another 5 minutes before being taken out.
Katie’s Tip: My Favorite Canning Resources
I highly recommend that you get a copy of the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving if you’re serious about learning how to can.
And if you’re new to canning, I recommend investing in this Ball Canning Utensil Set. The set includes a funnel, jar lifter, lid lifer, and head-space measuring tool.
Want to Make Changes to This Recipe? Please Don’t!
I don’t recommend making any substitutions for this recipe if you plan to water bath can this Mexican salsa unless it is adjusting the amount of seasoning.
Altering the sugar content, the amount of tomatoes, or the acidity (by omitting or substituting the lime juice) would affect the ability to water bath can the recipe.
If you are eating this within a week, or storing it in the freezer, you can make any substitutions that you would like.
More Easy Salsa Recipes
Note that not all of the salsas below can be canned … but they’re all delicious!
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Mexican Salsa Recipe for Canning
This classic restaurant style salsa is so tasty! It is great canned to keep on hand in your pantry for any time the craving strikes, or to use as gifting!
Ingredients
- 2 - 28 ounce can Whole Tomatoes With Juice
- 2 - 10 ounce can Rotel Original (diced Tomatoes And Green Chilies)
- 2 - 10 ounce cans Rotel Mexican (diced Tomatoes with Lime and Cilantro)
- 1/4 cup tomato paste
- 2 cups Yellow Onion
- 3 cloves Garlic
- 2-4 whole Jalapenos, halved (seeds removed for milder salsa)
- 1/2 teaspoon Sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoon Salt
- 2 teaspoons Ground Cumin
- 1 cup Fresh Cilantro Leaves
- 1/2 cup lime juice (do not use less than this if you are water bath canning; use more if you like)
Instructions
- Prepare canner, jars, and lids according to canning guide.
- Combine whole tomatoes, Rotel, paste, onion, jalapeno, garlic, sugar, salt, cumin, lime juice, and cilantro in a blender or food processor.
- Pulse until you get the salsa to the consistency you’d like—about 10 to 15 pulses.
- Test seasonings with a tortilla chip and adjust as needed.
- Add all ingredients to a stock pot. Bring to a boil over medium high heat.
- Reduce heat and boil gently, stirring frequently until slightly thickened, about 15 minutes.
- Ladle hot salsa into clean, warm jars, leaving about 1/2 inch headspace.
- Remove any air bubbles and adjust headspace, if necessary, by adding additional hot salsa.
- Wipe rim with a clean towel.
- Center the sterilized lid on jar.
- Screw band down until resistance is met, then increase to fingertip-tight.
- Place jars in canner, ensuring they are completely covered with water.
- Bring to a boil and process pint jars for 20 minutes.
- Remove canner lid.
- Wait 5 minutes, then remove jars, cool and store.
Notes
Salsa Canning Tips:
- Do not reduce the amount of lime juice or tomatoes.
- Do not add extra peppers, onion, or garlic. You can reduce the amount of peppers, onion, or garlic.
- Canned chilies may be used in place of fresh.
- You can substitute one type of pepper for another. For example, hot jalapeno peppers, bell peppers, yellow peppers, banana peppers, chili peppers may all be substituted 1:1.
- The key is not increasing the amount of low acid ingredients in relation to the amount of high acid ingredients
- Wear gloves while handling jalapenos and peppers. Don't touch your face until you have washed your hands.
Want to pressure can this recipe? You can typically pressure can anything that you can water bath can. Make sure you have the right tools and that you consult reputable sources for salsa pressure canning instructions, as I personally am not an expert at pressure canning. Some tools you might need are: Pressure Cooker Canner, The Complete Guide to Pressure Canning, and of course – canning jars.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 32 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 154Total Fat: 1gSaturated Fat: 0gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 1gCholesterol: 0mgCarbohydrates: 36gFiber: 5gSugar: 18gProtein: 6g
GoodLifeEats.com offers recipe nutritional information as a courtesy and is an estimate only. This information comes from online calculators. Although GoodLifeEats.com makes every effort to provide accurate information, these figures are only estimates.
★★★★★
Kathryn says –
“Thanks for the awesome recipe. I’ve tried almost a dozen salsa recipes looking for a restaurant style salsa that I like and this is it! So easy to make and tastes great! Recipe made 7 pints and a bit left over to snack on. Perfect!”
Kaitlyn Young says
Can I leave out the onions? Unfortunately, my husband is allergic. I don’t want it to mess with a canning process though.
Katie Kick says
Hi, I am not sure as I haven’t tested this recipe without onion to see if it is the proper ph for canning. I would recommend freezing it instead of water bath canning. Alternatively, you could pressure can it which is safer for foods that aren’t able to be water bath canned. Sorry I’m not more help on this!
Melissia says
Could I use fresh tomatoes?
Katie says
If you want to use fresh tomatoes, I would use this recipe Homemade Salsa for Canning
Marilyn says
Thank you! This was amazing. I normally make fresh salsa and this was my first time trying water bath canning. Total success! I’ve given some jars to my friends and family and they loved it! Very impressed with the recipe.
Katie says
Glad to hear it!
Sarah Bishop says
Hello! I was wondering if I could substitute diced tomatoes for the whole tomatoes? and how much of the diced tomatoes would I use? Would that change the canning process? Thank you! Anxious to try this!
Katie says
Canned diced tomatoes are fine to use since you’re running it through the blender anyway. Just use the same amount in ounces.
Val says
How many cups of chopped jalapeños are actually used?
Katie says
the Jalapeño amount is completely up to your personal preference depending on how hot you would like the salsa to be.
Linda says
I love this recipe!Usually I make fresh salsa that is not cooked. We love the fresh ingredient flavor. Do I have to cook the salsa for all of the 15 minutes? I don’t care if its much thicker? I followed the reipe this time but plan on making quite a bit more. Can I reduce the cook time before water bathing?
Katie says
I haven’t tested that out so I can’t speak from experience, but I would guess that it is probably fine as long as you bring it up to a full boil and boil it for a few minutes before transferring it into the jars. For sure you do not want to reduce the water bath processing time.
cynrok says
the ball book says to always use bottled lime juice and not fresh, is it ok to use fresh in this recipe? i’d prefer fresh but don’t want to mess it up! i am new to canning so am not sure how rigid the rules are.
Katie says
I have always used fresh but if you’re more comfortable following what you read in the Ball book, then I’m sure that works fine too. Many local extension offices offer ph testing on canning recipes to ensure your recipe is within the ph guidelines for water bath canning. Find your local extension office here. Hope that helps!
Diana Bird says
I made this today, very good recipe I will make it again
Wanted to do something different for Christmas gifts along with the baking I do. People will love it
Katie says
Glad to hear it!