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Roasting your fresh ingredients is the perfect way to give your salsa into a richer, smoky flavor that you’ll absolutely love. This roasted salsa is easy to make and great to have on hand to give flavor to anything from tacos, chips, chilaquiles, huevos rancheros, and more!

Overhead view of a bowl of red roasted salsa surrounded by tortilla chips.

What Makes This Recipe So Good

Chef’s Tips

  • The spiciness of your roasted salsa will depend on how many seeds you leave in the jalapeños! For a mild salsa, remove all the seeds. A medium heat level? Remove the seeds from only one jalapeño. For a really hot salsa, don’t remove any jalapeño seeds at all.
  • All the smokiness comes from the blackened skins of the vegetables, so don’t skimp here. The darker the veggies, the more intense and deep the smoky flavor will be. Just be careful not to burn them!
  • When you’re processing the salsa ingredients, stop periodically and scrape down the sides of the food processor bowl with a silicone spatula. That’ll give you a smoother, more uniform consistency throughout. Don’t over-process, though – you want a roasted salsa, not a roasted tomato sauce.
A tortilla chip being dipped into a white bowl containing red roasted salsa.

More Tasty Appetizers

Recipe By: Cheryl Malik

Roasted Salsa

Prep 10 minutes
Cook 30 minutes
Total 40 minutes
Rich and smoky roasted salsa is so simple yet so effective – you'll never make salsa any other way again.
4 servings

Equipment

  • Broiler
  • large baking sheet
  • Aluminum Foil
  • Food processor
  • airtight container or serving bowl

Ingredients

  • 6 roma tomatoes approximately 1 ½ pounds
  • 1 small onion yellow or white, quartered
  • 2 large jalapeño peppers quartered
  • 4 cloves garlic
  • 1 tablespoon neutral oil of choice avocado oil, olive oil, etc.
  • ½ loose cup cilantro leaves approximately half a bunch, roughly chopped
  • 1 14-ounce can diced tomatoes drained
  • 1 ½ teaspoons salt to taste
  • juice of 1 lime approximately 2 tablespoons

Instructions

  • Preheat broiler to high. Line baking sheet with aluminum foil.
  • Place tomatoes, onions, jalapeños, and garlic on baking sheet. Drizzle neutral oil over all and toss to coat thoroughly, then spread ingredients out in single, even layer.
    Roma tomatoes, jalapeños, garlic, and onions on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil.
  • Place baking sheet 6 inches below broiler. Broil 15 to 20 minutes, stopping to flip vegetables over halfway through cook time. Cook until skins of veggies have thoroughly blistered and blackened.
    Blistered and blackened roasted vegetables on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil.
  • Optional: transfer blackened onion and garlic to plate and set aside. Return tomatoes and jalapeños to broiler for another 5 minutes for maximum smokiness.
  • Remove all vegetables from oven. Carefully remove stems and seeds from jalapeños, leaving seeds from 1 jalapeño for medium spiciness, or no seeds at all for mild spiciness.
  • Place roma tomatoes, onion, jalapeños, garlic, and cilantro in food processor bowl. Pulse until mostly smooth, then add in drained diced tomatoes. Continue pulsing until desired salsa consistency is achieved.
    Overhead view of red roasted salsa in a food processor bowl on a light neutral countertop.
  • Transfer salsa to serving bowl or airtight container. Add salt and lime juice to taste, and stir well to thoroughly incorporate. Serve immediately or seal airtight container and refrigerate until ready to serve.
  • The spiciness of your salsa will depend on how many seeds you leave in the jalapeños! For a mild salsa, remove all the seeds. For a medium heat level, remove the seeds from only one jalapeño. For a hot salsa, don’t remove any jalapeño seeds.
  • All the smokiness comes from the blackened skins of the vegetables, so don’t skimp here. The darker the veggies, the smokier the flavor.
  • Make it Whole30/Paleo: Make sure to use organic diced tomatoes that don’t have any added sugars or sugar substitutes.

Approximate Information for One Serving

Serving Size: 1servingCalories: 87calProtein: 2gFat: 4gSaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 1mgSodium: 1013mgPotassium: 483mgTotal Carbs: 12gFiber: 3gSugar: 6gNet Carbs: 9gVitamin A: 863IUVitamin C: 26mgCalcium: 53mgIron: 1mg
Nutrition Disclaimers
Number of total servings shown is approximate. Actual number of servings will depend on your preferred portion sizes.
Nutritional values shown are general guidelines and reflect information for 1 serving using the ingredients listed, not including any optional ingredients. Actual macros may vary slightly depending on specific brands and types of ingredients used.
To determine the weight of one serving, prepare the recipe as instructed. Weigh the finished recipe, then divide the weight of the finished recipe (not including the weight of the container the food is in) by the desired number of servings. Result will be the weight of one serving.

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