Recipe: Best Home Canned Thick and Chunky Salsa (2024)

I love home canned salsa, especially when made from fresh garden tomatoes and peppers out of my garden. But I’ve always been frustrated with these salsas always being runny and thin, even if the recipe calls it chunky. I’ve also been disappointed with the strong vinegar flavor that most home-canned recipes usually have. Comparatively, the store bought stuff is always really thick and chunky, and never has much of a vinegar flavor, but inevitably, it never has a really good fresh tomato flavor. It’s been a lose lose battle for me between store bought and home-canned salsas for years.

Well I’m proud to say that that war has finally come to an end. I recently found a recipe in a canning magazine which provided the best of home-canned and store bought salsas. They simply called it, “Chunky Homemade Salsa.” I’ve tweaked it a bit, added a little extra, and renamed it to be more appropriately named, “Best Home Canned Thick and Chunky Salsa.”

Ingredients to Make a Perfect Home-Canned Salsa

• 8 pounds ripe tomatoes
• 1 1/2 cups chopped (seeds and all) fresh Anaheim chile peppers (roughly 3)
• 1/2 cup chopped yellow bell pepper (for color)
• 1/2 cup seeded and chopped fresh jalapeno pepper (about 2-3 large), plus 1 whole pepper, chopped (seeds and all)
• 2 cups chopped onions (about 2 large)
• 1/2 cup snipped fresh cilantro (roughly 1/2 bunch)
• 1/2 cup fresh squeezed lime juice (about 3 large limes)
• 1/2 cup white vinegar
• 3 oz tomato paste
• 5 cloves garlic, minced (roughly 1/2 head)
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds, toasted and coarsely ground in a mortar and pastel or a coffee grinder
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 3 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1/2 tablespoon paprika

How to Make a Great Thick Homemade Salsa

If I had any complaints about this salsa recipe (which I don’t), it would be how long it takes to make a batch. There’s about 1.5 hours of prep time, plus around 2 hours of cooking time from start to finish. Because of this, I strongly encourage you to double or triple the recipe and just make a day out of it.

Each batch makes roughly 5 pints of super flavorful and very thick salsa.

Once you’ve dedicated your day to this cooking task (so very worth it), here’s the steps to follow in making your salsa:

1. Wash tomatoes. Remove stems and cores with a knife. Bring at least 4 inches of water to a boil in a large kettle. Immerse tomatoes, a few at a time, into boiling water for about a minute, or until the skins start to crack and peel off the flesh. Immediately dip tomatoes into cold water, and drain in a colander. Slip off the skins, and discard. Coarsely chop the tomatoes; place in a large colander set in sink, and allow to stand for 30 minutes. This will allow much of the tomato juice to strain out. (place the colander over a large bowl if you wish to save the juice for something else)

   Strain Tomatoes

2. Transfer the drained tomatoes to a 7-8 quart stainless-steel, enamel, or nonstick heavy pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Simmer, uncovered, for about 1.5 hours or until tomatoes are at the desired consistency, stirring often. You’re looking for the same consistency as a thin marinara sauce.

   Boil and Simmer Tomatoes

3. Add tomato paste, lime juice, and vinegar. Stir until tomato paste is completely incorporated. The cooked tomatoes will thicken nicely from the added paste.

   See Also

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   Thickened Tomatoes

4. Add remaining ingredients. Return mixture to boiling, then reduce heat to a simmer. Simmer, uncovered, for 10 minutes. Remove from heat.

   Add Remaining Salsa Ingredients

   Simmer Salsa

5. While salsa is simmering, prepare your pint canning jars and hot water bath canner.

   Making Salsa

6. Ladle hot salsa into hot, sterilized pint canning jars, leaving a 1/2-inch headspace. Wipe jar rims clean with a damp towel; place lids on jars, and secure in place by hand tightening the bands onto the jars.
7. Process filled jars in a boiling-water canner for 15 minutes (start timer when water returns to boiling). Remove jars from canner, then cool them on cooling racks or on a towel on the counter.

   Salsa in Water Bath Canner

   Best Home Canned Thick and Chunky Salsa 3

Makes about 5 pints.

*This salsa recipe is somewhere between mild and medium hot. You can omit some of the jalapenos if you would like more mild, or replace one or two of them with a habanero if you would like hotter.

Recipe by Jothan Yeager, September 2012

The Bald Gourmet finds a great thick salsa recipe, and makes it better with a few bald modifications.