Triple Pepper Roasted Salsa

Get ready for THE BEST roasted salsa you’ll ever have! 3 types of peppers make up this crave-worthy, chip-loving, need-to-have, salsa!

How many of you, when you go to your favorite Mexican restaurant, tend to go nuts over their chips and salsa? If you’re like us, we’d easily get 2-3 baskets of chips and salsa then by the time our meals came we couldn’t eat them as we were stuffed. Salsa is so incredibly easy to make at home and something pretty much everyone loves. This recipe…oh y’all this recipe is INCREDIBLE!  Like this is the best salsa we’ve ever had!

Really, it’s THAT amazing!

I’ve lost count of how many gallons of this I’ve made for folks as gifts, taken to parties, shared with clients, and indulged in at home. Folks that hate tomatoes or chunks RAVE over this.

This is the only salsa I will ever make from now on. Actually, it’s one of the first things I’m asked to bring to any party. This is one of those recipes that works for any season.

Grab your ingredients

What makes this salsa recipe stand out above the rest is it uses both tomatoes and tomatillos and 3 different peppers. These ingredients are things you can find in your local farmer’s market or grocery store. But if you can’t find a specific pepper, no worries. I’m giving you substitutions!

• Tomatoes
• Tomatillos
• Red Onion
• Limes
• Garlic
• Cilantro – if you hate it, omit it but it’s just not the same. Try parsley if you want a fresh taste to it
• Peppers
• Seasoning

Triple Peppers Make This Salsa AMAZING!

These ingredients I grew in my garden but you should be able to find these in the grocery store.

I went with the 3 types of peppers to give it various flavor profiles and heat.

• Jalapenos – you can leave the seeds and flesh or not
• Banana Peppers – these can be hot or sweet.
• Cajun Bell Peppers – this is just a regular bell pepper but it has a bolder, mild heat taste

If you can’t find the Cajun bell, you can use regular bell peppers, poblano, or cubanelle. Want more heat, add a habanero!

Slice it up!

What I love about this recipe is that you don’t have to be precise in your knife cuts or make stuff look pretty.

1. Half your tomatoes and tomatillos.

Chef’s Tip about Tomatillos

2. Place them on a foil-lined full-size sheet pan (18×26″ sheet pan).

When you place them on the pan just spread them out. You want the flavors to marry altogether.

3.  Next, slice up the onion into 1/4″ slices and place them onto the pan, dispersing evenly. If you don’t have red onions you can use sweet onions, shallots, or regular white onions.

Red onions always work best in salsa as they have a bit more ‘bite” to them. White onions tend to be sweeter.

4.  Next, halve the peppers and place them on the pan, evenly dispersing.

Chef’s Tip about Pepper Heat

The heat of the pepper lies mostly in the fleshy part. Yes, the rest of the pepper will still be hot but a good portion of the heat lies in the flesh. So it’s completely up to you if you want to remove all or some of it. 

“But what about the seeds Lori?” I left them in but you can remove them. They carry some heat as, while they tend to be tasteless, they are covered in capsaicin (the hotness).

One final touch…

Once the peppers are added to the pan add your garlic, salt, and pepper. You can mince it or roast the cloves. I had a ton minced so I went with that. Just sprinkle it all over.

Let’s Get Roasted!

While you’re getting your pan ready, preheat your oven to 475F *yes you want it HOT. I’m not broiling these as I want the veggies to render a bit and their natural pectin to come out a bit. Plus this allows the onions to sweeten up.

A Thing of Beauty!

As you can see everything was rendered and some of the veggies got a great char.

At this point, you want to grab your blender or big immersion blender as you’ll want to process these a bit.

FYI… the smell was INTOXICATING!!!

Grab the rest of your ingredients

Once your veggies are roasted, grab your bunch of cilantro and limes.

1. Depending on the size of your blender, add half of the roasted veggies, half of the cilantro, and the juice of one lime. If it fits, repeat the layering. Obviously do not go above the MAX line.

I did not add the juices from the pan to the blender as I didn’t want to water down my salsa. You can if you want. Or save it for a stock or Mexican-style dish. It has an amazing flavor!

Do not cover it completely!

Yes, you need to put a lid on it but do not cover it completely. It’s hot and if you close the lid, it will explode and spray everywhere possibly burning you. If your lid has a vent, open that but put a towel lightly over it so it can allow steam to release so it doesn’t spray everywhere.

Pulse away…until you like the consistency

This is COMPLETELY a personal preference so pulse the mixture until you’ve reached your desired salsa consistency. I’m a no-chunks kind of salsa-loving girl. I love all of the ingredients but those big ol’ honking chunks turn me off.

When you’re done, simply transfer to a lidded container and store in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.

What if my salsa is too spicy?

You have 3 options here:

1. Make another batch but omit the peppers. When it’s done, blend and mix with your existing salsa. That will tone it out.
2. Add more acid. A bit more lime juice to help reduce the heat and amp up the citrusy flavor.
3. Add sugar SPARINGLY! Yes, I know your first reaction is to add sugar or honey BUT this is the last resort. We’re talking a pinch at most. If you add too much you can’t really undo it. The only way you can fix a sweet salsa is to make another batch and mix them together.

How to Store Salsa

Well, besides on a chip and in your belly, you have 2 ways:

1. Place it into jars and place in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.
2. Use a water-bath method and process for 15 minutes. High altitudes would be 20 minutes for altitudes 1000 to 6000 feet, and 25 minutes above 6000 feet.

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