Smoking your vegetables is the secret ingredient you’ve been missing to elevate your salsa to something truly outstanding. Adding a smoky twist can transform your hatch chile salsa into a flavor fiesta like no other!
Something Magical Happens When You Smoke It
I seriously could make a meal out of chips and salsa. Folks when I tell you this is the best salsa I’ve ever had, it’s no joke! Something magical happens when you smoke the vegetables for salsa. That slight hint of smokiness and char just helps round out the flavors so incredibly well.
We loved this so much that I had to make a second batch just so I could preserve more for winter!
Grab Your Ingredients
The true star of this salsa is the Hatch Chile Peppers. They come in a variety of heat levels from mild to extra hot and yes, those extra hot ones are HOT. The mild are just that. To me, they are more like a bell pepper heat-wise than say a jalapeno or habanero.
- Tomatoes
- Tomatillos
- Hatch Chile Peppers (I went with HOT)
- Jalapenos
- Red Onions
- Cilantro (yes you need this)
- Fresh Lime Juice
- Salt
Set Up The Yoder Smokers YS640
I cannot express how much I LOVE my Yoder Smokers YS640! Seriously I use this at least 3-5 times a week all year round.
- Preheat the smoker to 240F. I used a fruit pellet. Place the veggies directly on the racks. Now I put the peppers on the lower racks as I wanted to get a bit more heat to them so we had more char. You can put them on the top rack if you prefer.
- At the 60-minute mark check your veggies. I turned my peppers over and let them smoke for another 30 minutes or so. You’ll know your veggies are ready as the tomatoes and tomatillos will split, the onions will char and become soft and the peppers will blister and you’ll see the skin start to separate from the flesh.
Remove The Hatch Chile Pepper Skins
In a previous post, I shared how to grill these and remove the skins. The process is the same when you smoke them when it comes to removing the skins.
- When you remove the peppers from the smoker, immediately transfer the peppers to a heat-safe dish and cover them with plastic wrap.
- That plastic wrap will now help ‘sweat’ the peppers to remove any last bit of skin that may still be attached to the pepper.
- Allow the peppers to sweat for 15 minutes before attempting the remove the skin. Once the skin is removed, scrape out the seeds. Discard the skin and seeds
Can you eat Hatch Chile Pepper Skin?
Technically yes, you can but you may not want to. Many of these chiles are thicker than most which can make them tough to chew/digest. They are fibrous and can sometimes be bitter.
Blend It Up
At this point, you want to grab your blender or big immersion blender as you’ll want to process these a bit. You’ll also want to add the cilantro (with stems), salt, and lime juice to the blender.
Depending on the size of your blender, add half of the smoked veggies, half of the cilantro, and the juice of one lime. If it fits, repeat the layering. Do not go above the MAX line.
Salsa Thickness and Consistency
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.
If your salsa has too much liquid you can strain the salsa and add the desired amount back to the salsa to get your favorite consistency.
You can also add your salsa to a wide stockpot and set it to simmer to allow the liquids to evaporate. I would advise stirring it often and not letting it all evaporate.
Recipe Substitutions and Additions
There are a million different things you could change about this but the 2 things I would NOT change are using Hatch Chiles and smoking the veggies. Trust me on this, it makes all the difference!
- Peppers – add bell peppers or try other fresh peppers
- Green Chile – skip the tomatoes and go with all tomatillos
- Seasonings – you can add cumin or even Mexican Oregano
- Garlic – smoke the garlic and add this to the salsa
The Best Smoked Hatch Chile Salsa
Smoking your vegetables is the secret ingredient you’ve been missing to elevate your salsa to something truly outstanding. Adding a smoky twist can transform your hatch chile salsa into a flavor fiesta like no other!
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 90 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours
- Yield: 4 pints
- Category: salsa, chips and salsa, smoked vegetables, hatch chile season, football foods, snacks, chips and dip
- Method: Smoker
- Cuisine: salsa, chips and salsa, smoked vegetables, hatch chile season, football foods, snacks, chips and dip
Ingredients
- 6 Hatch Chile Peppers (I used HOT)
- 10 tomatoes off the vine
- 5 tomatillos
- 2 red onions (halved)
- 2 jalapenos
- 1 bunch of cilantro (with stems)
- Juice from 1 lime
- 1 – 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
Instructions
- Preheat the smoker to 240F. I used a fruit pellet. Place the veggies directly on the racks. Now I put the peppers on the lower racks as I wanted to get a bit more heat to them so we had more char. You can put them on the top rack if you prefer.
- At the 60-minute mark check your veggies. I turned my peppers over and let them smoke for another 30 minutes or so. You’ll know your veggies are ready as the tomatoes and tomatillos will split, the onions will char and become soft and the peppers will blister and you’ll see the skin start to separate from the flesh.
- When you remove the peppers from the smoker, immediately transfer the peppers to a heat-safe dish and cover them with plastic wrap. That plastic wrap will now help ‘sweat’ the peppers to remove any last bit of skin that may still be attached to the pepper. Allow the peppers to sweat for 15 minutes before attempting the remove the skin. Once the skin is removed, scrape out the seeds. Discard the skin and seeds
- Grab your blender or big immersion blender as you’ll want to process the veggies. You’ll also want to add the cilantro (with stems), salt, and lime juice to the blender. Pulse until desired consistency.
- Enjoy warm, store in the fridge, or process in a water bath canner for long-term storage.
Notes
I canned mine and it made 8 cups
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