Easy Freezer Salsa

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Inside: This easy freezer salsa recipe is a great way to preserve your homegrown tomatoes.

Use your homegrown tomatoes to make this delicious easy freezer salsa. Because you are freezing this recipe, you can make this salsa your very own by adding or subtracting ingredients.

Please Note: This recipe is NOT suitable for canning!

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Why Make Freezer Salsa?

One reason that I don’t like most canned salsa recipes is that they taste like vinegar. To make the mixture acidic enough to can properly, vinegar must be used. Most authentic salsa recipes from Mexican restaurants do not use vinegar. A splash or two of lime juice, yes. But no vinegar.

My absolute favorite salsa recipe comes from The Pioneer Woman. But it uses already canned tomatoes. And while you can surely freeze that recipe (I know because I’ve done it many times.) the resulting salsa is very watery once thawed. But if you are making salsa to eat right away, it is truly the best.

So I’ve been on the lookout for a salsa recipe that would use my homegrown tomatoes but that didn’t require the vinegar. So I decided to try a freezer salsa recipe.

Many recipes I found for freezer salsa contained condensed tomato soup. I didn’t want to ruin my homegrown vegetables with overly processed ingredients. (Most condensed tomato soups contain MSG.) So I found a recipe I liked and modified it to be an easy freezer salsa recipe made without condensed tomato soup.

I had the majority of the ingredients in my garden – tomatoes, peppers, onions, and jalapeno peppers, so this recipe came together pretty quickly and very inexpensively.

Please note that the tomato paste in the recipe below is optional. It will help the salsa thicken up without having to cook it as long. But the choice is yours as to whether or not you want to use it.

And since this salsa is being frozen, you can adjust the ingredients to your liking. Add more or less jalapeno peppers. Decrease the cumin. Add more onions. Whatever you desire to change up, you can.

Should I Peel The Tomatoes?

I personally vote a yes for peeling the tomatoes. Sometimes tomato peels can be tough so it is easier to remove them before you ever start making the salsa. (Read below for how to peel tomatoes quickly.) But do you have to? No. It’s a matter of personal preference.

How Do I Peel Tomatoes?

The easiest way to peel tomatoes is to put a large pot of water on to boil. Once the water comes to a boil, drop a few tomatoes in at a time, being very careful not to splash yourself with the boiling water.

Boil the tomatoes for about a minute or until the skins start to split. Immediately transfer them to a bowl of ice water.

Repeat this process for all the tomatoes. Once they have cooled, the skins will slip right off though you do sometimes have to cut them away from the stem.

Many people advise you to cut an “x” in the tomatoes before boiling. I have never found the need to do this. It is just one extra step that takes even longer and serves no real benefit.

How Do I Core Tomatoes?

To core the tomatoes, you really just want to remove the tough center if the tomato has one. Any green or white areas near the stem should be cut out. Otherwise, you may find hard chunks of tomato in your salsa.

Should I Remove The Seeds From My Tomatoes?

Just like peeling the tomatoes, removing the seeds is a matter of personal preference. It will be almost impossible to remove all the seeds but depending on how much they bother you, it may be worth it to remove them. I do remove the peels but don’t bother with the seeds unless it is a very seedy tomato.

Do the Jalapenos Make This Salsa Spicy?

Well, spicy is a matter of taste. I think this makes a moderately spicy salsa. Feel free to increase or decrease the amount of hot peppers used in this recipe. Remember when chopping any kind of hot peppers to wear gloves. Otherwise, you will know it the first time you touch your eye!

Can I Use A Food Processor To Make Easy Freezer Salsa?

Absolutely! And if you already have a food processor, I highly recommend using it. You can chop the onions, peppers, jalapenos, and tomatoes quickly in a food processor. (Need a new one? This is the one I have and love!)

A blender will also work on the pulse function to chop the vegetables if that is all you have. Of course, you can always just chop them by hand too.

Easy Freezer Salsa

You can get a printable copy of the recipe at the bottom of the post.

Ingredients

• 10 cups chopped tomatoes
• 2 onions, red, white, or yellow
• 8 cloves garlic, finely minced
• 8 jalapeno peppers, finely chopped
• 1-2 green peppers, chopped
• 1 6 oz. can tomato paste, optional
• 1/4 cup lime juice
• 1 1/2 tsp. ground cumin
• 1 Tbsp. sugar
• 2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp. black pepper
• 1/4 cup lightly packed cilantro leaves

Instructions

1. Remove tomato peels if desired. Core and seed tomatoes. Chop into roughly 1/2 inch pieces.
2. Combine all ingredients in a large stock pot. Bring to a boil.
3. Turn down the heat, but keep the salsa barely simmering, leaving pot uncovered so excess moisture can evaporate. Stir often until salsa is desired consistency. This usually takes between 45 minutes to 1 1/2 hours.
4. Allow salsa to cool.
5. Fill freezer containers leaving at least 1/2 inch headspace. Freeze for up to one year.

Recipe Notes

Be sure to use a large enough pot. You want the salsa to have room to simmer without it splattering all over the stovetop.

Other Preserving Recipes

Looking for more ways to preserve your homegrown produce? Check out these ideas.

• Refrigerator Dill Pickles are so easy. They only take a few minutes to fix but will last 2 months in the refrigerator.
• Got lots of peppers? Learn how to make roasted peppers without a gas stove.
• Learn how to put up jam and freeze beans in this post that has lots of preserving recipes from other bloggers.
• These canning & preserving books will give you many more ideas of how to use up extra produce.

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