Follow along, as I travel to my kitchen to make this easy homemade Mexican fire-roasted salsa recipe to recreate memories of past Mexican adventures at home.
When I’m at home, and I’m dreaming of a trip to Playa del Carmen, or Puerto Vallarta, or even New Mexico, I head to the kitchen. Food memories are the tastiest of all memories, don’t you agree? My favourite tasty treat is homemade Mexican fire-roasted salsa and tortilla chips!
Say the phrase “fire-roasted”, and I think of smokey, saucy goodness. But with the addition of the word “salsa”, a large handful of tortilla chips, and a frosty Mojito to wash it all down and now you’ve got yourself a fiesta!
Salsa (the Spanish word for “sauce”) is ubiquitous when it comes Mexican, Central American, South American, and Tex Mex cuisine. It’s served as a condiment with every Latin American dish that I’ve ever eaten during my travels and comes in dozens of forms such as salsa Roja, pico de gallo, and salsa verde to name just a few.
Read about some of our Mexican adventures:
What makes a “good” salsa “great”?
One word > Chili
With all these different types of salsas, and seven different styles of Mexican regional cuisine it comes as no surprise to find that there are approximately 140 different types of Mexican chillies in many different colours, shapes, and sizes. Each type of chilli pepper brings with it varying amounts of heat.
An excellent way to tell the level of heat is by the size of the chilli pepper—the smaller the pepper, the bigger the spicy punch of heat.
Tomatoes and chillies are the main ingredients in most salsa recipe, and as mentioned the heat of the salsa will vary depending on which peppers are used. This salsa recipe that I’m about to share with you calls for both jalapeno and serrano peppers.
Jalapeno is the most well-known pepper. When shopping for jalapeno peppers, they will turn from green to dark purple, and finally to red when they are ripe. They are very hot and are an excellent choice for salsa.
Homemade Mexican Fire-Roasted Salsa Recipe
Ingredients for the homemade fire-roasted salsa:
- 2 large Roma tomatoes, cut into quarters
- 1 jalapeño pepper, sliced in half (*seeds removed)
- 1 serrano pepper, sliced in half (*seeds removed)
- 1 small white onion, cut into ½ inch rings
- 2 garlic cloves, whole
- ½ -1 teaspoon of salt (depending on your taste)
- 1 teaspoon of tomato bouillon**
- 1 to 2 tablespoons of chicken broth (depending on how smooth you want it)
- 2 tablespoons of table crema, crème fraiche or sour cream
- Fresh cilantro and a squeeze of lime juice as a garnish
Using fire-roasted tomatoes and peppers in this recipe provides that nice earthy smokiness to the salsa that really adds to the flavour and the taste. To achieve the right amount of char, I highly recommend that you fire up the grill if at all possible but, in a pinch, you can put all the vegetables on a baking sheet and put them under the broiler in the oven.
To make the fire-roasted salsa:
- Sprinkle the tomatoes, jalapeño, serrano, and onion slices with salt and grill over high heat on the bbq or broil them in the oven. Cook until the tomatoes have formed a nice char and the peppers have bubbled.
- Add the fire-roasted vegetables to a blender along with the tomato bouillon, salt, chicken broth, and crema – blend until smooth.
- Refrigerate for at least thirty minutes to allow the flavours to meld together before serving.
This fire-roasted tomato salsa is perfect with tortilla chips – whether ready-made or if you are adventurous in the kitchen homemade chips. The salsa is also the ideal accompaniment to any Mexican dish such as our Shredded Chicken and Potato Taquitos recipe.
Homemade Mexican Fire Roasted Salsa Recipe
This fire-roasted tomato salsa is perfect with tortilla chips – whether ready-made or if you are adventurous in the kitchen homemade chips. The salsa is also the ideal accompaniment to any Mexican dish such as our Shredded Chicken and Potato Taquitos recipe.
Ingredients
- 2 large Roma tomatoes, cut into quarters
- 1 jalapeño pepper, sliced in half (*seeds removed)
- 1 serrano pepper, sliced in half (*seeds removed)
- 1 small white onion, cut into ½ inch rings
- 2 garlic cloves, whole
- ½ -1 teaspoon of salt (depending on your taste)
- 1 teaspoon of tomato bouillon (you can substitute with chicken broth, but your completed salsa will look paler in colour)
- 1 to 2 tablespoons of chicken broth (depending on how smooth you want it)
- 2 tablespoons of table crema, crème fraiche or sour cream
- Fresh cilantro and a squeeze of lime juice as a garnish
Instructions
- Sprinkle the tomatoes, jalapeño, serrano, and onion slices with salt and grill over high heat on the bbq or broil them in the oven. Cook
until the tomatoes have formed a nice char and the peppers have bubbled. - Add the cooked vegetables to a food processor or blender along with the tomato bouillon, salt, chicken broth, and crema – blend until
smooth. - Refrigerate for thirty minutes to allow the flavours to meld together before serving.
Notes
- Wear gloves when cutting and handling the peppers and most importantly do not touch your face, eyes, nose or mouth.
- *Remove the seeds from the serrano and jalapeño chilli peppers if you don't want the salsa to be super spicy.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
4Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 75Total Fat: 6gSaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 17mgSodium: 731mgCarbohydrates: 5gFiber: 1gSugar: 3gProtein: 1g
Nutrition information isn't always accurate.
Are you a salsa and chips fan like we are? Where’s the best salsa you’ve eaten somewhere in the world?
Skip to Recipe
