5-Minute Fire Roasted Salsa + Video

Fire Roasted Salsa is easy to make with canned tomatoes! This blender salsa recipe creates a simple but delicious snack with bold flavors! The best part is, it only takes 5 minutes to feed your craving!!

This simple blender salsa recipe is perfect to make for a topping on grilled meats, or to serve with tortilla chips for dipping. I also like to add this spicy condiment to a few pounds of boneless chicken, for Salsa Chicken.

Southwestern Meatballs is a healthy meal that uses fire roasted salsa, and it’s ready to eat in under 40 minutes!

Fire Roasted Salsa

Most salsa recipes require lots of hand-chopping to get the tomatoes, onions, and jalapenos the perfect size. In this blender salsa recipe, we start with canned fire-roasted tomatoes. It’s super simple to make, because the blender does the chopping for us.

As much as we love homemade salsa, some days there is just not enough time (or energy) to do all the prep work.  So, I turn to my well-stocked pantry for canned tomatoes. Hunt’s and a couple of other brands sell canned fire roasted tomatoes that you can use.

Ingredient Notes

Fire-roasted tomatoes, diced jalapeno, onion, and garlic come together to create a magnificent base for this salsa, but the addition of fresh cilantro and lime juice really takes it over the top.

Fire-roasted tomatoes are roasted or grilled over high heat until they char on the outside. This gives them a smoky flavor that tastes fantastic with anything you add them to.

Making fire roasted tomato salsa with canned tomatoes is beyond simple. Or, if you’re comfortable home canning, go for it!!

NOTE: Cans of diced jalapenos are packed with citric acid, NOT vinegar. Use 2 tablespoons of canned jalapenos as a substitute for fresh jalapeno with seeds and veins called for in the recipe.

How to Make Blender Salsa

1. Place ingredients into a blender. Add onion, jalapeno, and garlic to the bowl of a blender.

2. Pulse to combine. Pulse until the ingredients are your desired size, about 5 or 6 times. If you want chunkier salsa, just stop pulsing sooner.

3. Scrape down the sides. Remove the blender’s cover and use a spatula to scrape down the sides. Add remaining ingredients, then pulse another two or three times to combine everything again.

4. Serve! Transfer to a serving bowl and serve immediately, or transfer it to a pint size canning jar and store it in the refrigerator.

Blended fire roasted salsa will stay fresh in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 days. Just be sure to store it in a covered container so it doesn’t take on the flavors of other foods.

Adjusting Spiciness in Fire Roasted Salsa

One of my favorite things about this recipe is that I can customize the heat level depending on who I’m serving it to.

To increase or decrease the spiciness, this is what you will need to do:

• No Heat Salsa:
  If you can’t tolerate spicy foods at all, you can leave out the jalapenos and other chiles altogether. Just add a few red pepper flakes for a salsa that is more like an Italian Salsa Fresca, more commonly known as Pico de Gallo.
  
• Mild Salsa: remove the veins and seeds from the jalapeno, or you can swap out the jalapeno for green chiles. Fire roasted salsa is just as delicious with a milder flavor!
  
• Medium-Mild: For a bit more spiciness, start with 1 tablespoon of green chiles. Taste it first, then add more if you want to kick it up a little further.
  
• Medium fire roasted tomato salsa: Prepare according to the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
  
• Spicy Salsa: Use 2 jalapenos, veins and seeds included. 

How to make blender salsa without a blender 

If you don’t have a blender, you can still make this recipe! Just follow the same directions, but use a food processor or a manual food chopper instead.

Freezing Roasted Tomato Salsa

If you have leftover salsa and you want to keep it longer than a few days, you can put it in a freezer-safe container or freezer bag. Just be sure to use it up within six months for the best quality and taste.

Enjoy!
With love, from our simple kitchen to yours. 

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Originally published June 2015, updated and republished September 2020.

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