Time to up your homemade salsa game by making smoked salsa. Slow smoking the tomatoes, jalapeños, garlic, and onions takes salsa to the next level. Smoking infuses the salsa with a lightly smoky flavor that tastes so good! Skip the store stuff and make fresh smoked salsa. Only have a gas grill? Use a smoker accessory or a smoke tube. Notes included.
If you have a pellet grill and love to smoke all kind of foods, here is a recipe to add to your smoking file: my smoked salsa recipe. Great fresh flavor from red ripe tomatoes, garlic, onion, jalapeno peppers, tang from lime juice and garden goodness from cilantro.
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Why You'll Like This Recipe
- Smoked salsa is easy, delicious, and versatile for snacking and serving.
- A great use of red ripe summer tomatoes.
- Simple fresh ingredients.
- This is a mild smoked salsa but you can make it as hot as you want.
- No pellet grill? See notes for gas grills in FAQs.
Might as well make some smoked queso dip too! Great for parties and potlucks.
Smoked Salsa Ingredients
- Tomatoes: Choose what fresh tomatoes look best at the store. Roma tomatoes (aka plum tomatoes) are my top choice for their meatiness, but vine ripened red tomatoes and beefsteak tomatoes are other good options.
- Onion: Use yellow onion, brown, red onion, sweet onions, or white onion.
- Chili peppers: Jalapeño peppers keep smoked salsa mild, but you can make it spicier. Check out the Scoville page for heat ratings on different types of peppers.
- Garlic: Use fresh whole garlic cloves.
- Lime juice: For that needed bright tang.
- Fresh herbs: Fresh cilantro is traditional for great garden flavor.
Please see the recipe card for measurements, salt, and black pepper.
Substitutions and Variations
- If you are a cilantro hater, use Italian parsley. Fresh oregano is another great choice and common in Mexican cuisine. Use both!
- The hotter the better? For hot salsa, use whatever hot chilis you prefer, like serrano peppers, thai chilies, etc. If you are crazy, use habanero peppers. Not me!
- Try making smoked salsa with heirloom tomatoes, with all of their beautiful colors.
Chef's tip on working with chili peppers: Many people think the heat of a chili pepper is in the seeds, but it's really in the inner white membrane. To tame the heat of chilis, quarter the peppers top to bottom and slice out the seeds and membrane. Another tip, use disposable kitchen food preparation gloves to protect your hands from the sting of hot chilis. And if you don't, do not touch your eyes after working with chili peppers!
Recipe Instructions
Equipment Notes
First, be sure you are starting with a cleaned, filled pellet grill. I use a premium pellet grill blend of hickory, cherry, hard maple, and apple for smoked veggies.
You also need a grill basket with holes to allow the smoke and heat through without your ingredients falling through the grill grates. They are inexpensive and give better results than a sheet pan or disposable aluminum pan.
Chef's tip: If you do not have a food processor, use a blender to refine the salsa. Do the smoked salsa in several batches and just pulse to chop. Don't over-puree or you will have gazpacho (soup) instead of salsa. No blender? Chop it all finely by hand.
Serving Suggestions
What dishes pair well with smoked salsa? Enjoy smoked salsa anyway you would regular salsa or salsa verde:
- Serve it with tacos like these grilled shrimp tacos.
- Use it to make egg dishes a lot more fun and tasty.
- Use it to top or aside fish or chicken as a sauce.
- Your favorite chips, guacamole, and smoked salsa? Of course!
- With grilled meats like this Mexican-inspired grilled flank steak.
Recipe FAQs
Many people like the strong flavor that hickory, mesquite, or pecan pellets give food but these hardwoods can be overpowering on their own for vegetables. For smoked salsa, try a fruitwood such as cherry or apple, or use a blend of woods including fruit wood. Be sure what you choose is 100% hardwood with no fillers or low quality, cheaper woods.
To make smoked salsa without a smoker or pellet grill (on a gas grill), use a grill accessory to add smoke, such as a smoke tube or smoker box. Depending on the size of the holes, fill the smoke tube with either wood chips or wood pellets. Light wood on fire with a small propane torch or butane torch. Some gas grills come with smoking attachments, so follow the manufacturers instructions.
Smoked salsa can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week.
While fresh salsa is best, smoked salsa can be frozen. Be aware that the texture will change after freezing and thawing, and you may need to drain it of excess juice as the tomatoes thaw.
More Salsa and Sauce Recipes
Fresh sauces and salsa make everyday dishes more flavorful and delicious. All of these recipes are easy, have fun making them fresh at home instead of buying.
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📖 Recipe
Smoked Salsa (pellet grill)
Equipment
- Grill basket or grill tray with holes
Ingredients
- 2 pounds Roma tomatoes or other meaty tomatoes
- 1 medium onion yellow, white, brown, or red
- 4 garlic cloves
- 2 jalapeno peppers or more for spicier salsa
- ¼ cup cilantro leaves sub parsley and oregano
- 1-2 limes juiced
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt or more
- ⅛ teaspoon black pepper optional
Instructions
- Be sure the pellet grill is full of pellets of choice and set temperature to 250°F. Set to super smoke or smoke plus.
- Wash and quarter the tomatoes, chop the onion into small wedges. Slice the peppers lengthwise and slice out the seeds and white membrane (optional). Chop the peppers into large pieces. Peel garlic cloves and leave them whole.Add all of the vegetables to a grill basket or tray and smoke for 90 minutes.
- Remove the grill tray from the smoker and add the ingredients to a food processor. Pulse to refine salsa to your preferred texture. Drain the salsa through a fine mash sieve to remove extra juice, then add the chopped herbs, lime juice, and salt. Taste the salsa and adjust salt if desired.
Notes
- For spicier salsa use more jalapeños or use chiles with higher heat such as serrano peppers.
- Without a food processor, pulse in batches in a blender, being careful not to totally puree the salsa.
- Without a blender, chop the smoked vegetables finely by hand on a large cutting board.
Nutrition
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Porsche guy says
Love this! Let it go 2 hours (got distracted) and used more jalapeños. Really upped my chips, salsa, and guacamole for buddies coming over.