Red chile salsa is the jar you want sitting in the fridge when there are chips on the table and no particular plan for dinner. Everything goes in the blender, then into a pot for ten minutes, and what comes out is deep and spoonable instead of bright and loose. It makes two to three cups in about twenty minutes, and if you can stand to wait, make it the day before you want it. The cumin and the chile both need a night to settle and it's noticeably better on day two.
Those ten minutes in the pot are the whole difference between a cooked salsa and a fresh one. If what you were after was pico de gallo, this isn't that, and the reason is the heat rather than the ingredient list.
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The recipe
Red Chile Salsa
- Yield2 to 3 cups
- Prep10 minutes
- Cook10 minutes
- Chile1/2 cup
Ingredients
- 2 lbs tomatoes, chopped
- 1 small white onion, chopped
- 2 jalapeños, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
- 1/2 cup flame roasted Hatch red chile
- Juice of 1/2 lime
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/4 teaspoon cumin
- Salt to taste
Method
- Put the tomatoes, onion, jalapeños, red chile, garlic, cilantro and lime juice in a blender or food processor. Pulse until fairly smooth but still with some texture. Don't run it to a purée.
- Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Pour in the blended mixture along with the cumin and a good pinch of salt. Stand back, because it will spit.
- Bring it to a quick boil, then reduce and simmer 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Taste and salt again. It'll need more than you expect once the tomatoes have concentrated.
- Cool, then refrigerate. Serve with chips or on anything.
Cooked versus fresh
Both are salsa and they do different jobs, so it's worth knowing which one you're making. A cooked salsa like this one comes out deeper and rounder, with a little sweetness from the concentrated tomato, and the onion and garlic lose their raw bite somewhere in that ten minutes. It clings to a chip instead of running off it and it keeps for the better part of a week, which is why this is the one you make in a batch. Pico de gallo is the opposite case in every way: bright, sharp, crunchy, nothing goes near heat, and it's best inside a day. That's the one you put together while the grill warms up.
The order here matters too. Blending first and cooking second gives you an even texture and a short cook, which is what this recipe is built around. Cooking the vegetables whole and blending afterward is the other tradition, and it produces something smokier, especially if you char the tomatoes and the onion under a broiler before they go in the blender. If I've got ten extra minutes I'll take the broiler route, because the char is the single biggest upgrade available to a salsa this simple.
The one thing not to do is run the blender until it's smooth. Salsa wants some texture, and over-blending whips air into it and lightens the color besides.
The two heat sources
There are two kinds of heat in this pot and they aren't interchangeable. The jalapeños bring something sharp and immediate and green, and two of them is assertive. Pull the veins out if you want less, or just use one. The roasted red chile brings its flavor along with its heat, and it's the reason this tastes like New Mexico instead of like red salsa in general. Half a cup into two pounds of tomatoes reads as a real presence without taking the dish over.
So you can steer it. More red chile and less jalapeño gives you chile character without the sharp edge. For a purely New Mexican version, leave the jalapeños out altogether and take the red chile up to three quarters of a cup, which is the way I'd make it for people who already know what red chile tastes like.
If you roasted and froze your own red chile this fall, that's what should go in here, and you don't need anything from us to make this. What a jar is for is February, or a kitchen a long way from a roaster.
Heat also varies by year and not just by label, since NMSU notes that field stress raises the heat of even a mild cultivar. Taste before you commit.
About canning it, which you should not do
People ask this every summer, so here's the straight answer. Don't water bath can this recipe, or any salsa recipe you've adjusted. Canning safety for salsa rests entirely on acidity, and what determines whether the finished jar is safe is the ratio of low acid ingredients such as onions, peppers and chile to acid ingredients such as tomatoes and lime juice. Change that ratio, or add chile to a recipe that was tested without it, and you can push the pH into the range where Clostridium botulinum survives.
Recipes that are safe to can were laboratory tested at those exact proportions. This one wasn't.
Refrigerate it instead, or freeze it. Freezing works fine for a cooked salsa and carries none of that risk. If canning salsa is what you actually want to do, start from a tested recipe from the USDA or a university extension service and follow it exactly, including the quantities of every low acid ingredient.
Keeping it
In the refrigerator it keeps 3 to 4 days, per USDA guidance for cooked leftovers, covered and cold within two hours. In the freezer it'll go several months, and it freezes better than a fresh salsa does because the vegetables have already broken down. Expect it a little looser on thawing. Freeze it flat in bags, or in small containers, so you only thaw what you need.
If it came out watery or flat
It's watery
Tomatoes vary enormously in water content and there's no way to know in advance. Simmer it longer, uncovered. Fifteen or twenty minutes is fine if that's what it needs.
It tastes flat
Salt first, then lime. A cooked salsa needs more salt than a fresh one because nothing left in it is sharp.
It's bitter
That's usually over-blended cilantro stems or scorched garlic. Pulse instead of running the blender, and keep the pot at medium.
It's too hot
More tomato, or a little sugar. Dairy works at the table, which is the reason sour cream usually sits next to it.
The color is pale and foamy
Over-blended. Pulse next time.
What to put it on
Chips first, obviously. After that it's eggs, rolled tacos, burritos, or anything that needs acid and heat arriving at the same moment.
It's a different thing from New Mexico red chile sauce, which is smooth, thickened, and meant to be poured hot over enchiladas. Salsa is a condiment and sauce is part of the dish, even though both of them start from the same jar.
That jar is our 16 oz jars of flame roasted Hatch red chile, Medium or Hot, four ingredients: Hatch chile, salt, garlic, lime juice. At half a cup per batch, one jar makes four. Green chile beer queso belongs next to this on a table, and the recipe archive is free.
Common questions
Is this a cooked or a fresh salsa?
Cooked. Everything is blended, then simmered ten minutes, which rounds off the raw onion and garlic and concentrates the tomato. A fresh salsa such as pico de gallo never goes near heat.
Can I can this salsa?
No. Canning safety for salsa depends on the exact ratio of low acid ingredients to acid ones, and this recipe hasn't been laboratory tested at those proportions. Refrigerate or freeze it, or use a tested recipe from USDA or a university extension service if you want to can.
How much red chile goes in?
Half a cup into two pounds of tomatoes. Take it to three quarters of a cup and leave out the jalapeños if you want a purely New Mexican version.
Why is my salsa watery?
Tomatoes vary a lot in water content. Simmer it uncovered for longer, up to twenty minutes.
Can I freeze salsa?
Yes, and a cooked salsa freezes better than a fresh one because the vegetables have already broken down. Expect it slightly looser on thawing.
What is the difference between this and red chile sauce?
Salsa is a chunky cold condiment. Red chile sauce is smooth, thickened with a little flour or by reduction, and poured hot over enchiladas. Different dishes from the same jar.
How long does it keep in the fridge?
Three to four days per USDA guidance for cooked leftovers, covered and cold within two hours. It's better on day two.
The short version
Pulse everything, simmer it ten minutes in a little oil, and salt it harder than you think you should. You'll get two to three cups, it's better tomorrow, and it keeps three to four days in the fridge or several months in the freezer. Don't can it.