A step-by-step guide to canning salsa. Canning salsa is a fun way to make fresh, flavorful salsa that you will have for months to come. It also serves as a wonderful holiday gift or a contribution to a friend’s get-together. 

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One of the things I love about the transition from summer to fall is a garden full of gorgeous vegetables. Since chips and salsa are one of our favorite snacks, we plant a garden full of tomatoes and peppers in preparation to can salsa.

Canning is a great way to preserve foods, save money, and create a backstock of delicious foods. Canning may seem daunting because of all the necessary steps, but it is not as hard as it seems and is so worth it.

Everything I know about canning I learned from my mom, she’s a pro! We canned a big batch of salsa with my mom and took tons of notes to share with you.

The recipe we used, the one my mom has used since I can remember, faded and stained on a square piece of paper makes 8 pints. We multiplied this recipe by eight to make a large batch.

You can pick any amount to multiply it by.  Each time we can this recipe we will usually tweak it a little bit. We add a different type of pepper or tomato, it’s exciting to use different flavors! 

Equipment

One thing you should get before canning anything is a canning and preserving book. The all new Ball book of canning and preserving or the Ball the Blue Book.

• Water bath canner (we used two)
• Canning Jars
• Lids and rings
• Large Stockpot
• Jar lifter
• Wide mouth funnel

When canning a large batch, you will want to buddy up with at least 1-2 of your friends to get the job done in a timely matter, if you were to do just the recipe amount you could do it by yourself.

Preparing The Jars

Sanitize the jars. You can use the dishwasher with a sanitizing option that will get it hot enough to sanitize them. The jars need to be hot to the touch when you’re ready to fill them so make sure to start the dishwasher at the right time.

You can also sanitize them in the oven at 175 degrees for warming and bump it up to 200 degrees right before you are ready to fill them.

If you are canning a large batch, you may have to use both options. That way you have enough hot jars when you are ready to fill them with salsa.

Making the salsa

De-seed the peppers by chopping off the tops and pulling the seeds out. Put the peppers on the grill, flipping frequently just until they blister. You can do this on any grill or your oven broiler.

Quick Tip: Always wear gloves while preparing the peppers, even if you are not dealing with spicy peppers. If you don’t, you will have spicy hands for a week!

Once the peppers are blistered and charred, take them off the grill and straight into an ice bath. Leave them in the ice bath for at least 30 seconds. Remove the peppers and scrape the skin off, it should easily slide off. Chop the peppers and add them to your large stockpot.

Chop the onions or quarter them and use a food processor. Add the chopped onion to the stockpot.

Quick Tip: If you are making a large batch, write down how many cups of onions you have put in the stockpot so you don’t lose count. You will be multitasking.

Remove the skin of the tomatoes. It’s a similar process to the peppers, but instead, the tomatoes are blanched not grilled. 

Blanch the tomatoes in hot but not boiling water for less than a minute. You don’t want to cook the tomatoes so don’t forget them in the hot bath!

Remove them and put them straight into an ice bath for at least 30 seconds. Cut out the core just at the top and peel the skin right off.  It should be easy to peel off but not falling off. Coarsely Chop the tomatoes and add them to your pot.

Quick Tip: Strain your chopped tomatoes before putting them in the pot, this will make your salsa less watery.

Combine all the tomatoes, peppers, and onions in the stockpot. If you feel that the salsa is too watery, drain some of the juice out by using a large measuring cup and steep the juices out.

Slowly bring the salsa just to a boil over medium heat. Lower the heat and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring frequently. You do not want to burn the bottom of your salsa, as it can ruin the whole batch.

Canning Process

While your salsa is warming, get your water bath equipment ready. Take the jar racks out of the water bather and place them on the side to be filled with full jars. 

Fill the pot up to ½ inch above where the top of the jar will be and bring it to a boil. The jars need to stay covered the entire time they are in the water bath, so fill it full enough.

Heat up a bowl of water until it is boiling and place the lids in the bowl; this sanitizes the lids. Keep a kettle full of hot water on the stove to replenish this bowl and the water bath.

Once the water bath is almost boiling start taking the jars out of the dishwasher or oven. Use the wide-mouth funnel to fill them with salsa up until the lip, about a half-inch from the very top of the jar.

Dip a clean rag or paper towel into the hot water your lids are in and wipe the rim of the jar. This wipes anything off the rim to make sure it gets a tight seal. If you find a jar with a chip or crack, discard it as it will likely not seal.

Take a lid out of the hot water, grab a ring, and seal the jar tight.

Load the wire rack full of jars and place it into the water bath; set your timer for 45 minutes.

Use your jar lifter to take them out and place them somewhere too cool. Don’t put them in the same vicinity of the jars to go into the water bath…don’t want to mix those up.

Quick Tip: If you hear a pop while they are in the hot bath, that’s good! That means they are sealing.

When the jars have cooled to a point where you can safely touch them, check if the seals took.  When pushing down on the top of the jar, if it indents and makes a popping noise the seal didn’t take which means it won’t keep on the shelf. Either put it in the refrigerator to eat within seven days or put a new lid on it and re-hot bath it.

Once the jars are completely cooled, pop open a jar and enjoy the benefits of your hard work! It’s a full day’s work, but it is so worth it!

If you want a quicker salsa option that is great for entertaining, try this restaurant-style salsa.