Home Canned Salsa Recipe + 10 Tips for Canning Salsa Safely (2024)

This home canned salsa recipe rates an “Awesome!” from friends and family alike. To make it a salsa recipe for canning, we use more tomatoes, plus added vinegar to lower the pH. (More on Canning Salsa Safely at the end of the post.)

The taste and texture of this salsa recipe is similar to a popular commercial brand, but we like ours better. You can taste the difference in canning salsa with your fresh local produce at the peak of ripeness.

Quality Ingredients Count

Organic spices are great if you can get them. You might be able to bulk organic spices at a local grocery store, or you can buy them online.

Cilantro gives you a more authentic flavor, but my parsley grows much better than my cilantro. I’m also one of the people who think cilantro tastes like soap, so I usually use parsley.

Use any type of sweet peppers – red, yellow, green, orange, banana – just don’t exceed one cup chopped per batch. We used to use only one hot pepper when the kids were younger, now we use four. Meaty paste tomatoes are best, but slicing tomatoes will do in a pinch.

Salsa Recipe for Canning

Ingredients

• 20-22 pounds of tomatoes
• 3 cups onions, finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• ¼ cup fresh cilantro or parsley, finely chopped
• ¼ cup celery, finely diced
• 1 cup assorted mild peppers, finely chopped
• 1 – 4 hot peppers, finely chopped
• 1 Tablespoon sea salt
• 1 Tablespoon dried oregano leaf
• ½ teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin (optional, but recommended)
• 1 teaspoon chili powder (optional, for more heat)
• 1 cup 5% apple cider vinegar
• 3 6-ounce cans tomato paste (optional, for thicker salsa)
• ¼ cup Clear Gel (optional, for thicker salsa)

Directions – Prepping the Tomatoes

Blanch and skin the tomatoes. To blanch tomatoes, place them in boiling water for 30 to 60 seconds, until the skins start to split.

As soon as the skins start splitting, remove the tomatoes and place them in a cold water/ice water bath. This stops the cooking so they don’t get mushy, and makes them cool enough to handle for peeling. Slip off skins.

If you are working alone, put the tomatoes to drain in a colander while you prepare the rest of the ingredients. In our kitchen, the boys chop tomatoes while I prep the rest of the ingredients.

To finish the tomato prep, dice the tomatoes into small chunks and place in colander to drain off excess juice. We prefer to scrape out most of the seeds and squeeze out excess juice for a thicker salsa. If desired, juice can be strained and consumed, or canned separately for later use.

Prepping the Rest of the Salsa Ingredients

Finely chop onions, garlic, cilantro (parsley), sweet and hot peppers.

Caution: Use gloves when handling and chopping hot peppers. I leave the hot peppers until last to minimize risk of spreading the hot pepper juice around my work area.

Prepare canning jars, two piece canning lids and water bath canner. Your canner will need time to heat up for processing.

Place all salsa ingredients except vinegar and Clear Gel in a large stockpot. Dissolve Clear Gel (if desired) in vinegar, add vinegar mix to stockpot. Mix salsa thoroughly.

Heat the salsa to a gentle simmer. There is no need to cook it; you just want to get hot enough for canning.

Canning the Salsa

Fill the jars with salsa, allowing 1/2 inch headspace. Remove air bubbles. Wipe rims for any spills. Seat the lids and hand-tighten the rings around them.

I run my jars through the dishwasher, so they're done and warm when I’m ready to fill jars.

Never fill cold jars with hot salsa! The difference in temperatures may cause the glass to break.

For water bath canning salsa: Place the jars in the pre-heated canner. Make sure they are covered with at least 1 inch of water.

Bring to a boil and start the timer. Process the jars in a boiling-water bath for 15 minutes for 8 oz and pints and 20 minutes for quarts.

When processing time is done, turn off heat, remove lid and wait 5 minutes to remove jars.

Remove jars from canner. Place 1″ apart on a kitchen towel on the counter top. Let the jars sit to cool completely (12 to 24 hours).

Remove rings and check seals. (Center of lid will not flex if properly sealed.)

Wipe any drips, label and date and store in a cool, dry location out of direct sunlight. Best used within one year.

Makes around 10-12 pints.

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What is Clear Gel?

Clear Gel is ultrafine cornstarch, which is used to thicken the salsa. It is now the preferred product for thickening when canning.

Clear Gel is recommended over corn starch for canning because it doesn't form clumps in your recipe. E-Z Gel is a similar product.

Canning Salsa Safely – What You Need to Know to Make Home Canned Salsa

Thinking about canning salsa, but not sure your favorite salsa recipe is safe?

The University of Georgia Cooperative Extension Service has a great salsa canning guide. They discuss all the ingredients that are typically used in a salsa. They also have some sample recipes, and what makes a recipe safe (or not safe) for canning.

Some safety tips for canning salsa include:

1. Always follow basic kitchen safety rules. Wash hands, equipment and produce, and use canning jars and lids that are in good condition.
2. Add acid, such as lemon juice, vinegar, or citric acid to lower the pH. For water bath canning, pH should be≤ 4.6.
3. Lemon may be substituted for vinegar, but vinegar may not be substituted for lemon. (Vinegar is less acidic then lemon.)
4. Use purchased vinegar with 5% acidity (homemade vinegar may be less acidic). Acidity level is important for safe home canning.
5. Use ripe, firm tomatoes, preferably paste tomatoes. Don't used fruit that is overripe or rotting. Remove tomato skins to lower pH.
6. It is safe to add additional dry spices such as salt, pepper or ground cumin. Do not add extra low acid fresh ingredients such as peppers or onions.
7. Do not use flour or cornstarch for thickening, only canning safe thickeners like Clear Gel.
8. Store home canned salsa in the refrigerator after opening.
9. Store any jars that did not seal (or opened jars) in the refrigerator and use within 2 weeks.
10. Do not eat home canned salsa with bulging lids, off smells or any other signs of spoilage.

If you want to store your favorite salsa recipe, but are not sure if it's safe for canning, try freezing instead. You can also refrigerate fresh salsa and use within one to two weeks.

Check it out at Safe Salsas for Canning for additional information.

Altitude Adjustments

The Ball Canning website provides the following recommendations for processing times at higher altitudes.

For Boiling Water Processing

If you are boiling at an altitude higher than 1,000 feet above sea level, adjust boiling water processing time as indicated.

Altitude Feet Increase Processing Time

• 1,001- 3,000 5 minutes
• 3,001- 6,000 10 minutes
• 6,001- 8,000 15 minutes
• 8,001-10,000 20 minutes

For Pressure Canning

If you are boiling at an altitude higher than 1,000 feet above sea level, adjust pressure poundsas indicated.

Altitude Feet Weighted Gauge Dial Gauge

• 0– 1,000 10 11
• 1,001 – 2,000 15 11
• 2,001 – 4,000 15 12
• 4,001 – 6,000 15 13
• 6,001 – 8,000 15 14
• 8,001 – 10,000 15 15

More Homemade Condiment Recipes

Don't forget to check out our full listing of Canning Recipes and Preserving Guides on the website, including:

• Home Canned Spaghetti Sauce
• Tomato Soup Recipe for Canning
• 2 Homemade Ketchup Recipes – Canned or Probiotic
• No Canning Required Dill Pickles
• Tomatillo Salsa (Salsa Verde) – Small Batch Fresh and Instructions for Safe Canning

P.S. – My History With Canning Salsa

This post has been updated from a post originally published in 2009, which included more of my salsa canning fiascoes. For the curious, I've included part of that original post below.

My first experience with canning salsa years ago included recipes from the Ball Blue Book and some “mild” homegrown jalapeno peppers.

Those “mild” peppers ate through two pairs of rubber gloves. They filled the house with fumes so strong that I could hardly breathe. My husband started tearing immediately as he soon as he entered the house when he came from work.

The salsa was thin and watery, strong on vinegar, and not too tasty. I gave up on home canned salsa for quite a few years – I couldn’t put myself through that again.

Enter older and wiser me, several years ago (2006?). We had close to an acre of garden, with over 20 heavily producing tomato plants. Through the awesome power of the internet, it was time to try another salsa recipe for canning.

I started hunting around for recipes, and came up with several that looked promising. They’ve changed the recipe that I originally used, but I’ll be sticking with the one I have. This makes a mild homemade salsa.

In 2013, we made seven batches of home canned salsa. The “boys” love salsa, even now that they have grown up.

Originally published in 2009, last updated in 2020.