Roasted Tomato Salsa

Turn vine-ripened tomatoes into Roasted Tomato Salsa! This easy salsa recipe highlights beautiful fresh tomatoes (heirlooms or others) with serrano and jalapeño peppers, red onion, garlic and lime. Serve this homemade salsa with tortilla chips all summer long.

2024 Update: This recipe was originally shared in July 2013. The recipe has been updated to be spicer. The post includes new photos, as well as more tips and tricks. I hope you love this!

Y’all should know by now that I live in Texas. It’s pretty hot here.

In fact, my mother told me that it felt like we lived on the surface of the sun while she visited us once upon a time in 2013. No joke.

I realize it’s much hotter other places (I’m looking at you, Arizona), but this summer is kicking my butt, and the heat, especially, is playing a major role in it.

Con? I sweat a lot, so I look like a hot mess most days. And running in 100+ temperatures is a challenge, to say the least. 

join our party!

get our latest recipes delivered to your inbox every week — plus all my entertaining tips and tricks!

​
​

Subscribe

We respect your privacy. Unsubscribe at any time.

Why I love this recipe:

One of my favorite things about the summertime is the absolute bounty of fresh produce, and using late summer tomatoes in a spicy salsa recipe like this is the DREAM for someone like me.

For me, it is worthwhile to turn on the oven to roast the tomatoes for this delicious recipe because, well, it’s integral to the flavor. 

This easy homemade salsa is a spicier salsa and it comes together quite quickly, all things considered. 

It’s absolutely delicious and perfect for a warm summer’s day. It also adds nice natural sweetness from the tomatoes with a bit of zing from both serrano and jalapeño peppers.

Bonus points if you can handle the heat, hang out on the patio as the sun is sinking in the west, drink a margarita and eat this roasted salsa recipe with your favorite tortilla chips or on top of homemade tacos or burritos.

Love easy appetizers? Our family adores Charred Corn Salsa, Caramelized Onion Guacamole and Avocado Cream Sauce, too!

What you need to make this recipe:

The Speckled Palate participates in affiliate programs. As an Amazon Associate, I earn a commission from qualifying purchases. Please refer to my disclosure page for more information about these affiliate programs.

• Rimmed baking sheet
• Food processor or high-powdered blender — you could probably also use an immersion blender to break down the salsa, but I have never tried this
• Citrus juicer

Here’s what you will need to purchase from the grocery store or farmer’s market:

• Tomatoes — in my original iteration of this recipe years ago, I made this a fresh heirloom tomato salsa with heirloom tomatoes from the CSA we were a part of. You can seek out the best heirloom tomatoes you can find. But you could also use other fresh tomatoes, like Roma tomatoes, grape tomatoes, cherry tomatoes or little bite-sizes ones like these sugar drops. We are not using canned tomatoes, so please do not ask.
• Red onion — you’ll need part of a smaller one. Save the rest of it to make pickled red onions. You could easily substitute this for a yellow onion, a sweet onion or even a white onion, though I appreciate the color and flavor that a red onion brings to this salsa recipe.
• Serrano peppers — these fresh peppers add a kick to our salsa. If you’re concerned about it being too spicy, consider using one instead of two.
• Garlic cloves — since these roast with the rest of the ingredients, I recommend using whole garlic cloves instead of the pre-minced ones from the store.
• Jalapeño pepper — I used half of a large pepper in this recipe. You can remove the jalapeño seeds if you’re concerned about this being too spicy.
• Kosher salt — medium grain kosher salt is my go-to for cooking everything. 
• Olive oil — just a little drizzle of this oil helps elevate our tomatoes. You can use another oil, like avocado oil.
• Lime juice — freshly squeezed, please and thank you. Grab a lime at the store when you’re shopping for the rest of the ingredients. It adds a lovely acidic pop and balance.

​Please note that we are not using fresh cilantro in this recipe because it tastes like soap to me. If you like cilantro, feel free to add a handful of leaves to the blender to blend into the fresh salsa.

How to make Roasted Salsa

The key to making a roasted tomato salsa is we roast tomatoes at high heat. We want them to cook quickly and get some nice color on them before blitzing in the food processor or blender.

Prepare the ingredients. Rinse and dry the tomatoes. Do the same for the hot peppers. Roughly chop the onion into large chunks.

Preheat the oven. 

Place the tomatoes, onion, peppers and garlic cloves on the sheet pan. Season with the salt. Drizzle with the olive oil.

Roast in the oven for 15 minutes, then broil for an additional 5 minutes. Cooking beneath the broiler will give the ingredients a char, like you might get from an open flame. 

Let the ingredients cool. Transfer to a food processor or a blender, and blend. 

I like to add the juices from the roasted tomatoes into the blender, as well.

Add a squeeze of fresh lime juice, too.

You can blend until smooth or let them remain chunky… it’s a personal preference thing. However, if you want it to be a chunky salsa, I suggest blending the peppers, onions and garlic first and then adding the tomatoes for a quick blitz.

Serve at room temperature or cold with your favorite chips, and enjoy!

How to store:

Store in an airtight container or a large mason jar (or two) in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

You can easily freeze smaller portions of the salsa in ice cube containers or SouperCubes. 

Frequently Asked Questions

Quick tips and tricks for making the best salsa:

• Choose awesome produce. Since this fresh salsa is all about celebrating tomatoes paired with peppers, I suggest purchasing in-season tomatoes that look and smell excellent. Store-bought tomatoes are not always the best because they are not as fresh or sweet.
• Serve it with a variety of things. We love this with tortilla chips, but it’s amazing on many TexMex dishes. You could even add it to scrambled eggs!
• Customize it to your tastebuds. ​Either way, this is a flavorful homemade salsa recipe… but you can tone down the heat by removing the seeds from the peppers or adding less peppers overall.
• Freeze it for later! ​If you have an abundance of tomatoes from your plants, feel free to make a few batches of this easy salsa recipe and freeze it in smaller portions for later.

​Here’s how you make it: