Roasted jalapeno blender salsa is a spicy restaurant style salsa with tons of flavor. It’s also really easy! Toss some roasted jalapenos, garlic and tomatoes into your blender with onion, cilantro, lime juice and salt. You’ll definitely want to give this salsa a whirl!
The Idea:
Chips and salsa are definitely one of my favorite snacks, or meals, if I’m being honest. There are definitely jarred salsas I like, but nothing beats homemade. This roasted jalapeno blender salsa has the bright flavors of a pico de gallo, but with a smoother consistency. Roasting the jalapenos and garlic, and using canned, fire roasted tomatoes adds that charred flavor you get from restaurant salsa. And it’s easy too, once you have the jalapenos and garlic roasted, this salsa comes together in minutes in the blender!
The Ingredients:
The canned, diced, fire roasted tomatoes are a huge time saver when you’re making your roasted jalapeno blender salsa. Besides the tomatoes you’ll need jalapenos, garlic, a lemon or lime, fresh cilatro and white onion. To get authentic salsa flavor, make sure to get a white onion instead of a red or yellow one. There’s something about the bright, sharp flavor of the white onion that really works in this salsa.
The Preparation:
Salsa has become the new ketchup in a lot American households. I like to have a container of this salsa on hand in the refrigerator to use with not only chips, but also scrambled eggs, grilled chicken, burrito bowls, and so on. It’s also great for parties, pot lucks and barbecues.
The first thing you’ll want to do is roast the garlic. You can do this ahead of time too, either earlier in the day, or the day before. You can find instructions for how to roast garlic here. If you don’t have time to roast the whole head of garlic, you can just throw three or four cloves into the pan with your jalapenos.
Roasting the jalapenos is really easy. You’re basically burning the skin on the jalapenos to bring that charred flavor out. Take two or three jalapenos and put them in a small, dry (as in no oil) saucepan over medium heat. This might sound like a lot of jalapeno, but when you roast them, they lose some of their spicy heat. If you like your salsa really spicy, you can substitute a hotter pepper, like serranos. Let them char for a few minutes, then turn and continue charring until you have blackening on each side. Place your roasted jalapenos in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap so they can steam for 10 -15 minutes to loosen the skin. Now you can scrape most of the outer skin off, then seed, rough chop and throw them in the blender.
Next add your canned, roasted tomatoes, roasted garlic, lemon or lime juice and salt to the blender. Blend the salsa until it’s pretty smooth, about 20 seconds with my Ninja blender. Now add in the diced white onion and about a cup of fresh cilantro and blend again briefly. You want the onion and cilantro to keep a little more texture than the tomato mixture, but not to be big chunks.
The Payoff:
Next is the most important part of the recipe. Grab a tortilla chip and give your roasted jalapeno blender salsa a taste. Adjust the seasonings with additional lime juice or salt. You might have to try it 10 to 50 more times, just to make sure it’s good. This is also a great salsa to bring to a pot luck or to make when you’re entertaining. Give it a whirl!
And maybe also make a margarita if you get thirsty from all that taste testing…..
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Roasted Jalapeno Blender Salsa
Description
This is an easy, bright restaurant style salsa that goes with everything!
Ingredients
- 1 head of roasted garlic
- 3 jalapenos, roasted, peeled, seeded and large diced
- 2 cans, 14-15 oz, fire roasted diced tomatoes
- 1/2 lemon or lime, about 2 tablespoons of juice, or more to taste
- 1 teaspoon salt
- white onion, about 1 cup, large diced
- cilantro, about 1 cup, loose packed
Instructions
- Roast the garlic earlier in the day, or the day before. Alternatively you can add 2 cloves of garlic to the blender.
- Roast the jalapenos by placing them in a small dry (as in no oil) pan on the stove over medium heat. Turn the jalapenos occasionally until they are blackened in spots and starting to soften, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat, place in a small bowl and cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Let them sit for 15 minutes or so.
- Once cool take a paper towel and rub off the loose skin, or scrape it off with a knife. It’s okay to leave some of the blackened bits for flavor. Cut the tops off the jalapenos, split them in half and remove the seeds. Cut them into large chunks and place in the blender.
- Open the cans of tomatoes and place in your blender too, including the juice.
- Squeeze the roasted garlic into the blender. Add the lemon or lime juice and the salt.
- Blend until it looks like salsa, about 30 seconds, depending on how strong your blender is.
- Add the cilantro and white onion chunks. Blend again briefly, until you have the consistency you like. Taste for seasoning and adjust citrus juice and salt to your taste.
Notes
If you don’t have time to roast the garlic, you can throw a few cloves of raw garlic into the blender with the tomatoes. It will be a stronger garlic flavor, but still delicious.
If you have a gas stove, you can also hold the jalapenos, one at time, with tongs and roast them directly over the flame.
