Toss together homemade salsa with canned tomatoes. It’s so easy even a kid can do it! Made mostly from pantry ingredients, hardly any chopping required.
There are two basic types of tomato-based salsas – fresh tomato salsa and cooked tomato salsa. When making salsa, like we do with enchiladas, we always use the cooked tomato version, not the fresh one.
This particular salsa is popular in northern or the Sonoran portion of Mexico for its use of green Anaheim chilies.
Canned tomato salsa
This salsa uses almost every ingredient in the pantry. You will need canned tomatoes, green chillies, olive oil, red wine vinegar, oregano, garlic or garlic powder, salt, pepper, scallions, and cilantro.
Why use canned tomatoes?
If you live where we live and most places in the US, you might only be able to get great fresh tomatoes two months out of the year.
If you have access to good tomatoes and want to go through the trouble of roasting them yourself, do it! Place several tomatoes under the grill until the skin bubbles all over, remove, leave to cool, peel off the skin. You can do the same with the Anaheim chilies.
The beauty of this recipe, however, is that a 7-year-old can make it in about 10 minutes – pretty useful when trying to get dinner on the table.
Speaking of dinner, the way we usually serve our salsa? with steak and beans.
More great salsa recipes
Like salsa? Check out these other great salsa recipes:
- Canned tomato salsa
- Tomato salsa verde
- Fresh tomato salsa fresca
- Corn salsa
- Mango salsa
The easiest salsa in the world
Instead of canned green chiles, you can use 1 large or 2 smaller Anaheim chilies, roasted under a grill or directly on a gas stove so that the outer skin turns completely black. After frying, place in a brown paper bag for a few minutes to loosen the black skin. Remove and discard the blackened skin. Remove the stalk, seeds and ribs. Chop.
ingredients
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1 (28 ounce) can whole tomatoes, preferably fire roasted (Muir Glen makes an excellent product.)
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1 7-ounce can green chiles, chopped (see recipe note)
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1 clove garlic or 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder or garlic salt
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2 spring onions, chopped
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1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
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2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
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1/4 teaspoon dried oregano (can be supplemented with fresh)
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1/4 cup very loosely packed fresh chopped cilantro
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Salt
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Freshly ground black pepper
method
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Chopping canned tomatoes:
Take just the tomatoes from the can of whole tomatoes and place them in a medium non-reactive mixing bowl. Crush or shred the tomatoes with your fingers or a fork and a sharp small knife.
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Add the remaining ingredients to the tomatoes:
Mix in the chopped green chiles, spring onions, garlic (or garlic salt), olive oil, and vinegar.
Add about 1/4 cup of the canned tomato sauce with whole tomatoes.
Sprinkle with about 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano. Mix and taste. Adjust if necessary. Add coriander, salt and pepper to taste.
Store in a cool place when not in use. Lasts several days.
