Use fresh tomatoes to make this easy recipe for Mexican restaurant copycat freezer salsa in a blender!
This recipe is an oldie I thought I'd would bring back today! It's the time of year for fresh tomatoes. I know that many of you will get some use out of this Mexican restaurant freezer salsa recipe. It's so convenient - you can make in the blender and freeze for later.
The Inspiration Behind This Easy Freezer Salsa Recipe
My tomato garden inspired this recipe. The first year we lived in our home, I planted a garden with a few tomato plants. Fast-forward a few months: I didn't quite plan for the amount we had.
We had our garden put in in the late spring. I knew I had to get going on planting ASAP if I wanted a garden that year. The weekend after it was ready to go, we headed to Lowe's for our plants. Without thinking, we threw 15 (yes, 15) tomato plants in our cart.
I'm not one to waste things, so we planted every tomato plant. Needless to say, we were swimming in tomatoes a few months later. There are only so many tomato sandwiches that you can eat! So I thought of ways to preserve them to enjoy all year.
Adjustments to This Blender Salsa
I used fresh tomatoes for this recipe, but canned tomatoes would definitely work too. I would use about 2 28oz cans of chopped tomatoes for this recipe. Of course you can use a food processor instead of a blender - there's not much of a difference there.
You can double this recipe if you want to make a large batch for the freezer. It freezes beautifully for up to 4 months! Simply store in quart-sized freezer bags; I freeze in 1-cup increments.
It's got a great spice from the jalapeno peppers, but that can be adjusted as needed for your desired spice level. You could even use a less-spicy pepper (like serrano peppers or green chilies) to dial down the spice level. The spice totally depends on your personal preference!
Try more delicious dips from the blog: Salmon Sushi Casserole and Fluffy Fruit Dip
Here's how you can make a big batch of Mexican restaurant salsa for yourself. Once you try it, you'll buy a jar of store-bought salsa again!
Mexican Restaurant Freezer Salsa FAQs
How-To Video
I hope you enjoy this homemade freezer salsa recipe as much as we did!
Check out a few more of my more of my appetizer recipes...
More Appetizer Recipes
Mexican Restaurant Freezer Salsa Recipe
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Ingredients
- 8-10 large ripe tomatoes (can use 15-20 roma tomatoes instead)
- 3 oz tomato paste
- ½ cup fresh lime juice (use 6-8 fresh limes)
- 2 tablespoon salt (Recommended you start at 1 tablespoon and work your way up to your taste.)
- ½ tablespoon garlic powder
- ½ tablespoon pepper
- 1 green bell pepper
- 1 large red onion
- ½ large yellow onion
- 2-3 jalapeño peppers stems and seeds removed
- ½ bunch fresh cilantro stems removed
Instructions
- Core tops of tomatoes and cut an "x" in the bottom of the skin. Place in boiling water for 2-3 minutes - immediately remove and place in an ice bath. Allow tomatoes to cool and (easily) take off skins.
- Puree tomatoes in a blender to the desired consistency. Pour into a large stock pot. Add tomato paste, lime juice, and spices.
- Roughly chop the remaining vegetables, reserving ½ of the red onion and ½ bunch cilantro for the end. Adjust jalapeño amount as needed for spice level. Place ingredients in the blender and puree. Add to tomato mixture to stock pot.
- Put the large pot over medium heat and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 3-4 hours, until salsa has reduced by about ⅓. Stir occasionally.
- Cool to room temperature. Puree reserved red onion and cilantro in your blender and mix into salsa. Pour into quart-sized freezer bags (this recipe made roughly 8 cups of salsa for me). Freeze for up to 6 months or store in the fridge for up to a week.
Nutrition Facts
Leslie Lambert is a lifestyle writer and content creator specializing in home organization, family recipes, and intentional living. With 17 years of experience in blogging and digital storytelling, she helps busy women create calm, purposeful homes they love.
Could you do this if you used cannned 🍅?
You sure can!
Canning experts warn you not to can tomato recipes that have too high of a ph. Salsa recipes for canning have either vinegar, lime juice, or lemon juice to lower the ph. Sorry, I don't agree with your answer.
Yes, and you have to use bottle lemon or lime juice to reach the ph level you need. I checked with our county master gardeners/canners on year when we were going to use fresh lemons.
The question was not “can you can?” But rather “can you use canned 🍅?” as in, canned tomatoes. Your answer Thomas, does not relate to the question.
Commenter is asking if they can use canned tomatoes, they're not asking if they can can this recipe.
Question was about iding canned tomatoes, not canning the salsa
I have made this 4 times now with all my tomatoes. The only change I made was to decrease the salt, but other than that, this salsa is delicious!!! Thank you so much for sharing the recipe!
So glad you're loving it, Julene!
I did t have time to summer this all day so I used my InstaPot. It came out so yummy! My family loves it. I just finished my second batch which I doubled because I had so much produce from my garden. I even added some sweet banana peppers to this batch. Delicious! Thanks for sharing this recipe.
Sounds amazing! I love the idea of banana peppers, I bet that was a great addition.
How long in the instant pot?
How long did you put it in the instant pot for??
What setting did you use for the Instapot, and how long? Thanks.
Could you can this recipe? Like waterbath for 45 mins? 🤔
I don't see why not! I'm not really familiar with the canning process, but I've had salsas that were canned before.
Check out recipes for canned salsa, you will need to add vinegar or bottled lemon juice. We checked w/our county master gardeners/canners for the answer some years ago. Just made this for the freezer, it's awesome!
I'm planning to make this tomorrow, but fresh limes are hard to come by where I live. Would bottled line juice work the same?
Yes, that should be fine!
Can you substitute apple cider vinegar for lime juice?
That should give you the acid you need in the recipe, but I can't speak to the flavor.
When I have used apple cider vinegar I think the end product is too sweet.
Could you use a slow cooker?
I don't think that would be an issue, but it might not get quite as hot as needed (meaning it won't thicken up as much).
My daughter and I made this salsa yesterday and it's the best we've ever made! We used approximately 10 pounds of tomatoes and for us, we kept the seeds in the jalapenos. And we only used 1 TBSP salt. Awesome flavor and it definitely is medium + in spiciness. Yummy! Our yield was about 20 cups.
Thank you!! No more canning!
BEST SALSA WE'VE EVER MADE! When I moved to Oregon in late 2012 and tomato season came along in 2013, my daughter and I started canning salsa. I decided that this year we were not canning (so much work!) and began looking for recipes. Yours hit the spot and today, after making about 25 cups last week, we can both heartily say, "Best Ever"! And the only modification we made is we left the seeds in the jalapenos. The whole process (outside of the 4-hour cooking on stovetop), was done and cleaned up in 3.5 hours, half the time of canning and 99% less mess! We've found our 'keeper' recipe and wanted to come back here and thank you! Barb & Sara
I'm so glad you loved it, Barb and Sara! Thanks for the kind review. 🙂
Can I leave the skins on the tomatoes?
That shouldn't be an issue, since you're blending it.
This was good but we found it to be too salty! I would definitely decrease the salt especially when serving with tortilla chips!
This is such a time saver and delish! I will surely make this again. Thanks for the recipe.
This sounds good, but we prefer raw salsa. Would this recipe freeze (and thaw well) if uncooked?
I don't know that I'd recommend freezing from raw, just because of the texture - raw veggies never seem to freeze well if you're thawing to eat still raw.
I can attest that freezing raw salsa does not work out well at all. It thaws out to be extremely watery. To freeze it, you really need to cook out a lot of the water or it will be disappointing.
Homemade salsa - yummy!!!; Homemade salsa tastes so much better.
I agree!
Good but 2 Tbsp salt is too much! 1 Tbsp or less would do.
Wow this is really good, I didn't have any green bell peppers., but I used orange, yellow and red. I also added cumin and it really turned our very good. I was able to make several small containers to freeze of it. Thank you for this delicious recipe. Love that I can even use canned tomatoes during winter.
The instructions don’t say when to add the lime juice and spices.
You're exactly right, sorry about that! Just updated the recipe card.
Did you mean 2 Tablespoons of salt? It is super salty, and with chips it is too much! Did you mean teaspoons?I LOVED this recipe but think I will be doing a lot less salt next time
Thanks for the recommendation, just added a note to the recipe card!
Can I add super sweet 100's cherry tomatoes in with the roma's at the blender stage?
The big issue with cherry tomatoes is that you're more than likely leaving the peel on them. This is going to make the salsa less smooth and a little more bitter. But, if you're willing to take the time to peel them, it could work!
Hi what does 1/2 cilantro mean? 1/2 a bunch or 1/2 a cup? Seems an important detail and I want to get it right 🙂
Yes, it's half a bunch! I just clarified in the recipe card.
Really delicious. I HATE salsa from a jar and I was looking for something much fresher - this is it.
I only added half the lime juice during the cook and then used another quarter (so only 3/4 in total) to purée the cilantro, partly because cilantro is so hard to blend, partly to add a fresh lime taste. It was delicious! Only sad bit is that once you add the vivid green to the deep red salsa you inevitably end up with a salsa that’s a bit brown but so so yummy.
I used tomatoes I’d frozen from the garden (so easy to peel!) and de seeded half to see whether it might shorten the reducing time - I’ll definitely deseed them all in future.
The salt decision is tricky as salt brings out sour flavours. I halved the salt and it’s too little when on its own but perfect when tested with salted chips so really depends how you’re going to use.
What is the best way to defrost this. This taste so good and haven’t boiled yet, leavin* some out for football tomorrow for chips. Excited for this to use this winter. Thanks
I recommend freezing in quart-sized bags by laying them flat (so you can store a few stacked). When you're ready to defrost, just put the frozen bag in the refrigerator overnight, and it should be mostly ready to go by the morning!
This salsa recipe looks amazing! I love that it’s freezer-friendly—perfect for making ahead of time. Can’t wait to try it with some homemade tortilla chips! Thanks for sharing the video too; it really helps to see the process.
This salsa recipe is a game changer! I love that I can make a big batch and freeze it for later. The video makes it so easy to follow, too. Can’t wait to try it with some homemade tortilla chips! Thanks for sharing!
This recipe looks fantastic! I love the idea of making a big batch of salsa to freeze for later. Can't wait to try it with fresh tortillas for taco night! Thanks for sharing the video too, it's super helpful!
I’m in the process of making the recipe, and, it would be so helpful to have measurements for the ingredients. Tomatoes cook down-how many cups of pulp is needed? A large pepper, onion mean different sizes to different folks. The recipe sounds delicious, just worried about the final consistency.
Can you use frozen tomatoes instead of fresh?
Yes, I would just make sure to thaw them before making the recipe.
Absolutely delicious! Better than restaurant salsa in my opinion. Thanks for a great recipe!
This salsa exceeded my expectations, so good! It’s a taste of summer in the midst of our Montana winters. I’m now gearing up to make this year’s batch with my homegrown tomatoes and jalapenos, and I have lots of different sized tomatoes. Can you provide an estimate of tomatoes needed by weight, rather than quantity?
Hi Julie, thanks for the great review! I would estimate you'll need (very roughly) 3-4 pounds of tomatoes for this recipe.