One of my family’s favorite snacks that I make on the smoker is my Pete’s Kickin’ Smoked Salsa. This recipe is one of the easiest smoker recipes and is primarily for someone who wants to start smoking but doesn’t want to jump right into smoking meats. Even though this is a pretty easy and straight forward, I have a few tips to make it even easier. I’ll let you learn from my mistakes.
With smoking these ingredients for you Smoked Salsa it is very important that you have a small cooling rack, similar to this cooling rack that I have from Amazon. This will help you keep all your garlic in place without it falling through the grill grates. Everything else can go right onto your grates on your grill.
With the ingredients, I highly recommend going with organic if possible. I find that Aldi tends to have the best prices on everything you need for the salsa, in organic for the lowest prices. I got everything I needed for the smoked salsa for under $20, and it will produce roughly 4lbs of tasty Smoked Salsa.
Let’s talk about this smoked salsa a little bit. What I like most about it is having it the next day after having a chance to cool. I do this because letting it cool in the fridge 24 hours gives it time for the smokiness and flavors to combine and make it super tasty. I usually try it a few times as I’m seasoning it with salt so that I can get the perfect amount of salt into it. Besides that brief tasting, I jar it up and place it in the fridge to enjoy the next day.
When I do my preparations I just cut the tomato’s into quarters, and do the same with my red onions. With the jalapeno peppers I just cut off the tops and cut them in half. I like my smoked salsa a little on the hot side, so I leave the seeds in my peppers. Remember that this salsa is already on the spicy side, so you may either want to use less jalapenos or make sure that you core them out to limit the seeds that get into your smoked salsa if you are sensitive to heat.
As for smoking this smoked salsa, I used my Yoder YS640 with Bear Mountain Gourmet Blend Pellets. I let my smoker heat up to 225 Degrees. I then place everything other than the garlic on the top smoker rack. The garlic that I put onto the cooling rack goes on the bottom grill grates. From here, I just set it and forget it for 2 hours.
The last step is really up to how you like your salsa. If you like your smoked salsa on the chunky side place it into your food processor and pulse it a few times to get the consistency that you want. Because we like ours a little on the more combined side. I place it in my food processer and let it go for 20-30 seconds. This is how I get the restaurant-style salsa that I love.
I usually don’t can my smoked salsa. We typically place it in jars and give it to family or use it up within a week. It should stay good in an unsealed jar for that long. If you decide to can it, it will remain good for one year if everything is sealed correctly.
I hope that you love this smoked salsa recipe! If you have tried this recipe, please let me know in the comments! If you made some changes to make it more to your liking I would love to hear from you.
Smoked Salsa
Notes
Keep more seeds in your Jalapenos if you prefer spicier Salsa.
Ingredients
- 3 lbs of Tomato's
- 2 Medium Red Onions
- 2 Jalapenos
- 12 cloves of Garlic
- 2 Cups of Fresh Cilantro
- 3 limes (Juice)
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Pre-heat your smoker to 225°
- Cut Tomatoes and Onions into quarters
- Sliced Jalapenos in half, remove stems and most of the seeds
- Place garlic on the cooling rack and place it on the bottom shelf of your smoker (If you have one)
- Place your tomatoes, Onions, and Jalapenos on your top shelf, close your smoke and let smoke for 90-120 minutes.
- Take all ingredients out of the smoker and place it into a food processor, including 2 cups of Cilantro, and pulse until the smoked salsa is the consistency you enjoy.
- Add salt a little a time until your desired saltiness.
- For best results cool 24 hours in the fridge before using.
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