I have a salsa loving kid who wants to try her hand at homemade. I have my go-to roasted tomato/onion/garlic/pepper concoction but she wants to try different styles and is asking the OB for recipes or tips on what makes your salsa better than everyone else's.

She's 9, so 5-alarm face melters might not make the cut, but please post them because we will hopefully reference back.

I have been looking for a salsa that tastes good warmed up. I like it both spicy and a warm temp. I have a green one but it is pretty much pure peppers and may not be good for a 9 year old. LOL.

I don't have a recipe at my fingertips right now, be we enjoyed trying a few different styles. Tomatillo salsa is fun. Once you get that made, you can throw some avocado in half otf that one and run it through the food processor and it is a a creamy avocado tomatillo salsa.

Garden citrus salsa

A couple tomatoes
3-4 big poblano peppers
Onion
Garlic
Most of a bundle of cilantro
Olive oil
3-6 limes
2-4 lemons
Salt
Black Pepper

Seed the peppers, blend it all up. Very citrusy summer salsa. Also really good baked on fish. Should be greenish in color, not too red. Green from the poblanos. Not spicy. Throw in some jalapeños if you want some fire.

My favorite green sauce currently:

Salsa Dna

Arnie is a great and entertaining resource. I haven't watched his YouTube content but have seen a bunch of his Instagram stuff.

My usual homemade salsa goes something like this:
4-6 medium tomatillos, after peeling I'm shooting for head of garlic sized tomatillos
1 large poblano, preferably a 2 lobe rather than a 3 lobe
1-4 serranos/jalapenos, seeded if you want to limit the heat, mix and match for fun and flavor/heat
1/2 a medium white onion, cut in chunks
3-5 cloves of unpeeled garlic

Toss the above in olive oil and roast in a 425+ oven on a half sheet pan for ~25 minutes. Turn what you can ~half way. Let cool a while until you can peel, stem, and seed the peppers as you like. Peel the garlic.

Throw the above in a blender with a half bunch of cilantro, big squeeze of lime, salt and pepper to taste, and avocado and/or cumin or neither depending on your tastes. Blend to desired consistency.

NM dumb Baylor joke attempt fail

Here is a sauce very much like coco loco's green sauce. boil 4 mexican squash (sounds disgusting, but i promise it isn't), half an onion, 2 cloves of garlic and 3 seranos until soft. fry 8 seeded jalepenos in olive oil. then put it all together- boiled stuff, fried stuff, oil and all with a bunch of cilantro and puree. add kosher salt and lemon pepper to taste. It's good.

If you have a smoker, smoke the tomatoes prior to making the batch

This was on the table every day, every meal in the staff dining room when we lived in Belize. We keep a jar in the fridge almost all of the time now. It is more of a relish/pico but they called it salsa.

2 cups very finely diced white onion
1 or 2 seeded and finely minced Habanero
3 whole Allspice
1 tsp salt
1 cup distilled White Vinegar

Combine everything in a bowl, then place in a clean mason jar. Add more vinegar if Vinegar doesn't cover ingredients. Let sit at least 2 hours at room temperature, giving it a shake occasionally or overnight in the refrigerator. Pick out Allspice before serving. Keeps about a week in the refrigerator.

4 small tomatoes run through a food chopper
1/4 cup red onion finely diced
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
2 garlic cloves finely diced
1/4 tsp cumin
2 tsp lime juice
1/4 tsp habanero pepper
Salt

I also usually add garlic salt, chopped jalapeños, Tony's, and Serrano peppers to get it close to how I want it to taste. Afterwards, I usually add more garlic, lime juice, and salt to taste exactly like I want it.

I usually use 1/2 yellow tomatoes and 1/2 romas or beefsteak. Just seems to taste better with the mix. Of course, tomatoes are big here in E. Tenn and I have a friend whose dad has the largest tomato farm here that supplies most of the grocery stores - so I get plants for free.

HUEY04 said:

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Check out Arnietex on YouTube. He's got a ton of salsa recipes and the ones I've tried have been great and he's given me some great ideas for twists on recipes I've done forever.

https://youtube.com/@arnietex?feature=shared

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Love me some Arnie. He's got a good recipe for salsa macha, but the transcript doesn't match what's in the video, because the transcript calls for five chile de arbol, but there's way more than that in the skillet when he's frying them. I used five when I made it, and it's mild, and would be very good for what the OP wants. Next time I make a batch I will double it and leave the seeds in.

Gonna have to try that. Sounds simple but good.

My daughter is a Blue Goose salsa freak. We buy all the time and keep on hand at all costs. It's a milder, sweeter salsa with a higher amount of cilantro that she just digs.

FIDO*98* said:

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Wodanaz said:

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I have my go-to roasted tomato/onion/garlic/pepper concoction but she wants to try different styles and is asking the OB for recipes or tips on what makes your salsa better than everyone else's

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You already have the best. Try grilling the veggies instead of roasting them and let a little char stick to them before they hit the food processor/blender. I keep the garlic off the grill and add to the blended with the grilled vegetables. Heat a few Tbls oil in a pot and re-fry the blended salsa for a few minutes

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^^^^. This! Take your base and let her play around to see what she likes. Serranos are my go to. Trinidad scorpions have good flavor, but many can't take the heat. Same for caroliina reapers. And if you can grow some tomatos, I think they have better flavor than most of what you get at the store. And write it down each time in case it is incredible.

The simplest recipe I use is blending a 12oz can of La Costena pickled jalapenos with a teaspoon of garlic salt and a bunch of cilantro. There are more elaborate recipes that are better for sure but when I want simple and fast, this is what I do.

87Flyfisher said:

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This was on the table every day, every meal in the staff dining room when we lived in Belize. We keep a jar in the fridge almost all of the time now. It is more of a relish/pico but they called it salsa.

2 cups very finely diced white onion
1 or 2 seeded and finely minced Habanero
3 whole Allspice
1 tsp salt
1 cup distilled White Vinegar

Combine everything in a bowl, then place in a clean mason jar. Add more vinegar if Vinegar doesn't cover ingredients. Let sit at least 2 hours at room temperature, giving it a shake occasionally or overnight in the refrigerator. Pick out Allspice before serving. Keeps about a week in the refrigerator.

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They had that in the jungle lodge we stayed at a couple of summers ago. Loved it. Loved Belize. I could eat stew chicken and fry jacks every meal.