I have been craving Mexican food lately, leading me to play around with some Mexican-inspired recipes. After making my favourite recipe for Guacamole, I thought I’d also put down one of my all-time favourite salsas: Homemade roasted sweet pepper salsa. This sauce has a deep and rich flavour and a delicious sweetness and kick. This salsa is a fantastic addition to snacks such as nachos or dishes like tacos, burritos, or quesadillas, but will also work great to spice up stews. There is always a good use for this salsa as it tastes so delicious with so many different dishes.
Little Salsa Background Information:
The name salsa is Spanish and translates to “sauce”. Salsa is a key part of Mexican cuisine and can be found as a condiment for many classic Mexican foods such as burritos, enchiladas, quesadillas, or tacos. Especially red salsa gained popularity in the west in recent decades, but there are countless different salsa recipes, differing per region and household. Salsa may be prepared raw or with cooked ingredients. To our luck, salsa tends to be vegan, and my recipe for delicious roasted sweet pepper salsa will of course be no exception.
Ingredients for Homemade Roasted Pepper Salsa:
- Sweet red peppers
- Cherry tomatoes
- White onion
- Red jalapeños
- Garlic
- Cilantro
- Cane sugar
- Lime juice
- Salt
To make our roasted sweet pepper salsa, we only need a few ingredients, but their flavour packs a punch! Firstly, we use red sweet peppers, giving a beautiful natural sweetness to the sauce. Secondly, cherry tomatoes and a medium-sized white onion make a great addition to the salsa. I am using red jalapeños, garlic, and cilantro for spice and flavour. To balance everything, we need a bit of additional cane sugar, lime juice, and salt.
Roasted Sweet Pepper Salsa Recipe:
Roasting the Ingredients
Firstly, we want to roast our ingredients to develop their flavour. Today, I am using an electric contact grill, but you can also use the grill function of your oven or a barbeque grill. All work fantastic for this recipe. Now, we want to get started preparing our ingredients. Give the vegetables and cilantro a good wash, and pat them dry. Slice the sweet peppers and jalapeños in half, and get rid of their seeds. Peel the onion and garlic, slice the onion into thick rings, and leave the garlic whole.
Get your oven or grill heated up, and allow the sweet peppers to charr with their skin-side exposed to the heat. Charring makes it easy to get rid of their skin, which gives an amazing texture to the salsa. I like to add a bit of oil to the garlic and onion and add them together with the tomatoes and jalapeños to the grill.
Once the onion, garlic, jalapeños, and tomatoes have developed nice roasty colours, take them from the heat and allow them to rest. The peppers might take a minute longer to charr well.
Making the Sweet Pepper Salsa
Once all ingredients are ready, take the skin off the sweet pepper. Be careful not to burn yourself in the process. Finally, strip the leaves of the cilantro. You don’t need to be super thorough with this, but you want to avoid having thick stems in the salsa. To bring the sauce together, I like to cut the ingredients by hand. I like a lot of chunks and texture to remain in this sauce, and I like the result of cutting more than using a food processor or pestle and mortar, which is the traditional tool used to make salsa. But if you want a smooth sauce, you can use either of these tools too. Finally, season the sauce with salt and pepper and round it off with lime juice.
Some more Recipe Inspirations
I hope you enjoy this roasted sweet pepper salsa as much as I did. If you want some more recipes for a Mexican-inspired feast, make sure to check these recipes below!
- Next to a tasty salsa, homemade Guacamole cannot miss as a dip!
- This salsa tastes fantastic on these homemade chicken-style quesadillas.
- Try out these delicious vegan fusion tacos!
- These pulled jackfruit burritos are a treat.
- This sweet potato black bean stew is coziness in a bowl.
Roasted Sweet Pepper Salsa
Course: Dip, SideCuisine: MexicanDifficulty: Easy4
servings10
minutes20
minutesIngredients
2 sweet red peppers
1 bunch cilantro
3 cloves garlic
6 cherry tomatoes
1 white/yellow onion
1-2 red or green jalapeños (depending on personal preference)
2 tsp cane sugar
1 lime
Salt to taste
Directions
- Give the vegetables and cilantro a good wash, and pat them dry. Slice the sweet peppers and jalapeños in half, and get rid of their seeds. Peel the onion and garlic, slice the onion into thick rings, and leave the garlic whole. Strip the leaves of the cilantro. You don’t need to be super thorough with this, but you want to avoid having thick stems in the salsa.
- Get your oven or grill heated up, and allow the sweet peppers to charr with their skin-side exposed to the heat. Charring makes it easy to get rid of their skin, which gives an amazing texture to the salsa. I like to add a bit of oil to the garlic and onion and add them together with the tomatoes and jalapeños to the grill.
- Once the onion, garlic, jalapeños, and tomatoes have developed nice roasty colours, take them from the heat and allow them to rest. The peppers might take a minute longer to charr well.
- Once all ingredients are ready, take the skin off the sweet pepper. Be careful not to burn yourself in the process.
- To bring the sauce together, I like to cut the ingredients by hand. I like a lot of chunks and texture to remain in this sauce, and I like the result of cutting more than using a food processor or pestle and mortar. But if you want a smooth sauce, you can use either of these tools too. Finally, season the sauce with salt and pepper and round it off with lime juice.