This Smoked Salsa is the best homemade recipe with tomatoes, jalapenos, cilantro, and lime tossed on the smoker for delicous flavor. Pair this dip with your favorite chips, nachos, tacos, and more.
Add the tomatoes, onion, garlic, and jalapeno to the smoker. I also smoke the cilantro, this is optional. Smoking it will alter the texture from soft and leafy to stiff.
Smoke the vegetables for 90 minutes to 2 hours. I smoke them for 2 hours for optimal flavor.
Remove the vegetables from the smoker and add them to a blender (you can also use an immersion blender) or food processor along with the lime juice, cumin, chili powder, and salt. (Add the cilantro here if you didn't smoke it).
Blend and pulse the ingredients until combined. Taste repeatedly and adjust spice to taste.
Serve immediately or until chilled.
Video
Notes
If you don’t want smoky salsa or don’t have smoker, this recipe tastes great even prepared fresh.
The best wood/pellets for vegetables are alder, apple, cherry, hickory, maple, oak, and pecan. I use apple.
Using 1 jalapeno results in medium spice. Use more or less to suit your taste. You can also remove the membrane and seeds from the jalapeno for milder flavor.
The key ingredient in salsa is tomatoes. I use roma tomatoes because they are small and firm, they don’t have a ton of seeds, and are easy to cut without making a mess. Little or big mama tomatoes work well, too. These are paste tomatoes.
Any tomatoes will work. If you use others that are watery be sure to drain the excess water from the salsa or your salsa will be watery.
Feel free to use a grill basket or tray if you have trouble with vegetables slipping through your grill grates.