This Cherry Tomato Salsa is a wonderful combination of sweet, tangy, fresh, and spicy. It’s perfect for topping your tacos, burritos, nachos, or just eating with some tortilla chips.
For several years I have grown a huge backyard garden. This year I decided to scale back, because I wanted to focus my time on starting this blog. I couldn’t go through a season without homegrown tomatoes, though. So I have one large bed planted with tomatoes and basil. That’s in addition to the various fruit trees, berries, and grapes that provide wonderful fruit for me every year. And keep me plenty busy with harvesting and preserving.
I’m still waiting for my Roma tomatoes and slicing tomatoes to ripen, but I’ve gotten several handfuls of tomatoes from my two cherry tomato plants. I told my husband that I’ll probably plant four cherry tomato plants next year. Nothing beats that sweet juicy flavor.
Each year during tomato season we make some fresh salsa. I got tired of waiting for the larger tomatoes to ripen, and had a couple cups of the cherry tomatoes sitting on my counter, so I decided to try using them. Wow! This was the best fresh salsa I’ve made. The cherry tomatoes gave a wonderful sweetness, paired with the spiciness of onion and roasted jalapeño, the tang of lime juice, and the pungency of cilantro. A perfect balance of flavors!
How to Make Cherry Tomato Salsa
Begin by roasting the jalapeño. This can be done on a BBQ grill or in the oven with the broiler setting. Turn the jalapeño occasionally so it roasts and begins to blacken on all sides. Then set it aside to cool.
When the pepper is cool enough to handle, remove the stem and seeds. Be sure to wear gloves to protect your skin from the pepper oil.
Place the pepper in a blender with the tomatoes, onion, cilantro, lime juice, and salt. Blend until almost smooth. The smoothness and consistency is up to you.
Transfer the salsa to a jar and refrigerate. I usually make it the day before I plan on eating it because the flavor is best when the salsa has time to chill and the flavors can mingle. Serve the salsa with baked tortilla chips or over your favorite Mexican dishes like these:
- Black Bean and Grilled Vegetable Tacos
- Soy Curl Fajitas
- Mexican Quinoa Bowl
- Quinoa and Black Bean Enchiladas
- Mexican Vegetable Saute
- Tamale Pie
This salsa should keep in the refrigerator for 5 days, but it’s so good, you’ll probably eat it well before then.
If you make this recipe, please be sure to leave feedback below and share your pic on Instagram or Facebook and tag me @aplantifulpath #aplantifulpath!
Cherry Tomato Salsa
Ingredients
- 1 jalapeño
- 2 cups cherry tomatoes
- 2/3 cup yellow onion
- 2 – 3 Tablespoons cilantro to taste
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- Juice of one small lime
Instructions
- Roast the jalapeno on a grill or in the oven with the broiler setting. Turn it occasionally so it roasts on all sides and the skin is blackening.
- Set the jalapeno aside to cool.
- When it is cool enough to handle, remove the stem and seeds. Be sure to wear gloves to protect your skin from the pepper oil.
- Place the pepper in a blender with the tomatoes, onion, cilantro, lime juice, and salt. Blend until almost smooth.
- Transfer the salsa to a jar and refrigerate. The flavor is best when the salsa has had time to chill and the flavors can mingle.
- This salsa should keep for 5 days, but mine is never around that long. We tend to eat it within a day or two.
Nutrition
Nutrition calculations are approximate.
