Salsa verde is my all time favorite type of salsa. I’m actually snacking on some of this homemade deliciousness as I’m writing this post! In the past I’ve made homemade tomatillo salsa verde from our homegrown tomatillos. This year we ended up using all our tomatillos and some green tomatoes to make homemade enchilada sauce.
Since we harvested a couple hundred pounds of green tomatoes last week, we cooked up a huge batch of green tomato salsa verde. We now have 48 pint jars of green tomato salsa verde canned and sitting in the pantry to snack on all winter long!
Salsa verde can be made with just tomatillos, just green tomatoes or a mixture of both. They are in the same plant family, have a similar consistency and similar taste. We used about 1/4 of our green tomatoes to make a whopper batch of salsa verde and still have well over 100 pounds of tomatoes sitting in the mud room slowly ripening (if you missed it, here’s our post with five tips to ripen green tomatoes).
This spring when planting seeds for our garden, I knew we would be making and canning homemade salsa in the fall. I made sure we planted and grew as many of the ingredients as we could: onions, tomatoes, garlic and cilantro. Unfortunately we can’t grow limes in our cold climate so we had to buy those at the store! Knowing we grew the majority of the ingredients in our green tomato salsa verde makes it all the more tasty!
How to make Green Tomato Salsa Verde
The recipe we used is similar to the one in my beloved Ball Canning Cookbook since it has been tested for canning safety. The recipe makes about three pint jars but it can be easily multiplied based on how many green tomatoes you have. We made seven batches of this salsa, which produced 48 pints of canned salsa.
You can keep the salsa in the refrigerator for about a week (if it lasts that long) or you can freeze it or can it. In the past when I’ve made a small batch, I just froze it in small containers since I didn’t want to get out all my canning supplies for just a few small jars. This year we made such a huge batch that we canned it.
7 cups cored green tomatoes
2 cups chopped onion
3 cloves garlic
1/2 cup cilantro
1/2 cup lime juice
1 tsp unrefined salt
1-2 Jalepeno peppers seeded (more if you like more spice!)
unrefined sugar (optional)
1. After coring the green tomatoes, chop them into chunks.
2. Place the green tomatoes into a food processor and pulse until chopped fine. Pour the green tomatoes into a large soup pot.
3. Place the onion, garlic, and jalapeno peppers in the food processor. Pulse until chopped fine. Pour into the soup pot with the green tomatoes.
4. Pour the lime juice into the soup pot and stir. Heat to boiling and then simmer for 5-10 minutes. When making a big batch, you may need to simmer it longer to make sure everything is heated through.
5. Place the cilantro in the food processor and pulse until chopped fine. Stir into the salsa mixture in the soup pot.
6. Mix in salt to taste.
7. If the salsa is too bitter and tart for your taste, add a little sugar to sweeten it up.
Refrigerate for up to one week. This also freezes well and canned in a water bath canner.
Canning Green Tomato Salsa Verde
The Ball Canning Cookbook recipe for Green Tomato Salsa Verde does not mention a need to add more lime juice to each batch. Because we made such a huge batch of this salsa, we wanted to make sure there was enough acidity consistently in each jar to ensure it was shelf stable after canning. The standard I’ve read for adding lemon or lime juice to jars before canning is 1 TBS juice for a pint jar and 2 TBS juice for a quart jar. We added 1 TBS lime juice to each pint jar of salsa before putting on the lid and canning it. We’ve opened jars of our canned salsa and tasted it with the added lime juice and it is so delicious!
Fill hot clean canning jars with the green tomato salsa and leave about 3/4″ headspace (only leave 1/2″ headspace if not adding extra lime juice). Add the additional lime juice to each jar, wipe the jar rim clean, put on the lid and canning ring. Process the jars in a boiling water canner (this is the one we have and love!) for 20 minutes-don’t forget to adjust for your altitude! Once the jars are done, remove them from the canner and wait to hear that magical “Ping” telling you the jar has sealed!
What are your favorite ways to use green tomatoes?
I love green salsa, but a good green salsa is hard to find! Thanks for the recipe.
Yes, I totally agree it is hard to find good salsa verde and this recipe is SO tasty!
Now I know what to do with my green tomatoes…
Isn’t it so great to finally have a tasty recipe to use up those green tomatoes?!
Hun hadde ikke mye smerter!! 🙂 Hun var kun kvalm av noen medisiner hun fikk inÃtsvent¸ar, og sov mye… 🙂 SÃ¥ dette gÃ¥r bra! Masse lykke til!!! ;D SÃ¥ fort operasjonen er over, sÃ¥ er det bare Ã¥ se framover! 🙂
Do you have to deskin the green tomatoes?
I never have. Most green tomatoes don’t have much of a separate skin.
Sadly we lost our entire tomato crop to late blight. But on the plus side, we have LOTS of green tomato salsa verde now! Silver linings, I suppose.
Sounds like a great use for green tomatoes. Do you peel them, or keep the peels on?
We keep the peels on, it gets chopped up so fine that you don’t notice the peels in the salsa
Can I somehow substitute the chilantro? I live in Denmark, and chilantro doesn’t seem to exist here. Our supermarkets are… rediculous. Jalapenos are available in supermakets. I have lots of green tomatoes… would love to use them!
In Europe it is just called coriander. In North America we call the seeds coriander and call the leaves cilantro.
You can use parsley instead of cilantro..
So I wouldn’t cook salsa if I’m canning correct??
I personally like to heat whatever I’m canning to help prevent the glass jar from cracking if it is too cool when it goes into the water bath canner.
I assume you mean 7 cups of tomatoes after they’re cut up? LOL
Yes, the 7 cups of tomatoes are measured after they’re cut up 🙂
Mais il y a toujours des distraits qui laissent des ordres d’achat a des cours assez bas,…et qui ne le sont plus losu&sqrrquo;il y a des baisses significatives sur la journée.
I was wondering the same thing and I’ve been canning for years. So please don’t think you’re alone in questioning this. Often what people think are stupid questions, several others are wondering the same thing but are too afraid to ask. I was going to ask but, you beat me to it. Ha. Thanks for asking!
1. can I use apple cider vinegar instead of lime juice (hard to find enough limes to get this amount of juice)
2. you are right that salsa recipes don’t list a Tablespoon of lemon juice/jar…..like recipes for whole tomato product does, Would you recommend the juice (for safety reasons?)
Had to pick a colander full of green tomatoes before the frost. Never made this before but will make it again. Awesome recipe
I made this because I have never eaten some and lots of green tomatoes. I love it. Getting more green tomatoes. Thanks!
This is a great way to use up tomatoes and tastes great. I was wondering how you use it? Do you pour it over enchiladas and bake? Have you ever used it in soups?
For the person who can’t get cilantro, I have seen cilantro in cubes, like boullion. I bet you could buy that online.
Also to the person who couldn’t get enough lime juice, buy it already squeezed in a bottle. It is right on the shelf with lemon juice. It does not have to be fresh squeezed. You will be at it all day.
You can also buy dried cilantro. But, fresh is the best.
So yummy and fresh. I added a little cumin seed for depth. I’ll purée and make enchiladas of chicken and queso fresca. It is fun to bring out your summer goodness in February when it’s so dreadful in New England.
I love and now I can make by own
Thank you
I love this recipe! I gave some away last year (this year I will be more selective – it’s too good to waste!).
Made this same recipe without cooking it for a fresh flavor and it was delicious! Thanks for the inspiration!
Delicious salsa! I love this recipe. I’ll be planting LOTS more tomatoes next year, so I can quadruple this recipe for canning.
Just to point out, for safe canning do not use fresh lime or lemon juice as the acidity level is not consistent.
Does this get more flavorful with time?
I don’t know if I did something wrong, or it was my tiny tomatoes (angels and cherry)… but I have 3 batches, and all of them are horribly bitter. I followed the recipe, to the T. I don’t understand how mine can be so very different from others that say this is the wonderful tasting. Either way, the tomatoes were going to ruin as a frost was on it’s way. Just had to chime in and say this recipe did NOT work for us. (The seals are all good, no problem with that….just very very bitter)
How much Suger do we use mines bitter too
Two batches of sweet tomato relish cooking and then green tomato relish! I have never cooked any green tomatoes other than a FGT sandwich. 🙂 I was given all these pretty gts, and just couldn’t not use them some way. I have a garden full of tomatoes, that is if they all don’t drown with all this south Alabama rain. I have it prepared and my crew taste tested it. They didn’t like all the lime juice, added some ACvinegar and some sugar. They left an empty bowl, so I guess that it passed the taste test I’ll let you know how the cooked version goes. NOW, where am I gonna store all these jars??? Thanks for the recipe.
I used actual tomatillos. Makes an award winning salsa!
What containers do you use to freeze the salsa?
Turned out great! Used 5 pounds green and 2 1/2 pounds red tomatoes. Added cumin. Thanks for posting!
Can u use green cherry tomatoes?
Do we need to remove skins before?
Can u do this in a pressure canner cooker?
Can I use tomatillos and green tomatoes is same batch. Don’t have enough of either to do it but have enough when combined
Salsa Verde is great on scrambled eggs!
Second year in a row I’ve made and canned this and it’s awesome, especially as Christmas gifts!
I love that you’ve been making this for a couple years and what a great idea to give it as a holiday gift!
Delish! I used half and half tomatillos and green tomatoes and made a double batch. They canned nicely. Keeper of a recipe. I will use it again
Glad to hear you liked the recipe!
Made this last night and loved it! I charred my tomatoes and peppers under the broiler first to give them a smokey flavor. Added some cubed chicken breast and simmered in the verde and fed my family some homemade pollo con verde. It really is so satisfying to be able to feed my family from my garden! TYSM for a great recipe!
Sounds delicious, glad you enjoyed the recipe!
How do you store this to freeze it and how long will it last in the freezer
When we freeze salsa, we put it in a freezer safe container like a wide mouth canning jar or plastic container. We fill it not quite 3/4 full to allow space for expansion when it freezes so the container doesn’t crack. I usually use frozen food up to a year since after that it seems like it can get a bit freezer burnt and off tasting.
In order to can, did you add 1 Tbs lime juice to the recipe as is (lime with the 1/2 cup already there?)
My green tomato salsa came out very earthy… any tips on what to add more of? I’ve made tons of regular salsa in the past, green is a new one for me although I love it from restaurants.
hi there, I live in Calgary and we have already had a frost! Thankfully we picked all the green tomatoes before. If I want to double or triple this recipe is there something that I should do specifically, or do I just times are the ingredients by 2 or 3?
Thanks so much!
Shereen in Calgary
I’ve been looking for a recipe like this and can’t wait to try it. My suggestions/comments are about the mechanics of this site. Making this recipe easily printable would be truly appreciated. I couldn’t even do a copy and paste bc it picked up all the advertising. Thanks for sharing!!!
I made this today as written except I only used 3 large jalapeños makingit medium heat. After cooking it down, I blended the salsa in a blender for a smoother consistency. I got 7 1/2 half pint jars.