Homemade Garden Fresh Salsa Recipe for Canning

There’s nothing quite like turning a basket of ripe garden tomatoes into jars of homemade salsa. This fresh, flavorful recipe combines juicy tomatoes with jalapeños, green onions, garlic, cilantro, and lime for a salsa that captures the taste of summer.

It’s a wonderful recipe to make when your tomato plants are producing faster than you can eat them! Once canned, you’ll have homemade salsa ready to enjoy long after tomato season is over.

Serve it with tortilla chips, spoon it over tacos, add it to burrito bowls, or use it to brighten up your favorite Mexican-inspired meals.

Homemade Canned Salsa

Ingredients

7 cups diced, peeled, and cored tomatoes (about 5 lb. or 15 medium tomatoes)

6 green onions, chopped

2 jalapeño peppers, diced

4 cloves garlic, minced

½ cup white vinegar (5% acidity)

2 tablespoons bottled lime juice

4 drops hot pepper sauce

2 tablespoons minced fresh cilantro

2 teaspoons salt

Step 1: Prepare Your Canning Equipment

Prepare your boiling-water canner according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Heat clean canning jars in simmering water until you're ready to fill them. Do not boil the jars.

Wash the lids in warm, soapy water and set them aside with the bands.

Step 2: Make the Salsa

Combine the tomatoes, green onions, jalapeños, garlic, white vinegar, bottled lime juice, hot pepper sauce, cilantro, and salt in a large saucepan.

Bring the mixture to a boil.

Reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Your kitchen should be smelling pretty amazing by now!

Step 3: Fill the Jars

Working with one hot jar at a time, ladle the hot salsa into the jar, leaving ½ inch of headspace at the top.

Remove any trapped air bubbles and adjust the headspace if necessary.

Wipe the rim of the jar clean. Center the lid on the jar, apply the band, and tighten until fingertip-tight.

Place the filled jar into the boiling-water canner.

Repeat the process until all of your jars are filled.

Step 4: Process the Salsa

Make sure the jars are covered by at least 1 inch of water.

Adjust the heat to medium-high, cover the canner, and bring the water to a rolling boil.

Process pint and half-pint jars for 20 minutes, adjusting the processing time for your altitude as required by a tested canning recipe.

When processing is complete, turn off the heat and remove the canner lid. Allow the jars to sit in the canner for 5 minutes.

Carefully remove the jars and place them upright on a towel or cooling rack. If any bands have loosened, do not retighten them.

Allow the jars to cool undisturbed for 12–24 hours.

Step 5: Check the Seals

Once the jars have completely cooled, check each lid for a proper seal. The center of the lid should not flex up and down when pressed.

Any jar that hasn't sealed properly should be refrigerated rather than stored at room temperature.

Label your sealed jars with the name and date, then store them according to current home-canning recommendations.

From the Garden to the Pantry

Making salsa is one of our favorite ways to preserve a big tomato harvest. A few tomato plants can produce an impressive amount of fruit, and canning lets you enjoy that homegrown flavor well beyond the summer growing season.

And when you open a jar months later, there's something especially satisfying about knowing those tomatoes started right in your own garden.

Garden Tip: Tomatoes, peppers, green onions, garlic, and cilantro can all be grown in a surprisingly small space. Raised garden beds and container gardens make it easy to dedicate a section of your garden to your own salsa ingredients.

Happy growing, harvesting, and canning!

Important Canning Note

Home canning requires carefully controlled acidity, jar size, processing time, and altitude adjustments to prevent foodborne illness. Do not change the proportions of tomatoes, vegetables, vinegar, or bottled lime juice when using this recipe for shelf-stable canning. Before publishing or canning, verify the recipe and altitude-specific processing instructions against a current tested recipe from a trusted home-canning authority such as the USDA National Center for Home Food Preservation or your local Cooperative Extension.