Can you ever have enough salsa recipes? I think not. Sometimes I want a fruit salsa for that sweet-spicy combination, especially when fish tacos are involved. Other times, I’m in the mood for a salsa full of fresh flavor, like a good pico de gallo. And then there are the occasions that call for a smoky salsa full of deep, rich flavors. For those times, you need this chipotle-roasted tomato salsa in your life.
If you’ve never made your own homemade salsa, I have good news: The process is as simple as can be. Honestly, the biggest challenge of putting together this chipotle-roasted tomato salsa is finding self-control once those tasty tomatoes come out of the oven. You’ll want to eat every single tomato and call it a day. If you’re like me and turn weak and helpless against the deliciousness of roasted tomatoes, you might want to throw a few extra on the sheet pan. That way, you can snack away without eating the entire basis of this salsa. Talk about a win-win.
How to Roast Tomatoes
Roasting tomatoes is one of my favorite ways to enjoy them. The tomatoes caramelize in the oven, making for a sweet, more complex flavor that’s the perfect base for a salsa with its contrast to the smoky, spicy chipotle.
To roast the tomatoes, we cut them in half vertically and rub them with olive oil, salt and pepper. While you can certainly roast these tomatoes at a low temperature for several hours if you have the time, I roasted them in a 350-degree oven for an hour. The tomatoes came out delicious and perfectly caramelized without having to wait too long.
If you’d like, you can take care of this step ahead of time and refrigerate the tomatoes until you’re ready to make the salsa. When life is busy, taking care of some recipes steps in advance is a huge help, especially when I’m entertaining, so know the option is there.
How to Make Chipotle-Roasted Tomato Salsa
From there, we move our tomatoes to the food processor and pulse them until they reached our desired consistency. Some people prefer a smooth salsa, but I like mine on the chunky side. To me, chunky salsa feels heartier and more satisfying. But if smooth salsa is your thing, I’m not here to judge.
Once you process the tomatoes to your liking, move them to a mixing bowl. Stir in a canned diced chipotle, adobo sauce from the chipotle, chopped onion, freshly squeezed lime juice, cilantro, salt and a chopped jalapeno with the seeds and membrane.
The seeds and membrane give the jalapeno its heat, so you don’t want to leave those out. One jalapeno gives this salsa a medium-level heat. If you prefer a more fiery kick, you can add another jalapeno. Keep in mind, the salsa gets spicier as it sits in the refrigerator.
How to Serve Chipotle-Roasted Tomato Salsa
To serve, you can pull the salsa immediately from the fridge, or you can gently reheat it on the stove. Warm salsa might sound weird but trust me on this. My favorite Mexican restaurant in the world, Pappasito’s, serves its salsa warm, and it’s dreamy. Most people are used to cold salsa, so serving it warm makes for a fun twist.
Perfect Pairing for Chipotle-Roasted Tomato Salsa
Obviously, you can’t go wrong with margaritas when a big bowl of salsa sits in front of you. Lucky for you, I’m slightly obsessed with margaritas and have a few delicious options for you.
I also love a classic amber ale with this chipotle-roasted tomato salsa. With an amber ale, you get a strong malt backbone, which pairs nicely with the caramelization from the tomatoes, and there’s plenty of carbonation to help cleanse your palate from the spicy peppers. I’m a huge fan of Odell Brewing Levity, and it’s widely available.
For you wine lovers, a dry Riesling is perfect with this salsa. Dry Rieslings are acidic to match the tomatoes, and the slight sweetness helps calm the spice.
The next time you find yourself craving a big bowl of chips and salsa, I hope you give this chipotle-roasted tomato salsa a try. Please let me know how you enjoyed this chipotle-roasted tomato salsa recipe in the comment section and don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter. You can also catch me on Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook and Twitter.
Cheers!
Feeling spicy? Enjoy These Other Burrata and Bubbles Recipes.
- Spicy avocado herb dip
- Tropical pico de gallo
- Roasted chicken-butternut squash tostadas
- Jamaican jerk salsa
- Jerk chicken enchiladas

Chipotle-Roasted Tomato Salsa
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
- Yield: About 2 cups 1x
Description
With smoky chipotle and sweet, caramelized roasted tomatoes, this chipotle-roasted tomato salsa is the perfect blend of flavors.
Ingredients
8 Roma tomatoes, halved vertically
2 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and pepper
4 garlic cloves, grated or minced
1 lime, juiced
1 chipotle pepper from a can, with seeds, chopped (see note)
1 jalapeno with seeds and membrane, chopped
3/4 cup onion, chopped
1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
2 tablespoons adobo sauce from canned chipotles
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350 degrees. Rub the tomato halves with olive oil, salt and pepper. Place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet and roast for an hour. Let the tomatoes cool for a few minutes.
- In a food processor, pulse the tomatoes until they reach your desired consistency.
- Move the tomatoes to a mixing bowl. Stir in garlic, lime juice, chipotle pepper, jalapeno, onion, cilantro and adobo sauce. Taste. If needed, add salt and pepper to your liking. You can also add another jalapeno if you’d like more heat, keeping in mind that the salsa’s heat will intensify as it sits. Refrigerate for a few hours to allow the flavors to meld.
- Serve cold or gently heat on the stove if you’d like a warm salsa. Enjoy!
Notes
- Just to clarify, this means one, single chipotle pepper from a can, not all the peppers from one can. You can store the leftover chipotle peppers in the refrigerator or freeze them with some adobo sauce for future use.
- Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
- Category: Appetizers
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: Mexican
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 2 tablespoons
- Calories: 11
- Sugar: 0
- Sodium: 0
- Fat: 0
- Saturated Fat: 0
- Unsaturated Fat: 0
- Trans Fat: 0
- Carbohydrates: 1
- Fiber: 0
- Protein: 0
- Cholesterol: 0
Keywords: salsa, chipotle salsa, roasted tomato salsa
I love homemade salsa and this chipotle roasted tomato salsa looks perfect. I can’t wait to make this for my friends and family.
★★★★★
Thank you! Hope it’s a hit.
THANK YOU!!! Had to go (return) straight to your page to thank you for this salsa! I simply love chipotle and have been looking for a perfect salsa for a long time! I’ve got it now! Thanks!!
★★★★★
You’re welcome! Glad you enjoy it. 😀
I am a huge fan of homemade salsa. It is so much better than the store bought, and you always know what spice level you’re going to get. Roasting the tomatoes is a great way to add flavor too!
★★★★★
Totally agree on all fronts!
I love roasting tomatoes too. Brings out so much flavor! A big bowl of this salsa with chips and a margarita sounds soooo good right now!
Right? I’m always in the mood for salsa and margs. 😀
I love this recipe for salsa sounds so wonderful! I am loving this recipe. No more store bought for us.
Yay! Hope you love it!
Seriously loving the sound of this! It is SO good!
★★★★★
Thanks, Alex! It really is.
Hi, when you wrote “canned chipotle” did you mean use the whole can or just one chipotle pepper from the can? Many thanks, recipe looks wonderful.
Oops! I totally see how that’s confusing. I mean just one single chipotle from a can. Thanks for pointing that out! I’ll fix it. Hope you love it!