This Slow Roasted Tomato Salsa is a smoky alternative to traditional fresh salsa. It makes a great snack when paired with crunchy tortilla chips.
While I can't say that my entire garden has been successful this year (darn rabbits!), my tomatoes definitely have been. Between my CSA and my tomato plants, I have already picked about 8lbs of ripe, delicious tomatoes.
With the exception of the odd bacon and tomato sandwich and some pizza, most of my tomatoes have gone into salsa. More specifically, this Slow Roasted Tomato Salsa.
I have made many types of salsas over the years, from your basic fresh tomato salsas to fruit salsas to roasted tomatillo salsas. But this year is the first time I have tried roasted tomato salsa. And it is now tied for my new favorite (I still really love roasted tomatillo salsa too).
Basically, I can't get enough of this salsa. I keep stockpiling tomatoes until I get the full 2 lbs I need to make this recipe, then I roast them up. Since I'm thinking ahead to the winter, I'm freezing some batches of the roasted tomatoes so that I'll be able to have delicious fresh salsa all winter long.
As much as I love this salsa, it does have two downfalls. One is the cooking time. An hour and a half in the oven is not something you'd have to deal with for fresh salsa.
But I think it's so worth it for the slightly sweet, smoky flavor you get. I have had success roasting them in my grill to cut down on oven time when it's really hot. Just don't use a pan you're really fond of, as it can be really difficult to get the blackened tomatoes off the edges.
The other downfall of this recipe compared to fresh tomato salsa is added fat. The recipe uses ½ cup of olive oil in the tomato roasting. However, you do discard the excess oil, so not all of it goes into the finished product.
Of course, some of it will get left with the tomatoes and make it's way into the salsa, but I think that an estimate of only half of it making it to the salsa is a very conservative estimate, and this is what I have based my nutrition information on.
The upside of this is that cooking the tomatoes, and particularly cooking (and eating) them with the oil, makes some of the nutrients (like lycopene) in the tomato more easily absorbed.
How to make Roasted Tomato Salsa
Making this delicious salsa starts with roasting the tomatoes. I like to do this in a glass baking dish, because cooking acidic tomatoes is a metal baking pan has the potential to cause your pan to rust (it likely won't, but depending on the condition of your pan and it's coatings, it might).
Once the tomatoes are roasted, it's chopping time. Chop up the tomatoes, plus some garlic, onion, jalapeno, and cilantro. Stir everything together and season with salt, pepper, and lime juice.
The salsa can be eaten right away, or you can put it in the fridge for awhile for the flavors to meld.
Eat the salsa however you would eat any other salsa. Put it on meat or fish, tacos or other Mexican dishes, or simply eat it with tortilla chips.
Slow Roasted Tomato Salsa Ingredients:
- Olive oil - note that only about half (or less) of the olive oil you use to roast the tomatoes will make its way into the salsa. You could possibly save the remaining olive oil to use in another tomato-based dish, like pasta sauce or soup.
- Garlic
- Fresh tomatoes - you could use any type you like, but for traditional-looking salsa, use red ones.
- Salt and pepper - to enhance the savory flavor of the tomatoes, try using MSG-salt
- Red onion
- Jalapeno pepper
- Fresh cilantro
- Lime juice - fresh-squeezed lime juice is best, but bottled will work too.
Want more tomato recipes?
Slow Roasted Tomato Salsa Nutrition Notes:
Because oil is used to roast the tomatoes in this salsa recipe, it will contain more calories than other fresh salsas. However, when tomatoes are cooked with oil, it increases the body's ability to increase lycopene, a beneficial phytochemical that is found in tomatoes.
The calculations for the nutrition information below assume that half of the olive oil for roasting the tomatoes makes its way into the salsa.
This salsa is gluten-free and vegan.
Slow Roasted Tomato Salsa
Equipment
- 9x13" or larger glass or ceramic baking dish (preferably glass)
Ingredients
- ½ cup olive oil
- 4 cloves garlic thinly sliced
- 2 pounds fresh tomatoes cored and sliced ½" thick
- salt and pepper
- ¼ cup minced red onion
- 1 jalapeno pepper stemmed, seeded and minced
- 2 Tablespoons minced fresh cilantro
- 1 Tablespoon lime juice
Instructions
- Move oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 325°F. Drizzle 2 tablespoon of the olive oil into a 9x13" baking dish. Spread half of the garlic in the baking pan. Arrange the tomato slices in the baking pan. Spread the remaining garlic over the tomatoes and season with a little salt and pepper. Drizzle the remaining olive oil over tomatoes and garlic. Bake for about an hour and a half until tomatoes are shriveled and beginning to turn black at the edges. Remove from oven and cool.
- Remove tomatoes from pan to a cutting board using a slotted spoon or turner, leaving the oil in the pan. Discard excess oil. Chop tomatoes and garlic and move to a medium bowl. Stir in ¼ cup minced red onion, the minced jalapeno, 2 Tablespoons minced fresh cilantro, and 1 Tablespoon lime juice. Season with additional salt and pepper, and lime juice to taste. Serve immediately or refrigerate, covered until ready to use.
Notes
Nutrition
*Note: Recipe from America's Test Kitchen The Best Mexican Recipes
Richard Tooley says
That looks really tasty! You could send a sample to us with Nolan. [hint, hint] 🙂
Carissa says
I'll see if I can spare some of my next batch 🙂 It disappears pretty fast around here.