I am a huge fan of salsas and given my obsession with Mexican cuisine I tend to have them quite frequently. Of course, I like to make my own salsas fresh whenever I can and since there are so many ways to make salsas its always nice to have a good collection of recipes on hand. Although I tend to prefer fresher and milder salsas like pico de gallo , I also like a bit of heat every once in a while and I was thinking that a spicy hot salsa would go perfectly with the fajitas . I had been wanting to to try making a salsa with habanero peppers for a while and now was my chance!
For this salsa I kept things pretty basic using the staple ingredients for a simple tomato based salsa and I used the habanero peppers for the source of heat. Habanero peppers can be quite hot so you are going to want to be careful when adding them if you do not enjoy things really hot. You can seed the peppers to reduce the heat and start by adding half of a pepper, testing it and go from there. I ended up adding 2 peppers with the seeds and to help ensure that their heat came out I simmered the salsa for a while and then pureed it. The habanero salsa turned out really well and it definitely satisfied my craving for a touch of heat! Given all of the fresh produce around these days I could not resist also using some homemade pico de gallo in the fajitas along with some creamy avocado to help tame the heat.
Habanero Salsa
A spicy tomato based habanero salsa for those who like it hot!
ingredients
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 1 small onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1 teaspoon cumin, toasted and ground
- 2 cups tomatoes, diced or 1 (14 ounce) can diced tomatoes
- 1-2 habanero chilies, chopped
- 1 handful cilantro, chopped
- 1/2 lime, juice
directions
- Heat the oil in a pan.
- Add the onions and saute until tender, about 5-7 minutes.
- Add the garlic and cumin and saute until fragrant, about a minute.
- Add the tomatoes and chilies, bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until the sauce thickens about 10-20 minutes.
- Remove from heat, puree in food processor if desired, stir in the cilantro and hit it with a squeeze of lime juice.
That salasa looks and sounds so good!
Cheers,
Rosa
I never met a salsa I didn't like, and this one looks amazing!!!!
I am growing habanero. Will mental note this recipe for when the plants produce.
i'm quite obsessed with Mexican cuisine, too and can't wait to be there in 3 weeks!! the salsa looks great! and spicy!
I love spicy salsas… bet this one is wonderful!
Looks lovely and so easy too!
This sounds heavenly!
I'm just going crazy for salsas this summer…I keep alternating between making gazpachos and salsas with all the produce. I recently make a habanero version, and I was surprised that it wasn't over the top hot. I did use just 1/2 the pepper, as you suggest. I like the addition of roasted cumin seed in yours, I'll have to try that.
This looks great! I have long been trying to get the perfect salsa recipe, I love your corriander (cilantro) addition. xxxx
Looks awesome, I just love the food sensory of salsa!
Looks great I love salsa too. just not to hot..habanero sounds hot to me
Habaneros scare me, but it's a beautiful salsa 🙂
I enjoy the fruity burn of habanero. But TWO chilies WITH the seeds? You are a mad man my friend!
How did you feel the next morning? 😉
This looks so yummy! Will be sure to try it out 😀
Delicious!!! I'm a salsa freak and this is super good!
This recipe was the starting point for the best salsa I have ever had. Thank you! We will never buy salsa again. We made a few changes including fewer tomatoes and more habanero.
We strained and shook out the extra tomato juice/water before adding the chunks to the pot. We used a deep pot and a hand held processor instead of a blender.
The heat makes my face sweat but it isn't too hot for the mouth. Very fresh and tasty!
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 LARGE white onion, chopped
1 LARGE clove of garlic, chopped
1 teaspoon cumin
4 medium tomatoes, chopped, strained (shaken)
6 habanero chillies, chopped seeds and all
5 jalapeno chilies, chopped seeds and all
1 handful cilantro, chopped
1 whole lime, juiced
Anonymous: Now that would be a spicy habanero salsa! It sounds great!
I made this and did not turn out like the image. It turned into a orange color indstead of the red salsa in image even though I used red ripe tomatos. The salsa turns into a thick paste instead of salsa.
Anonymous: I am not sure why a red tomato based salasa would turn orange… did you use orange habaneros? It sounds like you may have simmered it for too long removing too much of the liquid before pureeing it. You want the sauce to start to thicken but there should still be liquid present.
Thanks much! Made this minus the onions and added extra garlic instead, because I hate onions!
I guess i like mine hot. I just made an amazing batch of salsa. 2 ghost peppers, 3 habaneros, 1 jalapeno and lots of cayanne. Secret is to sweeten it up a little with some sugar. Hot, but the burn is great and doesnt last a long time.
I used organic strained tomatoes, 2 red habaneros, one orange, a ghost and a cobra. Fantastic!! Thank you so very much!!
So yummy! Just the right amount of heat to make you sit up and notice!
I just made this salsa, it has tons of flavor!
The only thing I would change is I would only use 1 or maybe even half a habanero next time. I didn't realize how spicy those things are, and I can usually handle spicy! But overall great recipe.