Flavor-Packed Salsa Roja (Mexican-Style Red Salsa)
Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links; more info here.
There’s nothin’ like scooping up some fresh and spicy salsa roja on crispy, lightly-salted tortilla chips. Am I right?
But here’s the thing. If you want some good salsa – and I mean some really good salsa – you’d be hard-pressed to find it in a store. And that’s because the flavors usually come in 1: overly processed, 2: bland, and 3: not spicy enough.
If you want your salsa roja done right, you have to make it yourself. Luckily, making this mouth-watering homemade Mexican-style salsa roja (red salsa) is fun, easy, and oh-so rewarding.
Here’s my recipe for the best-ever salsa roja, complete with spicy roasted chiles, fresh flavors of tomato and cilantro, and smoky chipotle peppers.
Warning: It’s addictively smoky, spicy, and flavor-packed.
Ingredients for Salsa Roja
To make this salsa roja, you first need to round up everything that’s spicy and delicious in this world:
- Tomatoes
- Tomatillos
- Habaneros
- Jalapeรฑos
- Dried รกrbol chiles
- Dried guajillo chiles
- Chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
- Garlic
- White onion
- Cilantro
- Lime juice
- Vinegar
- Salt
Just by the list of ingredients, you can already tell how amazing this salsa is, right? It’s loaded up with tons of bright flavors and spice. (So in other words, no, this is not the salsa for those who can’t handle a little heat! You’ve been warned.)
How to Make Mexican-Style Red Salsa
Making this salsa roja couldn’t be simpler. I’ll walk you through the steps.
First, simply throw (most of) the ingredients onto a hot grill pan, and get to roasting! Roasting the chiles and other ingredients imparts a smoky richness into the salsa that you’re going to love.
Then, after all of your ingredients are prepped, charred, and ready to go, throw everything into a good blender, and let it whirl until the salsa is smooth. Now all that’s left to do is season the salsa to balanced perfection!
See how simple this recipe is?
You will never have an excuse to buy store-bought salsa again. Nor will you want to!
Into Mexican-inspired vegan recipes? Check these out!
If you tried this recipe, let us know how you liked it! Leave a comment/rating below. Be sure to follow along on Instagram and Pinterest for more delicious recipes and adventures around the world!
PrintThe Best Mexican-Style Salsa Roja with Roasted Chiles
Looking for the best Mexican salsa roja recipe? This red salsa is packed with flavors of roasted tomatillos, tomatoes, chipotles, habaneros, guajillos, garlic, and more. So delicious, we bet it’ll become a refrigerator staple in your home.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 2 cups 1x
- Category: Sauce/Dip
- Method: Grill & Blend
- Cuisine: Mexican
- Diet: Vegan
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 4 tomatillos (husks removed)
- 3 tomatoes
- 10 dried รกrbol chiles (stems removed)
- 5 dried guajillo chiles (stems and seeds removed)
- 2 habaneros (stems removed)
- 1 jalapeรฑo (stem removed)
- 1 white onion (sliced)
- 3 cloves garlic (peeled)
- 1 chipotle pepper
- 1 tbsp adobo sauce
- 1/4 bunch cilantro (with stems)
- hot water
- juice of 1 lime
- salt, to taste
- vinegar, to taste
Instructions
- Heat up a grill pan on the stove over medium heat. Once hot, drizzle with olive oil.
- Put the tomatillos, tomatoes, รกrbol chiles, guajillo chiles, habaneros, jalapeรฑo, and onion onto the grill. Roast until everything is browned on all sides — about 15 minutes.
- Add the garlic onto the grill for about two minutes, being careful not to burn it.ย
- Turn off the grill pan. Separate the guajillos and arboles, and add them to a bowl of hot water. Soak them for about 20 minutes, until the chiles are rehydrated and soft.
- Reserve 3/4 cup of the water from the bowl. Add the reserved water and all of the ingredients (except for the salt and vinegar) into a blender. Blend until the salsa is a smooth purรฉe.
- Add salt to taste. Add vinegar to taste, slowly; you may not need much vinegar, depending on how juicy the lime was! As you season, re-blend to combine, and taste as you go. Once the salsa is balanced and to your liking, it’s finished.
- Allow the salsa to cool in the refrigerator, then serve it with fresh tortilla chips or on top of your favorite Mexican dishes!
Did you make our Mexican red salsa? Let us know in the comments what you thought! If you have any questions about this salsa roja, feel free to leave those below, too.
Amazing recipe, Iโve been to Mexico several times and thereโs this one restaurant in Loreto which just the most amazing smoky salsa and Iโve never been able to recreate it. This recipe has been the closest one so far but it was a bit sweet and not as spicy. Iโll write a follow up review once Iโve figured out what to change in case anyone has the same issue.
Try omitting the guajillo chiles next time, and adding more habaneros or arboles!
This is such a great recipe – so easy to make and so much better than buying the processed stuff. You can taste the difference and it does not take all day to make. Thanks for posting this.
Thanks, Sammy!