Homemade Salsa Ranchera

Making salsa at home has never been so easy! This homemade Salsa Ranchera takes 5 ingredients and just a few minutes. It is a classic salsa recipe essential for making Huevos Rancheros but is also just as good served with tortilla chips. You are going to love this recipe.

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Store bought salsa is fine. But once you start making your own and see how easy and tasty fresh salsa is, it’s kinda hard to go back.

All flavor factors aside, making your own homemade salsa recipe is also pretty fun. You are in the driver’s seat when it comes to the spice level, texture, saltiness. Do you like your salsa thick and chunky? Do you like it with green onion instead of white?

These are all things that you can play around with when you start making your own salsas at home.

Over the years I’ve refined my technique so it is exactly how I like it. Mind you, this also depends on what kind of salsa I’m making. I like my guacamole and pico de gallo with lots of lime and salt. I like my salsa verde very, very smooth while Armando likes his very, very spicy.

My point is, you can follow this recipe to a T or play around with it to make your own version (I’ll give some variations below).

What Kind of Salsa is Salsa Ranchera?

Salsa Ranchera is a very basic salsa. Just five ingredients. Fresh tomatoes, serrano chile, onion and garlic, and salt.

In his book, Tu Casa, Mi Casa, Enrique Olvera says the name comes the fact that it is so easy to make it can be prepared out in the fields, rancher-style.

It is the namesake salsa for Huevos Rancheros but that’s not all it’s good for. There are several other Mexican recipes that benefit from a bath of Salsa Ranchera.

Albondigas, tacos, and Chicken and Black Bean Nachos are three things that immediately come to mind. I also love having Salsa Ranchera and Salsa Verde in the fridge for making Huevos Divorciados. The recipe for that is in Plant Powered Mexican, my new cookbook which is in bookstores now.

Ingredients

The list of ingredients is very short which is great, but that also means you have to use the best you can get of each one for maximum flavor. Here’s what you’ll need:

• Tomatoes. This salsa is best made with either heirloom tomatoes or homegrown garden tomatoes. If tomatoes are out of season where you live, even so-so tomatoes from the grocery store will still work. Charring them intensifies their flavor and brings out the sweetness. You can also substitute a 28-ounce can of fire roasted diced tomatoes instead.
• Serrano chiles. As you can see in the images, I used purple jalapeños (some of which had turned red) to make this salsa because that’s what I have growing in my garden. You can use jalapeños or serranos to make this recipe.
• White onion.
• Garlic. Char the garlic with the skin on to prevent it from burning and becoming bitter. Remove the skin before blending.
• Kosher salt.

How To Make This Homemade Salsa

Like I’ve said at least twice already, this salsa is really easy to make. Here’s how to do it.

1. Heat the broiler to high. Char the tomatoes, onion, serranos, and garlic until blackened. Check every couple of minutes and remove things as they get charred.
2. Add the tomatoes, green chiles, onion, garlic, and salt to a blender or food processor and pulse until smooth. If you are sensitive to heat, removing the seeds from the serranos will help.
3. Taste with a chip and add more salt if needed.

Variations and Tips

There are a few traditional variations that are common depending on where you go in Mexico.

• I’m lazy so I prefer to blend this salsa together in the blender. If you have a molcajete and would rather use that to blend the salsa, go for it!
• This restaurant style salsa is either made with roasted tomatoes, like we did here, or the vegetables are diced and sautéed in oil. I love that charred flavor but if you want the best of both worlds, you could char the Roma tomatoes by themselves and sauté the onion, chile peppers, and garlic in oil. Place the charred tomatoes in the blender then add the onion and other veggies and blend.
• Switch up the ingredients a bit. Use red onion instead of white. Add fresh cilantro at the end or a squeeze of lime juice. I’ve even seen Salsa Ranchera recipes with Worcestershire sauce added.
• I always char a couple more chiles than the recipe calls for so if I want to make it more spicy I can. Don’t forget to remove the stems before blending.
• You can remove the charred skin of the tomatoes if you’d like but I think there is too much tomato flavor to throw it away, plus I like that extra smokiness from the charred skin.

More Delicious Salsa Recipes To Try!

• Spicy Salsa Macha Recipe
• Tomatillo Red Chili Salsa
• Smokey Chipotle Guacamole
• Spicy Árbol Chile Salsa
• Homemade Salsa Morita {Morita Chile Pepper Salsa}
• Roasted Hatch Green Chile Salsa
• Easy Jalapeño Avocado Salsa

Mexican Cooking Is Best When It is Homemade

How do I know you are going to love this salsa? Because you made it yourself! When you make it, snap me a pic and tag me @holajalapeno and #holajalapeno on Instagram so I can see or leave me a comment below (don’t forget to leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating) ! Also, make sure to sign up for my weekly newsletter, lots of good stuff there too!

Resources

Tu Casa Mi Casa by Enrique Olvera

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