Make your own picante-style sauce or salsa at home with this recipe, with fresh tomatoes, spicy jalapenos, tangy apple cider vinegar and more. I use this sauce on practically everything. Can be served as a sauce or a salsa.
Ingredients
- 10 dried chipotle peppers
- 2 cups chopped tomatoes
- 2 cups mixed chili peppers chopped – jalapeno peppers are great here, as are serranos, or go with a variety
- 1 small onion chopped
- 4-5 garlic cloves chopped
- 3 tablespoons cilantro
- 1 tablespoon cayenne powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- ½ cup water
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 2/3 cup cider vinegar
- Juice from 1 small lime
Directions
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Add the chipotle peppers to a small pot and cover them with water. Bring to a quick boil then remove from heat. Allow them to soften about 20 minutes. Remove the stems, chop them and add them to a food processor.
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To the food processor, add tomatoes, jalapenos, serranos, onion and garlic. Process to roughly chop.
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Add remaining ingredients and process until smooth.
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Add the sauce to a large pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes.
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Cool and store in sterilized jars, or use it right away.
Homemade Picante Sauce Ingredients
- Dried Chipotle Peppers.
- Chopped Tomatoes.
- Mixed Chili Peppers. Jalapeno peppers are great here, as are serranos, or go with a variety.
- Onion. Small one, chopped.
- Garlic Cloves. Chopped.
- Cilantro.
- Cayenne Powder.
- Ground Cumin.
- Water.
- Salt and Pepper. To taste.
- Cider Vinegar.
- Lime Juice.
Recipe Method
The sauce recipe is spectacularly easy to put together. I’ve included a VIDEO below that you can review with thequick steps.
In a nutshell, to make your own homemade picante sauce, add all of your ingredients to a food processor or blender.
Next, process until smooth! Easy enough thus far!
Then, pour into a pan and heat through for about 20 minutes to let the flavors mingle. Turn off the heat and cool slightly.
Pour the picante sauce into a sterilized jar or into a serving bottle and you’re good to go. I keep mine in the fridge and spoon it over all sorts of dishes.
Here are answers to some of the most common questions I get on other sauces:
How long will this sauce keep?
It should keep a few months easily in the fridge, or even longer. It’s all about the acidity. To be technical, target level ph for shelf stable foods is below 4.6 ph, but should probably be lower for home cooks, around 4.0 or so, to account for errors. I have not measured the ph of this sauce, but I won’t have it around very long anyway. If you’re concerned, add more vinegar to lower the ph.
Where’d you get that sauce bottle?
I find them locally sometimes, but I also order through Amazon.
Can I process this hot sauce for longer storage?
Absolutely. Just be sure to use proper canning/jarring safety procedures.
Nutrition Information
Calories: 49kcal Carbohydrates: 10g Protein: 1g Sodium: 79mg Potassium: 200mg Fiber: 3g Sugar: 5g Vitamin A: 470IU Vitamin C: 15.4mg Calcium: 25mg Iron: 0.9mg
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