The Best Instant Pot Salsa Recipe

I don’t know about y’all, but I really love some good chips and salsa. Maybe it’s a Texan thing, but a good chips and salsa combination is the perfect appetizer to any meal – and that’s something that we don’t take lightly. From the consistency and spice of the salsa to the thickness and saltiness of the chips, as my Texan friends can attest, we are very particular.

As you probably remember from this summer’s garden, we dedicated an entire raised garden bed to salsa ingredients. Our ‘Salsa Bed’ flourished so much (and so quickly!) that our produce drawer was overflowing. We ended up using the ingredients for other dishes as well. But throughout the summer season, we were able to make about 6 large batches of salsa altogether – 3 tomato based salsas and 3 tomatillo based salsas. After tinkering with our recipe, I think I finally have the PERFECT recipe for my fellow chips and salsa lovers. It’s even amazing with salted plantain chips (personal trainer approved!) and on top of salads for a low-calorie dressing. With each batch producing 4-5 jars, I’m so excited that we might have enough to last us until we plant our spring garden next year.

READ ALSO: Our Beginner Gardening Tips / Raised Garden Bed Tips

Instant Pot Salsa

Today on the blog, I can’t wait to share with you the best Instant Pot Salsa Recipe. Not only is it so easy that you can do it on a weeknight after work, but it will make you never want to buy salsa from the store again. (I promise you can taste the difference when it’s fresh!) Meanwhile, if you’ve got an abundance of tomatoes left over from your summer garden and you don’t want them to go bad, you are going to want to pin this recipe for later!

Ingredients:

1 large onion
2 large green bell peppers
8 jalapeños – You can deseed if you’d like. I leave the seeds in for extra heat!
approximately 15 tomatoes – depending on the size of the tomatoes ; I typically just fill up to the ‘P.C. 2/3’ line in my Instant Pot. I personally love Roma tomatoes.
8-10 cloves of garlic – If you’re one of those people who increases the garlic on recipes because you love it, no need. I already did that for you.
1/2 cup of vinegar
1 tbsp of sugar
1 tbsp of salt
juice of 1 lime
1 – 6oz can of tomato paste – This is used to thicken the salsa slightly. You can leave this out for a more ‘restaurant salsa’ style consistency.
up to 1/2 bunch of cilantro leaves torn up

If you’d like it extra hot and spicy, you can sub 4 jalapeños for 5 habaneros

Instructions:

Chop up the onion, bell pepper, jalapeños, tomatoes, and garlic. While you don’t need to chop them super small, I like to chop /dice them up into small bite size pieces so they cook down better evenly and it’s easier to blend later.
Add your vegetables, garlic, vinegar, sugar, and salt to your instant pot. Once everything is added, I like to give it a good stir to mix everything together.
Pressure cook on Manual HIGH for 20 minutes. Safely quick release the pressure. (Note: There will be some spitting with the steam.) Once the pressure has been released and the pin has dropped, open your Instant Pot lid.
Stir in the lime juice, tomato paste, and cilantro.
Take an immersion blender like this one (affiliate link), and blend the salsa while still in the Instant Pot.
Ladle the salsa into sanitized mason jars. Let the salsa cool to room temperature to store in the fridge. If you’d like to properly seal the mason jars to allow your salsa to sit in the pantry (longer shelf life!), you can boil the filled jars for 10 to 12 minutes and set them out to cool until the lids pop. (It may take a few hours for them to all pop completely.)

Substitutions for Tomatillo Salsa:

This recipe is also great if you want to make tomatillo salsa! To make tomatillo salsa in your Instant Pot, you’d just make the following minor changes to the above recipe.

Instead of 8 jalapeños, use 8 serranos.
Instead of tomatoes, use approximately 25 tomatillos. (I typically just fill up to the ‘P.C. 2/3’ line in my Instant Pot.)
Leave out the tomato paste. (Note that this will also make it have more of a ‘restaurant style’ consistency.)

There you have it, friends! The best Instant Pot salsa recipe for your next gathering, game day, or just a regular night at home. Are you excited to make this for yourself? If you try it, make sure to let us know how much you love it in a comment below or by tagging us on Instagram!