Be careful adding tomatoes, if you are canning salsa, you can mess up the balance in acidity and vegetables.

I like mine thicker too, I usually take my thumb and scoop out osome of the goo and use the meatier part of the tomato. My recipe also calls for tomato paste and sauce, that was for texture only.

Anyway, I'd cut the tomatoes in half, scoop out some of the water goo and see if that helps on the next atch.

You can cook this batch longer to make it thicker, but don't get too thick. In addition to density issues, you get those little "volcanoes" of salsa that bubble up and burn the heck out of your arms while you're stirring!

Annie

Annie's Salsa is hands down the gold standard in our house, but I find that if you cook additionally trying for thickness, that the chunky texture suffers. I stick with the original instructions and it is great every time.

I did find a non-canned Salsa recipe that is supposed to be more like the style served with chips before dinner in a Mexican restaurant. I have it at home and I'll see if I can find it and post tomorrow.

Steve

I always make salsa fresca....and make it as I need it...keeps several days in the refrig. If it needs thickening, I use dry bread crumbs. Give it a half an hour to absorb the juice and you would never know you added bread.
Linda C

Want to thicken it? Add a little tomato paste. Want the salsa to be entirely homemade? Make paste from homegrown tomatoes.

I cut up all of the ingredients and let them drain overnight in the frig. You will astounded at how much liquid drains from onions, peppers, and tomatoes.

LindaC, I also make fresh salsa whenever fresh tomatoes are good. That means for at least 6 months out of the year my home canned salsa with really good tomatoes is way better than the styrofoam imposters we get here.

Annie

Here's the link to the recipe. Turns out it's from our friend The Pioneer Woman! It is really good.

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2010/01/restaurant-style-salsa/

Steve

That's the way I make salsa!
But I prefer imported tomatoes, and if they don't have citric acid added, I will need a teaspoon of so of red wine vinegar.
And if I have it I prefer green onion to the bog ol' white ones.
Linda C

You might also try pureeing part of the salsa, or roasting some of the tomatoes so they shrink.

The Pioneer Woman recipe uses canned tomatoes plus Rotel tomatoes (which I also like), but if you are going to use cans, you might as well buy Herdez brand salsa, red or green, which is made in Mexico and does not contain extraneous ingredients such as vinegar, sugar, black pepper, or cumin. I tend to make green salsa instead of red, since I prefer tomatillos in salsa to red tomatoes, which are too sweet in salsa for me. I also use green onions instead of white ones.

But to your original questions - you can thicken the salsa by adding tomato powder, which works much better than tomato paste, and I really like the flavor. Eileen's suggestion of draining the salsa overnight is also very good (although you do not need to drain the peppers), and I think she may have spent as much time in Mexico as I have. It's not necessary to make authentic Mexican salsa, but that is what I am used to and so I tend to prefer it. If you want to Americanize it, that is fine also. I usually add lime juice to mine because I like it especially tart, and I generally have limes on hand. That makes it more watery, but I'm okay with that.

Lars

Is this a fresh or cooked or "to be canned" salsa recipe? Three very different animals! If you're not going to can it, you might try a little cornstarch. Here's a recipe below I got from my friend. She actually cans this up every year but it does NOT meet safe canning requirements. Also, you might try using paste tomatoes. I made all my salsa with roma tomatoes last year, I really liked it. Tomatoes vary greatly in their watery-ness. I know "watery-ness" is not a word, but I think it is appropriate!

Salsa (this makes 15 pints, so you can reduce the amounts for a smaller batch)
12 lbs. tomatoes
7 large green or banana peppers or a mix
2 large onions
5 cloves garlic
11 jalepeno peppers, seeds removed (I'd use about six probably)
Chop all of the above. Simmer for a while.
Add: 1 cup white vinegar with 6 TBLSP corn starch dissolved in it.
1/2 cup oil
3 TBLSP salt (That seems like too much to me!)
1 TBLSP paprika
1 TBLSP sugar
1 bunch cilantro

It was good salsa! But I would never can it with the oil in there. The vinegar ratio sounds a little low to me too. Not sure about cornstarch's safety, probably a no no says the safety gods!

Thanks everyone. My second batch actually got scorched in the cooking longer process! But it is still fine. I really am fond of my recipe. I'm wary about adding the cornstarch. Where does one buy Tomato powder? That sounds like a good idea.

I've been buying tomato powder from Harmony House, and they have other good dried foods. I buy their mixed vegetable (heavy on carrots and red bell pepper) that I add to rice when it comes out too watery, but also to soups. The dried cabbage is also especially good, and I was used to getting that in Japanese soups that were much more expensive. I still buy dried Wakame at the Japanese market, however.

Lars

I thicken my salsa by taking several plain tortilla chips and crushing them just as fine as I can with a rolling pin or in a blender, and then adding them, a little at a time, to the salsa and mixing well.

The chips will take up some of the free liquid and make your salsa thicker, all without affecting the overall taste.

Lpink, I am not sure how to answer your question about what kind of recipe it is...it is a recipe I got from my BIL and you cook it til "it thickens", put in canning jars and give water bath for 30 min.
Thanks for the help on the tomato powder PM.
Made batch number 3 yesterday. It is okay, but I just wish the juice part was more a sauce!

Lars, that website has some amazing products. I'm really intrigued by the dehydrated beans. I realize it's super easy to cook a pound of dried beans, but the idea of having beans ready in 15 minutes sounds kind of neat. I was also wondering if the dehydration process made them easier to digest. I just may buy a sample package to play around with.

Here is a link that might be useful: Dehydrated Black Beans

If it's a "to be canned" recipe, you really should not fool with it by adding other ingredients, due to proportions being a key element in canning safety. But it doesn't sound like it's an approved recipe so proceed at your own risk, I can't advise much on that, I only use approved recipes. (Ones that follow USDA canning safety standards). Adding tomato paste or powder can affect the acid balance of the salsa but if it isn't approved then it's impossible to say what that balance may be, it hasn't been tested.
I do know when I make my salsa I usually have to cook it a bit to thicken it. I have also scorched salsa during that process. Sweet tomatoes can scorch and having a good pot that can diffuse low heat evenly is pretty important, and for years I did not have a good pot. I still have only a passable one.

I agree, if it's not a recipe approved for canning, then I can't tell you how additions could affect the acidity levels.

Because salsa contains low acid vegetables and becasue it is not usually boiled for 10 minutes before consuming, it's eaten straight from the jar, it can be more "dangerous" to can then something like plain tomatoes that will be boiled in chili or high acid fruits/jams/sauces.

Be carful about messing with recipes to be canned. I'll also add that cornstarch is not recommended for canning, it breaks down on storage and becomes watery itself, which I think would worsen the texture issue.

If you post the recipe here we could critique it for you. (grin)

I can tell you that if you are water bath canning salsa it needs an acid, like vinegar, lemon or lime juice.

Annie

I love this forum. You all have so many good tips. The recipe I use calls for cornstarch mixed with vinegar to thicken it, but we use it so fast there isn't enough storage time for it to break down. Still, if we ever get enough tomatoes this year to make any I'll try Annie's recipe.