This post may include affiliate links; see our disclosure policy.
Wondering what to do with green tomatoes? Make green tomato salsa! They blend into a zesty dip that tastes just like salsa verde.
Got a garden full of green tomatoes? We’re here to help! Every fall, Alex and I end up staring down a jungle of tomato vines and a mountain of green stragglers. In the past, we might have composted them (the waste, I know!). But we’ve found there are so many ways to use green tomatoes—like this electric green fancy toast or green tomato pickles.
Our new favorite way to use green tomatoes? Salsa. This green tomato salsa tastes just like salsa verde. Salsa verde is made with tomatillos, but using green tomatoes works just as well—or better!
What green tomatoes to use?
Before we start, it’s important to clarify exactly what type of green tomato to use. Can you use any tomato that is green in color? Actually, no. This recipe is for unripe red tomatoes that are the color green. The confusing part is there are actually varieties of tomatoes that are bred to be green when ripe! The green zebra tomato is a good example of a green-when-ripe tomato. We used this variety of tomato in our Mozzarella Tomato Basil Salad to bring in a lovely contrasting color. In this case, the green tomato tastes juicy and sweet, just like a red tomato.
This green tomato salsa recipe should only be made with red tomatoes that haven’t yet ripened, leaving them green and hard. Why? They have tart, zingy flavor that absolutely makes this salsa. Green-when-ripe tomatoes are absolutely as delicious in their own right: just different.
Tip: Try our 10 green tomato recipes for more ideas on how to use them.
How to make green tomato salsa
Making green tomato salsa is very similar to making a salsa verde, like our roasted tomatillo salsa. What makes this salsa pop is broiling the vegetables first. This technique that we learned from chef Rick Bayless adds a smoky flavor. All you need to do is broil the veggies, then pop them into the blender and puree. Here are the basic steps for making green tomato salsa (scroll down for the full recipe).
Step 1: Broil the vegetables. Place the green tomatoes on a baking sheet with a quartered white onion, halved jalapeño peppers, and peeled garlic cloves. Broil on high for about 5 minutes per side until tender and browned.
Step 2: Blend the salsa. Add the roasted vegetables to a food processor or blender (but start with half the jalapeño). Add cilantro, lime juice, and salt. Pulse until the desired texture forms.
Step 3: Taste and adjust flavors. If you like it very spicy, add the other half of the jalapeño or some of the seeds. You may want to refrigerate until serving since the salsa will be warm from the roasting; or leave it at room temperature until serving.
A few serving ideas
So, once you’ve got that green tomato salsa: what to do with it? We can think of lots of ideas!
- With chips. Our homemade tortilla chips are a fun kitchen DIY and taste delicious.
- As a topping for fish. It’s fantastic on top of baked salmon or grilled tilapia.
- On tacos. Try our vegan tacos, grilled shrimp tacos, or Instant Pot tacos.
- On enchiladas. Substitute it for the salsa verde in sweet potato black bean enchiladas and green enchiladas.
Dietary notes
This green tomato salsa recipe is vegetarian, gluten-free, plant-based, dairy-free, and vegan.
Fresh Green Tomato Salsa
Wondering what to do with green tomatoes? Make green tomato salsa, of course! They blend into a zesty dip that tastes just like salsa verde.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: 6 1x
- Category: Appetizer
- Method: Broiled
- Cuisine: Mexican
Ingredients
- 8 ounces green tomatoes (about 5 small)
- 1 jalapeño pepper (without seeds)
- 3 large cloves garlic
- 1 medium white onion
- ½ cup fresh cilantro leaves
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 tablespoons lime juice
Instructions
- Peel the garlic. Peel and quarter the onion. Remove the seeds and ribs from the jalapeño (save the seeds for a hot salsa). If tomatoes are large, quarter them; otherwise leave them whole. (Ours were small so we left them whole.)
- Place the green tomatoes, garlic, onion, and jalapeño on a baking sheet. Broil on high for 4 to 5 minutes until just beginning to blacken. Flip and rotate the veggies and broil another 4 to 5 minutes.
- Transfer everything to a food processor or blender, except use only ½ of the jalapeño. Add the cilantro, kosher salt, and lime juice. Pulse until desired consistency is reached. Taste, and if you’d like it hotter add the other ½ of the jalapeño and/or some seeds. You may want to refrigerate until serving since the salsa will be warm from the roasting; or leave it at room temperature until serving. Stores up to 1 week refrigerated.
Looking for more salsa recipes?
Outside of this green tomato salsa recipe, here are a few of our favorite salsa recipes:
Can the fresh tomato salsa be frozen?
Yes, it should freeze ok.
Is this for eight ounces of tomato by weight or by volume? I assumed weight but that doesn’t look like much compared to the onions and jalapeno peppers!
That’s by weight! You don’t need too much for the recipe.
I have a gazillion green tomatoes and I’m also cooking a birthday dinner for my daughter, who requested tacos. Putting tomatoes and birthday together. Hope it goes well!
Thanks for the recipe.
We have 2 large freezer bags of green tomatoes; can Salsa be frozen or would it have to be canned?
Thanks.
Just made this with a few green tomatoes that I knew would never ripen. There is snow on the Olympic Mountains already (it’s October) and it is too cold for ripening now, but this recipe is so easy and so delicious, I’m not that disappointed :) I am hoping I have enough tomatoes to can some. I appreciate how simple this was to make.
I made a double recipe today…delicious! Can I substitute ripe tomatoes in the recipe… I have lots from the garden still.
Can I make this in larger batches and can it? or would the heat from processing harm the flavor?
It should be fine! We don’t have the experience to provide times.
Can you bottles & store this like regular Salsa
Probably! We just don’t have canning experience.
Love your recipes!
Wondering if you can use this recipe and store it long term by using canning method?
Thanks! 😊
Can I can or freeze this? If so, which is better?
You can freeze this salsa, but the texture becomes broken down and watery. We recommend eating it fresh!
Can this salsa be canned
Probably but we don’t have experience!
I used some green San Marzano tomatoes from my garden to make this salsa. I added 1/2 extra teaspoon of salt and some Peruvian spicy peppers ( that’s all I had in my fridge). This salsa is so yummy! Thank you for a great way of using green tomatoes :)
You’re welcome!
Was super good, thank you! Used a couple green chilis to roast as we didn’t have jalapenos growing.
Can I can this?
Yes, but we don’t have the experience to give you timing. Sorry!
I’m making this recipe for the 2nd time. The first time I followed the recipe completely. The salsa was fabulous! This time I’m adding a few regular cherry tomatoes because they need to be eaten. I left a few seeds in my pepper to ramp up the fire! Still fabulous! Thank you for your content!
Thank you!
Frost threatened over the weekend, and my husband came in with half a bucket of green tomatoes, all sizes. Not wanting to be wasteful, a quick search came up with this awesome green tomato salsa recipe, and it is a hit! So fresh and tasty! Will never again wonder what to do with end-of-the-garden bounty. Thank you!
So glad to hear that!
The green tomato salsa is quite good, with my adaptations. Serrano chiles (We stopped using jalapeño long ago, as even the home-grown ones have been bred not to have heat) chopped, with ribs and seeds, in quantity of half (at least) of the tomatoes. I use garlic from a jar, or even powdered. Lime juice a great call, as it is superior to lemon (Try Nellie’s Key Lime!) I add a very small amount of olive oil and vinegar, and black pepper, and very little salt. Best chips with good salsa are El Indio, made here. salty commercial chips do not work; make your own, to taste, with plenty of corn flavor, and low salt.
We grow our own Serranos and Jalapeños, tomatoes, cilantro, onions, and I consume about a quart of pico de gallo/salsa per week, and around 100 pounds of chile annually (Spell ” chile head”)
BUT, with regard to heat – The heat from the chiles derives from the ribs; the seeds do not contribute at all materially. Please refer to the Chile Pepper Institute at New Mexico State University, THE leading info base in the world. (Just down the mountain from me, in Las Cruces, NM. The Hatch and Mesilla Valleys, the best chiles in the world!
Original spelling of “chile” was “chilli” (Nahuatl language); Spanish apparently changed to “chile”, which all are called now. “Chili” is that bean stuff they make in Texas and some other places.
The correct term for a popular food is “chiles relent”, as the noun “chile” can be plural, but an adjective, “relleno” does not.
Just as the trees are “Palos Verde”.
Great basic recipe, and very easy. I suggest everyone own a Pampered Chef chopper, in case of power loss, although a person skilled with knives has all they needThanks; this was fun.
We just made this with a pound plus of green cherry tomatoes. Since we were out of lime juice, used pickle juice instead! Turned out deelish. May add more garlic next time! Oh, we also used a red instead of white onion, and it’s a bit strong. But still – great recipe!
Wish someone had asked if you are suppose to leave the skins on versus the NYT recipe that says after charring to remove the stems and skin.
Thanks!
You can leave the skin on.
Can the green tomatoe salsa be preserved or frozen?
We haven’t tested these options, but I think both should work since the texture is ok soft.
New Cook here… mine don’t look the same but dang.its good.
I made the green tomato salsa verde. Delicious! First time ever using my green tomatoes this way.
Can you freeze or can (water bath) this salsa?
You can definitely freeze it! I don’t have enough experience with canning to give a good answer on that.
Used 1# of green tomatoes, 1 onion, 4 cloves of garlic, 2 small red hot peppers from the garden, 1 cup cilantro, 1 tsp salt, and 4 tbsp fresh lime juice. Yum.
Still have 1# green tomatoes. 2nd batch tomorrow.
Omg! I love homemade salsa, but this was sooo good. We added a few small poblanos to the roasting pan that we had in the garden, as well. It’s tangy and a refreshing and perfect on a salty chip!
So glad you enjoyed!
Wondering how long this green tomato salsa can be stored in the refrigerator.
1 week.
Can you can green tomato salsa and eat it later
I’m sure you could but I don’t know the timing, sorry!
Just processed a 5 gallon bucket of green tomatoes into salsa. Awesome flavor!! Freeze-drying most of it (Harvest Right Freeze Dryer) for future use!!
Wow! That’s a serious amount of salsa!
I had so many green tomatoes end of fall. I ended up freezing them. What can I do with them? Can still make salsa or anything?
They should still work for the salsa, just a bit more tender.
Can I freeze the salsa?
This was delicious! It was so quick and easy. The pictures were helpful for roasting the vegetables. I will save it to use every year when frost kills my tomato plants.
This recipe is absolutely perfect! Tastes delicious and very easy to make. Thank you!
So glad you enjoyed!
WOW! WOW! WOW! This green tomato salsa is the bomb!! The flavors were spot on. I tripled the recipe as I had so many tomatoes, I used all my pear and cherry tomatoes that were green. I am going to make another batch with my larger tomatoes. I will be making this salsa again and again. For those who asked about canning, go for it. I did and they came out great!!!
So glad you enjoyed them!
How did you can it? Water bath? How long?
I’d also love to know how you canned it. I’ve canned before but am not expert enough to try to do it without a recipe.
Love this recipe fresh, though! A hit with everyone who tried it!
for your green tomato salsa can that be canned?
We haven’t tried it but other commenters have had success!
I was left with about 16 cups of hard green cherry tomatoes after I cleaned up the garden. Hard frost came the next day. I hope to try your recipe. Have you tried to hot pack can this recipe? I do not have freezer space, I do have dozens of jars of fruit lined up in Mason jars in my basement. I am looking for recipes for tomatoes, in particular, that may be safely preserved in Mason jars. I do not have a steam canner, so I need to adapt recipes for higher acid content to prevent botulism.
Will come back and rate your recipe once I have tried out my first batch
Hi! Sorry, we’ve not done canning for the recipe. Please let us know how it turns out!
I did and they came out great. Just be sure to follow your canning instructions.
Hi, how long does this keep? Do you think this would freeze well? I have a boatload of tomatoes to use up! Thanks!
Hi there! This type of fresh salsa doesn’t freeze well since the tomatoes are not cooked. It would keep about 1 week refrigerated!
Can the salsa be frozen for future use?
We haven’t tried it!
Do green cherry tomatoes work well with this recipe, or do they have too much skin in relation to pulp on them?
They should work fine!
Just made the Salsa it’s so good, never thought it would be that tasty. It’s my first time using green Tomatoes and won’t be the last.
Great way to use some of those green tomatoes that had to be harvested before the first freeze. Really good – thanks!
I just wanted to thank you for sharing you recipe, my after school students ( K-5th grade) loved the green tomato salsa. We harvested all the peppers and tomatoes from our school garden and made your salsa. Big hit.
Thanks again.
Mrs. Kirkpatrick
That’s awesome! Thanks for making it :)
Could this recipe be canned?
It could be, but we haven’t tested it for timing.
I love tomatillos but they are not available in France so tried this recipe because we had a rough growing season so lot’s of green tomatoes. I set it out as an hors d’œuvre and it was gone in 10 minutes…really good!
Made this recipe 10-25-2020 with left over green tomatoes from our yard.
Try this recipe. You won’t be disappointed!!!
This was a delicious salsa recipe and a great way to use up green tomatoes. Thanks!
Can this recipe be frozen or canned?
I would assume so but we haven’t tried it!
How long does it keep in the refrigerator?
About 5 days!
Is this ok for canning?
It should be, but we’ve never tried it!
Does this salsa freeze well?
We haven’t tried it, sorry!