Smoked Salsa

Add a little extra smokiness to your favorite Mexican snack by smoking all your veggies before blending them into a delicious salsa!

**Post written by The BBQ Brothers. For all meat prep, grill set up, temperature and humidity control, recommended tools, and techniques for The BBQ Brothers recipes, check out The BBQ Brothers Beginner’s Guide To Grilling first, then get to cookin! 

This is a super simple way to make a great appetizer that everyone will love with a slight BBQ twist. This is especially easy during your long cooks like a pork butt when you know you will already have the smoker going for a long time anyway.

So let’s get started. With salsa, you can add whatever veggies you like to alter the flavor. If you want more spice, add some habanero, if you like more sweet, add some mangos. The choices are endless and the combinations will give you something to play with over time.For the basics you will need:

Tomato (3-4)

Red Onion (1)

Vidalia onion (1)

Red Bell Pepper (1)

Green Bell Pepper (1)

Corn cob (2)

Jalapeños (6 again, this can vary on how much heat you want)

Garlic (1 head or 8 cloves)

One bunch of cilantro

Salt

Pepper

Lime

Prep

Preparation is super simple for this cook. We will first peel and cut the onions in half since they are the densest and we will want the smoke to be able to penetrate them. We will also want to cut the top off the garlic clove and drizzle some olive oil on top so it will essentially bake into it giving it some extra flavor. Then just husk the corn, wash all the rest of the veggies and that’s it! (I told you this was super simple.)The Cook

We will place all the veggies on the smoker over indirect heat with wood chips (any kind you like) at 225-250 for at least 1 hour and up to 2 hours depending on how much smoke flavor you would like. Remember that the longer the salsa sits, the more smoke flavor it will develop. So if you plan on making some to eat for later in the week, I would limit it to about 1 hour, but if you plan on eating it all right after it comes off the grill, go ahead and let all that smokey goodness soak in for a full 2 hours!

Finishing

This is probably the most time-consuming part and it still only took me 15 minutes! Once we pull the veggies off the smoker, you’ll want to cut the corn off the cob and put the kernels into a bowl. Next, peel the skin off the tomatoes and garlic. For the rest of the veggies, we want to just quarter them so they will mix better when we blend them. Next, depending on how much heat you want, you can de-seed the jalapenos, or if you like it extra spicy, you can leave the seeds in there.Now we just throw all the veggies (except the corn) into a blender or a food processor with one bunch of cilantro and let it pulse until it gets to your preferred thickness. You will notice that a lot of water may come off the tomatoes and it will be a bit more liquidy than what you purchase at the grocery store or get at your favorite Mexican restaurant. So if you don’t like that, simply pour into a strainer and let the excess water drain out and voilà you have a chunkier salsa!Now place the salsa in a bowl and squeeze a little lime juice in there, season with salt and pepper, throw some tortilla chips on the table and let your guests dig in! Don’t forget this may be a great addition to your smoked pork butt tacos!

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So let us know what you think….did this recipe smoke the competition or go up in flames?