Easy Charred Cherry Tomato Salsa

Made with a handful of ingredients and requiring very little prep, this charred tomato salsa comes together in no time and tastes so fresh and flavorful: both sweet and spicy with a nice acidity, too. Your tacos, burritos, beans, and chips will never be so happy!

I started making this salsa last July. It’s a simplified version of this ​fresh enchilada sauce recipe​, and when the tomatoes are at their peak, it is irresistible, the kind of sauce you want to spoon over everything.

And last summer and fall, as a family, we did: we spooned it over tacos, ​mostly these​, but also over a variation made with grilled chicken (the recipe for which I will share soon as it’s so fast and delicious… see photo below). We drizzled it over rice and ​bean​ bowls. We dragged our scrambled eggs through it and, of course, we dipped tortilla chips in it.

The beauty of this salsa is that it requires very little chopping and very little prep overall: place cherry tomatoes, a roughly chopped onion and jalapeño, and a few garlic cloves on a sheet pan; toss with olive oil and salt; broil for 10 minutes; then purée with fresh lime juice and cilantro.

As noted, it is especially tasty when made at peak tomato season, which here in Upstate New York feels an eternity away. Craving it recently, I made it with two beefsteak tomatoes my sister had left at our house at Easter and the remains of a can of yellow tomatoes, and I was shocked by how good it tasted.

Inspired by this victory using subpar tomatoes, I made it again with grocery store cherry tomatoes on the vine — the ones labeled “sugar bombs” — and it was even better: sweet and spicy with a nice balance of acidity, just what our tacos have been missing all these months, just the salsa we need to bridge the very long gap till true tomato season arrives.

How to Make Charred Cherry Tomato Salsa, Step by Step

Gather your ingredients: tomatoes, garlic, onion, jalapeño, cilantro, lime, salt, and olive oil.

Place the tomatoes, roughly chopped onion and jalapeño, and garlic on a small sheet pan and toss with olive oil and salt.

Broil for 10 minutes or until the vegetables are beginning to char.

Transfer the vegetables to a food processor and add fresh lime juice and a pinch more salt.

Purée until smooth. Taste and adjust with more salt and lime juice to taste.

Finally, add roughly chopped cilantro and purée until smooth. (If you hate cilantro, leave it out — it’s tasty on its own without it.)

Transfer to a storage jar and serve immediately or store in the fridge for 1 week.

Bring to room temperature before serving.

Here are a few ways we eat this salsa…

… on grilled chicken tacos (recipe coming soon):

… on rice and bean bowls:

… with chips:

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