Pineapple Salsa Recipe
This homemade pineapple salsa goes on the grill before it goes in the bowl. Charred pineapple, sweet onion, and seeded jalapenos blend with pineapple juice, lime, and cilantro into something smoky, sweet, and slightly chunky. I love that it is only 15 minutes from start to spoon.
Ingredients
- 1 peeled, cored, and thickly sliced pineapple
- 1 peeled and thickly sliced sweet onion
- 2 seeded jalapeños
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/3 cup pineapple juice
- Juice of 1 lime
- ¼ cup packed fresh cilantro
- coarse salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat the grill to high heat (450° to 550°).
- Coat the pineapple, onion, and jalapeños in olive oil and evenly spread everything out on a hot pre-heated grill for 3-5 minutes per side or until dark grill marks are formed and everything is roasted. Everything should be cooked but not mushy.
- Put the vegetables and fruit into a blender along with the pineapple juice, lime juice, cilantro, salt, and pepper and pulse on high speed until it is smoothed out but still slightly chunky.
- Serve.
Notes
All I can say is that the two things that separate a smoky fire-roasted pineapple salsa from a sad blended fruit pulp are dry produce going onto the grates and short pulses on the blender.
Dry your produce before it hits the grill: Pat the pineapple, onion, and jalapeno slices with paper towels. Surface moisture turns to steam, and steam stops the Maillard reaction cold. No char without dry surfaces.
Pulse, do not blend: Hit the blender in two-second bursts, stop, scrape down, repeat. Running it straight through turns the salsa into a smoothie.
Char marks are the seasoning: If the pineapple does not have dark grill stripes, the salsa will taste flat no matter what you add. Push past polite golden brown to actual black-edged stripes.
Save some texture: Pull a few small pieces of grilled pineapple and onion before blending and stir them back in at the end. The chunks give the spoon something to bite into.
Make-Ahead: I prep and grill the fruit and aromatics up to a day ahead and refrigerate everything in a covered container. On serving day, I blend with the pineapple juice, lime, cilantro, and seasoning fresh. The herbs and acid lose snap if they sit in the blended salsa overnight.
How to Store: Pour blended salsa into an airtight jar and refrigerate up to 4 days. The flavor sharpens after the first 24 hours as the smoke settles in.
How to Reheat: This is a serve-cold or room-temperature salsa. If it has been in the fridge, take it out 15 minutes before serving so it is not stiff out of the jar.
How to Freeze: Freezes well for up to 2 months in a sealed container. Thaw in the fridge overnight, then pulse once in the blender to wake the texture back up. The cilantro will look duller after the freeze, so stir in a fresh small handful when you serve.
Nutrition
Calories: 214kcalCarbohydrates: 39gProtein: 2gFat: 7gSaturated Fat: 1gSodium: 10mgPotassium: 388mgFiber: 4gSugar: 29gVitamin A: 274IUVitamin C: 123mgCalcium: 49mgIron: 1mg