Salsa! Not the music, but the wonderful spicy sauce of chopped, usually uncooked vegetables or fruit, especially tomatoes, onions, and chili peppers, used as a condiment. The endless number of recipes make trying new salsas as fun as wine and beer tasting, or even bourbons! They go with so many different types of food besides chips. You can smother your favorite Mexican dish, top off a burger, add it to meat loaf, or even dash a bit in your pancakes (I’m not a big fan, though).
For me, the most important attribute is heat. I don’t want the experience to turn into an endurance test, but without the peppers, a salsa loses all its appeal. Next is most important is flavor. I’m not a big fan of the southwestern recipes, but on occasion I’ve had a couple good ones. I prefer the tomato, lime, garlic salty flavor. Coming in third is consistency. Rarely is this a deal breaker unless it’s super chunky. I don’t like the huge clumps of anything in my salsa, and too much of a good thing can be a bad thing.
So without further ado, here are my top salsas!
Roasted Habanero Salsa
This is just a wonderful salsa! It goes great with just about anything. It does tend to be a bit on the salty side, so unsalted chips are probably the better way to go. I’ll pick up at least a jar every time I start running low on salsas.
| Heat | 7 |
| Flavor | Salty & Lime |
| Consistency | Runny |
| Peppers | Habanero |
| Overall Rating | 9 |
| Good On | Chips, Taquito, Taco, Burrito |
Mrs Refrino’s Salsa
This one brings the heat! I can’t eat this one straight anymore, as it causes my intestines to revolt the next day. Especially if I eat it later in the evening.
Mrs Renfro’s Salsa
| Heat | 9 |
| Flavor | Tomato |
| Consistency | Paste |
| Peppers | Habanero |
| Overall Rating | 7 |
| Good On | Chips, Taquito |
Mateo’s Gourmet Salsa
This is not a great salsa for my taste buds. It’s lacking a lot of the garlic, lime, salty flavors that I like. And despite its “EXTRA HOT” label, it’s not hot at all. I’ll give it another try to see if it’ll grow on me.
Mateo’s Gourmet Salsa
| Heat | 2 |
| Flavor | Tomato |
| Consistency | Paste |
| Peppers | Habanero |
| Overall Rating | 3 |
| Good On | Nothing Really |
Pace Picante Sauce
You can’t go wrong with Pace Picante Sauce. It’s got good flavor and a fair amount of heat (the hot brand). This is what I’ll mix with Mrs Refrino’s to balance them out.
Pace Picante Salsa
| Heat | 5 |
| Flavor | Tomato & Lime |
| Consistency | Thick |
| Peppers | Chili |
| Overall Rating | 6 |
| Good On | Chips, Taquito |
Sadie’s Roasted Green Chili
I picked this up the other day having never tried it. Really good flavor. A bit on thick side, but it’s not bad. I wish the heat were hotter, despite it’s capital letter bold font “HOT” across the bottom. It’s not that hot. Maybe they have an even hotter version?
Sadie’s Roasted Green Chili
| Heat | 5 |
| Flavor | Green Chili |
| Consistency | Very Thick |
| Peppers | Chili |
| Overall Rating | 7 |
| Good On | Chips, Burrito, Taco |
Leave a Comment