Are you a true chili head? This Ghost Pepper Salsa isn't for the faint of heart! Blistering heat meets fresh, smoky flavor in this easy-to-make recipe. Perfect for those who think "Extra Hot" just isn't hot enough!
If you are looking to spice up your salsa game, I highly recommend Ghost peppers to do it! These spicy peppers are tremendously flavorful so your salsa will be both DELICIOUS and HOT!
I'm thrilled to share this easy recipe for Ghost Pepper Salsa with you! First, a little background on this amazing hot pepper!
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Ghost Pepper - The World's Hottest Pepper in 2007
These hot peppers originate from Northeast India, where they were cultivated. The main regions where they are grown in India are the Assam, Manipur, and Nagaland regions. In fact, "bhut" means "ghost" in Assamese, which is where the name ghost pepper comes from (sourced from Wikipedia).
The Ghost Pepper, also known as bhut jolokia, was certified by the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's hottest chili pepper in 2007. These measure between 600,000 - 1.04 million SHU (Scoville Heat Units) on the Scoville Scale.
Since then, other peppers have surpassed the bhut jolokia as the hottest chile. As of this writing, the Carolina Reaper Pepper from South Carolina, is currently the world's hottest pepper (since 2013).
Ghost chili peppers are still some of the hottest peppers on planet Earth! To give you some perspective, jalapeño peppers are rated between 2,500 - 8,000 SHU on the Scoville heat scale. That's quite some difference!
Why You Will Love This Ghost Pepper Hot Sauce
If you are a chili head, you will LOVE this salsa because:
- We are using fresh and natural ingredients in this wonderful recipe
- Not only is the salsa SPICY, but it's got a great flavor to it
- I will give you a recommendation for the amount of Ghost peppers to use, but you can easily vary the heat level in this sauce to suit your tastes
- We'll use dried Ghost peppers, which may be easier to acquire than fresh ones (although you can sub fresh chilies if you have them)
Ok, now it's time to enjoy a hot and fiery experience! Let's make some blow your mind delicious Ghost pepper salsa!
🥘 Ingredients
So here's what you will need for this Ghost Pepper Salsa recipe, most of which are fresh ingredients:
- Fresh tomatoes - I recommend Roma tomatoes for this recipe
- Red onion
- Jalapeno - adds a little extra heat and nice texture
- Fresh garlic
- Salt
- Black Pepper
- Dried Oregano (or dried Mexican oregano)
- Ghost peppers - I used dried Ghost peppers that I rehydrated; you can also use 2 fresh Ghost peppers if you are fortunate enough to have them! I love and recommend Sonoran Spice brand of dried Ghost Peppers
- Fresh cilantro
- Fresh lime juice
All of these ingredients, with the exception of the Ghost peppers, should be available at your local grocery store.
Ok, now let's get ready to make some spicy salsa!
🔪 Instructions
If you are using dried Ghost peppers, rehydrate them for use by adding them to warm water for around 15 minutes. You can use spoons to hold the Ghost peppers under the water.
Meanwhile, prep your tomatoes, cilantro, red onion, and jalapeno. These can be roughly chopped and the garlic cloves can be left whole.
After 15 minutes when the peppers have softened, remove the Ghost peppers from the water and chop them up or cut them with scissors. It's highly recommended to wear gloves when handling them as they may irritate your skin.
Add chopped red onion, chopped jalapeno, and garlic cloves to your food processor. Then add the cilantro and the dry seasonings (salt, pepper, oregano, and the chopped up Ghost Peppers.
Now add the chopped tomato, followed by a generous squeeze of lime juice from a fresh lime.
Pulse a few times to get the consistency that you want, but make sure that all of the ingredients are well combined.
Et voila! Your delicious spicy Ghost pepper salsa is now ready to enjoy!
Suggestions For Serving
I hope you'll agree with me that this salsa is wonderfully spicy and absolutely amazingly delicious!
It's the perfect dip for your favorite tortilla chips, and a must to add that beautiful heat to your tacos and favorite Mexican foods.
You may want to have a glass of milk close by, but I hope you will love this hot salsa as much as our family does!
FAQ
Dried ghost peppers are extremely versatile! They can be rehydrated for use in salsas, such as in this Ghost pepper salsa recipe. Add them to spice up your chili, or add to any dish that you want to fire up!
The Ghost Pepper, also known as bhut jolokia, was certified by the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's hottest chili pepper in 2007. These measure between 600,000 - 1.04 million SHU (Scoville Heat Units) on the Scoville Scale.
Bhut jolokia (Ghost pepper) has an excellent flavor! They are fruity and sweet in addition to being HOT and SPICY!
Some Other Recipes You May Enjoy!
Here are some other recipes that you may enjoy:
- How To Make Homemade Ghost Pepper Hot Sauce
- Easy Carolina Reaper Salsa Recipe
- Delicious Spicy Guacamole!
- Belizean Hot Pepper Onion Sauce
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Cheers!
Grace
Easy Ghost Pepper Salsa Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 Roma tomatoes select large sized tomatoes, remove the insides of the tomatoes and discard or save for another use; chop the outside fleshy part for use in this salsa
- ¼ red onion chopped (can sub white onion)
- 1 jalapeno deseeded, pith removed, and chopped
- 2 cloves garlic
- ⅛ ts salt
- ⅛ ts pepper
- ⅛ ts oregano dried; can also use Mexican oregano
- 2 Ghost peppers I used dried Ghost peppers that I rehydrated; you can also use 2 fresh Ghost chilis if you are fortunate enough to have them!
- ¼ cup cilantro chopped (use leaves only)
- lime juice a squeeze of lime juice from a slice of fresh lime
Instructions
- If you are using dried Ghost peppers, rehydrate them for use by adding them to warm water for around 15 minutes. You can use spoons to hold the Ghost peppers under the water.
- Meanwhile, prep your tomatoes, cilantro, red onion, and jalapeno. These can be roughly chopped and the garlic cloves can be left whole.
- After 15 minutes when the peppers have softened, remove the Ghost peppers from the water and chop them up or cut them with scissors. It's highly recommended to wear gloves when handling them as they may irritate your skin.
- Add chopped red onion, chopped jalapeno, and garlic cloves to your food processor. Then add the cilantro and the dry seasonings (salt, pepper, oregano, and the chopped up Ghost Peppers.
- Now add the chopped tomato, followed by a generous squeeze of lime juice from a fresh lime.
- Pulse a few times to get the consistency that you want, but make sure that all of the ingredients are well combined.
- Enjoy with your favorite tortilla chips and have a glass of milk close by! LOL
Grace
Super easy super delicious! Love the spicy flavors and it's easy to customize this to my level of hot and spicy food tolerance. Great to serve at parties and with all my favorite chips as a spicy dip!