Mango Habanero Salsa

This sweet and spicy mango habanero salsa is made with fire-roasted tomatoes, peppers, onion, and garlic mixed with mango, citrus juice, and fresh herbs. It's a delicious summer snack!

Guys, my hot peppers are doing so well this year!

I've already made one big batch of homemade hot sauce, and plan on making more soon.

This past week, despite making hot sauce, I still had an overwhelming amount of hot peppers in my crisper drawer.

Since we also had tons of garden tomatoes, I decided to make this fire-roasted tomato salsa.

And then I realized something.

There were mangoes in the freezer.

If you follow along with my Instagram stories, you might remember when I had boxes and boxes of mangoes. Those mangoes became mango frozen yogurt, mango sorbet, mango popsicles, and the rest were cubed and frozen.

As you may know, mangoes and habaneros are a perfect match.

I quickly decided to make another batch of salsa.

And as much as I love fresh mango salsa, I knew that roasting it would bring out even more delicious flavors.

Oh, and I added tomatoes. After all, it is tomato season!

This mango habanero salsa is both sweet and spicy, and is the perfect summer chip dip!

How Hot Is This Mango Habanero Salsa?

It has the potential to be blazing hot.

But it doesn't have to be!

Habanero peppers are spicy, and the level of heat can vary from pepper to pepper.

For a milder salsa, here's what to do.

Remove both the seeds and the membrane after roasting. A lot of the heat is in the pepper membrane, not just the seeds!

You can also try adding half of the habanero pepper to the final salsa, tasting the salsa, and then adding more for extra heat.

For a hotter salsa, add leave the habanero pepper whole. For an even hotter salsa, add an extra pepper or two.

Keep in mind that with three whole habanero peppers, your salsa will be hotter than most store-bought hot salsa.

Habanero Safety Tips

There are a few things to keep in mind when cooking with these extra-hot peppers.

First, leave the pepper whole while roasting.

The habaneros will release fewer cough-inducing pepper fumes when roasted whole.

So even though in general I recommend cutting peppers before roasting, in this case I make an exception. Your lungs will thank me.

Second, turn on your oven hood vent, and if possible, open a window while roasting the peppers. You want to get rid of as many pepper fumes as possible.

And finally, if you choose to cut open the habanero after roasting (to remove the seeds and membrane), wear gloves. Hot pepper juices can burn your skin.

Did I scare you? I hope not.

If you follow the precautions listed above, your pepper experience should go flawlessly!

Are Poblano Peppers Spicy?

Poblano peppers are mildly spicy.

And I do mean mildly.

In general, poblano peppers are a little bit spicier than bell peppers. If you're very concerned about the heat level in this recipe, you can swap the poblano pepper for a sweet bell pepper.

What Kind of Tomatoes Should I Use?

I recommend using mostly Roma tomatoes (or any type of plum tomato).

Roma tomatoes are less juicy, so your final salsa will be less watery.

That said, the mango will also thicken the salsa, so if all you have are juicy tomatoes, they'll still work. Your final salsa might be a little bit more watery.

How to Make Fire-Roasted Mango Habanero Salsa

Start by broiling your vegetables.

Cut the tomatoes in half and set the cut-side down on a baking sheet.

Cut the poblano pepper, remove the seeds, and add it to the baking sheet.

Add a peeled, wedged red onion, unpeeled garlic cloves, and the whole habanero(s).

Drizzle the veggies with a high-smoke point oil (I used Primal Kitchen's avocado oil), and broil until the veggies are charred.

Next, peel as much of the skin off the poblano pepper as possible. Poblano skin tends to be bitter.

If a little skin is left on the pepper, it's fine.

Pop the garlic out of the peels. It should come out easily.

If desired, put on rubber gloves and cut the habanero pepper(s) in half.

Remove the seeds and membrane for less heat.

Next, add cubed mango and all the roasted veggies to the basin of a food processor. Alternatively, you could finely dice everything by hand.

If your food processor is a little bit too small to chop everything at once, work in batches. My KitchenAid 5-cup food processor is just a tiny bit too small to do everything in one batch.

Add the chopped salsa to a large bowl, and stir in lime juice, cilantro (or oregano), a little cumin, and some salt.

And now, the hard part.

If at all possible, cover the bowl and refrigerate it overnight. This salsa is good right away, but is SO MUCH better after it rests.

The flavors will mix together and create a sweet and spicy chip dip that just won't stop!

Serve this salsa with your favorite tortilla chips and an icy cold glass of mint lemonade. Add some halibut tacos to make this a well-rounded summer meal!