Roja, Verde or Macha? Shopping Smart for the Best Jarred Salsa

A good jar of salsa does more work in a home kitchen than almost anything else in the pantry. It is the dip on the table when friends arrive, the topping on Tuesday’s tacos, the sauce you pour over eggs for chilaquiles and the base you simmer chicken in when there is no time to roast chiles. In a Mexican kitchen the fresh, made-that-morning salsa is still the standard, but a few well-chosen jars mean you are never more than a lid away from one.

Jarred salsas differ more than the shelf suggests. Some are cooked tomato sauces with a little jalapeño, some are tangy tomatillo verdes made in Mexico, some lean on smoky chipotle, and salsa macha is not a dip at all but a crunchy chile oil. Heat labels are the maker’s own, and sodium per serving ranges from about 100 mg to well over 250 mg. This guide compares eight salsas worth buying, from mild to genuinely hot, and explains how to pick the right one for the way you cook.

Julia’s earns a commission on purchases made through links on this page, at no cost to you. Recommendations are based on what a working Mexican kitchen looks for in a salsa, the makers’ own ingredient lists and Amazon listings, and retailer nutrition panels where the maker publishes none, which we note.

Quick verdict: which jarred salsa to buy

The rest of this page explains why, and which jar suits the way you eat salsa: as a dip, a cooking sauce or a finishing spoonful.

Five jarred salsas at a glance

Our five standout picks side by side, one for each kind of salsa eater, with the style, heat and sodium each maker or label states. All eight salsas are reviewed in full below.

Product images from Amazon. Heat levels are each maker’s own label. Sodium is as printed by the maker or on retailer nutrition panels; serving sizes differ (La Costeña uses 1 tablespoon), and recipes change, so check the jar you receive.

Our picks for the best jarred salsa

These eight jars cover the choices most cooks face: a restaurant-style red for chips, a tomatillo verde, smoky chipotle, an organic mild salsa, a party-size jug, an árbol table salsa, a very hot ghost pepper salsa and a salsa macha. For each one we list the main ingredients and the sodium as the label states them, the heat the maker claims, and how to store it once it is open.

How to choose a jarred salsa

Five things separate one jar from another. The front label tells you the heat; the ingredient list and nutrition panel tell you the rest.

1. Decide what the salsa is for

A dip salsa wants body so it sits on a chip: chunky casera, or a tomato-paste style like Cholula’s. A cooking salsa should be loose and well seasoned so it can become a sauce: a tomatillo verde for enchiladas and chilaquiles, or a thin restaurant-style roja for huevos rancheros. A finishing salsa, like salsa macha, is spooned on at the end for crunch and heat. If you only keep one jar, pick a medium red that does a little of everything; if you keep two, add a verde.

2. Choose the chile, not just the heat level

“Mild”, “medium” and “hot” are each maker’s own words, and there is no standard behind them. The chile on the ingredient list tells you more. Jalapeño gives a green, moderate heat; chipotle and morita add smoke; árbol gives a clean, sharp bite; habanero and ghost pepper are for real heat. Our guide to Mexican chiles explains what each one tastes like.

3. Read the first five ingredients

Ingredients are listed by weight, largest first. The best jars start with a vegetable: tomatoes, tomatillos or fire-roasted versions of them, then onion, chile, garlic and cilantro. Water, tomato puree or paste, starch and gums are not bad in themselves, but the further up the list they appear, the more the jar is relying on them for body. Roasted ingredients are a good sign of a deeper, cooked flavor.

4. Compare sodium per the same serving

Salsa is low in calories, but salt adds up when you eat it by the chip. The salsas here range from 100 mg to 270 mg of sodium per 2 tablespoons, against the FDA’s Daily Value of 2,300 mg. Watch the serving size: La Costeña lists a 1-tablespoon serving, so double its figure before comparing it with the others.

5. Buy a size you will finish

Most makers tell you to refrigerate their salsa once it is open, and an open jar does not last forever. A 12- to 16-ounce jar suits a household that has salsa a couple of times a week; four-packs and 70-ounce jugs suit big families and parties. Glass jars reseal well, while a small can should be emptied into a covered glass or plastic container before it goes into the fridge.

How to make jarred salsa taste closer to fresh

A jar will never be the same as salsa made that morning in a molcajete, but a few minutes of work closes much of the gap. These are the same small moves a kitchen uses to finish any sauce before it goes out.

• Add something raw. Finely chopped white onion, a handful of chopped cilantro and a squeeze of lime, stirred in just before serving, make a cooked salsa taste bright again.
• Warm a verde before cooking with it. Fry a cup of salsa verde in a spoonful of oil for a minute or two until it darkens slightly, then add broth. This is how enchilada and chilaquiles sauces are built, and it deepens the flavor.
• Char a tomato or chile. Blister a tomato or a jalapeño on a dry skillet or comal, chop it and stir it into a red salsa for a roasted note.
• Blend two jars. A mild red with a spoonful of chipotle or ghost pepper salsa lets you set the heat exactly where your table wants it.
• Serve it cool, not cold. Take the salsa out of the fridge a little before the meal; flavors are muted straight from the refrigerator.

If you want to make salsa from scratch, start with the two families described in our salsa roja vs. salsa verde guide, and with tomatillos, which our guide to what a tomatillo is covers.

How we picked these eight salsas

We started from what a Mexican kitchen wants from a salsa: real vegetables and chiles doing the work, a clear sense of what the salsa is for, and honest labeling. We then narrowed the field to salsas sold on Amazon in the United States and in stock when we checked, from identifiable brands, and read each one’s ingredient list, nutrition panel and storage instructions on its Amazon listing or, where the listing gives few details, on retailer nutrition panels (each review says which). We chose eight to cover the real choices: a restaurant-style red, a tomatillo verde, smoky chipotle, an organic mild salsa, a party-size jug, an árbol table salsa, an extra-hot salsa and a salsa macha. We left out salsas that were out of stock or available only in limited quantity when we checked, including several from Siete, Frontera and Whole Foods Market’s 365 line, and near-identical jars from the same brand. We have not tasted every salsa listed here; flavor descriptions follow from the ingredients and the makers’ own descriptions.

Jarred salsa questions, answered

What is the best brand of jarred salsa?

There is no single best brand, because brands specialize. For a red, restaurant-style salsa, Mateo’s has one of the shortest ingredient lists on the shelf. For a green salsa, La Costeña makes a simple tomatillo verde in Mexico. Frontera is the brand for roasted, smoky salsas, and Herdez for a familiar chunky homestyle salsa in large sizes.

What is the best jarred green salsa?

La Costeña Salsa Verde: tomatillos, jalapeño, onion, salt, coriander, árbol and garlic, with no added sugar or preservatives, per its listing. It is loose enough to cook with, which is how green salsa is used most often in a Mexican kitchen, in enchiladas verdes, chilaquiles and braised pork or chicken.

What is the best jarred red salsa?

For a thin, pourable restaurant-style red, Mateo’s Medium. For a thicker red that clings to a chip, Hatch Organic Mild (lowest sodium here) or Cholula’s Original with árbol chile. For a smoky red, Frontera’s Chipotle, which also uses roasted tomatillos.

What jarred salsa does Whole Foods sell?

Whole Foods Market sells its own 365 organic salsas alongside other brands, but the 365 jars we found on Amazon were out of stock when we checked, so they are not reviewed here. Store stock varies, so check your local store. If organic is the priority, Hatch Organic Mild Salsa is certified USDA Organic and was in stock on Amazon.

What about taste-test rankings of jarred salsa?

Several food sites, Sporked among them, publish taste rankings of supermarket salsa. We did not reproduce or rely on them. Our picks are based on ingredients, labels and what each salsa is designed to do, and we say so in every review.

How long does jarred salsa last after opening?

Follow the jar. Most makers, including Mateo’s, Frontera and La Costeña, say to refrigerate after opening, and many print a use-within time on the label. Keep the lid tight, use a clean spoon rather than dipping chips into the jar, and throw it out if you see mold or the smell turns.

Our final pick for the salsa shelf

Buy Mateo’s Medium if you want one red salsa that works for chips, tacos and breakfast, with a short ingredient list. Add La Costeña Salsa Verde for cooking, and Frontera Chipotle if you like smoke. Choose Hatch Organic Mild for children or a lower-sodium jar, Herdez Casera’s jug for a party, and Mrs. Renfro’s ghost pepper salsa only if you know what you are getting into. Keep a jar of Don Emilio’s salsa macha for the moments when a dish needs crunch and heat at the end.

Salsa is one shelf of a Mexican pantry. Our guide to Mexican pantry staples covers the chiles, spices and masa that go with it, and our taco bar supplies guide covers the serving side of taco night.

Related guide: Best salsa cookbook.

And if you would rather eat salsa made in a restaurant kitchen tonight, see the menu or call to order.