I developed this recipe while trying to decide what to do with an excess of rhubarb. Although I dislike cloying, syrupy rhubarb sauces, I adore rhubarb and salsa, so I reasoned why not combine the two? Simply grab a package of tortilla chips, or even better, cook some yourself, and indulge. You are welcome to change the ingredients to your desire. Not a fan of jalapenos? Use them not. Use three different peppers, but feel free to mix and match them. Additionally, I like Nellie and Joe’s® lime juice over conventional bottled or freshly squeezed lime juice because it is a little bit tarter, but if you can’t locate it, you can use what you already have.
| Prep Time: | 30 mins |
| Cook Time: | 5 mins |
| Additional Time: | 3 hrs |
| Total Time: | 3 hrs 35 mins |
| Servings: | 12 |
| Yield: | 12 servings |
Ingredients
- 2 cups thinly sliced rhubarb
- 1 small red onion, coarsely chopped
- 1 large green bell pepper, seeded and coarsely chopped
- 1 large red bell pepper, seeded and coarsely chopped
- 1 large yellow bell pepper, seeded and coarsely chopped
- 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and coarsely chopped – or to taste
- ½ cup chopped fresh cilantro
- 3 roma (plum) tomatoes, finely diced
- 2 teaspoons brown sugar
- 5 tablespoons Key lime juice
- 2 teaspoons coarse salt
- 1 pinch garlic powder, or to taste
- ground black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Stir rhubarb into a large pot of boiling water and cook for 10 seconds. Quickly drain rhubarb and rinse with cold water until cool; transfer rhubarb to a large bowl.
- Place red onion, green, red, and yellow bell peppers, jalapeno pepper, and cilantro into a food processor and pulse 3 or 4 times to finely chop; transfer pepper mixture to bowl with rhubarb. Stir in roma tomatoes.
- Dissolve brown sugar in Key lime juice in a bowl; lightly stir lime juice mixture into rhubarb mixture. Sprinkle salsa with salt, garlic powder, and black pepper and stir salsa again. Refrigerate at least 3 hours to blend flavors.
Reviews
Love this – I added fresh Mango and omitted the Brown Sugar. This is my early summer potluck go to recipe – Goes well with Pita Chips and Triscuits.
So yummy with grilled swordfish. Highly recommend.
Made as written. It’s just absolutely delightful, and so charming on the plate.
Great way to use rhubarb for something other than a dessert. I substituted honey in for brown sugar but otherwise followed the recipe. I didn’t enjoy it with chips as much, but it went well with grilled chicken and it made an amazing chicken salad.
As others reviews have stated this is an outstanding recipe and I never would have thought about adding rhubarb to salsa. This is my new fresh salsa recipe. The only changes I made was to add fresh garlic, squeezed lime juice and zest. I might add another jalapeno or two next time as we like heat, but can still taste the one (I always leave seeds).Can’t wait for three more hours to see what it tastes like after flavors meld. Right after mixing this is amazing. Awesome recipe so glad it was shared.
Everyone I’ve served it to loves it!
I am so excited to have a go-to for rhubarb besides dessert and sauces! I usually make tomatillo salsa when those are in season, so the rhubarb in this salsa serves the same purpose, giving it some sour and slightly fruity notes. The only adjustments were that it needed WAY more salt and pepper than the recipe suggests, and we could barely find any heat, so next time I will double the jalapenos.
I love this recipe! When making it I had to make a few changes due to what was in my pantry. I used a can of diced tomatoes that were fire roasted. I also put peppers, onion and jalapeños in processor and it turned out great! I plan to use this recipe often! Thanks for the creation of this recipe!
This is very good. I had to omit the garlic due to an allergy. I don’t own a food processor so had to chop everything by hand but it was worth it.
This is very good. I had to omit the garlic due to an allergy. I don’t own a food processor so had to chop everything by hand but it was worth it.
I didn’t have a food processor so it took some time to chop the ingredients, but the result was great. I was tempted to put the leftovers in a blender and turn it into a gazpacho. I’ll add more rhubarb next time, as it was a little buried in the other flavors.
Delicious!! I only had one cup of rhubarb, used red, yellow and orange peppers instead of green, added diced mango and minced garlic. I received many compliments and passed the recipe on to others!
This is so yummy! I left out the brown sugar since we are doing Whole 30 at the moment and it is fine without it. I just increased the other spices a little bit. And I added more jalapeno because we like heat. I will definitely make this again! Edited to add: We have made this several times over the summer, it has become one of our go-to recipes. We leave out the cilantro now because of a sensitivity. Even Boy #1 who doesn’t really like veggies has asked me to make it. We eat it with cold chicken, use it as a base for cold pasta salad, with grilled pork loin. It’s good with everything!
I thought this was pretty great, and I’m guessing it will be even better after I give it the 3 hours for the flavors to meld. I didn’t change much (except I omitted the jalapeno pepper). Next time, I might try mixing in some black beans to make it a salad I can eat on its own or with quesadillas.
Everyone loved this salsa and it’s a great way to use my rhubarb.
I will definitely make this again. I was looking for something to make with rhubarb that wasn’t a dessert and came across this salsa. Everyone loved it. I did not do the ten second blanch in boiling water but it turned out great
I live on this during rhubarb season, I eat it alone, like a salad, or with crackers or nacho chips. When it is apple season ( I have a tree in my backyard) I do add apples and it tastes even better
This stuff is great – and addicting! The only change I made to the recipe is to use a clove of garlic instead of garlic powder. I put the garlic, salt and pepper into the lime juice mixture before pouring it over the salsa. This is a recipe that you can easily adjust to personal tastes regarding types of peppers and amount of heat. It is wonderful with chips, but also great as an accompaniment to any grilled meat – pork, burgers, or chicken. Everyone I have served this to raves about it and asks for the recipe. Thanks for such a great recipe!
This is so delicious! I minced it all by hand (didn’t read the directions until I was done) and it was perfect. At first taste I knew this was dinner. Just this and tortilla chips. It is so good. I added black beans to some of it and it was very good. As another reviewer said, it is nice to have a rhubarb recipe that doesn’t involve cups of suger. Very good – thank you!
Great! I made Peking duck and made the salsa and ate duck tacos for a Saturday night. It is delicious.
A great way to use rhubarb without having to add cups of sugar. A tasty salsa; only change I made was to use regular bottled lime juice. My rough chop of the bell peppers was too rough; I had to pulse the food processor too many times and the salsa was not as ‘chunky’ as in the picture. Makes a lot of salsa; will half the recipe next time. Easy to add more heat; just add more jalapeno or leave the seeds in. It was a hit at my wife’s work; many requests for the recipe.