This Roasted Corn and Black Bean Salsa has a wonderfully smoky flavor from the roasted corn and roasted garlic! It is easy and a great late summer recipe that you can enjoy for months.
For those who don’t know, my family members are pretty much freaks for anything Mexican style. As long as it has cumin, and some sort of chili pepper, we are up for it. Some weeks we will eat Mexican 3 or 4 times a week. The flavors and possibilities are literally endless, so why not?! Chicken Tacos one night, huevos rancheros the next with the leftovers, Steak Burritos the next. You get the picture. Having this love affair with Mexican foods, we go through about 1/2 a ton of salsa a year!
Sooo… I have literally made 5 different salsas so far this month! Roasted Garlic and Pepper Salsa, Sour Cherry Salsa (This was a first attempt and I’m a big fan! I’ll try another few batches and then I’ll post it, stay tuned.), Salsa Roja (tomato salsa), peach salsa, Salsa Verde (Tomatillo salsa) and this Roasted Corn and Black Bean Salsa.
I have made this Roasted Corn and Black Bean Salsa before but this time I made it with roasted garlic and peppers and it is far superior! It gives it such a nice smoky hint of flavor in the background!
I have even had friends ask if they could buy a jar! So of course, I had to volunteer a jar! My older son eats about 1/2 of a pint per serving!
Since I don’t own a pressure canner, (It’s on the list) I used my water bath canning pot but I’ll keep it the refrigerator just to be safe.
Although honestly if it lasts for more than a week, I’ll be surprised! (The pH is too high to safely can it in the water bath for long term storage in the pantry.)
How to Make Roasted Corn and Black Bean Salsa
- Shuck the corn and baste with a little olive oil.
- Once you have a nice char on the corn, turn it to roast on all sides! When all sides are roasted, remove from the grill and let them cool. You could char the jalapeños and bell peppers but they have a great crunch, if you don’t.
- When the corn is cool enough to handle, place a small bowl, upside down in a large bowl so the kernels don’t fly all over the kitchen! I saw this on youtube from Food and Wine and stole it from there. It really works pretty well! Here’s a link.
- While the corn and jalapenos are cooling, dice up some very ripe tomatoes.
- Cut up peppers and onion.
- Start the tomatoes softening, so they lose some of their juices.
- Add the onions, cumin, salt, pepper and black beans to the tomatoes in the pot.
- I add this photo in so that I can tell you that this recipe is very forgiving. I got distracted and cooked the tomatoes down too much so I had to add another 2 cups of tomatoes to accomodate all the rest of the ingredients, in the end the only thing I needed to adjust was the salt. Don’t be intimidated by recipes and feel that you have to follow a recipe verbatim! You don’t. Your tastes differ from the authors’ tastes, certainly. Just taste your food and adjust to your taste!
- Add all of the peppers and cook for about 5 minutes.
- Then add parsley and just heat for a few minutes, to try to retain some color.
2a. You can roast the garlic on the top rack of the grill just as you would in the oven. It’s far superior in the hot August weather! It should take about 30-45 minutes on the grill, depending on how hot the grill is.
2b. Cut the end off of the garlic bulbs and drizzle with a little olive oil. wrap in aluminum foil and place on top rack of the grill. Once the corn and peppers are done, close the lid of the grill so that the heat rises.
If canning, prepare the jars and lids according to standard canning practices, Ball’s website has great information to get you started. Here’s a link.
Pressure Canner vs. Water Bath Canner
Fill jars and wipe the edges of the jars clean with a paper towel. Then apply lids and rings and hand tighten. Again, a pressure canner should be used to extend shelf life.
If using a water bath canner, refrigerate jars after processing (They will last longer in the refrigerator, if you use a water bath canner). Process for 15 minutes in the water bath. Turn pot off and let the jars sit in the hot water for 5 minutes or so. Then carefully remove the jars and let thoroughly cool before placing in the refrigerator.
That is how easy it is to have this seasonal delight! It is totally customizable to your tastes and heat tolerance. Give it a try and let me know how you like it in the comments below!
I hope you enjoyed the recipe today for Roasted Corn and Black Bean Salsa! Don’t forget to sign up for my mailing list so that you don’t miss any of our great recipes (signup form below the recipe)! Thanks for stopping by!
Enjoy! And have fun cooking!
Xoxo,
Tools I Use to Make Corn and Black Bean Salsa
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Canning delicious salsas in the summer can save you money all year long!
- 2 medium whole bulbs garlic
- 12 ears fresh corn
- Olive oil for basting
- 4-5 small jalapenos (more for hot salsa)
- 4 cups fresh tomatoes , diced
- 1 large yellow bell pepper , diced
- 1/2 large red or green bell pepper , diced
- 1 cup red onion , diced
- 1 can (15 1/2 oz.) Black Beans
- 1 cup fresh parsley or cilantro
- 3 Tbsp bottled lime juice
- 2 Tbsp Cumin powder
- 1-2 Tbsp salt to taste
- 1 Tbsp Black Pepper
- Heat grill to medium high heat. Alternatively, you could roast under the broiler of your oven.
- Cut the end off of the entire bulb of garlic and sprinkle the cut side with olive oil. Wrap in aluminum foil and place on top rack of grill for 45 minutes, or so, until soft and very fragrant. When cool enough to handle, just squeeze the garlic out of the bulb.
- Shuck Corn and remove fine hairs.
- Lightly baste corn with olive oil.
- Place on hot grill. Roast until lightly charred. Turn and continue roasting until all sides are charred.
- You can place whole jalapenos on the grill to roast also, turning to roast all side. Just be careful, they will take less time than the corn.
- After the corn and peppers are roasted, remove from the grill and allow to cool.
- While the corn and peppers are cooling, dice the tomatoes, bell peppers and onion. rough chop parsley.
- Open and drain the black beans.
- Cut kernels off of the corn cobs. see blog post for a good method.
- Place all ingredients in a large, heavy bottom pot. Bring to a boil and boil, stirring occasionally until a lot of the tomato juice has boiled away and salsa is a nice consistency and not too runny.
- If canning, If you have a pressure canner, use that to sterilize the salsa. If not, use a water bath canner and boil for about 10 minutes. Turn off heat and allow jars to stay in the hot water for 5 minutes. Carefully remove jars and allow to cool to room temperature.
- Store in the refrigerator unless using a pressure canner.
- Can also be frozen but texture suffers a bit.