Charred tomato salsa on a kamado

Published 9 September 2026 · Last updated 9 September 2026 · By Ben Austen

Ingredients

• Tomatoes, however many you have. Mine were three or four big ones, halved, and a couple of large handfuls of small sweet ones left wholeThese came off the garden in late August and I was using up what I had grown, so the mix is not the recipe. Any tomatoes will do. The two sizes come off the fire at different times.
• Two red onions, halvedThey go on cut face down and stay there until the face is black.
• Two or three bell peppers, sliced across into rounds, seeds out
• Two or three cloves of garlic, rawThey do not go near the fire. They go in the processor at the end.
• A packet of coriander
• Salt and pepper
• Red wine vinegar. Start with three tablespoons, then taste itHow much it wants depends on how sweet your tomatoes are and how much char came off the fire, so it is not a fixed number.

Equipment

• A barbecue you can run direct, with nothing between the fire and the foodI cooked this on my Big Green Egg Large with the ConvEGGtor (ceramic deflector) out and everything straight on the grid over live coals, at around 150°C (300°F). A kettle set up the same way will do it. What the cook wants is flame close enough to blacken skin; put a deflector in the way and you will roast the vegetables instead of charring them, which is a different dish.
• A food processorMine is a Magimix. This is a blitzed salsa rather than a chopped one, so it needs a blade rather than a knife and a board.

Method

1. Get the fire lit and leave the deflector out
2. Halve the onions and the big tomatoes. Slice the peppers across into rounds and take the seeds out. Leave the small tomatoes whole
3. Onions and peppers on first, onions cut face down, and leave them alone
4. Take those off before the tomatoes go on
5. Tomatoes on, and take them off on what they do rather than on the clock
6. Peel the skin off the onions
7. Let it all cool
8. Everything into the food processor, skins and seeds and all, with the raw garlic
9. Vinegar, coriander, salt and pepper, then taste it
10. Blitz it

Key takeaways

• Nothing on this gets oiled before it goes near the fire. The peppers, onions and tomatoes all went on dry, straight onto the grid over live coals. I leave the oil off because I don’t want them burning, and they charred fine without it.
• The skins and the seeds stay in the salsa. In a professional kitchen you’d take them out of the tomatoes, and I know that. I couldn’t be bothered, so the lot went in the Magimix skins, seeds and all.
• The vinegar is the part you have to judge. Start with three tablespoons of red wine vinegar, then taste it and add more if it wants it. How much you need depends on how sweet your tomatoes are and how much char came off the fire, so it changes with the cook.
• You don’t have to wait as long as I did. Mine sat and cooled for a couple of hours because the chilli was still on the fire and I was getting on with other things. Blitz yours as soon as they’re cool enough to handle.

The cook

1. Get the fire lit and leave the deflector out. You want flame close enough to blacken skin, so nothing goes between the coals and the food. Mine was running at about 150°C (300°F) with everything straight on the grid. The fire was already going for a chilli, and there was oak on it from earlier in the day, so there is probably a bit of that in the background too. You do not need smoke wood to make this. The char is what you are after.
2. Halve the onions and the big tomatoes. Slice the peppers across into rounds and take the seeds out. Leave the small tomatoes whole. Nothing gets oiled and nothing gets seasoned yet. The onions keep their skins on for now.
3. Onions and peppers on first, onions cut face down, and leave them alone. The cut face is what takes the char. Mine had a good twenty minutes and the peppers about fifteen, and I wanted the faces properly blackened rather than just coloured.
4. Take those off before the tomatoes go on. On my cook the onions and peppers came off at 15:33 and the tomatoes went on at 15:45. You do not have to leave a gap. The two batches do want different lengths of time, though, so running them separately is easier than trying to pull things off around each other.
5. Tomatoes on, and take them off on what they do rather than on the clock. The small whole ones go quickly: a bit of char, and when they start to hiss and pop they are done. The halved big ones take longer and never hiss. You are looking for some char and for them to break down. Mine were on fifteen to twenty minutes.
6. Peel the skin off the onions. Once they have cooked and come off, the blackened outer layer pulls away and leaves you a soft onion with a charred edge, which is the bit you actually want in the salsa.
7. Let it all cool. Mine sat for a couple of hours because the chilli was still on the fire and I was getting on with other things. You do not have to wait that long. Blitz yours as soon as it is cool enough to handle.
8. Everything into the food processor, skins and seeds and all, with the raw garlic. In a professional kitchen you would skin and seed the tomatoes, and I know that. I could not be bothered, and the char is in the skins anyway.
9. Vinegar, coriander, salt and pepper, then taste it. Start with three tablespoons of red wine vinegar and add more if it wants it. How much it needs depends on how sweet your tomatoes are and how much char came off the fire, so there is no number I can give you that will be right for your batch.
10. Blitz it. Mine took a few minutes from the veg going in to the finished salsa, and made about 750ml.

What to serve the salsa with

It went on hot dogs, with tortilla chips, and on a load of other things.

Variations

On a kettle. Coals spread across the bottom, grate on, everything straight on top of them. Same cook: flame close enough to blacken skin, nothing in between. I have not done this salsa on a kettle myself, so that is what should work rather than what I have done.

Related

• Big Green Egg Large review — the unit this was cooked on.
• Smoked sausages on a kamado — another direct cook on the same kit.
• Smoky mayo potato salad — the other thing I make to go alongside rather than as the main event.

FAQ

Do you have to peel the tomatoes?

No. Everything goes in the processor as it comes off the fire, skins and seeds and all. In a professional kitchen you would skin and seed them, and I know that. I could not be bothered, and the char is in the skins anyway.

Is this a smoked salsa?

No, it is charred. Nothing goes between the fire and the food, so the skins blacken over live coals rather than take on smoke. Oak was on the fire from a chilli earlier that day, so there is probably a bit of that in the background. You do not need smoke wood for this.

How long does it keep?

A good week in the fridge, and it is still good at the end of that. One batch makes about 750ml.

Do you oil the vegetables first?

No. Nothing gets oiled and nothing gets seasoned before it goes on. The peppers, onions and tomatoes all went on dry, straight onto the grid over live coals. I leave the oil off because I do not want them burning, and they charred fine without it.

Disclosure and provenance

I cooked this on my own Big Green Egg Large. Smoke and Lump has no commercial relationship with Big Green Egg and earns nothing from this recipe.

Sourced from the 24 August 2026 cook log — an over-the-top chilli on the Big Green Egg Large, with the salsa vegetables charred on the same fire.