Mississippi State football tailgate recipe: Homemade chips and salsa for the win

Mississippi State football fans love to tailgate, and here’s another recipe to help give your party some extra spice – homemade chips & salsa that you’ll want to keep in your fridge all year.

Our first Mississippi State football tailgate recipe was for a 4-pepper chili that can be eaten by itself or used as a topping for burgers and hot dogs.

This time we have a staple of any party – chips & salsa. But not just any old cantina freebies, these are homemade, fresh and better than anything you’ll get out of a jar.

This red salsa is great being used as a dip for tortilla chips, or you can use it as a taco or enchilada topping, or even mix it in with some cheese to make a fantastic queso dip.

For chopping and mixing in this recipe, I highly recommend a good food processor. It can be done by hand if you want (and if you prefer really chunky style) but doing this with the processor makes it so much easier.

Note: This salsa is very spicy. If you prefer a mild version, you’ll want to cut back on some of the peppers and add an extra tomato or two. This recipe makes approximately 3 quarts of salsa. Adjust ingredient amounts to your needs for more or less.

Mississippi State football tailgate, homemade chips & red salsa

What you’ll need:

4 vine-ripe tomatoes, cored and quartered
1 red onion (small)
3 garlic cloves, peeled
2 whole jalapeno peppers, stemmed and seeded
2 whole yellow habanero peppers, stemmed and seeded
1 whole serrano pepper, stemmed and seeded
1/3 cup fresh cilantro (do yourself a favor and don’t use dried)
2 whole limes
1 tbsp ground cumin
3 tsp sugar
16 oz. canned San Marzano tomatoes
1 20-count pack soft taco sized flour tortillas
1 can spray olive oil (or vegetable oil)
Sea Salt

Directions:

For salsa: Empty can of San Marzano tomatoes into food processor and puree. Empty into a 3.5 quart (or larger) container.

Place diced/cored tomatoes, peeled red onion (sectioned), garlic, peppers, cilantro, cumin and sugar into food processor. Cut limes and squeeze juice from both limes into mixture. Discard rind and remaining lime pulp. Pulsate mixture in food processor until all ingredients are finely chopped, but not pureed.

Add pepper mixture to container with San Marzano tomatoes and mix by hand with spoon.

For tortillas: Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cut tortillas into 8 wedges. Arrange on baking sheet lined with NON-STICK aluminum foil. Spray wedges lightly with oil and sprinkle with sea salt. Bake approximately 10-12 minutes or until edges begin to turn golden brown.

Remove from oven and allow to cool before serving.

Hope you enjoy this delicious chips & salsa. Please let us know if you have any favorite tailgate recipes you’d like to share with us.