This Caramelized Pineapple Salsa is a step above the regular fresh salsa with it’s sweet flavor. I love grilling the pineapple for the easiest cleanup, but you can use the stove as well. Just a quick sear keeps the pineapple mostly fresh, but with caramelized edges that make for an addictive salsa. It’s perfect served with fish, chicken, or pork. Or for a meatless and vegan meal you can serve it with my Tropical Quinoa Salad.
I think my favorite thing about Pineapple Salsa is that it tastes amazing year round. Decent pineapple is pretty easy to find these days, (I get mine at Costco). And even if it’s a little underripe, caramelizing it brings out its natural sugars, and makes it taste fantastic. Even my husband who isn’t a huge fan of pineapple likes it if it’s been caramelized first.
Good tomatoes for a fresh salsa have such a short season that I’ve really gotten into salsas made from anything but tomatoes, (although as a side note, fire roasted canned tomatoes make a pretty good winter salsa). Mango salsa is another winter favorite if you aren’t a pineapple fan either. I love topping all sorts of things with salsa, so having several salsas that are good year round is key.
So what on earth do you do with pineapple salsa, especially if you make the full sized batch below which makes 5 cups! I have a few suggestions after trying to figure out how to use up so much salsa after all my recipe testing.
You can use it any way that you would normally use a tomato salsa, (think chips and salsa) but also as a topping for any kind of creamy enchilada, Ancho Chicken Taco Bowls, or these Chipotle Rubbed Shrimp Tacos. It’s also really good as a topping for these Tostones with Cilantro Chimichurri as a replacement for the mango salsa.
I also started using it as a topping of sorts for salads. I have a Latin inspired salad coming your way soon with quinoa, pineapple salsa, jicama, and a coconut lime dressing. You can check it out here with this Tropical Quinoa Salad with Coconut Lime Dressing recipe.
Now let’s get started and make this Caramelized Pineapple Salsa step by step!
You can caramelize your pineapple 2 different ways, you can either grill it, (which is a little less cleanup) or you can sear it in a cast iron pan. Either way it’s pretty easy, and you’ll find yourself wanting to eat piece after piece of these yummy caramelized cubes.
For the salsa, I like the chop up about 1/2 of the pineapple slices into nice bite sized cubes, and the rest I just chunk up to put in the food processor. This gives you the quickest results because the food processor does most of the work, and then you stir in a little texture with the hand chopped cubes.
For a simple and super satisfying dinner, try my Chipotle Grilled Chicken with this salsa, Roasted Sweet Potatoes. And maybe even take it over the top with The Best Guacamole!
Or serve this pineapple salsa with any of these recipes!
- Instant Pot Carnitas
- Instant Pot Beef Barbacoa
- Jalapeno Cilantro Lime Chicken
- Healthy Chicken Sheet Pan Fajitas
- Chipotle Chicken Burrito Bowls
- Slow Cooker Chipotle Chicken
- Slow Cooker Salsa Beef
You can also use this salsa in my ‘build a bowl’ series below!
- Chipotle Chicken (Chipotle Copycat)
- Cilantro Lime Rice
- Roasted Sweet Potatoes
- Easy Fajita Veggies
- Pico de Gallo (Easy & Authentic)
- The Best Guacamole
- Easy Fire Roasted Blender Salsa
- Instant Pot Queso (Vegan – Paleo – Dairy Free)
Choose as many of the above recipes as you’d like to mix and match and create a taco bowl or burrito bowl. You can also add all sorts of toppings like corn, black beans, grated cheese, and sour cream.
I really hope you enjoy this Caramelized Pineapple Salsa, it will add so much fresh flavor to your Mexican dinners! And if you do get a chance to make it, I hope you’ll leave me a comment/rating below. I always love hearing from you here! Also for lots more Mexican inspired recipes, head over to the recipe index.
PrintCaramelized Pineapple Salsa
- Total Time: 30 mins
- Yield: 5 cups of salsa 1x
- Diet: Gluten Free
Description
This Caramelized Pineapple Salsa is a step above the regular fresh salsa with it’s sweet flavor. I love grilling the pineapple for the easiest cleanup, but you can use the stove as well. Just a quick sear keeps the pineapple mostly fresh, but with caramelized edges that make for an addictive salsa. It’s perfect served with fish, chicken, or pork. Or for a meatless and vegan meal you can serve it with my Tropical Quinoa Salad.
Ingredients
1 whole pineapple, 3 pounds
1/2 cup red onion, finely chopped, 3 ounces
1/3 cup minced cilantro
1 small red bell pepper, stemmed and cut into small dice, 6 ounces
2 Tablespoon freshly squeezed lime juice
Avocado oil for brushing the pineapple
Instructions
Preheat the grill over medium high heat, or if you’re cooking inside, heat a cast iron pan over medium heat.
Cut the top and bottom off the pineapple, and cut away the skin from the sides, you should have around 2 pounds of pineapple remaining, Cut the pineapple into circular slices, 1/2″ thick, leaving the core in.
If you’re grilling the pineapple, lightly brush the sides with a small amount of avocado oil. If you’re cooking it in the cast iron pan, add 1-2 teaspoons of oil to the pan.
Sear the pineapple slices on the grill or in the cast iron pan, about 2-3 minutes per side, or until caramelized and golden brown.
While the pineapple is cooking, prepare the rest of the salsa ingredients.
When all the pineapple is done caramelizing, cut the fruit away from the core. Place half of the fruit into a food processor with the rest of the salsa ingredients.
Pulse the salsa together, leaving small chunks of pineapple. Cut up the remaining pineapple into small bite sized chunks and stir them into the salsa for texture.
Add sea salt to taste if necessary, I didn’t add any to mine, but natural salt levels vary with produce and you might find you need a little extra.
Serve the salsa immediately, or refrigerate for up to 10 days.
Notes
This recipe makes a lot of pineapple salsa, but it’s fairly easy to cut the recipe in half, or you can freeze some of it for another time.
- Prep Time: 20 mins
- Cook Time: 10 mins
- Category: Salsa
- Method: Grilling
- Cuisine: Mexican
Thanks For Sharing this amazing recipe. My family loved it. I will be sharing this recipe with my friends. Hope the will like it.
So glad you and your family enjoyed it!
I’m totally with you on the pineapple salsa! Although, this is embarrassing, the Amish around us make it pretty cheaply so I buy it from their local store. I know this is called being lazy, but it’s so good! Then again, I’ve never had a viable option to work from before so it’s time to get cracking on this recipe. Love the blue backdrop on your photo. So pretty.
I don’t think you should be embarrassed at all about buying locally made salsa, I would absolutely do the same thing if I had the option! I do hope you enjoy this pineapple salsa, fruit salsas are so good, and they seem to be really difficult to find a good store bought version. 🙂