by Eating Healthy with Chili Peppers: This series will walk through the advantage of adding chili peppers to your meals to kick up the taste and the heat while keeping the calories down.
Prior Post: Quick & Easy Pico de Gallo
This colorful salsa is made with a nice selection of chili peppers and can be used to add some flavor and heat to many dishes.
Ingredients:
4 to 6 Sweet Chili’s, Diced Fine
2 to 3 Jalapeños, Diced Fine
1 to 2 Serranoes, Diced Fine
2 to 3 Green Onions, Chopped Fine
1 Bell Pepper or Poblano, Diced Fine
1 to 2 Tablespoons Cilantro, Minced (Optional)
1 Tablespoon Honey
2+ Tablespoons Apple Cider Vinegar (See Comment Below)
Salt and Pepper to Taste
Directions:
Putting this salsa together is pretty simple. You dice up all the peppers, then throw those together with the other ingredients and you are pretty much done. If you follow the recipe above, the heat will be about Medium. You can kick it up by adding Thai chilis or even hotter peppers (as I do in this version), or you could tone it done by taking out the Serranoes. The amount and type of chilis I use depends one who else is eating it, but I will generally kick it up hotter.
You can add more of the vinegar to salsa and then you have two items in one. Use that flavored vinegar to spritz on something like steamed veggies to kick up the flavor without adding calories, sort of like you would with a pepper sauce. I will even keep that leftover vinegar in the fridge after the salsa part is gone to use as a flavor enhancer.
As for the salsa, you can just eat it on chips or with tacos if you like (particularly fish tacos), but it also goes really good on the side with grilled fish, chicken, or pork. This is a good way to add flavor without too many extra calories and is certainly healthier than having a mayonnaise or sugary barbeque sauce paired with your meat of choice. This would also be particularly good to top an omelet stuffed with spinach or other healthy ingredients.
