Adjika Sauce Recipe

Adjika is a Delicious Eastern European Pesto, made with tomatoes, peppers, apples, carrots, and garlic. A perfect blend of spicy, sweet, and tangy mouthwatering goodness. If you love tomatoes you will want to stick around for this one.

Growing up my parents had a pretty big garden and at the end of the summer, I remember mom canning many different vegetables. As a child the whole canning process intimated me, first of all, it looked like a lot of work, then you have to sterilize and seal your jars, I felt bad for my mom. Never did I think that I will be canning but I am here to tell you that it’s not as complicated as you think.

Adjika sort of reminds me of tomato salsa, it’s made by cooking down fresh vegetables and preserving it we can so we can enjoy it in the winter. Adjika is packed with flavor thanks to all the delicious vegetables, the stars of this recipe are tomatoes and peppers, sweet, tangy, and a bit of spice in every bite.

Ingredients you will need to make Adjika.

This is a bulk recipe and perfect for canning, don’t be intimated by a large amount of units in this recipe, a lot of the juice from the vegetables will render down and evaporate. If you prefer you can just adjust the recipe in half.

• Tomatoes
• Bell Peppers
• Hot Peppers
• Apples
• Carrots
• Garlic
• Onion
• Distilled white vinegar
• Oil
• Sugar
• Salt

How to make Adjika Sauce.

1. Wash and prep all your ingredients.

• Peel carrots and the skin from an onion
• Peel garlic
• Remove the seeds from the Peppers.
• Roughly chop your vegetables.

2. Using a food processor or a grinder mince all the vegetables (except for the garlic).

3. Transfer the minced vegetables to a large pot and bring them to a boil. Simmer on low for 1.5 hours stirring occasionally to prevent it from sticking. If any impurities or foam come up, just spoon it out.

4. The sauce should start to thicken up, add oil, salt, sugar, and minced garlic and allow it to simmer on low for 30 minutes st. Taste everything, and add more salt or minced garlic if needed.

5. Canning Adjika

According to the National Center for Home Food Preservation, you no longer need to be sterilizing empty jars if used for vegetables that will be processed for 10 mins or longer in a water canner. I strongly recommend them for the most current canning guidelines. But if you still prefer to take the extra step and sterilize jars and lids, follow the instructions below or follow these guidelines.

• To sterilize empty jars put them right side up in a water canner, a large pot with a rack, or a pressure cooker (my favorite method). Fill the canner with hot water covering the tops of the jars and boil for at least 10 minutes. Wash lids with soap and boil for 5 minutes.
• Remove sterilized jars one at a time using a jar lifter and fill the jars with hot adjika using fennel.
• Close packed jars with lids but not too tight, you want a little room for the air to escape when you process them in a water canner. Process in water boiling canner or pressure cooker for 15 minutes. Remove the jars from the canner and store them in a cool dry place for up to a year.

Adjika tastes amazing alone as a dip with just bread, or it can be used in lots of recipes. I like to use as a spaghetti sauce, smother on top of mashed potatoes, or use it to make homemade pizza. It pairs well with so many recipes and is a staple in our household

If you have any questions please comment below and if you made this Adjika Sauce I would love for you to share it.

Adjika Sauce Recipe

ablissfulnook

Adjika is a delicious pepper and tomato pesto/salsa. Made with fresh vegetables, a perfect blend of spciy, sweet and tangy goodness.

5 from 1 vote

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Prep Time 30 minutes mins

Cook Time 2 hours hrs

Equipment

• pressure cooker or canning pot
• mason jars
• jar lids
• jar lifter
• funnel

Ingredients

  

• 11 lbs tomatoes
• 2 lbs apples
• 2 lbs onion
• 2 lbs carrots
• 4 lbs red bell pepper
• 2 1/4 cups oil (we like avocado oil)
• 2 tbsp salt
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 200 grams minced garlic
• 6 hot peppers
• 200 grams white distilled vinegar

Instructions

 

• Wash and prep all your ingredients. Peel carrots and remove skin from onions. Remove seeds from bell peppers (you can keep the seeds in the hot peppers or remove them if you dont like spicy food). Peel garlic and set aside.
• Roughly chop vegetables so they can fit in a food grinder or food processor.
• Grinder vegetables (except for garlic you will add garlic almost at the end)
• Transfer the minced vegetables to a large pot and bring them to a boil. Simmer on low for 1.5 hours stirring occasionally to prevent it from sticking. If any impurities or foam come up, just spoon it out.
• The sauce should start to thicken up, add oil, salt, sugar, and minced garlic and allow it to simmer on low for 30 minutes stirring occasionally. Taste everything, and add more salt or minced garlic if needed.

Canning Adjika

• To sterilize empty jars put them right side up in a water canner, a large pot with a rack, or a pressure cooker (my favorite method). Fill the canner with hot water covering the tops of the jars and boil for at least 10 minutes. Wash lids with soap and boil for 5 minutes.
• Remove sterilized jars one at a time using a jar lifter and fill the jars with hot adjika using a funnel.
• Close packed jars with lids but not too tight, you want a little bit of room for the air to escape when you process them in a water canner. Process in water boiling canner or pressure cooker for 15 minutes. Remove the jars from the canner and store them in a cool dry place for up to a year. 

Notes

According to the National Center for Home Food Preservation, you no longer need to be sterilizing empty jars if used for vegetables that will be processed for 10 mins or longer in a water canner. For my own piece of my mind especially since we will be storing them for up to a year, I prefer to sterilize jars and lids. 

If you prefer a spicier adjika don't add hot peppers in the first hour of cooking, a lot of the heat will cook out. Add the hot peppers in the last 30 mins of cooking.

Do not add the garlic to cook with all the veggies in the beginning, add the minced garlic towards the end. Garlic gives so much flavor and if you add it right away it will loose some of its flavor.

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