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This restaurant style Homemade Salsa recipe can be made with canned or fresh ingredients and is ready for snacking in only 5 minutes! Serve with some salty tortilla chips or spoon on top of your tacos, burritos, or nachos. This is the perfect addition to all of your favorite Tex Mex meals!
Why make this salsa?
- Quick and easy: this recipe comes together in 5 minutes and can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
- Fresh or Canned Ingredients: use what you have on hand, grab all of those fresh summer tomatoes, or if needed you can use your canned tomatoes. This allows you to make great quality salsa all year long. Personally I love the texture that comes from using canned tomatoes, but some people prefer all fresh, you can also do a combination of the two.
- Control the heat: you are in control of the spiciness of this recipe. If you would prefer you can leave the membranes in the jalapeno, you could add more jalapeno, or you could even toss in a Serrano for a little extra heat.
- Sweetness: using a little touch of honey in this recipe cuts through the acidity of the tomatoes and gives you a nice smooth taste.
Ingredients:
Notes on some ingredients:
- Tomatoes: use one can of diced tomatoes and one can of diced tomatoes with green chiles if needed. Or grab one pound of fresh tomatoes.
- Chile: this recipe is made using jalapeno, removing the seeds and membranes makes for a nice mild salsa that pairs nicely with meals and is great for serving with tortilla chips. If you personally want more heat add in extra jalapeno or even a Serrano pepper.
- Honey: adding this cuts through the acidity of the tomatoes and gives a smooth flavoring.
Serene’s Tip: For extra flavor, give the tomatoes a quick roast in the oven before blending.
How to make (Step by Step)
- Step 1: Add ingredients to food processor and pulse the ingredients together.
- Step 2: Taste and adjust salt and lime juice as necessary.
Expert Tips:
- The type of tomatoes you use matter! For this particular salsa I love using canned tomatoes. It’s quick and easy. If you’re using fresh I would go for a Roma tomato or a San Marzano. If using fresh tomatoes I would recommend roasting them in the oven first, or even boiling them on the stovetop for about 10 minutes.
- When adding the ingredients to the processor add the garlic, jalapeño and onion first. This ensures that it gets chopped up nice and fine. No big chunks of garlic left to disrupt your enjoyment.
- Start with a small amount of lime juice. Lime can be overpowering. So start small and add more to taste if needed. If you add too much there’s no going back.
- Adjust to taste. One of the best things about making your own salsa is that you can customize it and make it more to taste. More salt, more jalapeño for more spice, more honey, or more lime juice.
- Pulse the Processor: we want our ingredients to be chopped up but still be chunky, don’t overblend.
F.A.Q’s:
What is the difference between salsa and Pico de Gallo?
Pico de Gallo is not made in a food processor or blender, it is made by dicing up the ingredients and has a chunkier texture. Here is a recipe for Pico de Gallo.
Can this be made in a blender instead of a processor?
Yes. If all you have is a blender you can use it, just be careful to not overblend.
How do I can this salsa?
This recipe can be used for canning, a small amount of vinegar will need to be added to help with preserving and a water bath method should be used.
More Salsa Recipes:
- This mild and creamy Avocado Salsa is great as a topping and also doubles as a salad dressing.
- Fresh and bright this Strawberry Mango Salsa is perfect for a fun summer treat.
- A classic Salsa Verde recipe that is easy to make!
Easy Homemade Salsa
Homemade restaurant style salsa! So easy to make and tastes just like it's from your favorite restaurant! Perfect for dipping chips into or spreading all over some tacos.
Ingredients
Instructions
- Prepare Ingredients: Add the onion, jalapeno, and garlic to the food processor and pulse until chopped up.
- Pulse: Add in the tomatoes and continue to pulse until the tomatoes break down and release juices.
- Season: Add in honey, salt, 1/2 cup cilantro leaves, and juice of 1/2 lime (start slow with the lime as it can overpower, you can taste and add more if desired)
- Blend: Pulse in the processor to desired consistency. Chunky or smooth. Taste and adjust salt, honey, or lime juice as needed.
Video
Equipment
Notes
- Tomatoes: recipe can be made with fresh or canned tomatoes, or use a mixture of the two. The 1 pound of fresh tomatoes will replace using both the cans of diced tomatoes.
- Chile: this recipe is made using jalapeno, removing the seeds and membranes makes for a nice mild salsa. If you personally want more heat add in extra jalapeno or even a Serrano pepper.
- Honey: adding this cuts through the acidity of the tomatoes and gives a smooth flavoring.
- Salt: taste and adjust as needed in this recipe.
- Storage: Store in a sealed container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
- Salsa too thin? Simply strain out some of the liquid.
Nutrition
Serving: 11/3 cup | Calories: 25kcal | Carbohydrates: 6g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 197mg | Potassium: 67mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 232IU | Vitamin C: 9mg | Calcium: 13mg | Iron: 1mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like this? Leave a comment below!
Recipe first posted in 2014. Updated on February 20, 2018. And again June 11, 2021 with new images and information.
Photography done by the talented @KJandCompany.co
I moved to Missouri from Austin and this recipe really makes it easier to be away from my home state.
Yay!!! So glad you enjoyed the recipe!
This was fantastic…thank you for this..I’ve tried so many salsa recipes they’ve either been too sweet..too hot.. too chunky…I realize you can tweak the recipe but with this it was perfect..just enough heat..and spice..I was also wondering about freezing this? Thank you!
Firstly, this recipe is great as written. This is basically the recipe that I have used for over 30 years. I used to make a larger batch, because I would take some to work. When people knew I was bringing salsa, they would bring their own containers in order to take some home!
The first thing I do is to drain the tomatoes, reserving the juice. I then place the drained tomatoes into the blender along with the onion, which I usually used more, the garlic, cumin, salt, and honey or sugar, and the jalapeno. After I pulsed it to my liking, I’d add the cilantro and then I added the reserved juice until I got it to the consistency to my liking. Lastly I added the lime juice, did a taste test and adjusted the seasonings. Note* I used the canned tomatoes and not the ones with the green chilies, although they are delicious if used. I used canned tomatoes year round for consistency.
Fantastic! Did it in a blender. Perfect thank you.
So glad you enjoyed Mike!
I literally just made this. It’s soooo good. I did tweak the recipe a bit. I used fire roasted tomatoes along with the tomatoes with Chiles. I ended up using a whole onion and I pretty much doubled (maybe tripled) the cilantro. I also threw in a few dashes of cayenne pepper because I only had one jalepeno and it wasn’t quite enough. And I put in quite a bit of salt. But all these are personal preferances. The recipe was good as written but I made it how I personally like it. I’ll be keeping this one. I have a feeling ill be making it often, because my husband LOVES it.
Awesome recipe! looks easy to make it and taste good as well
My boys love Mexican food, and this recipe is so easy to make. Now we already have the best dish on the menu at home, thanks for your salsa recipe.
I loved this salad easy and quick.. Thanks for your sharing!!
I sent you a question/reply and have not heard feed back after 15 hours. You are a fake chief and since you do not want any dialog I will now expose you through the internet. All media’s I have at my disposal will be to expose you.
Hi Steve, I already responded to you via email, but just to ensure that your question is addressed for anyone else who might have the same question. The diced tomatoes are not drained. If they were drained I would reference to do so in the recipe. I also have provided a video to assist in making this recipe. I hope that helps you.
Hi Serene,
I had this same question, and though I figured you’d say so in the recipe, I’m glad I know now for sure. Plus, I’m a totally blind cook, so I go off of written directions+recipes as opposed to videos, since I can’t see exactly what you’re doing in them. All this to say, thank you for answering this politely and calmly, even with the nasty way it was asked.
Going to make this now… I’m sure it’s gonna be amazinggg!!!
You’re right, Steve. She is a fake chief. But she is a great chef. Kindly go back under your bridge and stay there.
You are a mental case!
I guess some people are bakers, not cooks, lol
Wow Steve no need to be so nasty life’s to short for such ugly words to any one..
you didn’t have to stay and try to make this salsa if you couldn’t read the recipe..God bless you Steve and may God wash all the nastiness out of your heart and mouth have a blessed day ?
This is absolutely delicious! My problem is that it loses a lot of flavor after the second day. Tastes like it has “broken down” a bit. I have this problem with most salsa recipes. Any suggestions?
What a jerk!!! Just because someone has a blog, it doesn’t mean that the blogger is able to check every question in a timely manner! Serene has a number of recipes on this site and there must be a lot of questions or comments to read daily. Plus, the fact that she is creating and testing recipes for future posting. Shame on you! There is absolutely no need to be nasty and threatening! NO ONE LIKES A BULLY!!!
Are the canned tomatoes drained or added with the juices? You give a recipe without specifics. Why should I even try this!
Well, Steve, I would initially add 15.5% of the juice from the can of diced tomatoes, room temperature (of course). I use 2 glass beakers to sort the diced tomatoe pieces out and gently place them into one of the beakers, and as much juice as possiblle in the second.
What is your elevation? If above 2,000ft, you can start with as little as 10.3% of the diced tomatoe juice. But don’t worry; if it looks too thin, you can always add baking powder to firm it up and increase the cooking time X3 (cook to an internal temperature of 112°; or uo to 127° for a HOTTER taste!)
If you’re below 1,000ft, then you won’t care, and you would then just dump it all in there at the same time; sorta like you didn’t even care.
Good luck!