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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
An ingredient that adds an interesting flavor boost is a peeled, seeded cucumber. It’s good try it.
Very good and not complicated to make!
Can you freeze the salsa?
Salsa can be frozen in a sealed, freezer safe container or bag for up to 4 months.
This is really good! I don’t like anything too hot but this was perfect.. just enough heat. The honey doesn’t make it overly sweet. I think I put more cilantro then was called for but I love cilantro. Really can’t go wrong with this recipe!
This salsa is delicious….better than any other recipe I’ve tried!
My Aunt gave me a similar recipe a few years ago. I have been addicted ever since! The only real difference is we add chopped up avacados to it. YUUUMMMMMMYYYYY!!!!!!!!!
Love this salsa!! I followed the direction exactly above. Big hit with the family. You will never want to buy store bought again. And it goes dang good on your taco recipe to. Which is a family favorite. Thank you!
Very easy to make and my husband loved it! Taste like restaurant style salsa but even better.
Hi there, could you tell me how I can process this salsa so I can still have some in the dead of the winter. Cannot seem to find my old canning Recipe.
Thank you in advance. Tina
I’m not sure if it is safe to water bath can this recipe…maybe pressure cooking process is safer? However, you can get canned tomatoes throughout the year and everything else should be readily available at a grocery store.
Fantastic and quick! Thanks!