This Homemade Salsa recipe is restaurant quality and only takes minutes to make! Simply blend tomatoes, onion, jalapeño, garlic and cilantro in a food processor and enjoy with chips, tacos, nachos (really anything your heart desires)! Yields 6 cups or 24 (¼- cup) servings.
It’s winter in Michigan. What can I say? It’s my least favorite time of the year. The holidays are over, there is very little sunshine, not to mention it’s cold and snowy outside which makes me want to curl up on the couch with a box of Oreos and read or watch Netflix. It’s to the point where I’m actually looking forward to the big game this Sunday. (who even am I?)
Speaking of the big game, are you making any good food?
I usually forgo dinner and just make a few snacky apps. Chips and salsa being one of them. Full disclosure: I’m sort of a snob when it comes down to salsa. To me, the jarred salsa tastes like an overly chunk-defied pasta sauce *ick*. The only way I can control how thin or thick I want it is by making it myself and I prefer it fresh without large pieces of onion or tomatoes.
Plus, homemade is always better.
To Make this Homemade Salsa You Will Need:
- white onion – Lends sharp onion flavor.
- red onion – Adds a mild sweeter onion flavor.
- jalapeños – Remove seeds and ribs for more spice.
- garlic – Lends distinct punchy flavor.
- whole peeled tomatoes (canned) – Make sure to buy good quality and without basil.
- kosher salt – Enhances the flavors in the salsa.
- sugar – Cuts the acidity of the tomatoes.
- cilantro – Lends a pop of herbaceous freshness.
- lime juice – Adds fresh and bright citrusy flavor.
- diced tomatoes with green chiles (can) – Adds flavor and subtle spiciness.
Into a food processor fitted with the blade attachment; add 1/2 of both a roughly chopped red and white onion, 1 to 2 large roughly chopped cloves of garlic and 1 to 2 jalapeños – this will depend on the level of spice you desire. If you don’t want it overly spicy then remove the seeds and the white membrane (aka the ribs) of the jalapeño and discard.
WHY WEAR GLOVES WHEN HANDLING JALAPEÑOS?
I can’t stress enough how important it is to wear gloves while prepping jalapeños, especially this many. The peppers have capsaicin (which is also what makes them spicy) and that oil will irritate anything it comes in contact with – skin, eyes etc.
Secure the lid and pulse until finely chopped.
Next, add in 1 (28 ounce) can of whole peeled tomatoes, 1 handful of cilantro (measure with your heart), squeeze in the juice of 1/2 a lime and season with 1/2 teaspoon both kosher salt and sugar.
How To Pick out The best limes at the store:
My sister once told me: when you’re at the store, squeeze the lime (or lemon for that matter) and if it is soft -not mushy- then it should yield a good amount of juice. If you squeeze it and it’s hard as a rock, just put it back on the produce shelf and keep searching.
Secure the lid again and give it a couple of pulses.
Lastly, add the diced tomatoes and green chilies. These come in three different heat preferences to pick from mild, medium and hot.
It only takes one to two pulses to get the perfect (in my opinion) homemade salsa texture. Not too runny and not too thick or chunky. Taste and season with up to 1/2 teaspoon more salt.
You can either eat right away or place it in the fridge until you’re ready to serve. To make sure the flavors meld, I would recommend refrigerating for at least 2 hours.
And there you have the best homemade salsa ever!
More Salsa Recipes:
- chipotle pepita salsa
- corn salsa
- fruit salsa
- grilled corn pico de gallo
- peach salsa
- pico de gallo
- pineapple salsa
- roasted tomato salsa
- salsa verde
- tomatillo avocado salsa
If your up to it, make your very own Salty Lime Tortilla Chips!
Enjoy! And if you give this Homemade Salsa recipe a try, let me know! Snap a photo and tag me on twitter or instagram!
Homemade Salsa Recipe
Ingredients
- 1/2 medium white onion, coarsely chopped
- 1/2 medium red onion, coarsely chopped
- 1 to 2 jalapeños, chopped (seeds and ribs removed for less heat)
- 2 cloves garlic, smashed and roughly chopped
- 28 ounces whole peeled tomatoes
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar
- 1 handful cilantro leaves, measure this with your heart
- 1/2 lime, juiced
- 14 ounces diced tomatoes with green chilies
Instructions
- In the bowl of your food processor, fitted with the blade attachment, add the chopped onion, jalapeño and garlic to a food processor. Pulse to finely chop.
- Next add the can of whole peeled tomatoes including their juices, cilantro, sugar and salt and the juice of half a lime. Pulse a few times again.
- Add diced tomatoes with green chilies. Secure the lid, and give it a few more pulses until desired consistency. Check the salsa and add more salt (I add another 1/2 teaspoon) if desired.
- You can serve immediately, however this salsa is best when refrigerated for 2 hours or over night. This gives the flavors a chance to marry.
Notes
Buy the Cookbook: Simply Scratch : 120 Wholesome Homemade Recipes Made Easy Now available on Amazon »
THANK YOU in advance for your support!
My mouth is watering!!! YUM!!!! Looks amazing!!!
very nice photos but i think you would do better without the diced tomato/chile mush and why use canned tomatoes when you can just use fresh?
best regards
Using canned whole tomatoes eliminates the entire cooking process you would need to do in order to remove majority of the water content. Resulting in more of a tomato based salsa rather than a water based salsa. If you are looking to use fresh tomatoes in a "salsa" recipe check out my Pico de Gallo recipe! Thanks for stopping by!
Thanks Christine!!! 🙂
PERFECT Game Day food for watching our Pittsburgh Steelers today! My guy's mom is coming over for an early visit so this would be great to make it's way on the table! Love all kinds of salsa but yours looks incredibly! Nothing beats homemade!
oh yum! this looks so delicious and refreshing. i am already so so ready for summer… and this reminds me of it!
This would be the perfect recipe for me! I love salsa but haven't ever made my own because of the cutting-up-of-tomato issue. problem solved! Thanks!
Katherine
I have a whole container in the fridge of fresh salsa! Your so right, there is nothing better and the store stuff doesn't quite cut it. Gorgeous salsa too! Love it:)
(((Laurie))) Thank you for this recipe this morning! My guy must have his ESP tuned in because while at the store he asked me to make some salsa for the game and while I didn't follow your recipe exactly I was happy to have had a fresher to remind me of what ingredients to pick up.
Rochelle~ I'm so glad! Salsa is pretty versatile… that's why I love it so much! 🙂
Thank you Ang!
Glad to help Katherine! 😉
Amanda I am definitely having the winter blues… I wan't warm weather and flip flops!
What a gorgeous post. Your salsa looks delicious and has the added virtue of being easy to do. I am new here but will be back. I really like the food and recipes you feature. I hope you have a great day. Blessings…Mary
Well thank you Mary! I hope you do come back! 🙂
Just wanted to let you know that I ended up making your actual recipe this weekend and we went nuts over this! I posted about this on my blog but didn't include the recipe. I have links throughout my post to direct traffic here! You can check it out at: http://imapretendchef.blogspot.com/2011/01/homemade-salsa.html
Laurie,
I googled homemade salsa and up popped your blog. Your photos are great and your salsa sounds just like what I'm looking for to take to a party tonight.
You've stumped me with the word uber. I've never heard it and not sure what it means. I must be way behind the times.
Stay warm up there in Michigan.
Sam
This salsa is heavenly!!! It is going to be perfect for my superbowl party!!
Man, there is nothing like fresh salsa! This looks great.
I will never ever buy jarred salsa again!!! This is the best salsa I've ever had!!! <3
Thanks Nancy! 🙂
This blog is AMAZING!! I love to cook but I am a beginner at this point. All other blogs explain the recipes however you still feel a bit lost and unsure. This is great! I Love how everything is explained with pictures.
I am going to try a lot of things this weekend! 😀
Jen – From Beirut, Lebanon 🙂
I recently moved to Kenya where there is NO mexican food anywhere– so tonight I decided to try to make this homemade salsa– my husband and I cannot thank you enough for posting this incredible recipe! you've changed our lives! also, your blog is awesome– I will definitely be stealing many more ideas from you!
KTinKenya
This was so easy to make! My husband loves salsa, and this just tastes so much better than jarred…thanks!
I made the salsa today……love it! I used the whole lime and it tasted yummy. Can't wait to make the chips. Thanks
Steph and Brandy~ So happy to hear! Thanks for leaving a comment! 🙂
I found this recipe back in January when you posted it and I forgot to leave a comment. THANK YOU! This is my favorite salsa recipe! We make this ALL the time and my family is always begging me to make them some when I visit. I usually double or triple the batch. A few things that I've done differently that work great: I buy the garlic in a jar already chopped in the produce section. I
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Whats up!I am just at work checking your personal site via my personal new apple iphone! Really plan to express I like reading through your blog and start looking in front to your complete content! Keep up this fantastic job
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Just finished a batch and it tastes great! thanks for sharing!
BEST SALSA EVER!!!!!!! Only thing I did different was after chilling and taste-testing it needed a ton more salt so I ended up adding about 1Tbsp extra. Other than that it was Perfect!! Thank you for this recipe. I was very gun-shy about trying to make salsa after my first epic fail with a different recipe.
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This sounds amazing! I was looking for a recipe for salsa to jar so that I can make a big batch for me and the family to least the year ( i love me some salsa haha!) Do you know if you heated this up if you could jar it? I’m new at this so bear with me!
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This is 100% better than any salsa in the grocery store.
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I don’t like runny salsa, either, so if I want thicker salsa when I’m using fresh tomatoes, after I cut up the tomatoes I put them in a colander to drain the excess fluid. I then use the fluid for soup stock, or just drink it. The salsa ends up good and thick!
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We were wondering if you could freeze this salsa? It makes quite a bit and we are worried about it going bad to fast. Or how long will it last in the fridge?
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This salsa looks delicious. I will have to try it tonight with my new food processor.
http://bestfoodprocessorreviewsguide.com/
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Loved the salsa! Easy to make and my whole family loved it! Thanks!
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It look so delicious. I agree that food processors make everything work so quickly and easily. Never store-bought salsa again for me! Thanks for the recipes!
http://bestfoodprocessorreviews.info
Nothing is better than a bowl of fresh salsa! Thanks for providing an exact measurement of ingredients. I usually wander out to the garden to harvest most of these ingredients and just toss them together randomly.
Enjoy Amy!
I just made this last night & I cannot stop boasting about it! It is absolutely amazing! I did make a few changes, like using serrano peppers instead of a jalapeno, and used two large tomatoes instead of a can of whole peeled tomatoes. Also, after adding the diced tomatoes, I didn’t pulse it anymore.. I just stirred the tomatoes in for chunkier salsa. I added garlic salt as well to taste. I cannot believe how simple this is, and how great it tastes! Thank you for sharing=)
Laurie…Would this be a recipe I could use with some peppers that are going to go bad soon? If so, and in general, about how long does this salsa keep? Have you ever frozen larger batches of it before? (Asking because I have quite a lot of peppers I need to use up in the next couple of days, and I LOVE chips and salsa!) Thanks!
Hi Autumn! Do you mean bell peppers or jalapeno? I’ve never tried this recipes with bell peppers. You could definitely give it a try! I also have a roasted tomato salsa on here that could work too!
I’ve also never froze salsa before. We eat it too fast but I don’t see why you couldn’t. Typically salsa lasts a week, two tops in an airtight container in the fridge.
If you have jalapenos you need to use, then try pickling them! SO GOOD! http://www.simplyscratch.com/2013/05/easy-homemade-pickled-jalapenos.html
Let me know if you have any more questions or email me at simplyscratchrecipes@yahoo.com. 🙂
great base. One can tweak to taste; hotter, saltier
It look very attractive and appetizing. My husband loves tomato salad so I will follow your guide and do it at this weekend
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this is not from scratch salsa it has canned tomatoes. please change the name
Hey Geoff! I’ll keep the name the same because it is indeed a homemade salsa (and this is my blog). BUT here’s a salsa that is more from scratch and just might be more up to your standards. https://www.simplyscratch.com/2014/02/roasted-tomato-salsa.html
I have never made fresh salsa, was always intimidated-thinking it would be awful. Well, at 60 years old, I just made this and it is soooo soooo fantastic! I absolutely LOVE it! Thank you so much for a great recipe! Just hope I can eat it all before it goes bad.
I’m so glad, Madison! Thank you for taking a chance and making this recipe!
Hi from Tucson, Arizona.
We know a good salsa when we eat one and your recipe is great!!
My husband, like yours, likes it hot…Rotella tomatoes with Habaneros added at the end.
Oh boy, so yummy.
Thank you
Just tried this recipe and it’s amazing! But there’s a lot left over. Has anybody tried to freeze this? Just hate to waste it.
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