Gimme Some Oven

Homemade Salsa

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This homemade salsa recipe only takes about 10 minutes to make, it’s easy to customize (to make it extra spicy, smoky or tangy if you’d like), and it’s SO irresistibly delicious.

Chips and the BEST homemade restaurant-style salsa recipe

Happy Dos De Mayo!

Which also means…happy birthday to me!

My birthday feels a little extra-special this year because it also happens to mark exactly one more month until my wedding. (Can’t wait!) But every year, my birthday also happens to conveniently fall on the week of Cinco De Mayo, which I must say I couldn’t have planned better myself. Mexican food on my birthday for life! (Literally!)

Last year for my birthday, I had all of my friends over for an epic chips-and-salsa-a-thon, which was downright dreamy. Instead of cooking, Barclay and I drove around town all afternoon and picked up a dozen or so different salsas from our favorite Mexican restaurants. And then we whipped up an enormous batch of my classic margaritas, opened up a zillion bags of chips, and had all of our friends over for the most delicious taste test ever. Totally my kind of birthday.

This year’s plans are TBD, thanks to my sweet fiancé who knows how much I love a good surprise. But I did go ahead and whip up a batch of this salsa recipe to have on hand for my bday and Cinco De Mayo this week, which I’ve already been putting to good use. And hey — since I don’t eat many sweets or crave a traditional birthday cake anymore — this seemed like my kind of birthday treat recipe to share on the blog today. ?

Restaurant-Style Salsa Recipe | 1-Minute Video

Alright, so about this salsa recipe!

The BEST homemade restaurant-style salsa recipe

It’s actually one that I shared on the blog a few years ago. But — like many of the recipes around here lately while I’ve been busy with wedding planning — it’s one that I recently re-photographed and updated to share with those of you who might have missed it the first time around, because I’m convinced that everyone needs this recipe in their lives.

Seriously, it’s been my go-to homemade salsa recipe for years. And for someone who makes homemade salsa nearly once a week, that’s sayin’ something.

Restaurant-Style Salsa Ingredient in Food Processor

But the best part? It’s incredibly quick and easy to make! Also, since it uses canned fire-roasted tomatoes (gotta use the fire-roasted), it’s a really accessible recipe to make year-round, even beyond your regional tomato season.

To make it, simply toss all of your ingredients together in a food processor or blender…

Blended homemade salsa

…puree until the salsa reaches your desired texture…

Chips and homemade restaurant-style salsa

…then taste and season as needed.

If you’d like a smokier salsa, I strongly recommend adding in a chipotle pepper or two in adobo sauce. If you’d like a spicier salsa, you can add in an extra jalapeño (or just add in the seeds from the original one). If you’d like a tangier salsa, you can’t go wrong with extra lime juice in my opinion. And as always, don’t be afraid to add in extra salt to kick up the flavor if needed!

Then, once your salsa is all seasoned and ready to go, partay like it’s yo birthday and DIVE IN.

Seriously, I’ve made this recipe probably hundreds of times, and still never grow tired of it. So if you need some chips and salsa in your life this week — as I believe everyone always does — I can’t recommend it enough.

Enjoy, amigos!

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The BEST Salsa Recipe!

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star 4.9 from 33 reviews
  • Prep Time: 5 minutes
  • Total Time: 5 minutes
  • Yield: 0 About 4 cups 1x

Description

This restaurant-style salsa recipe is easy to make, and full of amazing fresh flavor.


Ingredients

Scale
  • 2 (14-ounce) cans fire-roasted tomatoes, drained
  • 3 cloves garlic, peeled
  • 1 (4-ounce) can diced green chiles
  • 1 bunch (about 2 cups loosely-packed) fresh cilantro leaves
  • 1 cup diced white onion
  • 1 large jalapeño, stemmed and cored
  • 1 teaspoon chipotle chili powder (optional)
  • 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin

Instructions

  1. Purée. Pulse all ingredients together in a food processor or blender until smooth. Taste and season with additional salt, if needed.
  2. Serve. Serve immediately, or refrigerate in a sealed container for up to 5 days.

The BEST homemade salsa recipe

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197 comments on “Homemade Salsa”

  1. Our family is officially obsessed with this recipe. AMAZING!






  2. Oh my, you should hear my husband rave over this salsa. I think it’s fantastic too, but he’s a snob when it comes to salsa and now this is the only recipe he wants me to make. Thank you so much!

  3. I love spicy food! I really like your idea of including Jalapenos to your salsa recipe, it will make it so yummy and spicy! I just can’t wait to try it in the evening! Will tell you how it goes when I make it.

  4. I’m looking forward to trying this and like everyone else has said, I’ve always loved all your recipes. I’ve never tried one that I didn’t like. One question I do have is in how long it stays good. Assuming we didn’t eat it all the first time, why only refrigerate for 3 days? Can you can this (like regular heat canning methods) and the flavor is still preserved reasonably close to the original flavor? Just curious.

    Thanks!

    Andi :)

  5. I can’t find fire roasted tomatoes in Canada. What would be a good substitute to use?

    • You can roast your own totmatos— it’s pretty easy to do and gives salsa a Smokey flavor.

  6. great post!






  7. My husband loves this salsa so much! He heaps praise on me non-stop whenever I make it. I’ve started making large batches and canning them so that we always have it on hand. Thank you!






    • I’m learning how to can and I’m into interested in hearing how you do it. Do you mind sharing?

  8. I made this salsa recipe last night and oh my gosh it’s so good! It was my first time making homemade salsa. Such an easy and delicious recipe. My husband loved it so much, he almost ate an entire bag of tortilla chips with it! Thank you Ali for this recipe!!






  9. Always a hit cuz! Ryan






  10. My first try at salsa. This was so easy. My husband, whose mom makes homemade salsa all the time, is very picky. He loved this and congratulated me on a yummy successful salsa. Thanks!!






  11. Holy moly this is SO good…never buying salsa again!






  12. Just made this salsa last night, we had a taco party and made your Mexican shredded chicken, as well as your classic margaritas! Everything was a major hit, especially the margs! I will definitely be making all three of these things again and again, thanks so much for inspiring such a fun and tasty night for my friends and I!

  13. I have made a lot of salsa…fresh home grown tomatoes. BUT this is easy taste better goes faster does not need to meld floors overnite. It is the best. Trust me…i am a salsa queen …now the king.






  14. I’m a bit of a salsa snob, and so is my husband. This is a fantastic recipe IMO. I made it with the addition of lime juice. Seriously, perfect! This won’t last long in my house. In fact, I made a batch today for dinner and put a note on it “For Dinner” because I know my teenage daughter will get into and it will be gone!






  15. Really great recipe, didn’t add the lime juice as I like a thick salsa but did thoroughly drain the tomatoes, thanks for a fantastic salsa recipe I have been looking for a great one for a long time. Well done






  16. Wow! This was delicious and super easy!! The best flavors!!! I didn’t pulse in a food processor because I like chunky but the recipe was PERFECT! I should
    Have doubled it!!






  17. Can this salsa be frozen?

  18. Can anyone please explain to me how to can this. Great recipe and would like to stock up on this. Thank you in advance for your help.

  19. Loved all of the dishes and salsas






  20. Delish!!!! And soo easy to make. I wanted a smaller portion and I didn’t have all the ingredients on hand so I made a few substitutions.. I roasted 3 tomatoes with a few red chili pepper flakes, replaced fresh garlic with roasted garlic and added smoked paprika and smoked chipotle chili paste. Yummy!! Thanks for this recipe.






  21. Just made this for Christmas – wife scored it a 10/10! Added two chipotle’s in adobo and lime juice just like you suggested. Definitely saving this recipe. Thanks!






  22. AMAZING RECIPE!! Living in NM everyone has a salsa recipe and stores have hundreds of options. I’ve made this twice in the last 2 weeks and love the ingredients and ability to customize the heat. I skip the jalapeno and add 2-3 chipotles in adobo and the heat is subtle and perfect. Thank u so much!!






  23. Question: You say to add ‘extra lime juice’ but I don’t see anywhere in the recipe where you ask for lime juice. Is it really extra or is it some?

  24. What if I do n’t have food processor. Can I use a blender?

    • I used a blender and it worked fine, but you won’t have a “chunky” salsa.






  25. Just made this and it is delicious! Thank you for all the great recipes – they always work perfectly and taste great!






  26. This is my all time favorite salsa recipe!! I’ve been making it for years and have gotten tons of compliments. Bonus: anytime I’m under the weather, I’ll make a batch EXTRA hot and sweat it out. It’s my cold/flu cure!






  27. My dear wife made this today and OM’God i was on happy tears of ❤️. Its the best thing mouth has tasted since this lockdown happened. Bow down & thank you for sharing this recipe!!!
    Peace
    Ram

  28. Hi, awesome salsa. After the recipe you have add ons and you say to make it extra tangy to add more lime juice. But you don’t have lime juice listed in the recipe. How much are we suppose to put?






    • Most salsa recipes I have used say to use 1 Tablespoon of lime juice. You can start there and add more to your liking. Hope this helps!

  29. I omitted the Jalapeno and added two Chipotle Peppers in Adobo and the juice of two limes. I did it in a blender but should’ve used the food processor. Great recipe! Thank you!






  30. We make this salsa of yours all the time and I keep meaning to leave a review. It’s amazing!






  31. Can’t wait to try this recipe – looks so delicious :) In fact, I’ve been perusing your site and now have a list of ~50 recipes I need to try ASAP!

    Do you happen to know how long I can keep this salsa in the fridge for?

    Thanks!
    Molly

  32. recipe sounds great, but I have a question: you mention adding “extra” lime juice (in the notes), but I didn’t see lime juice in the list of ingredients. Is there lime in the basic recipe?

  33. Hi! I have an abundance (thankfully) of homegrown tomatoes and want to make this salsa with them. I see you say that canned, fire-roasted is a MUST though… Do you think this recipe lends itself well to fresh, too?? Thank you, and best wishes and blessings to you and Barclay on your baby journey. I have cried and rejoiced with you two. xo

  34. This is FANTASTIC! I’ve tried to perfect my salsa recipe for years which uses fresh tomatoes, but I always get that bitter aftertaste. This was absolute perfection and my new go-to recipe. Thanks again!

  35. Last time I put in all salsa ingredients and blended— it turned green, guess from cilantro. No one would eat it and we love salsa.

  36. This was awesome. I never liked jarred salsa and was so happy to find this recipe! So easy to make which is great. I made it without the jalapeno seeds, but next time I’m going to leave the seeds in. I think I may try a regular yellow or sweet onion rather than white next time as well.






  37. This salsa is the best!






  38. Would lemon juice work in the salsa?

  39. Delicious! Just made it tonight, and it was so good. I’m excited to serve it tomorrow when the flavors have had even more of a chance to marry overnight!

    Question – does this salsa freeze well? Not sure I’ll be able to finish it all within 3 days!






  40. Here’s a tip from my Mexican house-keeper — add 1-2 Tablespoons of Chicken Better-Than-Bullion, but salt only after to taste. A Serrano pepper would not hurt here either, especially if you seed the Jalapeño. I don’t think you will find many Texans adding sugar to salsa.

  41. Ok, this is incredible. I tried the variant with chipotle peppers and added a tbsp of lime.






  42. The best home made salsa. Even my husband loved it.

  43. Best homemade salsa! I made it a few months ago and was craving it so much had to make it again for football Sunday. I have made salsa many times with fresh tomatoes, onions, jalepenos and lime, and it always never tasted right. This is perfect!






  44. ¡Olé! This was amazing salsa! I made a half batch because it’s just the two of us and my husband (who is picky about salsa) absolutely loved it. We don’t like spicy so I did use use the seeded jaalpeño and added just a smidge of some adobo sauce only (no Chipotle pepper) and it came out delicious. I wanted to ask, the notes say to add extra lime juice for a fresher tatse but I didn’t see lime juice in the original list of ingredients. Thanks for a great recipe!






  45. WOW. I have been waiting on this receipe. I drained the tomatoes, added 1. 1/2 chipolti pepper in adobe, a teaspoon lime juice. A little warm, but extreamly tasty. Put Mexican cheese on chips; nuked them, put this really good salsa on. My wife said Mmmmmmmm. Says it all. Gonna try it on family this Easter.






  46. Did the recipe get changed? I could have swore sugar used to be on there too!

  47. Hi, was out of chipotle chili powder so I used a bit of ground ancho chili powder and three chipotle peppers in adobo sauce and it was wonderful!






  48. Can you freeze or can this salsa?

  49. I made this salsa to go with the slow cooker shredded chicken breasts in salsa.
    This is wonderful. I’m not one of those people who has the gene that makes cilantro taste like soap- I like it fine- but the amount called for in the recipe seemed like a LOT of cilantro (and I’m a Californian who eats Mexican all the time – so cilantro isn’t exactly an exotic ingredient to me – we grow it in our herb garden) . So I halved it. I also added a little chopped green onion, the juice of 1 lime, and substituted 3 chipotle peppers in adobo for the one fresh jalapeño. The salsa is incredibly flavorful! Smoky. Mild/medium heat (just barely tingles, but it’s there). A+
    That being said, the first person who tested it, who also likes cilantro, commented that the cilantro taste is definitely prominent. Maybe a touch too prominent. So I might even halve the amount of cilantro again next time i make it (and i will be making it again). Otherwise, great recipe.