Homemade Salsa

Once you try making Homemade Salsa, you’ll never go back! Super easy, tasty and fresh! This Salsa recipe is easily personalized to your taste, so I’ll share how to make salsa and you can take it from there!

Packed with fresh ingredients and flavors, and comes together in 5 minutes in your humble food processor! 

I make homemade salsa all the time. Like all the time.

In summer I make my Best Strawberry Corn Salsa . Vibrant, sweet and fresh! Another favorite summer salsa would be my cilantro corn salsa from this recipe: Grilled Sirloin Steak with Cilantro Corn Salsa.

Today however, we’re talking the basics. So let’s get to it!

HOMEMADE SALSA

Today’s salsa recipe is the classic one you would order at a fancy Mexican restaurant. And I think it’s often called restaurant style salsa.

There are so many variations on this fantastic sauce and I’ll try to cover as many of them as I can in this post. Think of it as a sauce.

What Does Salsa Mean?

Salsa is basically a sauce. Classically it’s a tomato based sauce, where the tomato is flavored with fresh ingredients such as onion, garlic, cilantro, lime juice and spices. 

Is Salsa Healthy?

Totally!! Bright fresh ingredients loaded with vitamin C! It makes for a good nutritious snack!

Should You Cook Salsa?

Yes and No. Today’s recipe is not cooked. There are two types of salsa recipes, one where you taste freshness and brightness. That’s the no cook type. However, cooking salsa also offers a depth and sweetness of tomato flavor. However, I almost always prefer no cook salsa.

How Can you Thicken Salsa? ?/ What is Homemade Salsa Watery?

My secret ingredient here which thickens and adds a depth of flavor to your salsa is Ketchup. Yup. As un traditional as it is, it’s absolutely the secret to my popular homemade salsa! PS–I used to teach this recipe at the cooking school and everyone raved about it!

Homemade Salsa Ingredients

• Whole Canned Tomatoes (San Marzano if you can find them)
• Onion
• garlic
• Scallions
• Lime Juice
• Cilantro
• Parsley
• Ketchup (secret Ingredient)
• Salt & Pepper
• Chilli Powder
• Cumin
• Oregano
• Jalapeno

So you may have noticed here I used canned whole tomatoes. I prefer the depth of flavor it has over fresh tomatoes. Also, I love that it’s peeled and so I get pure chunks of tomatoes and no skins in my salsa.

How do you make salsa from scratch from fresh tomatoes?

Absolutely! Substitute the canned tomatoes for 6 fresh Roma tomatoes each diced into 4 and proceed with the recipe!

HOW TO MAKE SALSA

There are a couple of tips and a secret ingredients in my opinion that take this salsa to another level! These tips are for for best texture and taste! Let’s start!

First, I start processing the scallions, onions, garlic, jalapeño (if you want a kick to it!), spices, ketchup, lime juice, cilantro and parsley.

The mixture should be like a chunky broken down pieces of all those ingredients. This really gives you much control of the tomatoes texture and the final texture of the salsa.

If you were to add everything together, you wold have either of the following. A super smooth salsa where everything is finely processed and so it’s more of smooth one. A super chunky salsa where everything is larger than it should be. So large chunks of onions, larger chunks of cilantro etc. 

At that point you’ll add in the tomatoes (without the canned juice).

Make sure for this step to PULSE only and not press the on button of your food processor. This way you stop at the right tomato consistency you like. The one you’re seeing here was pulsed just 4 times!

Now, you can have a spoon test and check if you prefer a more watery salsa, add a tablespoon at a time of the tomato juice that came in the can. No need to process anymore, just mix that in with a spoon or spatula.

Continue until you’ve reached the optimal consistency you prefer.

Taste and adjust your seasoning. And just like that, it’s ready!!

How long does fresh salsa last?

In the fridge anywhere from 3-7 days. I often add a thin layer of olive oil over the top of my sauces to extend their freshness in the fridge for an extra week.

It’s a trick I learned from my Grandpa and use it in his famous Hot Pepper Sauce. Another sauce I love this trick for is my Basil Pesto.

Can you Freeze Salsa?

That’s the tricky one. Yes you can absolutely freeze leftover salsa (if you have any!) for upto 2 months. However, once defrosted, you’ll notice the sauce will be super watery and you’ll notice some of the fresh taste is gone. 

To fix that, you have a couple choices. My favorite would be to make this homemade salsa only when you need it within a week so you don’t have to freeze it.

Otherwise, you can cook down your salsa before freezing to eliminate excess water. Or make a rather thick one to start with.

Also, once defrosted, always jazz it up with a squirt of lime, a fresh roma tomato diced and some fresh cilantro chopped. 

What is salsa verde? 

It’s one of the variations of this fabulous recipe, but made using green tomatoes rather than red ones. So the result is a tangier and zestier sauce!

Mango Salsa?

Yes another popular one! I have a slightly adapted variation in my Chicken Fajita with Mango Salsa. Also check a Pineapple salsa in this Vegetarian Chili Recipe Party and Bar.

TIPS FOR HOMEMADE SALSA RECIPE

• Use Canned Whole Tomatoes without water for sweet and fresh tomato taste.
• Gather your ingredients, and feel free to add extra spice or remove the jalapenos.
• For best texture: process everything minus the tomatoes first. This trick offers you small chunks of onions, herbs and jalapenos with similar size chunks of tomatoes. 
• When you add tomatoes to the food processor make sure to pulse only, not process.This way you control the size of the tomatoes you like in your homemade salsa.
• Adjust the watery content of your sauce by adding a tablespoon at a time of tomato juice form he can, and make sure you mix that in with a spoon or spatula. No more processing.
• Ketchup is KEY to balance the acidity of the tomatoes, and lime. Also is key in holding the consistency of the salsa together. 
• Use the salsa right away or store it in a sealed container in the fridge using a special trick. Add a thin layer ( teaspoon) of olive oil over the top.
• Preferably don’t freeze, but if you want to then you can cook the salsa a bit or make it thick to start with. Also once defrosted, add a zest of lie, cilantro and a fresh tomato diced.
• Add extra jalapenos, corn, beans, avocado, and anything you like to this salsa!

ENJOY!

RECIPES USING SALSA

30 Mins Mexican Tilapia Fish Dinner

Cuban Black Beans Chicken With Rice

Egg In A Hole Waffles

Burger Tacos Party

Salsa Avocado Roast Chicken Skillet

The Best Lamb Burgers Loaded with Nachos

Crunchwrap Supreme

Fajita Bowl

Chicken Flautas