Homemade Salsa Recipe

Today I have a quick, 5 minute Homemade Salsa Recipe! We’re using our blender so there’s no chopping/mincing/dicing required for this quick and easy restaurant-style salsa. Recipe includes tips to make with either canned or fresh-from-the-garden tomatoes! 

5 Minute To the Perfect Salsa

If you’ve ever found yourself without so much as a shred of self control while sitting in front of a bowl of fresh salsa and warm tortilla chips in a Mexican restaurant, today’s recipe is for you.

I recently shared a pineapple salsa and an avocado salsa recipe, but while those were easy, today’s classic recipe takes things to a new level. There’s no tedious mincing, chopping, or dicing. The entire recipe takes only 5 minutes from start to finish, thanks to our blender. 

While my salsa can be made with garden fresh tomatoes (make sure they’re ripe, juicy, good quality tomatoes), I actually love making it year round with canned tomatoes. It might sound shocking, but while fresh tomatoes are definitely a necessity for some recipes (like my Caprese Salad or Bruschetta), using canned is a non-issue (and is sometimes preferable!). I’ll talk a bit more about this below.

What You Need

• Tomatoes. Certainly the most important ingredient here, and I’ll touch more on that in just a bit. You can use fresh or canned, either will yield great results.
• Diced Chilis.
• White onion. You’ll only need half, cut off the ends and peel before tossing into your blender.
• Jalapeños. One or two, depending on how hot you like things. Make sure to remove the seeds first, unless you’re really adventurous insane.
• Cilantro. This is tricky to measure. Coarsely chop it before fitting it into your measuring cup.
• Garlic.
• Lime Juice. Preferably fresh-squeezed
• Spices. Sugar (to cut the acidity and add flavor), salt, pepper, and just a touch of ground cumin (a little goes a long way to give our salsa a great depth of flavor).

The blender is going to do 99.5% of the chopping, but I do recommend a little bit of prep-work. If you’re using fresh tomatoes, cut them in half (to fit in the blender better) and scoop the seeds from half the tomatoes so the salsa isn’t too thin. You’ll also want to remove the stem, seeds, and membrane from your jalapenos, chop your onion in half (and peel it!) coarsely chop your cilantro, and make sure to peel your garlic.

That’s it! Your blender is going to take care of the rest.

How to Make The EASIEST Salsa Recipe

Are you ready for this?

1. Throw everything in the food processor.
2. Pulse in short bursts until desired consistency is reached.
3. Enjoy, served with tortilla chips (or on top of tacos!).

The easiest salsa recipe ever.

Fresh Vs. Canned Tomatoes

One thing that I love about this salsa recipe is that fresh garden-ripe tomatoes are not necessary for a great tasting salsa. If you have a garden full of ripe Romas then you can absolutely use them, but if you don’t (or if you find yourself with a craving in the middle of winter), you’ll be relieved to know that canned tomatoes work perfectly here.

The benefit of canned tomatoes is that they’re usually less watery and often have a better flavor (shocking, right!?). Just like with my marinara sauce and pizza sauce, canned tomatoes are my preference because they are a simple and great tasting substitute. Sometimes you can get away with using ripe garden fresh tonatoes, but canned will always be preferable in flavor to pale, waxy, off-season grocery store tomatoes.

If using fresh, you’ll need 5-7 fresh Roma tomatoes (7 if they’re small, 5 if they’re large). I recommend scraping the seeds out of half of them (so your salsa isn’t too thin). In earlier versions of this recipe I used to recommend dropping the tomatoes in boiling water and removing their skins before using them, but after a lot of taste testing I found it doesn’t really make much of a difference in this recipe, so let’s skip the extra work.

If you opt for canned tomatoes, regular diced tomatoes will certainly work but I love the extra flavor you get when you use fire roasted tomatoes!

Tips

Adjust the jalapeños to make it as spicy (or mild) as you like.

My salsa recipe calls for one to two jalapeños. If you prefer a mild heat, just use one and be sure to scrape out all of the seeds (and membranes). For a mild-medium heat, use two, but still scrape out all of the seeds/membranes in both. For medium-hot, toss in a few of the seeds (about a half teaspoon).

Really want to spice things up? Add even more seeds (a little at a time!). Keep in mind your mileage may vary depending on the spiciness of your specific jalapeños!

Adjust to suit your taste! 

One of the best things about this salsa recipe is that it’s so versatile! You can adjust any of the ingredients to meet your preference. Add extra garlic, an extra splash of lime, toss in a few roasted peppers! I do recommend making it as written the first time before adjusting, but the possibilities are endless!

Let it sit.

I’m the worst person to advise this because as soon as mine is blended, you can bet I’m chip-dipping. However, if you let your salsa sit for even an hour, the flavors will really start to develop (and will even more-so if you let it sit overnight).

More Recipes You Might Like:

• Try my perfect Guacamole recipe!
• Taco Salad (great with this recipe!)
• Taco Dip
• Dill Dip

Enjoy!

Let’s cook together! Be sure to check out my video in the recipe card where I’ll show you exactly how I make this recipe in my own kitchen! If you enjoy watching, make sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel where I’ve already uploaded over 200 recipe videos that you can watch for free!

Homemade Salsa Recipe

How to make the best easy Homemade Salsa Recipe. A simple 5 minute recipe that can be made with canned tomatoes or garden fresh ones.

5 from 14 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Appetizer, Side Dish

Cuisine: American, Mexican

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Total Time: 5 minutes

Servings: 4 cups

Calories: 16kcal

Author: Sam Merritt

Ingredients

• ▢ 2 14.5 oz cans diced tomatoes¹ drain one can, see Notes for fresh tomato alternative (822g)
• ▢ 1 4 oz can diced green chilis drained (113g)
• ▢ 1-2 jalapenos stem cut off and seeds/membranes removed²
• ▢ ½ medium-sized white onion
• ▢ ⅓ cup coarsely chopped cilantro use leaves and stems
• ▢ 2 cloves garlic peeled
• ▢ 1 Tablespoon lime juice fresh-squeezed preferred
• ▢ 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
• ▢ 1 teaspoon salt
• ▢ ¾ teaspoon pepper
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon ground cumin
• ▢ Tortilla chips for serving

Recommended Equipment

• ▢
  Blender

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

• Combine all ingredients (except tortilla chips!) in your food processor.
• Pulse in short spurts until ingredients are well-combined and desired consistency is reached.
• Transfer to a resealable container. For best results, refrigerate one hour or overnight before serving, but this salsa can be enjoyed right away.
• Serve with tortilla chips.

Notes

¹I recommend Fire roasted diced tomatoes if you can get your hands on them. To use fresh tomatoes, you will need 5-7 ripe Roma tomatoes. Cut them in half and scrape the seeds out of half the tomatoes (to keep the salsa from being too runny).

²The spiciness of your salsa will vary depending on the spiciness of your jalapenos! I recommend using just one for a mild to medium salsa and two for a medium-hot salsa. To bump up the heat even more you can add a few of the jalapeno seeds to the mix.

Storing

Store leftovers in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to a week.

Nutrition

Serving: 0.25cups (does not include tortilla chips) | Calories: 16kcal | Carbohydrates: 3g | Protein: 1g | Sodium: 140mg | Potassium: 129mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 1100IU | Vitamin C: 8.3mg | Calcium: 60mg

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This salsa recipe was originally published 07/29/2015. Updated for clarity, a few helpful notes added, and a video added.