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?
- Throw everything in the food processor.
- Pulse in short bursts until desired consistency is reached.
- 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
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
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
Storing
Store leftovers in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to a week.Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered an estimate only. Actual nutritional content will vary based upon brands used, measuring methods, cooking method, portion sizes, and more.
This salsa recipe was originally published 07/29/2015. Updated for clarity, a few helpful notes added, and a video added.
Robert M Geiger
Love your salsa recipe, we have 6 kids so having easy cheap recipes is important to us. I make a lot of Sam’s recipes love them all!!
Sam
Thank you so much, Robert! I’m so glad you’ve enjoyed everything so much! 🙂
Laura
I made this today, first time ever making homemade salsa. It is soooo good! I didn’t add the cilantro, as we don’t care for it. I used 7 tennis ball size tomatoes fresh from the garden, perfect amount! Definitely making again!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Laura! We’re so glad to hear you liked this recipe! What a great way to use up those end-of-summer tomatoes. 🙂
Theresa
is there a way to jar this and how long do you think it will last?
Sam
Hi Theresa! This will last in your refrigerator for about a week. 🙂
Betty Seely
This salsa is so good! Followed the recipe exactly. Can’t wait to try more of your recipes. Thank you for sharing!
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed it so much, Betty! 🙂
Brittany
This recipe is great! It’s a family favorite! Thank you!
Sam
I’m so glad everyone enjoyed it so much! 🙂
Stacy
First time I ever made salsa. Used all fresh that I could and it was delicious. I have also added black beans and mexicorn for variations. Thanks
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed, Stacy! Thank you so much for commenting! 🙂
Melanie
Hey Sam,
Can I substitute the green chili for something else? If so what would you recomend 😊
Thanks
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Melanie! You can always just leave them out. 😊
Shelia Maciorowski
I was wondering if you can can this salsa recipe and if so, what would you do different in the recipe for canning
Sam
Hi Shelia! I’m not very familiar with the canning process but I think you should be able to can this without alteration to the recipe. 🙂
Brian Kelly
Question about equipment, the recipe says a blender is required but the instruction says to combine all ingredients in your food processor and in one of the images the blades look like they are from a food processor as well (although the square container could be a blender since most food processors I have seen use round containers).
Sam
Hi Brian! That is a ninja blender in the pictures but you could also use a food processor if you’d like. 🙂
Diane
Why did you specifically use a white onion as opposed to a yellow onion?
I’m definitely going to make this recipe. It sounds delicious and easy to make.
Sam
Hi Diane! It’s traditionally used in salsas and I prefer the taste. A yellow or red onion could also work if you don’t have one. 🙂
Jackie
How would you can this?
Sam
Hi Jackie! I am not familiar enough with the canning process to provide any guidelines here, but I imagine it would be the same as canning anything else. 🙂
Kim
I used fresh tomatoes but I didn’t have green chilis or cilantro. FANTASTIC without so if I had them it would only be better.
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed it so much, Kim! 🙂
Janet Hoyle
If I don’t have a can of green chilis, what can I use? I want to use only fresh ingredients from my garden.
Sam
Hi Janet! You can just leave them out. I just like the flavor they add. 🙂
Madeleine Fuchs
Thank you the salsa recipe is perfect!
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed, Madeleine! Thank you for commenting!
Dusty
So, this was the first homemade salsa recipe I have tried. It was really good! We thought it looked and tasted like a good Restaurant quality salsa. Very impressed!! I have made it twice in the past week. First time, I followed the recipe exactly using fresh roma tomatoes. Second time, I used the 2 cans of fire roasted tomatoes, eliminated the sugar and spiced it up a bit more adding 1/4 tsp. of crushed red pepper. We all liked it better the 2nd time around. But, delicious either way! Thanks you Sam
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed the salsa so much Dusty! Thank you for the feedback. 🙂
Sarah
Great recipe! Made this for a brunch I was having to serve on top of an egg bake and/or skillet breakfast potatoes I made and turned out great. Sadly I did not have any good Roma tomatoes, so I used the two cans (one drained) of fire roasted diced tomatoes instead and turned out wonderfully. My guests are not spice fines, so I only used only one jalapeño, de-ribbed and seeded and I, who love spice, still found it very flavorful. Thanks for this recipe-I will definitely be making this again and again!
Sam
I am so glad everyone enjoyed the salsa so much, Sarah! 🙂