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 Salsa Recipe
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 salsa recipe is for you.
This is an easy, restaurant-style, homemade salsa that beats any you’ve ever had at an actual restaurant. Thanks to our blender the whole recipe takes only 5 minutes from start to finish, no tedious mincing, chopping and dicing.
While this recipe 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!) when it comes to the taste of this salsa recipe!
Ingredients for Homemade Salsa
- 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 Homemade Salsa (AKA 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!).
I told you, it’s 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 salsa craving in the middle of winter), you’ll be relieved to know that canned tomatoes work perfectly here. Much like with my marinara sauce, canned tomatoes are a simple and great tasting substitute (and are much preferable in flavor to pale, waxy, off-season grocery store tomatoes).
You’ll need 5-7 fresh Roma tomatoes (7 if they’re small, 5 if they’re large) if you go the fresh route and I recommend scraping the seeds out of half of them (so your salsa isn’t too thin). I used to recommend dropping the tomatoes in boiling water and removing their skins before using them in salsa, 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 for Making the BEST Salsa
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 salsa, just use one and be sure to scrape out all of the seeds (and membranes). For a mild-medium salsa, use two, but still scrape out all of the seeds/membranes in both. For a medium-hot, toss in a few of the seeds (about a half teaspoon). Really want to spice things up? For a spicy salsa recipe, add even more seeds. 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 my salsa 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).
Enjoy!
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Let’s cook together! Be sure to check out my video at the bottom of the recipe where I’ll show you exactly how I make salsa in my own kitchen! If you enjoy watching, make sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel where I’ve already uploaded over 150 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
- 1/2 medium-sized white onion
- 1/3 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
- 3/4 teaspoon pepper
- ¼ teaspoon ground cumin
- Tortilla chips for serving
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. Enjoy! Store leftover salsa in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to a week.
Notes
Nutrition
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This salsa recipe was originally published 07/29/2015. Photos, text, and recipe updated and a video added 06/17/2019.
Madeleine Fuchs says
Thank you the salsa recipe is perfect!
Sam says
I’m so glad you enjoyed, Madeleine! Thank you for commenting!
Dusty says
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 says
I am so glad you enjoyed the salsa so much Dusty! Thank you for the feedback. 🙂
Sarah says
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 says
I am so glad everyone enjoyed the salsa so much, Sarah! 🙂