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Home » Appetizers » Salsa Recipe

Salsa Recipe

Created: April 14, 2021 Updated: September 12, 2022 by Lyuba Brooke 9 Comments

15.6K shares
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This easy homemade Salsa Recipe is rich with flavor! A few key ingredients like fire roasted tomatoes, seasoning, fresh cilantro, and lime juice blend together to make an incredibly mouthwatering restaurant style salsa. Serve it with warm homemade tortilla chips for a real treat!

A small white bowl is filled with homemade red salsa.

Restaurant Style Salsa

In Mexico, this salsa is known as salsa roja (red sauce) or salsa de mesa (table sauce). “Salsa” literally means sauce. You will find it in every Mexican restaurant served before dinner with warm fried tortilla chips. It’s incredibly addicting!

This sauce is so good, it’s notorious for filling up your belly before the main courses ever arrive to the table. You know the saying, “bet you can’t have just one?” That’s absolutely applicable to tortilla chips dipped in this bold red salsa. It’s impossible to just have one.

If you’re thinking about doing anything fun for Cinco de Mayo this year, this salsa needs to be included in your plans! It’s a great restaurant-style salsa recipe that’s a guaranteed crowd pleaser. And if you really want to impress your friends and family, serve this red salsa and homemade tortilla chips alongside some Salsa Verde, too. There’s no such thing as too much salsa!

Ingredients for Salsa

The ingredients for salsa are placed on a serving platter.
  • Fire Roasted Canned Tomatoes – If you need to use plain canned tomatoes, that will also work, but your salsa won’t be quite as flavorful. The fire roasted tomatoes really bring something special!
  • White Onion – In a pinch, a yellow onion may be used instead, but white onions are preferred for this salsa recipe.
  • Jalapeños – To make this salsa extra spicy, don’t deseed the peppers. The seeds of a jalapeño is where most of the spice is stored!
  • Garlic – Just a couple cloves of garlic will deepen the other flavors without overpowering them.
  • Lime – The juice of one fresh lime will add the perfect amount of mouthwatering tang to the salsa but if you wish, you can have more. Be sure to use a fresh lime, and not any bottled stuff.
  • Cilantro – Double check that your cilantro is fresh! If it’s vibrantly green, not limp, and has no dark spots, it should be perfect.
  • Sugar – A very small amount of white granulated sugar is excellent at balancing out acidic ingredients.
  • Salt – Just add enough to taste.
  • Cumin – This seasoning is peppery and earthy, which helps to deepen the richness of the salsa.
  • Chipotle Chili Powder – This smoky, spicy ingredient is key to making this salsa taste like it’s fresh out of a Mexican restaurant!

How to Use Fresh Tomatoes Instead of Canned

I prefer using canned tomatoes over fresh because it gives the salsa flavor that is closest to one served at restaurants. While fresh is great for Pico de Gallo, if you want that Mexican style restaurant flavor, use canned tomatoes.

However, if you really want to use fresh tomatoes, it’s possible! You can use fresh tomatoes and simmer the salsa with a little cooking oil for about 15 minutes to get similar flavor. Using just fresh tomatoes, won’t give you this exact flavor though. If you want to use fresh, use about 1.25-1.5 lbs. of fresh Roma or San Marzano tomatoes for best results.

How to Make Restaurant-Style Salsa

The ingredients for salsa are in a food processor.

This salsa recipe is super easy! Start off by combining all of the ingredients in a blender.

The salsa has been thoroughly blended.

Pulse the blender a few times until the salsa is thoroughly blended. Be sure that there are no large chunks, as no one wants to bite into a large chunk of onion, garlic, or jalapeño!

Salsa is in a jar next to limes and cilantro.

Serve the salsa right away, or store it in a glass jar with a lid in the refrigerator. There, it will stay fresh for up to a week!

Salsa is placed next to tortilla chips in a white bowl.

Salsa Vs. Pico de Gallo

To start, salsa is often cooked or made with canned tomatoes, while Pico de Gallo is made with all fresh ingredients.

The consistency is also very different: Pico de Gallo is chopped, while salsa is blended. Usually, Pico is a little more basic, but both dishes have almost the same ingredients.

How to Make Salsa Spicier

When it comes to spice levels, it’s all in the peppers! Jalapeños are a pretty mild chili pepper, so you can use spicier peppers.

Older jalapeños are also spicier than younger ones, and you can tell the older ones by the veins on their skin. Younger jalapeños have smooth green skin and older have dry veins running on the skin. The older the jalapeño, the more veins it has, and the spicier it will be!

How to Make Tortilla Chips

This is totally optional, but you’ll love the full restaurant experience at home!

To fry the chips: Use small taco corn tortillas and cut them into quarters. Preheat about 2 cups of oil in a skillet until it reaches 350°F. Set a wire rack inside a baking sheet and cover it with a paper towels to catch excess oil.

Uncooked chips are being cooked in oil.
Chips are being cooked in oil.

Fry tortillas for a couple of minutes, until golden and crispy, flipping them half way through. Make sure to use metal tongs or metal spatula.

Chips are being baked on a prepared baking sheet.

To bake them: Spread cut tortillas on a large metal baking sheet. Preheat the oven to 350° and bake them for 5-6 minutes. Flip each tortilla chip and bake another 6-8 minutes.

A chip is being dipped into red salsa.

Planning a fiesta?! Here are some more Mexican-inspired recipes:

The BEST Guacamole – This guacamole recipe features fresh avocados mashed and loaded with tomatoes, red onions, lime juice, and jalapenos, as well as fresh herbs and spices.

White Queso Dip – smooth, flavorful, made with real cheese and vegetables. It’s a spicy, cheesy dip made with two kinds of cheese, jalapenos, bell peppers, and green onions. 

Carne Asada Tacos – tacos filled with steak marinated in an easy, flavorful marinade and topped with homemade Pico de Gallo and cilantro vinaigrette.

Queso Blanco Dip with Chorizo – a delicious cheesy Mexican dip made with sautéed chorizo sausage, peppers, and onions.

PIN THIS RECIPE FOR LATER

A chip is being dipped into red salsa.

Salsa Recipe

Incredibly easy and flavorful restaurant-style salsa. Pair it with warm fried tortilla chips for the full restaurant experience at home!
4.67 from 3 votes
Print Pin SaveSaved! Rate
Course: Appetizer
Cuisine: Mexican
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Total Time: 5 minutes
Servings: 8
Calories: 33kcal
Author: Lyuba Brooke

Ingredients

  • 28 oz fire roasted canned tomatoes
  • 1/2 medium white onion
  • 2 jalapeno peppers
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • 1 lime – juice only
  • 1/3 cup fresh cilantro
  • 1/2 tsp white granulated sugar
  • 1 tsp salt more or less to taste
  • 1 tsp cumin if needed
  • 1/2 tsp chipotle chili powder
US Customary – Metric

Instructions

  • Combine all the ingredients in a blender and pulse a few times until it's blended to small, coarse chunks. Don't make it too chunky because you don't' want to bite into a big piece of garlic or jalapeno.
  • Serve right away to transfer into a glass jar with a lid and refrigerate.

Storing:

  • Store homemade salsa in the refrigerator, in an air-tight container, for up to a week.

Notes

Need To Use Fresh Tomatoes? While canned tomatoes will give you the best restaurant style salsa and is easier, you can still use fresh tomatoes if you prefer. You can use fresh tomatoes in this recipe and simmer the blended salsa with a little cooking oil for about 15 minutes to get similar flavor. Use about 1.25-1.5 lbs. of fresh Roma or San Marzano tomatoes for best results.
Make It Spicier: Jalapeños are a pretty mild chili pepper, so you can use spicier peppers. Older jalapeños are also spicier than younger ones, and you can tell the older ones by the veins on their skin. Younger jalapeños have smooth green skin and older have dry veins running on the skin. The older the jalapeño, the more veins it has, and the spicier it will be! You can also leave the seeds of the chili pepper in to get much more spice.

Nutrition

Calories: 33kcal | Carbohydrates: 7g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 0.1g | Saturated Fat: 0.02g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.03g | Monounsaturated Fat: 0.04g | Sodium: 447mg | Potassium: 41mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 524IU | Vitamin C: 9mg | Calcium: 39mg | Iron: 1mg
Tried this recipe?Mention @willcookforsmiles and tag #willcookforsmiles

LYUBA

ABOUT LYUBA

I’m Lyuba Brooke, mother of 2, the cook, recipe developer, photographer, and author behind willcookforsmiles.com. I share many classic and original recipes, cooking tips, and tutorials. My passion is sharing delicious meals for everyone to try. Read more...

15.6K shares

Filed Under: Appetizers, Cinco de Mayo, Dips, Gluten Free, Mexican and Tex-Mex, Popular Posts

All images and text ©Lyubov Brooke for ©Will Cook For Smiles. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If using my posts in collections and features, please link back to this post for the recipe. Disclaimer: Nutrition information shown is not guaranteed to be 100% accurate as most ingredients and brands have variations.

Comments

  1. Bailey says

    October 13, 2022 at 8:57 pm

    4 stars
    Overall it was a good base! I had to do quite a bit of modifications to make it how we like it.
    I added a habanero pepper for more heat, and added quite a bit of garlic powder, chili powder, cumin and cayenne powder to deepen the flavors. It naturally has a light flavor to it, which is not a bad thing! We just tend to like richer flavor in our salsas!
    I would definitely recommend this recipe though to anyone who wants to enjoy an easy homemade salsa 🙂

    Reply
    • LyubaB says

      October 18, 2022 at 11:11 am

      Thank you, Bailey!

      Reply
  2. Cate W says

    July 14, 2022 at 10:06 pm

    5 stars
    I made this and it was all but inhaled! My jalapeño was not spicy so I added a little jalapeño powder for a kick and it was absolutely incredible. It has already been requested that I make this again

    Reply
    • LyubaB says

      July 18, 2022 at 3:24 pm

      I am so glad you liked it, Cate!

      Reply
  3. Judy says

    May 28, 2022 at 7:34 pm

    Can you can this recipe as well?

    Reply
  4. Steph says

    May 18, 2021 at 9:06 pm

    5 stars
    This is really good! I made a couple modifications. I diced and sautéed the onion, garlic and jalapeño before adding to the tomatoes and other ingredients, then pulsed in a blender. Love the smokey flavor.

    Reply
    • LyubaB says

      May 19, 2021 at 11:27 am

      Yum! Glad you were able to modify it to your taste!

      Reply
  5. Susan Beckerman says

    April 16, 2021 at 12:29 pm

    Lyuba what is the volume of salsa when you calculated the nutritional values?
    The commercial salsas (about 10 different brands) that we buy show 2 tablespoons (30 ml.) at around 1 gm of sugar, 15 calories, 2 net carbs etc.
    Please clarify how much salsa (in grams, or mls. or tablespoons ) corresponds to your nutritional numbers
    Thank you – can’t wait to try it!

    Reply
    • LyubaB says

      April 22, 2021 at 9:23 am

      Hi Susan,

      The nutritional information is for the whole bowl of salsa, I hope that helps and that you enjoy the recipe!

      Reply

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Well, hey there!

I’m Lyuba Brooke, mother of 2, the cook, recipe developer, photographer, and author behind willcookforsmiles.com. I share many classic and original recipes, cooking tips, and tutorials. My passion is sharing delicious meals for everyone to try. Read More.

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