Tomatoes out of the garden or the farmer's market ... It's Homemade Fresh Salsa time. Fresh homemade salsa is an easy salsa recipe that has a wonderful flavor. This recipe is a great starting point for multiple variations using fresh seasonal ingredients.
Homemade salsa is all about fresh ingredients and proportions. In this recipe, I'm using the most common garden/grocer fresh ingredients. Mini sweet peppers or poblano peppers, can be used in place of the bell peppers, or serrano peppers instead of jalapeno peppers. Make sure to check out the tips section. Let us know about your favorite variations.
Check out our other favorite recipes, such as Zucchini Bread, Slow Cooker Mac and Cheese or Cheddar Garlic Butter Swim Biscuits.
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Ingredients for Fresh Salsa
- medium slicing tomatoes or 8 Roma tomatoes
- medium onions, diced (white, yellow or Vidalia)
- bell peppers, diced (green, red, yellow or orange)
- jalapenos
- cilantro
- tomato sauce or tomato paste, optional
- lime juice
- garlic cloves or garlic powder
- onion powder
- salt
- sugar, optional
FAQs
What is Homemade Fresh Salsa?
Homemade fresh salsa is a flavorful and refreshing dip made from fresh vegetables and herbs, typically including tomatoes, onions, cilantro, jalapeños, and lime juice. It can be used as a dip for chips or as a topping for various dishes.
Can I use canned tomatoes instead of fresh tomatoes?
Fresh tomatoes are recommended for the best flavor and texture, but you can use canned tomatoes in a pinch. Be sure to drain them well to avoid excess liquid in your salsa.
Can I freeze Homemade Fresh Salsa?
Freezing fresh salsa is not recommended as the texture of the vegetables will change and become mushy when thawed. It's best to enjoy it fresh or store it in the refrigerator for a few days.
What can I serve with Homemade Fresh Salsa?
Homemade fresh salsa pairs well with:
Tortilla chips
Tacos, burritos, and quesadillas
Grilled chicken, fish, or steak
Scrambled eggs or omelets
Rice and beans
Salads or as a topping for baked potatoes
Top Tips
- Consider this a base recipe. Slightly different ingredients can be switched out for another resulting in a different, but still delicious salsa.
- When in season Poblano, Anaheim, or sweet peppers can be used in place of some or all the bell peppers.
- Add a bit of zing, by including a teaspoon chill powder.
- Use green chilies instead of jalapenos if you want to make a mild salsa.
- Serrano peppers will produce a milder salsa, but still hot. Habaneros for a really hot salsa. (if you dare - Julie and Jeffrey).
- When preparing hot peppers of any type, the finer you chop them the more intense the flavor will be.
- Hot pepper seeds add a lot of heat.
- Parsley can replace cilantro, if that is your preference.
- When you are of lime juice, you can use white vinegar as a substitute. Strangely the acid of the vinegar will taste sweet with the right tomatoes. (Experienced this using Del Monte petite diced tomatoes, your results may vary.)
- Roasting the peppers, will boost the flavor but only roasting a few. Avoid adding to many roasted peppers. The roasted flavor can easily overwhelm the other flavors.
- When fresh vegetables not available, you can use canned tomatoes (petite diced) and/or jarred jalapenos (diced).
- Salsa is not only for chips and tacos, it is also great on eggs and omelets.
How to make Homemade Salsa
- Dice the tomatoes. Using a vegetable press type of chopper will speed the process, but hand chopping is fine. Don't chop them too finely.
- Next dice the onions a matching size to the tomatoes.
- De-seed and remove the white parts of the peppers. In the photo below, you can see how I cut the pepper, avoiding the natural creases, then snap the pieces off leaving the seed ball behind.
- Trim the resulting pieces by removing the the white part with a small knife and dice the rest.
- Cilantro can be strong, if you are not careful. Pluck the leaves off the main stem and finely chop them up. If you desire more intense cilantro flavor, use the stems or more leaves. It is better to have too little cilantro and add more later if needed.
- When using fresh jalapenos, split the jalapeno, remove the seeds, and white stuff with a spoon. The jalapenos will be hotter the finer you chop them. If even more heat is desired, add the seeds back to the mix.
- Add finely diced garlic cloves (or garlic powder), onion powder, salt, lime juice and optional sugar. If desired, you can vary the amounts of these ingredients either now or after the salsa has been refrigerated.
- Stir the mix and place in a slow cooker or on the stove with a low setting. Let it simmer for an hour or two. Mix often while it simmers. Monitor the moisture level while it cooks. Examine the salsa while it is simmering, if it lacks moisture, add tomato sauce or if it is too soupy, add tomato paste (optional).
- When done simmering, remove from the heat source and allow the salsa to cool to room temperature.
- Once cool, refrigerate for a minimum of one hour. A longer stays in the refrigerator, the better it will taste.
- The flavor can be tweaked at anytime, but as it cools it will be the best time to made additions. If it lacks flavor, add salt. If it is too acidic, add sugar. If you don't have the cilantro flavor, chop up some more and add it at this time (it may need to rest in the refrigerator for cilantro flavor to fully develop).
Homemade Fresh Salsa Recipe
Tomatoes out of the garden or the farmer’s market … It’s homemade salsa time. Fresh homemade salsa is an easy salsa recipe that has a wonderful flavor. This recipe is a great starting point for multiple variations using fresh seasonal ingredients.
Ingredients
- 6 medium slicing tomatoes or 8 Roma tomatoes (approximately 30 ounces)
- 2 medium onions, diced (white, yellow or Vidalia)
- 3 bell peppers, diced (green, red, yellow or orange)
- 4 jalapenos, diced or ¼ cup diced jalapenos from a jar
- 6-12 sprigs cilantro, finely chopped
- 1 can tomato sauce (15 oz) or tomato paste (6 oz) *optional
- ¼ cup lime juice
- 4 garlic cloves, finely diced or 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 2 tablespoon onion powder
- 1-2 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon sugar *optional
Instructions
- Dice the tomatoes. Using a vegetable press type of chopper will speed the process, but hand chopping is fine. Don’t chop them too finely.
- Dice the onions a matching size to the tomatoes.
- De-seed and remove the white parts of the peppers. In the photo below, you can see how I cut the pepper, avoiding the natural creases, then snap the pieces off leaving the seed ball behind.
- Trim the resulting pieces by removing the the white part with a small knife and dice the rest.
- Cilantro can be strong, if you are not careful. Pluck the leaves off the main stem and finely chop them up. If you desire more intense cilantro flavor, use the stems or more leaves. It is better to have too little cilantro and add more later if needed.
- When using fresh jalapenos, split the jalapeno, remove the seeds, and white stuff with a spoon. The jalapenos will be hotter the finer you chop them. If even more heat is desired, add the seeds back to the mix.
- Add finely diced garlic cloves (or garlic powder), onion powder, salt, lime juice and optional sugar. If desired, you can vary the amounts of these ingredients either now or after the salsa has been refrigerated.
- Stir the mix and place in a slow cooker or on the stove with a low setting. Let it simmer for an hour or two. Mix often while it simmers. Monitor the moisture level while it cooks. Examine the salsa while it is simmering, if it lacks moisture, add tomato sauce or if it is too soupy, add tomato paste (optional).
- When done simmering, remove from the heat source and allow the salsa to cool to room temperature.
- Once cool, refrigerate for a minimum of one hour. A longer stays in the refrigerator, the better it will taste.
- The flavor can be tweaked at anytime, but as it cools it will be the best time to made additions. If it lacks flavor, add salt. If it is too acidic, add sugar. If you don’t have the cilantro flavor, chop up some more and add it at this time (it may need to rest in the refrigerator for cilantro flavor to fully develop).
Did you try this recipe?Let us know how it was!
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