This Easy Homemade Salsa Recipe comes together in a flash and tastes AMAZING. It's a truly simple salsa recipe, but it's quite possibly the best salsa recipe you will ever have.
Are you a salsa lover?
Our family just LOVES salsa. If you're like us, you just can't get enough of this
What is Salsa?
Traditionally, Salsa fresca is what those in the United States typically mean when they use the the word salsa, with the main ingredients of this dish being tomatoes, chiles and onions.
Salsa rojo literally means "red sauce." Of course the red color comes from a base of tomatoes, but I'm sure you've noticed that other types of "salsa rojos" are becoming popular these days. Think about strawberry salsa, cherry salsa, cranberry salsa--I've even seen beet salsa! Regardless of what you use to make salsa, the word generally refers to raw or near-raw sauces used as dips.
Salsa verde (VAIR-day)-literally means "green sauce." The sauce is typically made with tomatillos instead of tomatoes.
The Origin of this Recipe
So now that we've established what salsa is, let's get on with how the recipe for the best salsa came to be.
Do you remember my post about our weekend of processing and storing tomatoes?
Well one year, being the vegetable freaks that we have become, we planted a large garden and also bought into a local CSA as a "back up." I guess that not many people have a CSA membership as a back up to a large garden, but we did. Probably was a little too much as you will see, but hey.
Veggie goals.
Well, one day our CSA farmer offered us a TON about 120 pounds of tomatoes including heritage tomatoes with all kinds of colors---reds, yellows and oranges--and me, being the glutton for bulk kitchen anything, accepted his offer.
What happened next was a lot of the following:
Washing. Chopping. Slicing. Dehydrating. Freezing.
And eating.
Now, we LOVE (and I do mean LOVE) sun dried tomatoes, so that was my big goal--to make a TON of homemade sun-dried tomatoes.
If you've ever priced sun-dried tomatoes, you know that they are NOT cheap. And ORGANIC sun-dried tomatoes?
Might as well forget about it.
Anyhow, I couldn't dehydrate the tomatoes fast enough to prevent them all from spoiling, so we had to chop up quite a few and get them right into the freezer. If you haven't heard about freezing tomatoes, you may wish to check out my post on The Easiest Way to Preserve Tomatoes.
When you're talking 120 pounds of tomatoes, easy is important! Make that CRUCIAL. But even if it's easy, 120 pounds of any kind of produce makes for quite a bit of work.
So we worked and worked. And nibbled, of course.
We ended up with quite a few tomatoes in the freezer for future pasta sauce and other hot dishes (like our favorite Ground Beef Curry), and we ended up with a very decent stash of the "Easiest Homemade Sun-Dried Tomatoes" as well. Yum :-)!
And with the rest of the tomatoes?
Well, we ended up making 3 4 5 batches of what I think just might be the Best Salsa Recipe ever.
And now I get to share that recipe with you as well.
Possibly The Best Salsa Recipe Ever
Now, I've had quite a few salsas that are wonderful. Some are sweet and some are spicy and some are more eclectic (the mango/pineapple salsas, tomatillo, green tomato, etc.). I just love salsa, and well, dips of all kinds.
Unless it was really spicy or full of chemical additives or sugar (we're on a pretty close to sugar-free diet), there pretty much isn't a salsa that I would pass up.
But I must say that this recipe is one of the cleanest, most satisfying salsas that I have ever had. I tasted it for the first time about 5 years ago at a baptism and quickly begged asked for the recipe.
In fact, this salsa was so popular, that the hosts of the party emailed the recipe out to everyone who had attended--since practically everyone had asked for it!
Over the years, I had completely forgotten about this recipe, but it resurfaced again this past week as I was going through my recipe file. And boy was I excited!
I made up a quick batch and wow, is it fresh and wonderful tasting.
Of course, this salsa tastes great with the standard tortilla chip, but we tend to dip all kinds of other things in it as well or even use it as a condiment if we happen to make a lot.
In fact, we love dipping popcorn in it. Here's one of our favorite popcorn recipes. And this one is great as well. Enjoy!
Low-Carb Dipper Ideas
For those of you who are eating low carb, this Flax Bread makes a great salsa dipper too, and you could also dip the following:
- celery sticks
- carrot sticks
- cucumber rounds
- zucchini rounds
- bell pepper strips
- jicama sticks
and more.
Dipping is just about THE perfect way to get more veggies into your and your family's diet.
Oh and if you love dips as much as we do, here are some of our favorite dips to add to the Dip Section of your recipe box:
Other Favorite Dip Recipes
Simple Savory Hummus
Spicy Olive Hummus
Vegan Ranch Dip / Dressing
Pizza Hummus (dairy-free)
Zesty Avocado Dressing / Dip
Almond Butter Fruit Dip
Healthy Chocolate Dip
And now you'll want to add this one as well.
I know, it's a simple recipe.
But it's shockingly good. And I hope you do agree.
Before we get to the recipe, here are some tips you should know:
Recipe Tips:
- Cilantro Tips: See my post on 6 Super Tips for Cilantro so you can save money and time with this great herb. You could easily increase the cilantro amount. The more the better, in my opinion. Boy, I used to think that the stuff tasted like soap, but I really love it now :-)!
- Green Pepper: This salsa tastes great both with and without the green pepper. I used frozen pre-diced peppers and it was great!
- Lime Juice: The original recipe recommended quite a bit more lime juice so you can be adventurous if you like. I thought it tasted great with this amount.
And now on with the recipe.
"The Best" Homemade Salsa - Recipe
Ingredients
Instructions
- Chop tomatoes.
- Add other ingredients and mix gently.
- Adjust seasonings to taste.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is merely an approximation. Optional ingredients are not included and when there is an alternative, the primary ingredient is typically used. We cannot guarantee the accuracy of the nutritional information given for any recipe on this site. Erythritol carbs are not included in carb counts since they have been shown not to impact blood sugar. Net carbs are the total carbs minus fiber.
I hope to offer up some other salsa recipes soon, including some adventurous ones. Beet salsa, anyone :)?
Recipe Update Notes:
This post was updated with new information and photos. The original photo was as follows and I used heirloom tomatoes in addition to yellow and orange tomatoes. Following is the original photo for reference:
How about you?
Do you have a fabulous salsa recipe to share! Please do :-)!
This is a great recipe. I have a link party on Wednesdays, and I would love it if you would link this and any other posts. It is called Wednesdays Adorned From Above Link Party. It runs from Wednesday to Sundays.
I hope to see you there. I am your newest follower, and I would love for your to follow me also. Have a great Day.
Debi Bolocofsky
Adorned From Above
This salsa looks great. Thanks for sharing and linking to Tempt My Tummy Tuesday.
I adorable fresh from the garden salsa! Beautiful photo!
I love fresh salsa too. My recipe is very similar to yours except I add 1/2 tsp. chili powder and basil. great recipe.
have you ever used your frozen tomatoes to make your salsa? i am looking for a good salsa (preferrably not one that i have to buy) for the winter seasons.
The tomatoes, sadly, don't freeze well, but I did freeze some salsa. I haven't tried it yet but I know a lot of others who have frozen their salsa. I'm thinking it would work best if the tomatoes are chopped or processes into very small pieces.
Please let us know what you find, I for one would be very interested.
Well, this is really delayed, but here is what I heard from a "specialist" in gardening:
Hope that helps :).
Maybe, I'm just going by what a commercial grower here on the lower mainland of BC was telling me, It would be interesting to know. Maybe next year if you grow peppers and have a long enough season you could leave a few on the vine and see what happens. Don't know if that would work or not, just an idea.
Hmmm.. I'm going to have to check w/ some greenhouses here or the local folks helping w/ gardening.
I don't necessarily think their an unhealthy choice, especially given all the alternative choice available in your local stores. No, it's more a matter of good, better, best. I was talking to a commercial grower a while back and she told me that for the grower it's a matter of economics. If left on the vine to ripe and change colour, the only way to ripen the peppers, it usually takes noticeably longer and consequently cost the farmer more. This gets passed on to the consumer. For the farmer he makes more money by turning his crop over faster. that is why the coloured ones usually cost more. Sometimes in the summer their about the same price.
I guess what I'm saying in this ramble of mine is that the coloured one are more nutritious and therefore better for you. But it's always a matter of good, better, best, do what you can, taking into account economic, availability, health issues... what have you.
Thanks! But then why do they sell both green and colored pepper plants? Wouldn't they all just be the same kind of peppers and then you'd just decide how long to leave them on the vine?
Recipe looks good I'll have to give it a try. I did the raw vegan thing for a while and during that time I made my own salsa. Now I would blend about half the quantity of salsa and mix it with the unblended portion to give it that store bought look and feel. I discovered a trick that gives your salsa that true store bought look for friends and kids(mine are all grown up) who don't understand the nutritional value in home made variety and are picky about how their salsa looks. When you blend the salsa it tends to take on a washed out or pale, pale red colour. Solution, use red bell peppers instead of green to give you a dark red salsa. Another advantage to this idea is that I feel you shouldn't eat green bell peppers as they are not ripe but rather the unripened stage of coloured(red, orange, yellow...) bell peppers. And that is the main reason we eat fresh whole food is it not, is for the nutrition 🙂
Thanks for the great info! I knew that green bell peppers would change color as they sat on the vine - is that true that they really are unripened? I only liked green peppers as a little girl - -now I don't really care for them at all. But we bought green bell plants this year and they didn't really turn color. Any thoughts on why this is? My kids love my salsa so I am OK either way, but I'd like to know about the peppers for next year's growing season! Do you think that the green peppers are unhealthy?
YUMMY!
Having moved from Texas to North Carolina the salsa options have dropped considerably!
It's definitely time I start making my own!
Biz
oh, anything with cilantro I love. I use it more than any other herb. =)
I love making salsa. This looks like a great recipe. Thanks for sharing.
I'd love to have you share this and any other of your amazing posts over at my linky party Create and Share. It posts every Wednesday. We open the party Tuesday evening at 8 pm for those who like to link up early. Hope you stop by...and follow too! 😉
https://thetrendytreehouse.blogspot.com/2011/09/create-and-share-features-too.html
Tara @Trendy Treehouse
https://thetrendytreehouse.blogspot.com
I will definitely have to try this recipes I am always looking for great "fresh"dishes to try! I am visiting from the link up party and popped over to say hi hope you can do the same! I am also on Facebook and twitter so I will link up there as well! Hope you manange under all the kale and chard:)Cheers Fiona
Oh my gosh! 120 pounds! I'm seriously seriously impressed. Wow. I'm going to think of you chopping up your tomatoes every time I feel lazy about cooking. Thanks for sharing this at this week's Sugar Free Sunday!
Hi Raj. It was a feat. Now we're dealing with an influx of kale and chard :-). I can sure feel lazy too. And I'm learning how to take it slow when needed :-).
We love salsa at our house and could do this straight from our garden. Thanks for sharing at Church Supper. Love seeing new faces. Hope to see you again next week!
I love salsa, as does my whole family, and this recipe looks wonderful. I would love it if you shared it on my blog party, Makin' You Crave Monday, over at MrsHappyHomemaker.com!
Yum yum yum! Looks great! Now to check out your cilantro recipe.... 😉
Thanks for sharing with us! Happy weekend! XO
Looks delicious!
Salsa is a family favorite and tomatoes are so delicious right now. Off to check out your cilantro tips.
Life…as I see it [Fitness, Health and Happiness]
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Hi Adrienne,
You must have as many fresh tomatoes as we do. It is wonderful to make fresh Salsa and your recipe looks delicious. We will enjoy trying your recipe. Hope you have a wonderful holiday week end and thanks so much for sharing with Full Plate Thursday.
Come back soon!
Miz Helen