The Best Homemade Fresh Salsa
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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 it.
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.
Ingredients
- tomatoes (fresh or canned, but canned will have a different result)
- green pepper
- green onion
- cilantro
- lime juice
- salt
The The Best Salsa Recipe Ever
Now, I've had quite a few salsas that are wonderful, but I must say that this recipe is one of the cleanest, most satisfying salsas that I've ever had. I tasted it for the first time about 5 years ago at a baptism and quickly begged asked for the recipe.
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!
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 on burgers, chicken, and more.
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
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 Bell 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 and try more if you'd like. I thought it tasted great with this amount.
- Chunky vs. Smooth: The recipe at the party was not chunky and it was amazing, but we've made it both ways and it's great no matter how chunky it is or not!
Other Favorite Dip Recipes
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.
- Simple Savory Hummus – quite possibly the best hummus you've ever had
- Olive Hummus – a delicious combo of hummus and olives
- Vegan Ranch Dip / Dressing – literally on our table all the time
- Pizza Hummus (dairy-free) – another great combination
- Zesty Avocado Dressing / Dip – great on salads, burgers, and as a dip
- Almond Butter Fruit Dip – so much healthier than traditional apple dipt
- Healthy Chocolate Dip – another great healthy fruit dip option
- Healthy Chick-fil-A Sauce – an amazingly delicious copycat of the famous sauce everyone loves
And now you'll want to add this one as well.
“The Best” Homemade Salsa – Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 medium tomatoes
- 1/2 cup chopped green onion (I included the white portion)
- 1/2 cup green bell peppers (chopped; optional)
- 1/4 cup cilantro
- 2 tablespoons lime juice (or the juice of 1 lime)
- 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Chop tomatoes.
- Add other ingredients and mix gently.
- Adjust seasonings to taste.
Notes
- Cilantro Tips: You could easily increase the cilantro amount. The more the better, in my opinion.
- Green Bell 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 and try more if you'd like.
- Chunky vs. Smooth: The recipe at the party was not chunky and it was amazing, but we've made it both ways and it's great no matter how chunky it is or not!
Nutrition
Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. It may vary depending on ingredient brands, substitutions, and preparation methods. Optional ingredients are not included. Net carbs are typically calculated by subtracting fiber and sugar alcohols (such as erythritol) from total carbohydrates. This information should not be relied upon for medical or nutritional purposes.
Recipe Update
This post was updated with new information and photos. This was the original photo.
I'd love to hear what you think about this salsa!
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