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Who doesn’t love salsa? We love them all – red, Salsa Verde, Strawberry Salsa, or Peach Salsa, to name a few!
Today’s recipe is one we tested dozens and dozens of times, until what you see here today. It’s flavorful, simple, and has all the right flavors of spice making it THE salsa recipe we make every week (no joke!)
It’s great for Chips and salsa or as a side to some of our favs, including: Cheese Crisps, Chicken Tacos, Tostadas, Fry Bread, Flautas and more.
It’s definitely the recipe everyone will be asking for!
Why we think you’ll love it
- Easy. Quick prep time, made in minutes and very simple (just dump and blend).
- Versatile. It goes with EVERYTHING and easy to change up with the flavors you love most.
- Flavor. It tastes like it came straight from an authentic restaurant – SO tasty!
Homemade Salsa Ingredients
- 1 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes (diced) – Drained
- 1 10 oz can of Ro-Tel (diced tomatoes sand green chilies) – Drained. Substitute it with ½ can of canned tomatoes, plus a 4-ounce can of green chiles.
- 2 – 3 fresh tomatoes (Roma), quartered – Or add another can of Rotel (drained). **Be sure to seed your tomatoes before chopping.
- 1 tablespoon onion powder – Or use ½ small onion, roughly chopped.
- 1 medium bunch fresh cilantro
- 1 4 oz can diced green chilies
- 1 – 2 tablespoons diced jalapeño – For less spice remove the seeds and the white pith from inside the jalapeño.
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon sugar – Or use 1 teaspoon of honey.
- 1 teaspoon garlic salt with parsley flakes – and pepper, if desired
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 tablespoon lime juice – Bottled or fresh lime juice.
How to Make Salsa
- BLEND. Combine all ingredients in a blender or food processor and pulse until blended to the desired consistency (large chunks or minimal chunks).
- SEASON. Add more salt or lime juice to taste, if needed.
Kristyn’s Recipe Tips
- SPICE. The family loves salsa more on the mild side, so we typically use MILD Ro-Tel, MILD green chilies, and add fewer jalapeños. If you like more spice, be sure to use REGULAR or even SPICY Ro-Tel and green chilies and bump up the amount of chopped jalapeños.
- WATERY SALSA. Here are a few tips to prevent it!
- Tomatoes – Use Roma. They are less watery but still should be seeded before quartering and adding to the processor.
- Pulse, Don’t Puree – Always PULSE your salsa briefly instead of blending until smooth.
- Drain and Strain – We recommend always draining your canned ingredients (through a mesh sieve) before adding to the processor.
- Sit then Drain – Chill your salsa in the refrigerator for 30 minutes in a bowl, then gently pour off any excess liquid before serving.
Serve it with these Favs…
Homemade Salsa
Video
Ingredients
- 1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes drained
- 1 (10-ounce) can original Rotel drained
- 2-3 Roma tomatoes seeded, if desired
- ½ white onion or 1 tablespoon onion powder
- 1 medium handful fresh cilantro
- 1 (4-ounce) can diced green chiles optional
- 1-2 tablespoons diced jalapeño
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon garlic salt with parsley flakes
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 tablespoon lime juice
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients in a blender and pulse until blended to the consistency you desire.
- Add more salt or lime juice to taste, if needed.
Notes
-
If the color starts to darken, a smell starts to omit or fungus forms, then the salsa is no longer good.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Recipe FAQ
This can be refrigerated for in an airtight container for up to 1 week. If the color starts to darken, a smell starts to omit or fungus forms, then the salsa is no longer good.
This best homemade salsa recipe can be frozen for 2-4 months. Here are a few tips:
>> To prevent discoloration, add a bit of lemon or lime juice to the salsa.
>> Store it in an airtight container in smaller serving sizes.
>> Do not freeze chunky salsa. Pulsed salsa freezes best.
Make it a Gift
In case you want to give a jar of homemade salsa as a gift, I decided to make some free printable tags. Make it a gift to give at any time of the year, or share at Christmas. There are tags for either occasion:
Simply download the tag you want.
Download Your Free Tags
Fill out the form and the FREE printable will be sent to your email.
We also made tags for our Salsa Verde so be sure to check that out too!
Love your recipes. Wanted to make homemade salsa but unsure about an ingredient living in Australia. What is Rotel and can something be substituted for it. Thank you for all the wonderful food, easy to follow directions.
Rotel is petite diced tomatoes canned with green chilis and sometimes onions. In the USA, you can buy it hot. Original, or mild; with other spices it herbs added like garlic, cumin, or cilantro; and with or without added salt. It’s very good too for quick cheese dip if you just heat with a pound of velveeta cheese and a little milk to get desired consistency..
Best salsa recipe ever!! This is the only recipe I use. So delicious.
Yay! Love to hear that! Thanks for sharing that 🙂
Hello! I just found this recipe and plan to make it as gifts for my coworkers. Do you know how many pints size jars the recipe would make? Thank you for your time and wonderful site!
The best salsa!! I made it twice last week since my family wouldn’t stop eating it! So easy and delicious!!
I made this twice and it turned out green, not red like in the pictures. What am I doing wrong?
I want to try out your salsa recipe, but I am allergic to jalapenos. What is a good pepper I could use instead?
You could try fresno peppers (less spicy than jalapenos) or probably the most similar would be the serrano peppers (a little more spicy than jalapenos).
Can you can this salsa? It is the best one but I want to have some on the shelf for lean times.
This salsa recipe isn’t one for canning, unfortunately. It’s a fresh salsa, so it needs to be refrigerated. It can freeze though! So you could keep some on hand in the freezer. We have freezing directions and how to thaw in the post.
We love this recipe! So good!
This recipe is SPOT ON! We love this and make it frequently with our homemade tacos – sure beats having to go to the local market each time I want some! Thank you so much for sharing!
You’re welcome! So glad you love the salsa!!
Made for a potluck. Everyone loved it.
I’m so happy to hear that!! Thanks for sharing!
Very good and so quick.
I took some of this salsa to a neighbor and she asked me where I buy my salsa from because it was so good 😂 she said even her three year old loved it. I was happy to pass along the recipe. It’s definitely my family’s favorite homemade salsa!
Gislene
Gislene. Boyfriend. Alexander
I made this before! It is sooooo good!😋😁
Love this recipe! I have an ifodmap ntolerance to onions, so I used small amounts of leek greens and scallion greens in place of the onion and it was perfect! Thank you 😊
You’re welcome! I’m glad to hear the substitutions turned out tasty too. Thanks for giving the recipe a try!
I pulse a little for chunky. Thank you for this recipe
Delicious! Always a hit!
Thank you! So glad to hear that!
Where does the outrageous, killer amount of sodium come from??
You can certainly adjust the amount of sodium by using no salt added canned tomatoes and no salt added Rotel. You can also use garlic powder, rather than garlic salt. Then add as much salt as you prefer… that way you can control the amount of salt in the salsa. We love it as is, but there are options if you want lower sodium. 🙂
Do you have a recipe for canning this?
What type of jalapeños did you use? Fresh? Canned? Pickled?
I like to use fresh!! You can leave the seeds in for more kick or deseed them for less heat.
The best I have ever had. My family loves it.
Oh yay!! I’m so so happy to hear that you all enjoy the salsa! Thanks for sharing!
This is such a yummy homemade salsa recipe! I will be honest, I leave the jalapenos out, haha, or just use a little bit, I am a bit of wimp when it comes to spicy food.
So good and so easy! I love the idea of giving this recipe as gifts. Thanks for that idea!
This salsa was perfect! we loved it and the flavor was so good!
Delicious! I have made this for 40 years. I used to bring some to work and share with my coworkers. When they knew I was bringing it, they would bring containers! Lol
Tip: I drain the tomatoes, and or Rotel first. When the salsa is just about finished, I add the tomato juice until I reach the thickness desired.
That’s so awesome! And thanks for sharing the tip!
Great recipe restaurant quality and very easy
Best salsa I made. My favorite Mexican rest made this salsa I could not find their secret. You just saved me money and made my salsa dream come up. TKs
Great Job!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thank you so much!! So glad you love the salsa recipe!
Love this salsa it’s the best
Super easy and ooh so yummy!!
So good! My family loves it!
This is our go to salsa. It’s SO good!
We love this salsa recipe! we make it almost weekly. So easy with stuff I usually have on hand. It’s extra easy when swapping onion powder for onion. Love it. Yum. Now… I need to go eat some salsa… but I need to make it first, since I probably drank the end of the last batch! (Who needs chips?)
I’ve made this recipe for dinner parties several times and it never disappoints! Everyone is so impressed it’s homemade! Simple and quick!
I’ve made this several times for dinner parties and it woes the crowd every time! Simple and quick!
Love it
Love this salsa! My daughter will make this, its really easy and taste great!
We absolutely LOVE this salsa and it’s always a huge hit everywhere we take it. I give it a 10!!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Best Salsa ever. I make it for all my parties and everyone loves it! Can’t tell you how many times I’ve given the recipe out! The best part is it’s so simple and I love doing it all together in the food processor. I have a bunch of Roma’s from my garden so I’m going to try and freeze some.
Oh thank you!! I’m so glad you love the recipe and I’m sure it is even that much better using fresh garden tomatoes. YUM!!
We LOVE this recipe – we practically drink it.
Yay! I love that haha! So glad you enjoy the salsa.
Could you pressure can or water bath this salsa?
I wouldn’t recommend it with this recipe. This one is best stored in the fridge for a week or in the freezer for 2-4 months.
I just made your salsa with a few moderations and wow it is perfect. I do not like green peppers or jalapeno peppers. I have a hot sauce that is made in Asheville, NC called Pure Fire that I used to spice the salsa up a bit. I made it in our new Ninja Pro food processor.
Thank you
I’m so glad to hear you like the salsa. That hot sauce sounds awesome! I like a little kick to my food too. Thanks for sharing!
This salsa is so simple to make and so delicious!!
Yay! So glad you enjoy it!
Can you give me a ball park time frame for how long a jar of salsa will last, refrigerated, I assume. Thanks!
It should last in the fridge for about 1 week. Hope this helps!
We absolutely love this salsa at our house. It’s so easy to make and delicious. I think my kids would love to have this in our fridge all of the time but it just disappears so dang fast!
Mine too! I am so happy it’s a hit! Thank you!
Best salsa ever!!
Cant wait for Christmas Eve to share this yummy salsa with my family.
Love this so much!
Thanks again for a great recipe!
Yum Yum Yum!!
Easy, flavorful and delicious.
We used this recipe ass a follow along to make salsa. However we didn’t have all the items called for but what we had and made following this recipe turned out amazing!
I made this for a family party and it was a hit!! My husband asks me to make it at least twice a month.
I love this!! Everuon in The family went crazy over this!! Thanks
I had an over abundance of tomatos from my garden this year and decided to make salsa, this was such a huge hit in our house! So delicious!
We add another can of diced tomatoes, a little honey. Yummy
This is sooooo good!!!
So easy and delicious!!
My go-to salsa recipe! So good!
I love that it is the perfect blend of flavor and spice!
i Don’t use rotel. It gives it too much of a vinegar taste for me. I make 3-4 qts of this at a time. I use a 28 oz can of diced tomatoes, one 14 oz can of fire roasted tomatoes (gives it the best taste) and one 14 oz can of tomato sauce. I found the giant yellow onions are perfect for it. the rest of the ingredients are similar to yours but, i use the real onions, garlic and jalepeno (without the seeds). It isn’t spicy so, those who want heat add red pepper flakes to theirs.
AND, I LOVE MY NINJA KITCHEN PREP BLENDER! I STILL HAVE MY FIRST NINJA THAT I BOUGHT WHEN THEY FIRST CAME OUT. IT ONLY PULSES AND HAS JUST 2 TIERS OF BLADES. I USE IT MOST OF THE TIME BUT, GRAB THE BIG BOY WHEN I MAKE OUR SALSA.
Sounds good! Thanks for sharing!
GREAT RECIPES, THANKS
Thank you!! Glad you like them!
I used rotel diced tomatoes & green chIlies And Muir glen diced fire roasted W/ med green chiles. Put all the ingredients into my food proceSsor. Voila! Easy and the best salsa i ever Made. Love…Love your recipes!
Awe, thanks!! That sounds yum! Thanks for sharing!
I enjoyed all the recipes that you emailed me I can tell tonight is going to be a really good night
Yay! Thank you so much!
Hi Christine!! I made this salsa yesterday for cinco de mayo and it was wonderful!! I added a lot more jalepenos cuz my husband and i like it really spicy!!! ???!! Thank you for such a great recipe!!!
You are so welcome!! I need to make my own batch, because I like it spicy too! Thank you for letting me know!
Hi. What does the TB mean for the jalapeño? It sounds great and I’m trying it tonight. Thank you.
PS. I cannot seem to select a rating from the stars.
I am so sorry, I am a day late! Did you figure it out? It is a tablespoon of jalapeno 🙂 Hope you liked it!
I love all your recipes and they are easy to understand love the tags.
Thanks so much
You are so welcome!! Thank you for saying that!
Salsa looks greaT and easy except I cannot eat cilantro. What would be a good sub?
great salsa recipe, thank you, love how few ingredients there are!
Best, easiest salSa ever!!!
Yay!! I am glad you think so! Thank you so much!
Can you can the salsa?
I haven’t canned to use for later. I usually make it, when I need it or I will jar it & give as gifts.
No need for store bought salsa with this around. I always keep the ingredients for this on hand… it is the BOMB!!! It doesnt last more that a day im my house, we are obsessed!!!! Thanks kristen for sharing your love of coooking!
You are so welcome!! Thank you for sharing that!! Glad you like it, as much as we do!
I made this recipe exactly as written and it came out very foamy and bubbly.
The flavor was spot on, delicious… everything I was hoping for. Where did I go wrong?
Hmm..that’s interesting..I wish I knew for sure? I haven’t had that happen before. Did you mix it too long?
Recipe okks great but what is Rotel? I love in australia and have never heard oF it.
Rotel is a mixture of tomatoes & green chiles. It comes in mild or hot. You can just use regular canned tomatoes & add canned green chiles 🙂
This salsa is so flavorful and easy to make!
It really doesn’t get any easier than this! Love the flavor!
I agree!! Thank you so much for sharing that!
Homemade salsa is the best! I will be making this once a week for our taco tuesday!
I agree!! Love homemade! Thank you!
I like to have all the necessary ingredients on hand for this salsa. Theres really no need to even buy salsa. Its mild and very eaSy to put together.
We love making this at home! We keep it on hand and have given it as gifts too.
Oh yes! I love salsa and this recipe is calling my name!
I make this type of blender salsa weekly! Always so much better than anything I could buy!
I totally agree!! Thanks!
This is the best salsa!! I love it more than restaurant salsa. It has so much flavor, has the right amount of kick, & is so easy! I have given this as gifts to friends with a bag of chips & it’s always a hit!
Love this Salsa! So easy and tastes amazing!
I love love love sAlsa. This recipe did not DissapoinT. Can this be canned fOr a longer sheLf life?
We love all of your recipes!
Cheers,
Jayne &Mike G Canada ??
Awe, thank you so much!!
This salsa is SO yummy and easy!! My husband is not a fan OF chunks in his salsa so I tried this one and he is hooked!! Thanks so much for sharing!!!
This is my favorite!! I’m not a fan of chunks either 🙂 Thank you for trying it!
This looks so good. My son is looking forward to making this!
It is the best!! I hope you all like it! Thank you!
This is the only red salsa recipe we make. IT has a really great flavor and holds Well in the fridge. I like to pour out half of the recipe FOr the kids and add more jalapenos for me. Yum!
This salsa was so easy to make & incredibly good!! It tastes just as good or even better than the ones at the restaurant!! I have given this as gifts too!! It is the best!
TherEs not an easier salsa than this recipe. Everything goes in the blender and its ready to go. Its miLd and very taSty. Have your chips ready!
How much does this make? We would like to can it. Thanks for your time!
It makes between a pint & quart 🙂 It is so tasty! Hope you like it!
Roman tomatoes are the same as Roma, correct?
Oops..sorry, it should say Roma 🙂 I will fix that!
Hey Kristyn, Its really delicious and yummy!!!
I have tried this Salsa last night in my kitchen and it was superb. My family like it so much. Thanks very much for the recipe and please tell me can I keep it for 1 week??
Thanks again.
Yay!! I am so glad you like it!! Yes, it will keep for a week. I would keep it in a tupperware with a lid or a jar with a lid.
How many fresh tomatoes would you use for this recipe? I have a bag of fresh garden Roma tomatoes. For the jar, do you have to seal it like you do when you can? Just curious. New at this
You would need just a few larger ones, if you like more, you could add more. Just depends on you 🙂
Interesting recipe. I’ll have to try this sometime. Does it taste as good as salsa bought from the store?
Oh, so much better!! I hope you will! Let me know what you think 🙂
Pls what is’Rotel’? I don’t live in the USA so I have no idea what it is & have never heard of it before.
Rotel is diced tomatoes with zesty green chiles. It adds great flavor!! Here is a link if you’d like to check it out..http://www.ro-tel.com/ You can find it with canned tomatoes in the grocery store. Hope that helps!!
Making this for sure! Also, how many jars will this make for me? Thanks!
Depends on the size of jar, but for this size it fills just under 2. 😉
how long will the salsa keep?
Unfortunately, I’m not really sure. We’ve never had it last longer than a week. Sorry! :/
What a delicious gift idea! I love how pretty it looks all bottled up with the tags! Love how easy this salsa is to whip up too!
Rotel is tomatoes mixed with green chiles. I personally don’t like onions, that is why I add the onion powder, but you could totally add onions & fresh tomatoes. I use tomatoes, but sometimes I need to hurry or it’s for convenience.
I am thinking so? Hopefully, you still liked it! Thanks for trying it!
Gislene