This Classic Salsa Recipe Will Become A Party Staple

This easy salsa recipe gives you a blend of fresh and canned tomatoes for a best-of-both-worlds flavor and ease of preparation. The best part? This salsa comes together quickly in the food processor so you can have it ready for a party in mere minutes.

Learn how to make homemade salsa, and serve it on its own with chips for a simple appetizer, or serve it alongside your favorite taco recipe at the perfect topper to dinner.

Salsa Ingredients

Fresh is the name of the game for this salsa recipe—except we use both fresh and canned tomatoes to get the perfect flavor and texture.

• 
  Fresh Roma tomatoes
  
  and
  
  canned diced tomatoes:
  
  Using a blend of canned and diced tomatoes gives the salsa the perfect balance of sweet tomato freshness and intense tomato savoriness from the canned tomatoes.
• 
  Yellow onion:
  
  Pretty much any onion will work in this recipe, but we like the balanced flavor of a yellow onion.
• 
  Jalapeño peppers:
  
  Adds a little gentle heat to the salsa. Remove the seeds for a mild salsa, or leave some in for more heat.
• 
  Cilantro:
  
  A classic salsa ingredient. Skip it if you’re one of those folks who taste soap when they have cilantro, but add a pinch of Mexican oregano for some of that herbal flavor that’s necessary to a good salsa.
• 
  Garlic:
  
  A couple of cloves of garlic add a bit of bite to the salsa.
• 
  Fresh lime juice:
  
  A little acidity from lime juice brightens the flavor of the salsa.
• 
  Kosher salt:
  
  Brings out the flavor of all of the vegetables.
• 
  Sugar:
  
  If your tomatoes are a little underripe, a pinch of sugar can help. Don’t add too much, and feel free to skip if the salsa doesn’t need it.

How To Make Salsa

This salsa recipe comes together in two simple steps:

• 
  Step 1:
  
  Combine all of the ingredients in a food processor, and pulse until everything is finely chopped. If your food processor isn’t big enough for all of the salsa, you can split the vegetables into batches. Just try and keep roughly equal amounts of the vegetables with each batch, then stir together at the end.
• 
  Step 2:
  
  Chill at least 4 hours to let the flavors meld together.
  
  

Is Salsa Mild or Spicy? That’s Up to You!

Jalapeño heat levels can vary quite a bit from pepper to pepper. However, if you remove the seeds from the peppers, the salsa should be pretty mild. Leave some (or all) in place for more of a kick.

Can You Use Only Canned Tomatoes in This Salsa?

We love the freshness of the Roma tomatoes in this salsa, but if you can’t get good tomatoes, you can substitute a drained 28-ounce can of whole peeled tomatoes for the fresh.

What To Serve With Salsa

This basic fresh salsa is great with chips, but we also love it served alongside tacos or on nachos. It would go well with any of these recipes:

• 
  Chicken Nachos
  
• 
  Slow-Cooker Carnitas Tacos
  
• 
  Skillet Enchiladas Suizas
  
• 
  Blooming Quesadilla Ring
  
  
  

How To Store Salsa

Homemade salsa will last in the refrigerator up to 5 days. Just be sure to store it in an airtight container, and give it a stir before scooping it out into a bowl or onto your

taco salad

.

Can You Freeze Salsa?

You can freeze salsa, but you should know and do a few things before you stick that tub in the deep freeze. First, once thawed, frozen salsa may lack some of its vibrant, fresh flavor, so it’s best to use thawed salsa in a dish instead of as a stand-alone dip.

Secondly, the salsa will produce extra water as it thaws, so you’d be wise to drain as much water off the salsa before you freeze it as possible. Pour the salsa into a fine mesh sieve, and stir to remove water. Scoop the remaining salsa into a freezer-safe container, wrap, and store up to one month.