Pico de Gallo Salsa Recipe (2024)

The most magical thing about cooking from scratch…

…is how the simplest foodssuddenly take on whole new life when combined in just the right way.

Tomatoes, onions, jalapeños, garlic. Basic ingredients most folks can easily grow in their garden or nab at the farmer’s market, right?

But when you toss them in a bowl with a splash of lime juice and a smidge of cilantro, they become something magical.

Pico de gallo (aka salsa fresca, aka fresh salsa) is my all-time favorite salsa in the whole wide world.

Sure, canned salsa is nice to have tucked away for the dead of winter, but nuthin’ beats a big fresh bowl of pico served alongside salty tortilla chips.

The tomatoes start the show with their sweet tang, as an unmistakable hint of cilantro envelops your taste buds. The jalapeños provide the perfect amount of heat at the end– not too little, yet not too much. It’s salsa perfection in a bowl.

The key to perfect homemade pico de gallo? You gotta taste it like crazy as you make it. The measurements below are simply a guide. Themeasurements greatly vary depending on the ripeness of your tomatoes, the intensityof your onion, the heat of your jalapeño, and so on. Plan to have a bowl of chips next to you as you make this recipe, so you can taste and tweak like crazy.

Homemade Pico de Gallo Recipe

• 4-5 plum or Roma tomatoes, diced
• 1/3 cup onion, finely diced(white, yellow, or red onions would all work)
• 1/2 of a jalapeño, seeded (or unseeded, if you want extra heat)
• 2-4 tablespoons fresh cilantro, finely minced
• Juice from 1/2 a lime
• 1 garlic clove
• Sea salt to taste (I use this one)

Toss the diced tomatoes and onion in a bowl, and add in the minced jalapeño and cilantro. Cilantro is vital to this dish, but it can be overpowering, so it’s OK to err on the side of caution and start with a smaller amount at first. You can always add more.

Now we’re going to make a garlic paste. Sure, you *could* just mince up the garlic all boring-like, but a paste is far superior. I learned this technique from my friend Trina who just-so-happened to win our local salsa competition with her amazing pico de gallo recipe.

Start with one clove of peeled garlic and start mincing it like you normally would.

But keep going. Make those garlic bits smaller and smaller.

Sprinkle some sea salt on top of your minced bits. And mince some more.

Now, take the edge of your knife and proceed to smash the minced garlic into the cutting board. We’re shooting for pulverized garlic here.

Switch off between smashing and mincing until the garlic has released it’s yummy juices and has turned into a mass of garlic pulp. This takes a bit longer than regular mincing, but it’s oh-so worth it.

Add the garlic pulp to the rest of the ingredients.

Squeeze on the lime juice, sprinkle in some salt, and taste and adjust as needed.

When it’s perfect, serve it with tortilla chips as a dip, or drop it on tacos, nachos, burritos or whatever your little heart desires.

You can serve your homemade pico de gallo immediately, or store it in the fridge for a while too. I’ve found sometimes letting it sit for a while improves the flavors as they have a chance to meld. You’ll want to eat it within a couple days, though. And keep in mind the peppers often increase in heat a bit the longer it sits.

Homemade Fresh Salsa Notes

• You can really use any type of tomato in this recipe. I favor Romas or plum/paste tomatoes since they have more flesh and less juice. However, regular ol’ slicing tomatoes are just fine here too. You might need to seed the juicier tomatoes first so you don’t end up with buckets of tomato juice in your pico.
• I know, I know… Cilantro can be a very polarizing flavor. People seem to either love it or despise it. I suppose you could omit it from your homemade pico de galloif you had to, but I wouldn’t recommend it. It is really the star of this dish, in my opinion.
• As written, this recipe makes a somewhat small amount. Feel free to double it, quadruple it, fill up a feed trough, whatever…
• You can use other peppers besides jalapeños, if you wish. Serranos are good, or if you like it SUPER spicy (I don’t…), toss in a bit of habanero. The jalapeños in my garden didn’t make it this year, but I grew another small hot pepper that worked beautifully. (And of course, I don’t remember what it was called now… Lame.)
• I gotta admit, it’s rare I have limes and fresh cilantro on hand at the same time. When I get a hankering for fresh salsa and I’m missing those two key ingredients, I like to substitute in lime and cilantro essential oil. You can’t tell the difference in taste, and it usually saves me a trip to the grocery store. Just start with small amounts– one drop or less. These oils are super potent and can quickly ruin your salsa if you add too much.

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