When our tomatoes are ripe, making homemade fresh salsa is a must! You'll love this fresh tomato salsa recipe.
Salsa is not only a delicious dip, but it is wonderful for adding to other dishes to give them a little spice.
My Mom used to make homemade salsa with our garden harvest while I was growing up and I could never get enough. It always tasted so much better than store bought salsa.
Now that I have kids, making homemade salsa is one of those summer activities they look forward to each year.
I love growing and using fresh, ripe tomatoes, jalapenos and other peppers from my backyard garden and then making them into a fresh salsa. And my kids love being my taste testers and making sure the spices are just right.
Homemade Salsa
One of my favorite things about making homemade salsa is that I can adjust the heat level to what I want.
It isn't uncommon for us to make more than one batch of salsa at a time. One child and I like a more mild salsa and my husband and other kids insist it must be spicy.
Luckily, by making a couple different batches we can all be happy.
Tips for the Best Salsa
- Let the salsa have time to blend the flavors. Letting it sit in the fridge for at least an hour will allow this to happen.
- Make sure your ingredients are fresh. Our best salsas are when we are using ingredients fresh picked from our garden.
- If you want a spicy salsa make sure to add in the pepper seeds or even include more or different types of peppers. If you prefer your salsa milder, make sure to leave out any seeds.
- Don't be afraid to experiment with the different ingredients and flavors with this salsa. Jalapenos can be switched out for habaneros, serranos, or other types of peppers. It's easy to leave out the cilantro or cumin if you don't like it. Get creative and have fun.
Favorite Things to Dip in or Top with Fresh Salsa
- Our favorite thing is to dip tortilla chips in fresh salsa and eat it
- We love to top our tacos, burritos and and add in homemade salsa to taco salads
- Adding salsa to breakfast burritos is tasty.
Leftovers
You can store the salsa is a air tight container in the fridge for up to about 3 days. After this, use the smell test. We've found homemade salsa goes bad quicker than store bought.
Equipment
You don't need much for making homemade salsa. I do recommend using a blender or food processor. If you don't already have a food processor, you can dice the tomatoes by hand.
Tomato Salsa Ingredients
- small tomatoes
- small onion
- garlic
- jalapenos
- ground cumin
- teaspoons salt
- fresh cilantro
- juice of one lime
How to Make the Best Homemade Salsa Recipe
Step 1: Make sure stem is removed from tomatoes, quarter them and add them to the bowl of a food processor.
Step 2: Roughly chop the onion and garlic cloves and add to the food processor.
Step 3: For a milder salsa, slice the jalapenos in half and remove the seeds. If you want your salsa a bit spicier, slice the jalapeno, leaving the seeds in it. Add the jalapenos to the bowl of the food processor as well as the cumin, salt, cilantro and fresh lime juice.
Step 4: Chop the ingredients in the food using the "pulse" button until the desired consistency is reached.
Step 5: Pour the salsa into a jar and store in the refrigerator for at least an hour before serving.
Enjoy!
Other Delicious Recipes:
Fresh Tomato Salsa
Ingredients
- 8 to 10 small tomatoes
- 1 small onion
- 4 cloves garlic
- 2 jalapenos
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt
- ½ cup cilantro
- The juice of one lime
Instructions
- Quarter each tomato and place it in the bowl of a food processor.
- Roughly chop onion and garlic and add it to the food processor with the tomatoes.
- Slice the jalapeno leaving the seeds intact for hot salsa or halve the jalapeno and remove the seeds for mild salsa. Add the
chopped jalapeno to the food processor, along with the cum, salt, cilantro, and lime juice. - Pulse chop the ingredients until the desired consistency is reached.
- Pour the mixture into a jar and store in the refrigerator for at least an hour before serving.
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