Homemade Salsa Recipe
by Sommer Collier — last updated on May 20, 2025 How To Make Salsa – We’re sharing our secrets for making The Best Homemade Salsa Recipe we have ever tried. It’s healthy, fresh, and easy to adjust! Serve for game day or as a healthy snack!
Why We Love This Best Homemade Salsa Recipe
There is a tomato overload in my backyard right now. Every year I plant way more tomato seeds than any family needs, in the hope that a few plants will survive and thrive. I am not known for being the best gardener, yet I do get lucky now and again.
This year, my tomato plants took off, providing us with a seemingly endless supply of seven varieties of garden tomatoes. I have been eating them in salads and sauces for the last month. Yet I always say, when life gives you tomatoes… Make salsa!
There are hundreds thousands of tomato salsa recipes online. Why should you make this one?
Well, we think this is The Best Homemade Salsa Recipe around because it is healthy, quick to make, offers a fine chunky texture, and is brimming with absurd amounts of flavor.
Want to know the secret to perfectly delicious salsa?
Ingredients You Need
Sometimes fresh tomato salsa recipes, made with just fresh ingredients, can come off with a shallow acidic flavor… Lacking depth. Whereas, salsa made with canned ingredients alone can taste store-bought.
I believe you need both fresh and canned ingredients to make the best homemade salsa recipe.
Here is everything you need to make the most delicious homemade salsa:
- Ripe tomatoes – cored and quartered, no peeling necessary! (romas or plum tomatoes are a good choice)
- Red onion – peeled and quartered (or yellow onion)
- Garlic cloves – peeled
- Jalapeños – stemmed and seeded
- Cilantro
- Fresh lime juice
- Ground cumin
- Sugar – optional. Sometimes the tomatoes need a little boost to balance the acidity.
- Salt
- Canned crushed San Marzano tomatoes – or fire-roasted tomatoes
- Diced green chiles – your choice of mild, medium, or hot
You will taste bright tangy notes from garden-fresh tomatoes, sharp notes from the onion and garlic, herbs and spice, and complexity from the “secret ingredient” canned items, all in one!
Get the Complete (Printable) Best Homemade Salsa Recipe + Video at the End of this Post!
How To Make Salsa
Prepare the veggies and add them to your food processor (or blender) along with lime juice and seasonings. Chop to a fine grade, or blend.
Next, add the canned crushed San Marzano tomatoes and green chiles. Puree again until almost smooth to create an even yet chunky consistency. The canned tomatoes provide a rustic essence and sweetness that accentuates the fresh produce, while the canned green chiles deliver a smoky quality that fresh peppers lack.
Add more cumin and salt to taste, and refrigerate until chilled and ready to enjoy.
Tips & Tricks
- If you don’t own a food processor, you can use a blender instead! Just be careful not to over blend, since you want some texture here. Or, finely chop all of the ingredients and mix them up in a bowl for a chunky salsa.
- For the best flavor, use the freshest ingredients!
- Chill the salsa before serving. It will bring the flavors together beautifully!
Serving Suggestions
Spoon this flavorful salsa over eggs, on your favorite Mexican dishes like quesadillas, chicken enchiladas, tacos al pastor, chicken tacos, breakfast tostadas, and burrito bowls. Use it in 5 Layer Bean Dip, Slow Cooker Taco Tater Tots, or our Baked Tacos Recipe. Or scoop it up with tortilla chips or fresh veggies!
You are going to love this recipe for game day, potlucks, parties, or just keeping it in the fridge for any time you need a zesty snack!
Frequently Asked Questions
Selecting a favorite tomato for salsa is tricky because there are so many wonderful varieties! However, we recommend Roma tomatoes or Plum tomatoes in this recipe because they are easy to find and offer a tangy-sweet flavor. If you have an abundance of tomatoes available to you, look for tomatoes that fit this criteria…
Still a little firm when ripe
Bright red in color
Strong sweet tomato flavor
Yes, this recipe has zing, but if you are sensitive to spicy heat, you can adjust our Best Homemade Salsa Recipe by adding fewer jalapeño chilis and being sure to purchase the mild canned green chiles.
Or if you prefer to take the heat up a notch, try throwing in a habanero, serrano chiles, or chipotle peppers in adobo sauce!
This salsa will keep well for 10-12 days if kept in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Be sure not to let it sit for too long (over a couple of hours) at room temperature.
You can also freeze this homemade salsa for up to 4 months by putting it in a freezer-safe container and then wrapping it with foil. This will change the texture a bit after thawing.
Looking for More Delicious Salsa Recipes? Be Sure to Try:
Best Salsa Recipe
Video
Ingredients
- 4 ripe tomatoes, cored and quartered
- 1 red onion, peeled and quartered
- 3 garlic cloves, peeled
- 3 jalapenos, stemmed and seeded (you can substitute 1-2 habanero or serrano peppers.)
- 1/3 cup fresh cilantro
- 3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
- 2-3 teaspoons ground cumin
- 2-3 teaspoons sugar (optional)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 15 ounces crushed San Marzano tomatoes (1 can)
- 4.5 ounces diced green chiles, mild, medium, or hot (1 can)
Instructions
- Place the fresh tomatoes, onion, garlic, peppers, cilantro, lime juice, 2 teaspoons cumin, 2 teaspoons sugar (if using), and salt in a food processor. Pulse until the contents are fine and well blended.
- Pour in the crushed tomatoes and green chiles. Puree until mostly smooth. Taste, then add more cumin and sugar if desired. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
Notes
Nutrition
Disclosure: A Spicy Perspective participates in affiliate advertising programs. We may earn a commission when you make a purchase through links on our site.
I have always loved salsa as a game time or really anytime snack, I have tried various recipes and this one by far is the best, I’m actually surprised someone hasn’t put there own spin on this and started selling commercially!
Amazing Work very nice
Yo desi serial
Easy and absolutely delicious. Our tomatoes have been over producing all summer and I have been struggling to find ways to use them. Wish I would have seen this a month ago,
I made a test batch yesterday. We tried it. We loved it. So today I made 3 more to freeze
Used tomatoes, hungarian wax peppers and Serrano peppers from our garden, stevia to keep it sugar free. Absolutely delicious!
Simply delicious outcome and my first home made salsa. The 3 fresh jalapenos from the store’s local produce section were pretty mild….so mild that the seeds had no heat (!!)…so to increase the heat, I followed the recipe and then added another half of a 4.5 oz can of LaVictoria HOT diced Jalapeños which worked nicely.. Two large tomatoes, 4 roma tomatoes and the 15 oz of canned San Marzano tomatoes. Also used 1.5 tsp of sugar and 1 tsp of sea salt, 2 tsp of cumin. I might decrease the sugar to 1 tsp or omit it all together next batch….and oh yes, I foresee a next batch. My wife and I are very impressed with our first salsa!! I bet it’s better tomorrow after chilling in the fridge overnight and melding.
Thanks for the recipe!
Don’t usually rate recipes, but this one is really good-a perfect mix of flavors.
What would you have to afford to can this safely?
What type and amount of “4 tomatoes”?
I just finished making this recipe. I really like it, it was easy and very full of flavor. It makes a lot. In the fridge now so that the flavors will develop even more. You can make it such that it has a nice kick. I used serrano peppers.
Will this recipe can well?
Hi Melissa,
I have heard from some readers that they can this recipe. I have not personally tried it myself. If you give it a go, please report back! :)
This truly is the best salsa ever! I have made it about 4 times now and will never go back to store bought. The only thing I did differently was I used Fire Roasted canned tomatoes. Also I grew some peppers called Hot Salsa so I used those. It is being hoovered up by everyone that tries it. Love it!
This is fantastic. I would’ve thought that canned tomatoes are heresy, but they work incredibly well in this recipe. Cumin and canned tomatoes really pull this recipe together in a way I couldn’t match with just fresh tomatoes!
I made it twice. Once with the canned tomatoes and once without using 6 large fresh tomatoes. I wasn’t crazy about the canned tomatoes version. It was tasty and good but I preferred the fresh version.