This restaurant-style salsa tastes like you'd get at your favorite Mexican restaurant. This mild salsa has wonderfully fresh flavors, it's easy to make at home, and easy on the budget!
Ahhhhh, Mexican food. You have my heart!
There’s nothing like sitting around the table with a cold drink and a bowl of chips and salsa.
Dunk, crunch, munch, munch, munch. And repeat!
And even better when you can sit on your own patio, eating food that tastes like it's from the Mexican restaurants. But you don’t need to head to the local grocery store to enjoy amazing salsa at home.
Not when you can have your own, fresh salsa in 10 minutes!
Why you'll love this salsa
If you’ve stocked your pantry, freezer and fridge, you should have most of what you need, right at your fingertips.
We’re using canned tomatoes for this restaurant style salsa. Do a taste test and I think you’ll agree – it’s hard to argue with the yum factor of this easy salsa recipe!
If you have a garden full of fresh tomatoes, you can sub them but in my Tex Mex and Mexican food opinion, fresh tomatoes are awesome in pico de gallo.
But for salsa, I’m team canned tomatoes ALL THE WAY. Canned tomatoes are usually roma tomatoes or plum tomatoes anyway and you don't have to do any peeling or dicing. I think we'll agree that's a recipe win.
You can get a fresh tasting salsa, even in the middle of winter. For one, the tomatoes are picked at the peak of freshness. Another reason – they’re still packed with all the nutrients of their fresh counterparts.
My only ask of you for this recipe is that you grab a blender or food processor for your restaurant style salsa.
I know, I know – one more thing to wash but next time you’re out at a restaurant, take a minute to study your salsa…you’ll agree their version likely took a spin somewhere, too.
Ingredients in the best homemade salsa recipe:
You only need a few things to make this recipe. The first time you make it, I recommend you follow the recipe as is.
From there, you can make your own special salsa blend and alter the flavor of the salsa however you like.
- yellow onion
- jalapeno peppers - use serrano peppers or other hot peppers, if you want more spicy salsa. It's all about your personal preference.
- salt and black pepper
- canned, diced tomatoes
- dried Mexican oregano
- smoked paprika
- crushed red pepper flakes
- sugar, optional
- fresh lime juice
How to make Salsa with Canned Tomatoes
Step 1: Add onion, jalapeno, tomatoes, salt and pepper, Mexican oregano, smoked paprika, crushed red pepper flakes to a blender or bowl of a food processor.
Pulse until mixture is as you like it. If you like a chunkier salsa, just give it a few pulses. If you like a smoother salsa, blend it a little longer.
Add lime juice and taste for seasonings.
Transfer salsa to a covered bowl bowl and refrigerate until serving.
That’s it!!
How to store leftover salsa
You can store this salsa, covered in the fridge for up to a week. I like to grab a few pint jars and freeze some of the leftovers, too! To use it from frozen, just let it thaw overnight in the refrigerator.
You can freeze your salsa up to three months.
Variations
I made this recipe without fresh cilantro because I know there are plenty of you who abhor it. You are (very) vocal about it. And I get it! I happen to like it, but your cilantro distaste doesn't hurt my feelings.
And truthfully, my kiddos seem to prefer salsa without cilantro.
But if you love cilantro, throw some in. I hope I’ve made everyone happy. What can I say, I’m a middle child!!
If you don’t have limes laying around? You can substitute another acid, like lemon juice or apple cider vinegar .
Love tang? Use extra lime!
- Not a spice fan? Remove the seeds from the jalapenos beforehand.
- No fresh jalapeno? Use jarred! (I almost always do!)
- Switch things up: Use fire roasted tomatoes or add a teaspoon of cumin for a slightly smoky flavor.
What to serve with salsa
While tortilla chips are a perfect vessel for getting this salsa down the hatch, think about serving it alongside these other super Mexican recipes:
- Pork Fajitas
- Breakfast Burritos
- Sheet Pan Chicken Fajitas
- Make Ahead Breakfast Bowls
- Baja Burgers
- Buffalo Shrimp Tacos
- Easy Guacamole Recipe
More salsa recipes
Salsa Verde
If you’re looking for another fresh salsa recipe, be sure to check out my Simple Pico de Gallo!
If you make this easy homemade salsa recipe , leave a recipe review or comment below. I'd love to hear from you!
This post was originally published May 2020 and updated April 2022.
Restaurant Style Salsa
Ingredients
- ½ medium yellow onion chopped
- 1 medium jalapeno chopped
- salt and black pepper to taste
- 2 14 ounce cans diced tomatoes undrained
- ½ teaspoon dried Mexican oregano
- ¼ teaspoon smoked paprika
- ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 1 teaspoon sugar optional
- 2-3 tablespoon fresh lime juice
- 2-3 tablespoon fresh cilantro finely chopped
Instructions
- Add onion, jalapeno, tomatoes, salt and pepper, Mexican oregano, smoked paprika, crushed red pepper flakes to a blender or food processor. Pulse until mixture is as you like it - slightly chunky or smoother. Add lime juice and taste for seasonings.
- Transfer salsa to a covered bowl bowl and refrigerate until serving. Add cilantro just before serving.
Video
Notes
- Love tang? Use extra lime!
- Not a spice fan? Remove the seeds from the jalapenos beforehand.
- No fresh jalapeno? Use jarred! (I almost always do!)
- Switch things up: Use fire roasted tomatoes or add a teaspoon of cumin for a slightly smoky flavor.
Nutrition
This Farm Girl Cooks is not a dietician or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. If calorie count and other nutritional values are important to you, we recommend running the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories and other nutritional values can vary quite a bit depending on which brands were used.
Still here? I have jokes!
So I attended a salsa class today...
The instructor says to everyone: "Alright folks, who's ready to learn how to dance??"
I realized that there was a misunderstanding, and ran off with my bag of tortilla chips....
Lyssa
OMGOODNESS!!! You seriously crack me up!!! Like I am dying, laughing out loud, you know the whole “lol”!! Where in the world are all of the comments that you deserve for each of your amazing, super fast, very easy for anyone to create with typical grocery store ingredients, nothing crazy, and they’re so good!! Why are people not sharing the love with you, it makes me sad..
I’m going to share a story with you, one that will likely put you to sleep, you should probably read it later, but anyway…
It’s approximately 4:30 am. I still need to go to bed/sleep, hopefully I can still make some sense at this point!
I’m assuming that your men, possibly even YOU, are already up and rollin’ hot for the day. I know how those Farmers (Sotheby’s Women) work, I would absolutely DIE!!! I spent a summer on a farm in KS, helping with the meals (eating wayyyy too much food!!) We had bakery fresh donuts on the counter every morning (I honestly have NO IDEA where they came from), we were in Moscow, KS, it seemed like the closest town was at least a few hours away!! Probably not even close, but we were in THE STICKS, at least compared to my normal life and I didn’t even live in a big city. Who or where the donut delivery, original bakers/donut makers came from, it will always be a mystery to me. All of the people (all 3) who I spent my summer with have moved on to that beautiful, perfect, green field in the sky, the one that never requires planting or harvesting, no Combines, just perfection, always.
Along with the perfect donuts that tasted like puffy clouds of pure Heaven, we also had an evening meal EVERY NIGHT that seemed fit for Royalty in my little mind! I had never seen so much food on one “Family Dining Table” in my entire life!! It was like Thanksgiving & Christmas dinner all rolled up into one big meal every night (and we had HUGE HOLIDAY MEALS WITH 25+ people every holiday, I definitely knew all about LARGE MEALS!!), but this was EVERY SINGLE NIGHT!!! There was no end to the amount of servings available either, you could eat to your hearts content and the food would just continue to appear, right before your eyes, just like magic!! (Unfortunately, that pure magic ended up being a magical tonnage of weight, like TONS of weight, that little Lyssa gained in a very small amount of time, and ever since returning from that incredible smorgasbord summer I have fought the fight of fat my entire life. I can’t blame it on that, it’s self inflicted, but it certainly didn’t help, having zero limitations and massive amounts of incredible food right in front of me at all times, along with absolutely nothing to do with my time for the most part. It was a recipe for disaster. Trust me though, I definitely know incredible food when I find it, no question about that!!
ANYWAY, I went off the beaten golden road there a bit!! I just wanted to say that I think your jokes are hilarious, even if corny, what should we expect, you’re a farmer for crying out loud!!! Haha
Sometimes it’s your “tractor/field” worthy/approved meals that just keep me laughing more than anything though! I LOVE THEM and if I haven’t tried them they sound excellent! However, the farmers/workers we fed, there were about 3-6 depending on the day/time, they would have chucked that Chicken Salad Wrap right back out the window or door of the tractor!! They NEVER WOULD HAVE SETTLED FOR ANY WOMAN FOOD LIKE THAT!! Haha I suppose now we would say, “ take it or be hungry”, it definitely did NOT work like that back in the day though. I won’t say how long ago “back in the day” was, but let’s just say that I’m probably close to putting a “4” in front of what my age was at that time, sooo it has been A WHILE!! It’s amazing how well I can remember so much of it, such bright, bold, clear pictures in my mind of my summer on the farm. What a time I had… Please don’t ask me about yesterday though, and for all the love in the world PLEASE don’t ask me about last week, UUUGHHHH.. That would be terrifying, like a lie detector test, I really just have no idea at all…
PLEASE KEEP ON BRINGING THE GREAT, QUICK RECIPES THAT WE/I LOVE, and for all you chicks/dudes who are making these dishes and not commenting, GET BUSY AND SHARE YOUR LOVE WITH OUR GIRL!!!
Much love, many blessings and so many thanks for everything that you do!! Lyssa in CO 💜