Restaurant Style Salsa is inexpensive and a cinch to make at home. Learn the ingredient I use to make it taste just like a restaurant's!
“This salsa is AMAZING!! It is so simple to make and is so much better than store bought. Everyone that has tried it requests the recipe!”
I’m about to share with you one of the greatest restaurant hacks of all time: making homemade, restaurant-style salsa is not only easy and inexpensive, but it’s BEST made with canned tomatoes.
While fresh tomatoes make great pico de gallo, you gotta go with canned tomatoes if you want that true restaurant salsa flavor.
You heard it here first, folks!
Watch How to Make It
Homemade Restaurant-Style Salsa
I’ve been making this homemade salsa recipe since college, which is when I found out that canned tomatoes are the secret to the addictive-deliciousness of restaurant style salsa (ie, I begged the waiter at Carlos O’Kelly’s to tell me how they make their salsa. SO GOOD!)
Of course I occasionally slack and buy salsa at the store, but this recipe gives you the restaurant experience at home, and takes just a few minutes to make.
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- Inexpensive: the recipe for Restaurant Style Salsa makes 4 cups of salsa for under $5. That said, its very economical and great for serving at parties and get togethers.
- Long-lasting: homemade salsa will last up to 2 weeks in the fridge. While I don’t have experience canning, I know enough to confidently say this recipe would can well.
- Quick & easy: I use my 14 cup food processor to whip this salsa up in just a few minutes, though a blender would most likely work well too.
- Customize the spice: as written, my recipe is mild on the spice scale, but feel free to leave the seeds in the jalapeno to increase the spice level, and/or experiment with adding different kinds of chili peppers.
How to Make Restaurant Style Salsa
There’s just one step involved in this recipe – throw a bunch of ingredients into the bowl of a food processor then pulse – woo!
We’ve got canned whole peeled tomatoes, red onion (white onion works great too), fresh cilantro, fresh garlic, jalapeno, salt, sugar, and fresh lime juice.
NOTE: if your canned tomatoes contain sugar in the ingredient list then omit the sugar in the recipe.
Pulse the ingredients until you reach your desired consistency then taste and add more salt and/or lime juice if necessary.
That said, this salsa is best eaten 24 hours or more after making, so the flavors have time to meld, and so I like to adjust the seasonings just before serving the day after making.
Scoop the salsa into a 4 cup mason jar or bowl with a tight fitting lid then refrigerate for 24 hours to let the flavors really meld before digging in. The salsa will stay fresh in the refrigerator for 1-2 weeks, though mine never ever sticks around that long.
I hope you love this EASY restaurant style salsa at home! Enjoy!
Serve Restaurant Style Salsa with these Recipes:
- Beef Enchiladas
- Cheese Enchiladas with Red Sauce
- Homemade Crunchy Taco Hamburger Helper
- Easy Chicken Enchiladas
- Chicken Fajitas
- Creamy Pinto Beans
- Cheesy Chicken Burrito Skillet
- Restaurant-Style Ground Beef
Equipment
Ingredients
- 28 oz can whole peeled tomatoes, undrained
- 1/2 red or white onion, roughly chopped
- 1 handful cilantro leaves, roughly chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
- 1 jalapeno, seeded and roughly chopped (leave in seeds for a spicier salsa)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 lime
- 1 teaspoon sugar*
Directions
- Add ingredients — whole tomatoes through salt — to a food processor. Add the juice of half a lime, plus the sugar if your canned tomatoes do not contain sugar. If sugar is listed as an ingredient on your canned tomatoes, omit the sugar.
- Pulse ingredients until desired consistency is reached then taste and add more lime juice and/or salt if necessary. Refrigerate overnight for best results then serve.
Notes
- This salsa is mild as written with 1 seeded jalapeno.
- This recipe makes ~4 cups of salsa.
Nutrition
Nutritional values are estimates only. Please read our full nutrition information disclaimer.
I’ve been using this recipe for over a year now. We really like it, use it often, and have sent it to others who asked for it. Thanks.
OKAY YUM. I’ve never made homemade salsa before, but recently got a Ninja kitchen system that has the food processor attachment… because tax return, duh! This recipe was super quick easy and delicious. Mine turned out identical to Carlos O’ Kelly’s and I’m very happy with that. Definitely saving this as my go-to! Boyfriend loves it too. Thank you fellow Iowa girl! ;)
Yesss, exactly the flavor I was going for – so glad you loved it!
This is undoubtedly the best salsa ever! I followed the recipe exactly and it’s perfect! Thanks!
Is this the recipe from Carlos? I love their salsa!
It tastes like Carols o Kelley’s to me!
This salsa is great on it’s own, and also makes a fantastic base. Being from Texas I’ve made multiple variations with roasted tomatoes, jalapenos, anaheims, and chipotle and they’ve all been great. Thank you so much for sharing!
I just made this and it does not look even look close to the pictures shown. It looks kinda pinkish. I used a blender because I don’t own a food processor. We will find out tomorrow if it tastes good at all.
A blender incorporates air into whatever you’re making so the tomatoes will turn pink as a result.
Hi. this is easy and delicious. I like controlling my ingredients. Thank you!
Would this recipe be applicable for canning? I think I’ve read that as long as it has lime/lemon juice or vinegar that it can be canned?
Hi Chelsea! Unfortunately I know next to nothing about canning so I can’t be sure. Does anyone else have experience they could help Chelsea with?
I hate cilantro…could you suggest another herb? Eager to make this
I LOVE homemade salsa! I have a recipe I like, but this one looks really good, I think I’ll have to give it a try! Question, I have s two-person household, so we would never go through that much salsa that quickly. Could it be frozen?
This looks seriously delicious.
Any tips in making peach salsa? I love newmans peach salsa but would love to have a homemade recipe
That looks amazing, so much better than store bought salsa. The printable reference/recipe card makes it so easy to get it cooked, without ruining my iPad.