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.
LOVE this recipe! I make it all the time now for us and the neighbors! Minnesota loves your salsa! Thanks to my neighbor just a little bit south :0)
THRILLED to hear this, Denise! Thank you so much for your feedback!
Wondering if I can use tomatoes from my garden for this recipe?
Hi Amy! You CAN but believe it or not, fresh tomatoes have less flavor in this salsa vs canned. The salsa will taste a little bland and watery, but of course it’ll still be good. Just more pico de gallo flavor vs a robust restaurant-style salsa flavor.
This is our absolute favorite salsa recipe and is perfect as is! Sometimes we add 1/2 tsp. of cumin for a little different flavor! We also use no salt tomatoes and the result is perfect every time!
Thanks for another great recipe!
So, so glad this is a go-to for you, Wendy, and that you’ve really made it your own. Thank you so much for your feedback and recipe rating!
I love salsa, but am cooking for one (me) and probably won’t go through a quart of it in 2 weeks. Will this recipe freeze well? Or should I just halve the ingredients?
Totally get it! Freezing salsa tends to mute the flavors of the fresh ingredients, so I would halve this recipe. :) Good question!
Can this be canned? If so how?
Hi Stephanie! I don’t know enough about canning to be able to say if this is a good recipe to be canned or not. I’m sorry I can’t help more in this area!
I found I’m getting a bitter aftertaste, is it possible too much lime? Could I counteract with sugar?
Hi Rachel! What brand of canned tomatoes did you use? I ask because lower quality canned tomatoes (I say that with zero intent of snobbiness, I promise!!) can taste “tinny”. You can add more sugar and/or a pinch of baking soda!
I made the recipe a few weeks ago and my family said it was the BEST salsa they ever had. I am making it again tonight for my daughter’s graduation party. I am sure it will be a big hit.
I did add an extra jalapeño and seeds for a little kick.
Oh my gosh, I’m so so thrilled to hear that, Courtney! Thank you so much for your feedback and recipe rating!
I make this salsa recipe on repeat!!!!! It’s by far the best recipe, and it’s easy to customize. Thank you IGE!!!
I’m so, so glad to hear it!! Thank you so much for your feedback and recipe rating!
Really good! I followed it perfectly and it was so good. :)
Fantastic! So glad you loved it, Haya!
This is the best salsa recipe I have found so far. If you like a super thin salsa then use a blender, but to get it like it was in the picture a food processor is the way to go. I also added 2 jalapeños because the ones in my area tend to not be as spicy. Also if you love garlic dont be afraid to double the amount called for. I have also found that using everything fresh (Specifically garlic) there is definitely more flavor.
I’m so glad you loved this recipe, Hayley! Thank you so much for your feedback and recipe rating!
I wonder how this works out with frozen tomatoes. I usually just throw my garden tomatoes in my freezer whole. When I use them, I defrost and slide the skin off and use in place of canned tomatoes. The salsa might be a little watery, but I think I’ll try!
It feels strange to feel passionately about this, lol, but I strongly suggest against using fresh or frozen-fresh tomatoes in this salsa. The flavor is really muted when using fresh vs canned!
This recipe is amazing! Two things:
1) Definitely drain the tomatoes, salsa is plenty liquidy without the extra water.
2) Add 1/2 tsp each of chipotle powder and ancho chili powder to give it some extra heat and smoke. Happy dipping!
I’m so glad you loved this recipe, Mike – love the addition of the chili powders!! I do recommend not draining the tomatoes though to reach the consistency of salsa in these photos! That said I believe salsa consistency is truly a personal preference so drain if you want a thicker salsa!
I have searched for the past 4 or 5 years for a GOOD salsa. I didn’t care if it was store bought, home canned or homemade and this is the winner!!
Thank you for sharing the recipe.