Last Chance for the Best Fresh Tomato Salsa

There’s really nothing to making fresh tomato salsa, also known as pico de gallo.

You can make it any time you have good-quality fresh tomatoes. But the best time of year is to make it right now with the last-of-the-season vine-ripened tomatoes.

And if you have more tomatoes than you need right now, check out my post 7 Ways to Make the Most of Tomato Season.

I still have my notes from making this fresh tomato salsa in a restaurant in Mexico. It was the best way to learn vocabulary and life cooking skills.

A Way to Focus & Learn to Dice

Because even when things feel haywire and making dinner feels like too much, a simple fresh tomato salsa focuses my attention on a simple task. And that task opens my mind up to the possibilities for dinner.

It all starts with those ripe tomatoes I plucked from my garden. I use my sharpest knife to slice them cleanly. Then I flip the slices on their sides to make an even dice.

I do not cut the onion directly in my hand the way Gonzalo did, but I do make sure to dice the onion evenly. And if you’ve ever wanted to practice getting a good dice, here’s how to chop an onion.

Make Your Fresh Salsa To Taste

After you add the garlic, chile pepper, lime and salt comes the all-important taste testing. Add more lime and salt until it tastes just right to you. {Warning, if you taste test with tortilla chips, their salt can throw off your calibrations.}

For me, one serrano pepper adds just the right amount of heat. By all means, use your favorite fresh chile pepper variety and up the heat to the level you like best.

Serve your best fresh tomato salsa right after you make it. The tomatoes will quickly release their juices, so it will become pretty soupy if you wait.

With a batch of fresh tomato salsa {essentially a salad}, you could just add a pile of chips {bonus points if you make your own tortilla chips}.

Fresh salsa balances out a carefree dinner of sheet pan nachos or quesadillas.

A fresh batch is also a great excuse for beef, fish, pork or sweet potato tacos. Or use fresh tomato salsa to top a frittata, strata or scrambled eggs.

Print

Fresh Tomato Salsa

This is a no recipe sort of recipe. The key is to dice the tomatoes and the onions evenly. (It's a ripe opportunity to sharpen your knives.) Then, trust you own taste to adjust the heat, lime juice and salt to your liking.

Course Appetizer, Main Course

Cuisine Mexican

Keyword fresh tomato salsa

Prep Time 10 minutes

Servings 4 cups

Ingredients

• 3 medium ripe tomatoes, diced
• 1 medium white onion, diced
• 1 serrano or small jalapeno pepper, seeded and finely minced or more to taste
• 1 garlic clove, finely minced
• 1/2 cup chopped cilantro
• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
• Sea salt to taste

Instructions

• Toss the tomatoes, onion, pepper, garlic and cilantro together in a mixing bowl. Add the lime juice and salt, stir and taste, adding more lime juice and salt until you’re completely satisfied.

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