Description
Easy fresh grape tomato salsa recipe (AKA pico de gallo). Enjoy it with tortilla chips for dipping, on top of eggs, on chicken, on bowls, or with Mexican inspired dishes. So fresh, so tasty!
Ingredients
Units
Scale
- 4 cups (about 2 pounds) grape tomatoes
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt (to “drain” the tomatoes)
- 1/2 red onion, finely diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 to 2 jalapenos, minced (remove seeds for less heat)
- 1 cup cilantro, leaves, and tender stems, chopped
- Juice of 1 lime
- 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
For serving
- tortilla chips
Instructions
- Cut the tomatoes: Use a serrated knife to slice the tomatoes in half and then slice each half into smaller pieces. This is a chunky salsa, so no need for a super tiny dice. Here is my trick for quickly slicing tomatoes (see photos in the post): use 2 clean plastic lids from something like a store-bought yogurt container, that are the same size. Place as many tomatoes as you can, in one even layer, onto one lid that has the lip facing up. Place the other lid, lip facing down on top of the tomatoes. Use one hand to hold the lid down. Use the other hand to use the serrated knife to slice in between the two lids. And just like that you sliced a bunch of tomatoes in half at once! From you here you can then slice the tomatoes into smaller pieces.
- “Drain” the tomatoes: Fit a fine mesh strainer over top of a mixing bowl. Transfer the cut tomatoes to the fine mesh strainer. Add the 1/2 teaspoon of salt, give the tomatoes a little toss. Allow the tomatoes to sit for 15 minutes. This will help the excess liquid to drain from the tomatoes so that we have a less watery salsa.
- Prepare the remaining ingredients: While the tomatoes are draining. Chop the red onion, garlic, jalapenos, and cilantro. Place them into a large mixing bowl and add the lime juice.
- Finish: After the tomatoes have drained, discard the tomato liquid in the bottom of the bowl. Add the tomatoes to the larger bowl with the remaining ingredients. Add the 3/4 teaspoon of salt and gently toss to combine.
- Chill: Cover and chill the salsa for at least 2 to 3 hours. It’s really best if the salsa is nice and chilled, it brings out all the flavors.
- To serve: Serve chilled, with tortilla chips, for dipping. Or serve it on top of chicken, tacos, in burritos, on top of eggs, etc. Recipe ideas to serve it with: easy chicken enchilada casserole, sofritas burrito bowls, 30 minute sheet pan chicken fajitas.
Notes
Salt: It may seem like there is a lot of salt in this recipe, but most of the salt that we use to “drain” the tomatoes gets discarded with the tomato water.
Jalapenos: You can omit the jalapenos completely, if desired. However, keep in mind that most of the heat lives in the seeds and the ribs, so if you want a really mild heat just make sure to remove the seeds of the jalapeno.
Leftovers: Leftovers will keep int he fridge for up to 3 days.
