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holding triangle tortilla chip with homemade salsa on tip of chip

Quick and Easy Homemade Salsa

Yield: 8 servings
Prep Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients

  • ½ bunch cilantro (about 1/2 cup packed - see note)
  • 1 jalapeño pepper, stem and seeds removed (leave seeds if you want more heat)
  • ¼ of a medium red onion
  • ½ to 1 teaspoon minced garlic (about 2-3 cloves)
  • 2 cans (15-ounces each) regular or fire-roasted diced tomatoes, well-drained
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon sugar (optional, but I like how it balances the flavors)
  • 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

Instructions 

  • Add the cilantro, jalapeño, red onion and garlic to a food processor (see note for blender). Pulse until the ingredients are finely chopped.
  • Add the tomatoes, salt and lime juice. Pulse until the salsa reaches desired consistency. I tend to like the tomatoes finely chopped, but you can leave it chunkier.
  • Add additional salt and lime juice to taste, if needed (important!). Serve immediately or refrigerate for up to a week. Extra liquid can be drained off before serving, if desired.

Notes

Cilantro: I don't usually measure this exactly, I just grab half of the cilantro bunch by the leafy ends and twist off the top part, leaving most of the stems. I throw the leafy bunch into the food processor.
Red Onion: 1/4 of a medium onion equates to about a 2- or 3-inch piece of onion. Use more or less to taste.
Blender: I haven't tried this with a blender, but I *think* it should work. The trickiest part will be chopping up the cilantro, onion, and garlic in the first step. If your blender may struggle with that step, finely chop those ingredients before adding them to the blender with the tomatoes, salt and lime juice. Then use the blender to pulse all the ingredients until desired consistency is reached.