Five ingredient, California style salsa that takes five minutes to make? A mild, yet flavorful salsa that tastes like the stuff they serve at Chili’s?
Don’t mind if I do!
The truth about homemade salsa
Every week we buy a jar or two of salsa. It’s good for snacking and smothering on most things; salsa is THE BEST.
But here’s the deal:
There’s really nothing that compares to homemade salsa.
- Fresh ingredients.
- No added colors, flavors or preservatives.
- Pound for pound, much cheaper than store-bought.
And while there are dozens of salsas worth making at home, this one is where you should start.
It’s five ingredient California salsa. Simple and easy but tastes complex and fancy.
Yes, it is a great Vitamix recipe, especially since the major influence is the California salsa recipe on the Vitamix site. But you can make it with any food processing tool.
The downside to homemade salsa is that it wont’ last as long as store-bought. You can keep for up to a week in the refrigerator.
You don’t need to make this California salsa every week. But you should go make a batch right now!
(Pictured in the background above is our Vitamix Pro 750, the one that lives on our counter and gets used every day.)
Other Noteworthy Versions
- Vitamix Corp Recipes: California salsa
- KitchAnnette: Red pepper tomato salsa
Recipe
5-ingredient California salsa
Fresh, mild, salsa that's easy, healthy and quick.
Cilantro, Jalapeno, Lime, Onion, Tomatoes,Ingredients:
- roma tomatoes - 6 whole
- yellow onion - 1/2 whole
- jalapeno - 1 whole, seeded
- cilantro (fresh) - 1/2 cup (25 g)
- lime - 1 whole, peeled
- salt - 1 tsp. (6 g) or more to taste
Instructions:
PREP:
- Seed the jalapeno.
- Peel the lime.
- Cut all ingredients into quarters.
BLEND
- Add everything except four of the tomatoes.
- Blend on variable speed five for 15 seconds. (Use the tamper to get everything started, if necessary.)
- Stop blending.
- Add final four tomatoes to the container.
- Blend on variable speed 2 for 5 seconds.
Complement this with a batch of our famous queso and have a lovely fiesta.
Useful tips for 5-ingredient California salsa
Blend in two phases. Use the second phase to get the varying consistency and larger slices of tomato.
However many you can hold in a hand, consider that one tomato. So six handfuls đź‘Ť
You can also grill the tomatoes (and tomatillos) and peppers for a smokier flavor. That can be done on a BBQ grill, smoker, pellet grill or even in the kitchen on a cast iron pan.
Love this. Sounds like it’d end up like our other salsa, Zvi’s: https://lifeisnoyoke.com/zvis-smoky-salsa/
This was tasty but I didn’t peel my line enough, the white parts are chunky and very bitter, but otherwise, it’s so good and has nice heat.
I’ve made this twice, but I feel like the 1 Tablespoon of salt is way too much. I toned it down to 1 teaspoon and it was perfect!
Thank you for the recipe!
I think you’re right, actually. I’m going to change the recipe to one tsp and more to taste. Thanks Jeannette!
Delicious! Be sure to cut all the white part of the lime rind off.
Ugh, cilantro has ruined more homemade salsa for me than I care to remember. Most recipes use way too much and it’s all I can taste.
No worries — you can always skip it. We’re very familiar with the cilantro issue. It’s so polarizing
I agree! I use parsley in recipes instead of cilantro.
I have a cilantro allergy (unknown to some) it makes it taste like soap to me.
Remember: You can always add more hot peppers. (But you can’t remove them.) Start slowly, and use just the flesh, first. Seeds carry most of the fire, so add those as needed. 🙂
I’ve got a huge bumper crop of baby tomatoes… Any recommendations on how to adjust?