Easy Restaurant Style Salsa

This Easy Restaurant-Style Salsa takes just 5 minutes to throw together! It can be made year-round with canned tomatoes and customized to your liking!

Why use canned tomatoes when making salsa?

It’s totally a preference, but there’s a few reasons to use canned tomatoes for homemade salsa. First, you can make this year-round since canned tomatoes are preserved at their freshest. Second, it’s so much easier to use a can of fire roasted tomatoes instead of cutting and roasting your own. If you want more information about canned vs. fresh, you can click here for some great info!

So let’s get right to making the salsa…it’s so easy and everything gets thrown (ok gently placed) in a food processor or blender and it’s ready in just a few minutes!

What is restaurant style salsa?

Well, its much less “chunky” than jarred salsa. Restaurant style salsa is smoother and ensures that every bite incorporates small bits of each yummy ingredient!

Ingredients for Restaurant Style Salsa:

• 1 can of fire-roasted diced tomatoes (14.5 ounce)
• 3 large garlic cloves
• 1/2 a small red onion
• 1 jalapeño pepper (seeds and membranes removed-optional)
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 handful of fresh cilantro (about 1/2 cup)
• Juice from 1 small lime

I don’t like to bite into large chunks of onion, garlic, or jalapeño in the salsa so I add those to the food processor first and pulse them a few times to ensure they are broken down before I add in the rest of the ingredients.

Once you’ve broken down the firmer vegetables, you can add in the rest of the ingredients.

Pulse the processor or blender just a few more times until you reach the consistency you prefer and you’re done! And there you have it…super easy, restaurant style salsa in just a few minutes at home!

If you want to try more of our favorite dipping sauces, make sure to try this creamy avocado salsa or this crazy popular guacamole recipe! This salsa is also amazing on these easy chicken nachos.

If you love this salsa or have any questions, feel free to leave a comment below!

Print Recipe

5 from 6 votes

Easy Restaurant Style Salsa

Prep Time5 mins

Course: Appetizer, Side Dish

Cuisine: American, Mexican

Servings: 2 cups

Author: Coco and Ash

Equipment

• Food processor or blender

Ingredients

• 1 can of fire-roasted diced tomatoes (14.5 ounce)
• 3 large garlic cloves
• 1/2 of a small red onion (peeled and cut into a few large chunks)
• 1 jalapeño pepper (seeds and membranes removed-optional)
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 handful of fresh cilantro (about 1/2 cup)
• Juice from 1 small lime

Instructions

• Add the garlic, onion, and jalapeño to the food processor or blender and pulse a few times to break up the large chunks.
• Add in the remaining ingredients and blend until you reach your desired consistency.
• Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.

Notes

Options:

For a mild salsa: just leave out the entire jalapeño or try adding just half.

For extra spice: use the whole jalapeño including seeds and membranes. 

For a thicker salsa, drain the can of tomatoes before adding.

For those who hate cilantro: just skip it 🙂 

If you would like to use fresh tomatoes when they are in season: I would suggest using roma tomatoes. Just use a spoon to scoop out the seeds to prevent the salsa from being too pink and watery