Fresh Homemade Salsa Recipe : Secrets for the Best Fresh Salsa
The greatness of a batch of fresh salsa has more to do with a host of little considerations than the recipe itself. Yes, there’s a foundational recipe to build from, but the little decisions you make along the way are what will make the biggest difference. I’m excited to share my difference-making tips here and hope that maybe some of these can make it into your own fresh salsa-making process. Feel free to add your own recommendations and experiences in the comments section below.
The Recipe
I’ve never made the same batch twice because there are too many variables that are likely to change every time I get the hankering for my favorite snack — what’s available in my garden, my spice muse of the moment, the latest crazy idea I’ve been wanting to play around with, etc. Regardless, there’s a basic recipe that serves as a foundation for my fresh salsa:
This recipe should be adjusted according to what you dig — your preferred tomatoes, your preferred pepper heat level, etc.
Garden-grown varieties provide better flavor than store-bought tomatoes.
The Tomatoes
Varieties
I prefer cherry-sized tomatoes that are sweet. The tastier varieties don’t have a very long shelf life, so you won’t necessarily see them at standard grocery outlets. Organic Sweetie, Organic Gold Nugget, Sungold, Sweet 100, Black Cherry, Sun Sugar… there are literally dozens of cherry varieties waiting for you to grow and experiment with. Roma-type varieties are commonly used in fresh salsa because they have more girth than juice — they’re just not as tasty.
Top row L-R: Sunrise Bumblebee Cherry, San Marzano, tomatillo. Bottom row L-R: Indigo Rose Cherry, Sungold, Sweet 100.
Thickness and Flavor
Don’t just pick the ripest cherry tomatoes from your garden or local farmer’s market. Ripeness is good for flavor, but you should aim for a balance between ripeness and girthy thickness. Your ripe tomatoes will be extremely juicy, so you’ll need some not-quite-as-ripe tomatoes to give your batch some chunkiness. Either that or balance the ripe juiciness with tomatillos (almost all chunk) and thicker Romas.
Other Ingredients
Onions
I only use good ol’ boring white onions. I’ve tried them all, too. There’s something about the simple bite of white onion flavor that does the trick.
Lime juice
Standard (Persian) limes are fine. I enjoy the extra citrus oomph of key limes but find they’re not worth the extra work, as juicing them is more labor-intensive due to their size and seeds. And of course, I keep one of those plastic lime-shaped containers of lime juice in the fridge as a backup. Fresh is better, but there are always those times when a backup comes in handy.
Go fresh or go home.
Fresh Cilantro
We’ve all read about the genetic predisposition some people have with cilantro, making them either love it or hate it. I, for one, love it, and can’t imagine making fresh salsa without a lot of it. I stopped growing it myself because it goes to seed so quickly and I’m not organized enough to manage a long window of availability. My local co-op always has fresh cilantro that isn’t too expensive, so it’s easy enough to buy it there. I grew my own papalo for a few years and would sub that for cilantro just for variety’s sake every now and then, but rarely did anyone prefer that over real-deal cilantro. The cilantro for fresh salsa must absolutely be fresh, by the way. Dried cilantro just doesn’t work for fresh salsa.
Rock star.
Cumin
This is the rock star of the spice set for fresh salsa. It’s harsh when you do the sniff test, but blends nicely with all the other ingredients. I tend to push it with this spice, to be honest with you. I’ve never taken a bite of fresh salsa and thought it had too much cumin!
Other Herbs and Spices
Your own personality and biases should dictate the array of other herbs and spices in your fresh salsa. My must-haves include smoked paprika, alder-smoked salt and fresh-ground pepper. I’ll often use Simply Organic Adobo Seasoning, Frontier Organic Pepperman and Simply Organic All-Purpose Seasoning. Recent experiments that turned out great have included a Japanese shichimi 7-spice blend, ground Turkish Urfa peppers, fresh-ground cobanero peppers and Simply Organic Spice Right Peppercorn Ranch.
Consider letting your peppers soften before chopping. Each of these was picked a day apart.
Fresh Peppers for Heat
I tend to use jalapenos, serranos and habaneros because they’re easy to grow and tend to produce a lot. I purposely let my fresh peppers sit on the counter for a few days to soften. I don’t deseed them or remove the inner membranes.
Other Peppers for Flavor
Not a must, but I’ll definitely add some fresh sweet peppers if some are available. Cubanelles are particularly good for salsa. Banana peppers are good, too. I devein and deseed these. I also let them soften on the counter for a few days.
Other Stuff
A spoonful or three of tomato sauce can help bring the thickness, color and deeper tang that some people look for in salsa. Yes, this is cheating, but the results are impressive. (And, it’s not so much cheating if you make the sauce yourself!)
Some folks also like to experiment with bits of pineapple, mango and other sweet fruits. Garlic is something some people like in their salsa, but I’m not one of them. I love garlic but I don’t think it harmonizes well with salsa ingredients. If anything, just a little bit of garlic from a spice blend like Adobo or Frontier Pepperman can add some zest, but I try to be careful. Garlic can dominate your salsa pretty quickly.
The Process
Chopping Tomatoes
I won’t attempt to make fresh salsa without a pulse chopper. I’ve found that fancy processors overdo it and hand chopping is impossible because of the juice. A little pulse chopper allows you to push-push-puuuush the button in a way that controls what you’re doing. If you simply puuuuuuuush the button too long you’ll get all liquid. The quick little preliminary pushes allow you to chop things up a bit and spread things out. Watch closely. Open the lid and stir things around between little chops if you need to. You’ll know when you get it just right.
Chopping Onions
My pulse chopper does a pretty good job with onions if I slice them into little wedges first. If you get lazy and put big chunks in there you’ll have to hold the button down too long to get those last big chunks that are bouncing around, and then most of what’s in there will be almost liquid.
Chopping Fresh Cilantro and Peppers
Consider chopping your cilantro leaves by hand on a cutting board (after destemming them – see below) to ensure that each little bit of chopped leaf is ready to release its awesome flavor upon being bitten into. The velocity of a chopping blade can turn fresh cilantro into bruised mush if you’re not careful. However, if you must use a chopper, put the cilantro leaves in first and the pre-sliced peppers on top. The pepper chunks are small but weighty enough to ensure that all your cilantro gets chopped and doesn’t just do a full leaf fly-up and get stuck to the lid.
Destemming Cilantro
This critical process is a good task for any helpers who are in the kitchen with you. Fresh cilantro stems are a bit grassy. To remove the leaves from them, just pull the stems quickly through a little three-finger grip you can make with your other hand. You’ll need to apply just the right amount of pressure, tightening the hole like the aperture of a camera. It only takes a few practice zips to get this down.
The Wait
You’ll need to taste your salsa as you make it, of course, adjusting for whatever heat and zip you’re feeling, but remember that your fresh batch will be even better after a quick 30-minute chill in the fridge. I do this chill with no lid so onion vapors can escape — otherwise, the batch can taste a little too oniony. I find that a fresh batch is sometimes even better the next day, giving your ingredients a chance to mix and mingle while partying all night.
Fresh salsa is best enjoyed as seasonal fare.
Fresh Is Best
Canned salsa is a fun and thrifty venture, but nowhere near as tasty. Fresh salsa is the perfect summer snack that you can make well into the fall, too. Sure, you can make it with completely store-bought ingredients during the offseason, but it just isn’t the same. My advice: when your garden and your local farmer’s markets are in full swing, make a lot of fresh salsa and share it. Henry Ford is quoted as saying, “If you chop your own wood, it will warm you twice.” Fresh salsa has that beat. When you make, eat and share your own fresh salsa, it will warm you thrice.
