This fresh tomato salsa is a Chipotle copycat recipe that could not be easier to make at home. Fresh produce and minimal ingredients make for the most delicious, bright salsa that is perfect for dipping tortilla chips, or serving on homemade flautas or bang bang chicken tacos. Skip the chipotle line, and no need to pay for extra chips, here!
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🍅What Is Chipotle's Fresh Tomato Salsa
Chipotle's fresh tomato salsa is another name for what is traditionally known as pico de gallo. Pico de gallo literally translates to 'beak of the rooster', but more commonly refers to a simple, raw salsa made with fresh ingredients.
Pico de gallo generally has a standard base recipe of tomatoes, onion, lime and cilantro. You may find some variations add serrano or jalapeño peppers for a little bit of a kick.
👩🏽🍳Why This Recipe Works
No fancy ingredients required: This zesty pico de gallo does not require any fancy ingredients! Packed with fresh produce and citrus notes, this salsa doesn't need much else, except for tortilla chips of course.
Quick and convenient to prepare: This is a chop and drop kind of dish. Fire roasted salsas, or blended salsas are delicious, but sometimes you want a no effort kind of recipe. This fresh tomato salsa is exactly what you need. The best part is that it tastes great right away, but gets better as it sits.
Health-conscious recipe: With no added oils or sugars, this salsa is packed with fresh vegetables. It does not get healthier than that!
Just like the restaurant version: This salsa tastes just as fresh and delicious as the Chipotle restaurant version. If you're into restaurant-style salsas, you'll want to try my chile corn salsa, and roasted tomato chipotle salsa, too! If you are looking for a restaurant-style cocktail to serve with this salsa, homemade micheladas and blue margaritas are at the top of my list!
🥘Ingredients
- Vine-ripe tomatoes: Tomatoes are the star of this salsa, so you want to try and get your hands on ripe tomatoes that are not mealy or mushy on the inside. I do not recommend using smaller tomatoes, such as grape or cherry tomatoes. They are hard to de-seed, and will change the overall texture and feel of the salsa.
- Onion: Red onions are the best option for this salsa, as that is what is used in the Chipotle version. The key is to try and chop the onion as finely as possible, so you do not have overpowering pieces of onion throughout the salsa.
- Lime juice and zest: Because this salsa has so few ingredients, I highly recommend using fresh limes. You will want to use both lime juice and zest, for an extra hint of bright, citrus flavour.
- Cilantro: Cilantro is a key ingredient to pico de gallo, and chipotle's fresh tomato salsa. If you really enjoy the flavour of cilantro, I encourage you to finely chop the stems as well. There is a ton of flavour in the stems, and it also means less waste!
A full list of ingredients with measurements is located on the recipe card, below.
📖Substitutions
- Vine-ripe tomatoes: You can use roma tomatoes or hot house tomatoes, depending on what you have on hand or what is ripe at the grocery store. Any large tomato will work for this salsa.
- Red onion: White onion can be used in place of red onion. I do not recommend using regular yellow cooking onions, as they are quite pungent when they are used raw.
- Fresh limes: If you are in a pinch, you can use bottled lime juice. Fresh is definitely best for a salsa like this, as there are so few ingredients. You will also miss out on the zest from fresh limes.
- Cilantro: If you do not like cilantro, you can leave it out completely. This salsa is delicious without cilantro too!
🔪Variations
- Spicy: If you like a little bit of spice in your salsa, finely chop some serrano or jalapeño pepper and mix into the salsa.
- Fruity: Chopped mango or pineapple make a delicious, sweet addition to many salsas. If you are making this in the summer and fruit is in season, this is a great way to incorporate it.
- Avocado: Carefully stir in chunks of ripe avocado to make a pico de gallo and guacamole mix.
⏲️ Step-by-Step Instructions
Prep Work Before Cooking
Collecting all your ingredients - This will make cooking so much easier. Gather all the spices you will need, and keep them nearby.
Finely chop the cilantro - Finely chop the cilantro so that it distributes evenly into the salsa. Set aside.
Cut the tomatoes in half. Using a spoon, remove the seeds from the tomatoes. It is often helpful to make a cut to loosen the flesh before scooping out the seeds. [photo 1]
Once the seeds are removed from the tomatoes, dice the onions and tomatoes in the uniform-sized pieces. Add to a large mixing bowl, with the chopped cilantro. [photo 2]
Zest and juice the limes into the mixing bowl, and combine. [photos 3 & 4]
Finish the salsa with salt to your taste, and serve.
💭 Expert Tips
Choose firm tomatoes: Firm tomatoes will hold their shape and texture in a salsa. Softer tomatoes usually are mealy and mushy on the inside, which is not the best for a fresh tomato salsa.
Salt at the last minute: Salt brings out water and moisture from produce. To keep the salsa as fresh as possible, salt the salsa right before serving to avoid a watery salsa. This is especially important if you are chopping the vegetables ahead of time.
If your onions are too strong or bitter: Soak the onions in a bowl of cold water for 5-10 minutes before adding them to the salsa. This will mellow the onions down.
🍽 Make Ahead & Storage
At the most, I recommend making this salsa 1-2 hours in advance. Leave out the salt until the last minute, and salt before serving. Anything farther in advance will likely become very watery.
If it makes preparation easier, you can pre-chop the onions and cilantro, and cut the tomatoes prior to serving.
Store leftover salsa in an airtight container in the fridge. I do not recommend storing the salsa for more than 2-3 days, to maintain freshness.
⭐ Recipe FAQs
If you prefer a smoother consistency to your salsa, you may put it in the food processor or blender. Pico de gallo, however, is generally served chunky.
There is no rule that the seeds must be removed. From a texture perspective, I find it preferable to de-seed the tomatoes. Tomato seeds are generally watery, which is not ideal if you are making this pico de gallo in advance. If you don't mind them, you can keep them in!
Generally, no. I would recommend using canned tomatoes if you are making a blended salsa. For a fresh, chunky salsa like this, canned tomatoes will not give you the best results.
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Fresh Tomato Salsa {Chipotle Copycat}
Ingredients
- 4 Vine-ripe tomatoes deseeded, finely diced
- 2 Limes juiced and zested
- ½ Red onion finely diced
- ½ cup Cilantro finely chopped
- Sea salt to taste
Equipment
Instructions
- Cut the tomatoes in half. Using a spoon, remove the seeds from the tomatoes. It is often helpful to make a cut to loosen the flesh before scooping out the seeds.4 Vine-ripe tomatoes
- Once the seeds are removed from the tomatoes, dice the onions and tomatoes in the uniform-sized pieces. Add to a large mixing bowl, with the chopped cilantro.½ Red onion, ½ cup Cilantro
- Zest and juice the limes into the mixing bowl, and combine.2 Limes
- Finish the salsa with salt to your taste, and serve.Sea salt
Notes
- Choose firm tomatoes: Firm tomatoes will hold their shape and texture in a salsa. Softer tomatoes usually are mealy and mushy on the inside, which is not the best for a fresh tomato salsa.
- Salt at the last minute: Salt brings out water and moisture from produce. To keep the salsa as fresh as possible, salt the salsa right before serving to avoid a watery salsa. This is especially important if you are chopping the vegetables ahead of time.
- If your onions are too strong or bitter: Soak the onions in a bowl of cold water for 5-10 minutes before adding them to the salsa. This will mellow the onions down.
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