How To Build Your Own Salsa

Learn how to build your own salsa! It’s easier than you think! A few simple ingredients + so easy to customize with your favorite produce!!! Tomatoes, onions, peppers, fruit, garlic, lemon, lime, vinegar, cilantro, salt + maybe a little cumin or sugar and there you have it! Salsa!

Tara’s Tuesday Tips:

How To Build Your Own Salsa

Nothing like making a beautiful salsa out of fresh produce! A perfect salsa that you can pour onto just about anything or use as a dip for your favorite chips. I even use salsa as a healthy alternative to salad dressing!

I linked my favorite salsa recipes at the bottom of this post. You can simply follow one of my fool-proof recipes or you can follow my magic formula! Be creative! You really can’t mess this up!

Step One

Pick Your Pepper

This determines your spice level + adds a sweet or smoky flavor to your salsa.

One of the most important steps to building a great salsa is picking the perfect pepper! Some of the most common fresh peppers used in salsa include jalapeño, serrano, poblano, habanero, ghost. Dried peppers work great too. Some great choices for dried peppers are ancho, guajillo, or chipotle.

Knowing how much heat you want your salsa to have is how you will choose your pepper. 1-3 peppers is a good rule to stick to. If you are sensitive to spice, take out the seeds! If you love spice … keep adding or go up on the heat of the pepper. In order of spiciness (or Scoville units) the most common peppers are bell, poblano, jalapeños, Serrano, habanero, ghost, Carolina reaper. Choose wisely!

Step Two

Produce

The base of any awesome salsa. Tomatoes are the most common base but other fruits + veggies give your salsa its personality! Choose pineapple, mango, cucumber, strawberries, watermelon, peaches, corn, tomatoes or tomatillos. Never used fruit in your salsa? Why not!?!?! It is amazing! The key to the produce section of your salsa is to make sure it totals 2 cups. So, you can mix + match. For example one cup tomatoes + one cup cucumbers or the entire two cups of just tomatoes to keep it simple!

Step Three

Aromatics

Onions (1/4-1 cup red or white), or garlic (2 cloves), or shallots (2 cloves). These give your salsa depth and makes it smell + taste awesome! I like to use a whole onion in mine + will toss in a few garlic cloves on any salsa that I am not adding fruit to.

Step Four

Add your acids

Lemon, lime, or vinegar. This stabilizes your salsa, enhances the flavors, and balances the spice. Don’t skip this! Mix + match to your liking. Making a fruit salsa? Try apple cider vinegar. Acids need to total 2 tablespoons. I like to add 1 tablespoon of lemon or lime plus 1 tablespoon of vinegar.

Step Five

All the extras

Salt (1-2 tsp to taste), pepper (to taste), cumin (1/2-1 tsp), cilantro (up to 1/4 cup), sugar (1 tsp). These are your balancing acts. Just a touch of sugar will balance out tomatoes and peppers. Using cumin gives a nice hint of authenticity. Cilantro adds a burst of flavor, brightens up the beautiful colors, and adds texture.

To Blend or Chop?

Chunky or smooth? That is the question when it comes to building your own salsa. Do you want something with a bit of texture to pile onto nachos? Or are you looking to drizzle something over taquitos? First, decide what you are doing with your salsa. What I sometimes do is toss everything in the blender and use the ‘pulse’ button to just coarsely chop everything. Saves me from having to do a lot of chopping by hand while letting me stop when I get to the right consistency. I also like to put everything in my food processor when I know I want a chunky salsa. If I am going full on sauce, I go with the blender.