Manuel's Mexican Food Salsa Recipe
Vaniria Setser
This recipe is pretty mild for someone who eats a lot of spicy foods so if you like spicy I would recommend using a hotter pepper. That being said it is delicious and flavorful! I will definitely be making it again albeit with jalepenos or habeneros.
I got this restaurant salsa recipe from my friend (who found it in The Pioneer Women Cookbook) and have tweaked it a little here and there over the years until it was just right. All you need to make it are a few simple ingredients: canned tomatoes, onions, cilantro, garlic, salt, and fresh lime juice. Then all you do is combine the ingredients in a blender and pulse it a few times.
Follow these tips to have an amazing salsa recipe! Pick the best tomatoes, make the salsa thick or smooth, and add a pinch of sugar to balance out the acidity. All these and more great tips to help make the best restaurant salsa every time!
This recipe is SUPER customizable, meaning you can taste the salsa and easily adjust the flavors as needed. I usually never measure things out and just taste as I go. If you like it spicy, feel free to add in jalapeno and a dash of cumin. Or you can add more cilantro and seasonings to your taste.
This salsa roja recipe will last at least a week in the refrigerator, or up to 2 weeks. If you'd like it to last longer, you can up the acidity with more lime juice or add some vinegar. It also freezes nicely.
Mike, I have been searching for the perfect salsa recipe to mimic the stuff in every Mexican restaurant for a few years. Tried many recipes and after this one, my wife agrees with me that we nailed it. Thank you so much for this recipe! The only change I make is juice from a while line and about a cup of cilantro (4 times the recipe amount). I am a cilantro freak and love the flavor it gives along with the nice bits of green color.
Hi there, Mike!
I will be making this sauce this week. I know it will be awesome because every one of your recipes I've tried so far has been! ?
Have you ever had anyone try freeze-drying a salsa (sauce) and give you any feedback as to how it turned out when reconstituted?
Mike, I have not freeze-dried salsa, but I HAVE dehydrated it, and it is incredibly easy to reconstitute with a bit of water. It's the same for freeze-dried foods. Add warm or hot water and wait until it's ready. FYI, I am the author of The Spicy Dehydrator Cookbook and have a number of these recipes. -pepper-cookbooks/
Second time making this, this time I swapped out the jalapenos for manzano peppers to give it a little more heat. So good! This is a great recipe and is definitely my go to for that restaurant style salsa.
A lot recipes for sauces/salsas work this way, as the boiling softens everything up. Then you can puree the mix with extra seasonings and simmer again to meld. Just need to watch the liquid content. You can also add some in to thin, but it's harder to remove. Thanks, Kelse!
Just a little ribbing about the squeeze bottles. I'm over 70 years old, Native Texan, eaten Tex-Mex food probably thousands of times - (includes homemade meals, and eating at all kinds of Mexican Food Restaurants from the Panhandle to San Antonio, Austin, Houston, Dallas, Temple, Waco, West Texas - and lived in the Yucatan half a year.) And I have never, ever seen salsa served in squeeze bottles as you mentioned. Not that there's anything wrong or right with that, just blows me away that I've never seen that anywhere in a Texas/Mexico setting. So, that must be something that has caught on where you live, and hasn't made it across our path in this area of the country. Given enough time, I could probably name 200+ well-known Mexican Food Chains, not so well known hole-in-the-walls, and drive throughs that I've eaten Mexican or Tex-Mex food. My experience is, salsa was/is always served in small individual bowls - way back through the 60's to 80's, individual bowls were not the norm, but beginning probably in the 1990's, with all the double dippers in the crowd , or perhaps due to those who grew weary of training the double dippers to have some "couth" when dining out and that double dipping was taboo - people started asking for their very own bowl of salsa, until restaurant owners made note of the trend, and made it the norm to serve salsa in individual bowls - and a basket of chips for every 3-4 people, so they can be reached by all. Before that, we could run a server's legs off just keeping us in salsa and chips. I remember a few restaurants, before individual bowl days came about, serving a large bowl or two of salsa, the server set a small pitcher (like the ones coffee creamer used to be served from at restaurants) of salsa so guests could refill the bowl themselves, without having to hail down the waiter/waitress/salsa-chip server person. Some of them used the syrup serving containers for extra salsa, but they didn't work too well, as chunks of tomatoes or peppers would get caught in the pouring mechanism and plug things up. And, I guess that's one of the many great things about the Internet, we can learn so much from other people across the good ole' USA, and around the world - all at our fingertips.
in the last 2 days I have made a triple batch of cayenne pepper sauce , garlicky habenaro sauce and salsa rojas . I have canned all my extras. They are all fantastic! Really happy to have found your site. Can't wait to try more recipes
This is almost identical recipe that I have been making since 1998 except for a few quantity changes and using yellow onion most of the time. I don't usually use oil but I have used a little in the past. The only major difference is that I do not cook the salsa unless I "can" it. I was taught this recipe by my Hispanic friend. It has a nice fresh flavor when it's not cooked. Cooking can help in ways such as reducing water content but it usually don't have this problem when using only Roma tomatoes. Cooking does make sense if you are going to "can" it or need to develop a little more sweetness if the tomatoes are too bland. Great recipe.
I was tired of seeing my mom endlessly matching her tortilla chips with awful industrial salsa. The last time I saw her I promised to bring her back real homemade salsa. And miraculously, today, you updated your recipe for salsa roja. So, without waiting, I made her this recipe, not with jalapeño but with my own fresh datil. She had understood the real salsa taste. Thank you Mike for teaching an old nice French Lady what real salsa was!
Hi, I'm Mely Martinez, a former Mexican school teacher, home cook, and food blogger. I moved to the United States about ten years ago, after living in Mexico my whole life. Now I love to share home-style recipes for authentic Mexican food.
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I love your show and your boys are adorable,they really love your food,so cute. I have 2 sons, they are already grown and graduated from college. So it reminds me of my sons when they were still growing,sigh. For the rice,I would like to add paprika and cayene, for color and flavor. Maybe even some cumin. Thank you for show and recipes. Many blessings to you and your family.
The best homemade salsa is made with juicy tomatoes, jalapeños, onion, fresh cilantro and plenty of spice and flavor! A little spicy, slightly sweet, and perfect with salty chips. Great for game day/tailgating, parties, Mexican recipes and more!
Your recipes are spot on. I love it. Reminds me of the authentic Mexican food in Texas, Colorado and Oklahoma. Hawaii has only two that I love. So making homemade is fun and much better, thank to you.
Mucho Gracias
The friendly hostess, our attentive server and well-made house margaritas bode well for the meal. So we thought. Then came the complimentary chips and salsa. The latter was the consistency of tomato sauce with barely a trace of piquancy. The chips were dry with a flavor we had difficulty identifying until it was suggested they were overcooked. Chips, even ones that aren't altogether satisfactory, are difficult to ignore, which is why we went through nearly three bowls while waiting for our food.
This Blender Salsa recipe has all the goodness of restaurant salsa in only 5 minutes and uses simple grocery ingredients. Use fresh or canned tomatoes and any blending appliance for this easy salsa recipe.
This no-frills, 5-minute salsa recipe requires NO cooking and satisfies like restaurant salsa. It's great to serve with tortilla chips and it's a must-have condiment on chicken burrito bowls, nachos, totchos, taco pasta, taco meat, and veggie enchiladas.
Blender salsa can last up to 7 days. It depends on ingredient freshness and how airtight your containers are. My favorite food storage containers offer optimal freshness which means less air exposure and fresher salsa for a longer time. This salsa is so good though, it's gets devoured in about two days.
Thank you so much Marissa for teaching how easy and wonderful making our own enchilada sauce can be. I was born and raised in AZ, so mexican food is my comfort food and my favorite food. I have also traveled to many areas of Mexico many times and therefore had authentic Mexican food. I try to eat as healthy and organic as possible and I'm never a fan of eating anything from a can if I can avoid it. Anyway, I have used your recipe to make my own green enchilada sauce I would say 3 times now, and right now on my fourth, which brought me to leave this comment. The sauce has come out amazing the past three times and rivals the best canned brands, but better because it's all fresh and organic. The quantity is great as well because I can freeze three batches to have on hand whenever the family is craving enchiladas. Each third is actually more than I need to fill an 11 x 15 casserole dish 3 - 4 layers deep. Thank you so much for this wonderful recipe!!!!
One day I was talking to some co-workers about my Austin trips. They are all butchers/chefs so a good food story is always welcome. I was describing the salsa and my conundrum with the recipe. One of them laughed at my attempts and then proceeded to school me in the ways of Texas Green. He said he had the same problem deciphering the code to this unique condiment. He went on to reveal that he was a regular at a taqueria and was constantly inquiring to the staff about the recipe. Eventually, a sweet woman who worked at the restaurant took pity on him and shared the amazingly simple steps to the salsa.
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