5 Minute Salsa Recipe

[Ramya Bradbury]

Skipthe store-bought jar and make this homemade salsa instead. Our salsa recipe takes less than 15 minutes to make, is adaptable to your desired spice level, and lasts a week in the fridge.

I love how simple this salsa recipe is. To make it, simply throw tomatoes, onion, garlic, peppers, and cilantro into a blender or food processor. Pulse everything until chopped, and then season with salt, pepper, and lime. Easy!

The ingredient list for this easy salsa is very similar to what you need to make pico de gallo. The only difference is that this salsa is blended, while we chop the ingredients for pico de gallo by hand. Both are delicious and amazing served next to homemade tortilla chips!

Tip #1: Use the Pulse Function. For a texture similar to restaurant-style or jarred salsa, use the pulse button on your food processor or blender. This allows you to control the texture and get it just right. We prefer ours a little chunky.

Tip #4: Let It Sit. The flavors in this salsa get better and better as it sits. I highly recommend making it at least 30 minutes before serving. (It will last for a week in the fridge.)

Skip the store-bought jar and make this salsa from scratch instead. This recipe takes less than 15 minutes to make, is adaptable to your desired spice level, and lasts a week in the fridge. For recipe variations, see our article above.

3Prepare the peppers according to your desired spice level. For mild salsa, remove all the white membrane and seeds from inside the pepper. For medium salsa, leave some of the membrane and seeds. If you prefer hot salsa, leave the membrane and seeds intact and use 1 to 2 peppers.

6Pulse the ingredients until you reach your desired texture. Taste the salsa and season with additional salt or lime juice as needed. (We usually add 3/4 teaspoon of salt in total.) If the salsa it too thick, add a little reserved tomato juice from earlier.

Let's talk about tomato sauce. Last week in an airplane miles above the expansive plains of the mid-west, in the midst of a flurry of turbulence, it dawned on me that I've never shared with you my all-time favorite tomato sauce recipe. I've included the recipe in one form or another in both of my books, but I've never gone into depth here on the website about why it is the little black dress of my cooking repertoire.

I realize many of you have romantic notions of what a good tomato sauce should be. And I realize it is going to be a tough sell on my part to get you to make a break with some of those hearty, meaty, long-simmering sauces. But, I'm going to encourage you to give this ringer of a tomato sauce recipe a shot. It comes together in five minutes flat, and the only chopping required is a few garlic cloves. It is bright and clean, a vibrant red in color, and exudes the essence of tomatoes, in part because there isn't much to get in the way of the tomato flavor.

Many of the tomato sauce recipes in this realm (in the U.S. in particular) include all sorts of ingredients. One camp likes to kick things off by browning onions and ground beef for a chunky stew-like sauce, others love to use carrots and celery and all manner of dusty dried herbs and seasonings. This recipe is going to be on the absolute other end of the spectrum - in all the best ways.

You wouldn't wear a wool coat to the beach, right? That's what heavy spaghetti and tomato sauces in warm weather feel like to me. This sauce is a relatively pure expression of tomatoes accented with a bit of edge from crushed red peppers, a hint of garlic, and my secret ingredient - a touch of lemon zest which brings its citrus aroma and a bit of surprise to the party.

The first time you make this sauce I recommend spooning it over light, fluffy pillows of ricotta-filled ravioli. Beyond that there are many other avenues to explore. It is transcendent in all manner of baked pastas and pasta-based casseroles (don't skimp on the zest). Toss it with good-quality spaghetti noodles, a sprinkle of freshly chopped basil, and a dusting of Parmesan - you've got a beautiful bowl of noodles.

Beyond the pasta realm, I use it on thin-crust pizzas, in my thousand-layer lasagna, as the foundation for stuffed shells, as a base for soups, and as a way to pull together various "grain-bowls". For example, quinoa tossed with a bit of this tomato sauce, your protein of choice, and accents like basil and a bit of cheese is simple and satisfying.

Pictured above on my favorite easy pizza dough, with some mozzarella, and fresh basil. Be sure to to pay attention to the type of crushed tomatoes to buy in the recipe headnotes. I hope you love this sauce as much as I do, and appreciate it for what it is more so than what it isn't. This page also includes an extended list of pizza topping ideas.

A bit richer. There are times when I'll add a splash of cream at the very end, totally changing the character of the sauce - it becomes silky with a bit of richness, while still being bright, and without compromising the tomatoes in the lead role.

I'm very particular about the tomatoes I use in this sauce. Look for canned crushed tomatoes, some cans you will come across will say "with added puree" - this is also fine. I avoid diced tomatoes, pass on pureed, and skip whole tomatoes as well. Avoid the crushed tomatoes with added herbs, seasonings, etc. You want pure crushed tomatoes if possible. I also look for organic crushed tomatoes which can be tricky, I often come across with added basil in it - this is actually fine. Any leftover sauce keeps well in the refrigerator for three or four days.

Combine the olive oil, red pepper flakes, sea salt, and garlic in a cold saucepan. Stir while you heat the saucepan over medium-high heat, saute just 45 seconds or so until everything is fragrant - you don't want the garlic to brown.

Stir in the tomatoes and heat to a gentle simmer, this takes just a couple minutes. Remove from heat and carefully take a taste (you don't want to burn your tongue)...If the sauce needs more salt add it now. Stir in the lemon zest reserving a bit to sprinkle on top of your pasta.

A vibrant pesto recipe taught to me by my friend Francesca's mother who came to visit from Genoa, Italy. This is how to make pesto like an Italian grandmother. Made with hand-chopped basil, garlic, Parmesan, olive oil and pine nuts. The real deal.

Toasted walnuts pounded with garlic into a creamy sauce make this pasta easy and exceptional. If you have dried pasta, a few cloves of garlic, walnuts, and black pepper you can make this. The other ingredients - lemon zest, a bit of grated cheese, a finishing cascade of breadcrumbs and herbs are encouraged, but not essential.

Hi Heidi,

I often stop by your site, but hardly ever leave comments. However, having tried the lemon zest in my usual pasta sauce today, I felt I owed it to you to drop in and say a big THANKS! It has elevated my ordinary pasta sauce to something truly sublime. Now you can rest assured that every so often, someone in Dublin, Ireland will think of you and feel grateful as she relishes her pasta.

Kathy, you can use the given recipe. All you have to do is prepare the tomatoes. Peel them with small knife, or pass a tomato in boiling water 20 seconds then peel by hand. Cut them and take away the seeds.

Another way is to crash gently the chunked tomatoes with a mortar, then pass that through a net to retain seeds and peel.

Then follow the recipe.

You can can this sauce, or another one, or just the tomatoes. Clean jars and stop Heidi s recipe just before *simmer the tomatoes*. Put everything in the jars and sterilize the jars.

I always wanted to make my own tomato sauce but thought it was too daunting of a task! This makes it look so easy. Thanks!

Also, I LOVE crushed red pepper flakes so that looks like a great addition to the ordinary tomato sauce! Way to go!

That sounds tasty, I am glad to find someone who agrees with my taste for citrus in tomato sauce; I love fresh squeezed lime juice in mine.

Here are some other ingredient ideas for the experimenters out there: white wine, kalamata olive juice, and cocoa powder!

But for the Lemon zest, this is exactly the sauce that I make for any pasta, with olives or mushroom, or roast chicken or even plain corn and capsicum.

The Lemon zest idea sounds great. I was thinking of this 5 minute ultra amazing sauce could be used to dress up burgers and sandwiches instead of mayo? Say what? Something tangy+citrus to go with the regular burger?

I grew up in New Mexico and Arizona, so I have a life-long connection to Mexican food. It's my favorite food. I like it spicy. It's the first kind of food I ever learned to cook. When we were very young (still in elementary school), my sister Nelda and I could prepare an entire Mexican meal of enchiladas and taquitos. It was kind of our sister specialty. Nelda made taquitos the last time we were together--a delicious comfort food from the past.

Today I'm sharing a salsa recipe that has amazing, deep roasted flavor; yet it can be thrown together in under 10 minutes. Salsa is a condiment that must accompany any Mexican meal. Plus, it's great for snacking. Hard to find a better or easier snack than salsa and chips. My sister and I like to dunk our taquitos in this salsa. Yum.

The recipe I'm sharing today is a simplified version of a roasted salsa that I normally make the "long" way--firing up the grill and roasting the chiles, and oven roasting fresh tomatoes, garlic and onions. When tomatoes and chiles are abundant in the farmer's markets in the summer, I can enough salsa to get us through the fall and winter. If you're interested in making roasted salsa from scratch with all fresh ingredients, here's that recipe. That post and recipe include canning instructions, too.

Today's post, however, is an easier version of my roasted salsa recipe that can be made in a fraction of the time by using good quality canned fire roasted green chiles and tomatoes. That way you get the fire roasted flavor and skip the time it takes to do your own roasting and peeling. Everything gets chopped in the food processor or blender, so it goes together really quickly.

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