Learn how to make the best garden salsa recipe ever! It’s full of fresh ingredients that many gardeners grow in their veggie beds during the summer. Harvest your homegrown tomatoes, then make this healthy and flavorful snack!
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If you were successful at growing tomatoes in your garden this year, then you are probably close to harvesting those beauties! My tomatoes aren’t doing as well as usual, likely because of the drought in Minnesota. Even so, I’m still celebrating tomato season with local tomatoes from the farmers market and co-op.
Not only are we entering prime tomato season, but peppers, garlic, onions, and herbs are also abundant. And these ingredients just so happen to be PERFECT for making a fresh garden salsa recipe!
In fact, many seasoned gardeners probably have almost all of the ingredients for salsa in their veggie gardens. I love the idea of picking your homegrown veggies and turning them into a fresh snack just minutes after harvesting.
If you are swimming in salsa ingredients that you grew, got in your CSA share, or picked up at the farmers market, this post is for you. With a burst of freshness and flavor in every scoop, it’s my favorite way to celebrate the season.
Garden Fresh Salsa Ingredients
Here’s what you need to make this fresh garden salsa recipe. Feel free to make additions and substitutions depending on your preferences!
- Tomatoes: Roma tomatoes are the best kind to use for salsa, but you can use other varieties as well.
- Onion: Sweet, yellow, white, or red onions will work.
- Garlic: The more cloves, the merrier!
- Jalapeno: Use more or less jalapeno depending on how much spice you want.
- Cilantro: Fresh cilantro is a great addition to salsa, but you can also experiment with other herbs too.
- Lime: A squeeze of fresh lime juice complements the other ingredients. You can sub white vinegar if needed.
- Salt: Don’t forget to season the salsa to bring out all of the amazing flavors.
How to Cut Tomatoes for Salsa
When making this fresh garden salsa recipe, you may have questions about cutting roma tomatoes. To prevent the salsa from getting watery and mushy, it’s important to remove the core and seeds from the tomatoes. Here’s how to do that:
- Use a serrated knife to slice the tomatoes in half lengthwise and then into quarters.
- Slide the knife along each quarter to remove the seeds and white core.
- Slice each quarter into strips.
- Cut those strips into cubes.
If you are not using roma tomatoes, check out my tutorial on How to Cut Tomatoes for tips on cutting other varieties.
Do you have to peel tomatoes for fresh salsa?
No, you do not need to peel tomatoes when making salsa. In fact, I prefer to leave the skin on for texture.
How to Make Garden Salsa
For the full ingredients and instructions, scroll down to the recipe card. Refer to the next section on Expert Tips if you have questions!
- Cut the tomatoes according to the above instructions, then dice and chop all of the other ingredients.
- Combine everything in a mixing bowl. Add the lime juice and salt, and stir well.
- Serve with chips and enjoy!
Expert Tips
- Try to chop the ingredients into very small pieces to spread out all of the flavors, so that each bite is balanced. Of course, it’s up to you if you want a chunkier salsa.
- If you don’t want to chop up all of the veggies, you can use a food processor to pulse the veggies. This will make the salsa have a texture similar to the kind of salsa you get in a jar or at a restaurant.
- A serrated knife is key to preparing tomatoes for a fresh garden salsa recipe. Here is the serrated knife that I have and love.
- Store the salsa in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
- Pretty much any type of tortilla chip tastes good with salsa, but I really enjoyed this recipe with the Late July tortilla dippers!
More Salsa Recipes
Love this fresh garden salsa recipe?! You should check out the Mango Corn Salsa with Black Beans, Homemade Pineapple Jicama Salsa, and the Jalapeno, Bell Pepper, and Mango Salsa.
I’d love to hear how you like this recipe! Rate/review using the stars on the recipe card or in the comments, and follow the Veg World on YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest. Looking for something totally different? Browse the recipe library.
Fresh Garden Salsa
Equipment
- Serrated knife
- Mixing bowl
Ingredients
- 5 roma tomatoes - seeds and core removed then diced
- ½ yellow onion - diced
- 1 jalapeno - seeded and finely chopped
- 3 cloves garlic - minced
- ¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro
- 1 lime - juiced
- ½ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Combine the chopped tomatoes, onion, jalapeno, garlic, and cilantro in a large mixing bowl. Add the lime juice and salt.
- Mix well, serve, and enjoy!
- Leave a rating or review by tapping the stars on this recipe card (above) or in the comments section (at the end of the post)!
Notes
- Remove the seeds and core from the tomatoes to prevent the salsa from getting watery or mushy. Use a serrated knife for slicing and dicing the tomatoes. You can use other types of tomatoes, but roma tomatoes are one of the best varieties for salsa.
- You can use a food processor to pulse the veggies instead of chopping them by hand, but the texture of the salsa will be more like the kind you get in a jar or at a restaurant.
- Store the salsa in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Nutrition
Enjoy tomato season! – Lizzie
Becky
I doubled the recipe except kept only one lime and kept the cilantro at 1/4 cup, still seems like a lot of cilantro but pretty good otherwise!
Lizzie Streit, MS, RDN
Hi Becky, I’m glad you enjoyed the salsa!