Restaurant Style Mild Salsa (5 minutes)

Name: Restaurant Style Mild Salsa
Prep time: 5 min
Total time: 5 min
Ingredients: 28 oz can whole plum tomatoes (including juice); 1 small onion ((see note 1)); 3 cloves garlic; 1 tsp ground cumin; 1/2 tsp ground coriander; 1 1/2 tsp salt; 2 tsp granulated sugar; 3 tbsp lime juice; 1 cup cilantro (tightly packed)

Updated: Oct 8th 2021 • Published: Jan 6th 2019 • 27 Comments

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4.20 from 21 votes

This restaurant-style mild salsa recipe takes under 5 minutes to make and is a great healthy, fresh homemade appetizer perfect for game day!

Plus it can be made all year round as it uses canned tomatoes! With cilantro, lime juice, onion and a few spices you can have this easy salsa on the table in minutes.

Serve it with flour tortillas or with corn chips for a naturally gluten-free snack.

bright blue table with a bowl of salsa and corn chips

Who doesn't love chips and dip!!! Put a bowl of fresh salsa on the table and people will be happy. Serve a few beers and people will be laughing. Serve a few margaritas and you have yourselves a party!

Restaurant salsa is so much better than anything you can buy in a can or jar. It is fresher, overflowing with flavor and doesn't have that slightly metallic taste that some jars/cans can have.

And now with this easy recipe you can make the same restaurant salsa at home.

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How do you make restaurant style salsa at home?

The ingredient lists looks quite long but the process is so simple. You just add the ingredients to the food processor and blitz them for about two minutes.

If you add them in the following order the food processor will break down the larger items before it gets to the cilantro, so you will still get attractive green flecks in your salsa rather than a brown colored salsa.

tomatoes
onions
garlic
cumin
coriander
salt
sugar
lime juice
cilantro

9 small photos showing the ingredients being added to the food processor

Is this salsa suitable for kids?

Definitely!!!!
My kids will be the first at the table if they know this is on offer.

This is a mild salsa, so there are no jalapeños in the mixture. Obviously feel free to add them if you like your salsa spicy or if your kids are exploring spicy foods.

I would add them after the onions, to ensure it gets thoroughly chopped up.

This salsa makes a great lunchbox idea! Spoon some into an airtight pot, add a few corn chips and enjoy dipping at lunch!

corn chip being dipped into a fresh homemade salsa

Can this salsa be made ahead of time?

It sure can!!!

In fact it is better made at least 3 hours before you need it. It gives the flavors time to meld together, making everything taste smoother.

How long will homemade salsa keep?

Okay, so it should last for up to 4 days in the refrigerator, BUT I have never had it last that long. We struggle to leave it the 3 hours 😉 let alone 3 days!

What to dip in your restaurant style salsa

Are you a soft tortilla or a hard tortilla kind of person??

We are mixed. So I like to serve both and also a selection of crunchy veggies for those avoiding carbs.

Get the recipe for my favorite homemade soft tortillas here.

bright blue table with a bowl of salsa, bowl of chips, lime and fresh cilantro, on it.

Enjoy x

For more dips try:

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