Easy, Homemade Pico de Gallo Recipe (Fresh Tomato Salsa)

Everyone loves this easy, homemade Pico de Gallo recipe with fresh tomatoes, onion, jalapeño, cilantro, and lime juice. Made in just 10 minutes, it’s the perfect fresh and flavorful topping for all of your favorite Mexican dishes!

What is Pico de Gallo?

Pico De Gallo is a popular Mexican salsa that's loaded with fresh tomatoes, onion, jalapeno, cilantro, and lime juice. Also known as Salsa Mexicano, Salsa Fresca, or Salsa Cruda, this fresh, chunky tomato dip makes the perfect party appetizer and is excellent over tacos, burritos, carne asada nachos, flautas, quesadillas, or served with tortilla chips.

Why you’ll love this recipe:

• Quick and Easy – Only a few ingredients are needed, and it takes only 10 minutes to make
• Perfect make ahead party appetizer for game day
• Adds a fresh, healthy, low calorie boost of flavor to any Mexican meal
• Favorite way to use up garden grown tomatoes
• A great recipe for Cinco de Mayo
• Easy to adapt to your spice level - We add jalapeno for a spicy kick but you can leave it out for a milder pico.
• Versatile – Serve it with tacos, burritos, nachos, quesadillas, on top of grilled chicken or fish, or just enjoy it with tortilla chips!

What’s the difference between pico de gallo and salsa?

Pico de gallo shares the same basic ingredients as traditional red salsa, but they have different preparation methods.

While salsa can refer to cooked or fresh mixtures, Pico de gallo always uses fresh.

Pico de gallo uses fresh, raw ingredients. It adds a fresh and zesty flavor as well as a chunky, chopped salad-like texture, with each chopped ingredient distinctly visible.

While some salsa recipes use the diced ingredients as is, others process the ingredients into more of a purée before serving. Salsa often contains roasted or stewed tomatoes and has a more liquid consistency.

Meaning and Pronunciation

What does pico de gallo mean?

The Spanish phrase “pico de gallo” (pronounced PEE-koh də GUY-yoh) translates to “rooster’s beak” in English.

Ingredients

• Tomatoes – red, ripe tomatoes are essential to making the best pico de gallo. Roma tomatoes or plum tomatoes are a good option because they have less seeds and a lower water content. Use only the tomato flesh and leave out the seedy pulp, you don’t want the pico to be watery. Out of season, you can use cherry tomatoes or grape tomatoes that tend to have good flavor year-round.
• Onion - white onions or yellow onions (whatever you have on hand)
• Jalapeno – jalapeno adds a spicy kick to the pico. The ribs and seeds carry the most heat in peppers, so we are going to remove them but you can always add in some seeds later. For a mild version you can use peppers or substitute a green bell pepper.
• Cilantro – there are no substitutes for chopped, fresh cilantro in this recipe. (Parsley is not a good substitute here.)
• Fresh lime juice – juice from freshly squeezed limes has the best flavor
• Salt

How to Make

1. Cut the vegetables into small dice
2. In a medium serving bowl, combine the chopped tomatoes, onion, jalapeño, cilantro, lime juice, and salt.
3. Let marinate for about 15 minutes
4. Taste and add more salt if needed.

Tips

*Use the most flavorful, red, ripe tomatoes you can find. The pale, tasteless supermarket variety won’t do. Since it’s such a simple recipe, the pico will only be as good as the quality of your ingredients, and the tomatoes are the star here.  The best tomatoes for pico de gallo are plum or roma tomatoes. Out of season, quartered cherry or grape tomatoes tend to have more flavor.

*Chop your ingredients by hand into small, evenly-sized pieces so the vegetables keep their texture and there will be flavor in every bite. Processing them in a food processor makes more of a soupy salsa.

*Let your pico de gallo salsa rest before serving. Marinating for about 15 minutes before serving allows the salt to draw moisture out of the ingredients so their flavors blend.

Some recipes call for letting the mixture rest for several hours or overnight. I find this dilutes the flavors and makes the vegetables too soft.

In his book, “Authentic Mexican,” Rick Bayless says that a fresh salsa like pico de gallo is at its best for an hour or two, after which you loose a bit of crunch and the flavor of the onion can start to take over the salsa.

*Serve with a slotted spoon. The salt will draw a lot of moisture out of the tomatoes so the longer the pico rests after tossing with the lime juice and salt, the more liquid will accumulate in the bowl. Serving the pico with a slotted spoon or even a fork will leave the liquid behind so your food doesn’t get soggy.

*Use gloves when seeding and chopping the jalapenos. Your eyes will thank you when you rub them later.

How to make in advance and leftovers

You can prep this fresh salsa ahead of time and store it in the fridge overnight. My favorite way of doing this is to combine the vegetables, but not stir in the lime juice and salt until closer to serving time so the dip doesn’t get too watery.

For maximum flavor, use your fresh salsa the day it’s made. If you have leftovers, store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for a day or two max.

Uses

You can use pico de gallo in the same way you’d use salsa. It’s a flavorful and refreshing condiment welcome on all of your favorite Mexican dishes.

Serve fresh pico de gallo with:

• Tacos
• Nachos
• Quesadillas
• Enchiladas
• Flautas and Taquitos
• Burritos and burrito bowls
• Tostadas
• Huevos rancheros
• Chilaquiles
• Or serve it as a dip with tortilla chips!

Mix-ins and variations:

Change up the flavor profile by stirring in one of these fresh fruits or vegetables.

• Mango
• Peaches
• Pineapple
• Strawberries
• Green or red bell pepper
• Serrano peppers (if you like it extra spicy!)
• Cucumber
• Sweet corn
• Avocado
• Jicama
• Black beans
• Chopped cooked shrimp

More Mexican recipes for you to love:

• Carne Asada Nachos
• Easy Chicken Flautas (Taquitos)
• Homemade Refried Beans
• Beefy Bean and Cheese Quesadillas
• Quick and Easy Enchilada Sauce
• Avocado Crema
• Mangonada
• Homemade Taco Seasoning

Recipe

Please let me know how you like this recipe in the comments! I’m excited to hear how you serve your pico de gallo, and please share any tips you might have.