I love salsa. We eat a lot of Mexican style food in my house, so we go through a LOT of it. Its great on grain bowls, tacos, quesadillas, and obviously with tortilla chips. I don't always make my own, but when I do I make this Thick Restaurant Style Salsa.
This is a recipe I've been making for years. It started out as basic pico de gallo. I'd chop each ingredient by hand and stir them together. Then I started making it in my food processor. Its not as pretty, but is so much easier! Then, I started adding a can of diced fire roasted tomatoes to the mix and I've never looked back. They add a depth of flavor and an extra hit of deep tomato flavor.
I make this it when I have friends coming over, but also if my husband and I are on a taco or burrito bowl kick (which is often). This recipe is a definitely crowd pleaser. But when is a big bowl of chips and salsa not a crowd pleaser?
Recommended Tomato Varieties
There are a couple of important parts to this recipe. First is Roma tomatoes. These tomatoes (sometimes called plum tomatoes) are less juicy and have a firmer flesh than most other varieties of tomatoes. I have made this Thick Restaurant Style Salsa with all different kinds of tomatoes and while all of them work, Roma tomatoes produce the thickest salsa. But, if you prefer a thinner salsa than you see in these pictures, use a different variety. My second favorite are the tomatoes on the vine. They produce a flavorful salsa that it a but thinner than the salsa that is pictured. But, if you have a bunch of garden fresh tomatoes, use whatever you are growing!
Seeding the Tomatoes
On a similar note, it is important to remove the seeds for the texture of the salsa. The salsa will be quite runny if you don't remove the seeds. To do this, simply quarter the tomatoes and run your thumb along the seed pockets, discarding the gooey seed stuff (technical term, haha). Even if you like a runnier salsa than is pictured, use a different variety of tomato- like vine ripened tomatoes) but ALWAYS remove the seeds. There is a lot of moisture in the flesh, so no matter what tomato you use, if you leave the seeds in, the resulting salsa will be runny.
Food Processing the Salsa
Also, the order which you add things into the food processor (the food processor I have linked here) is crucial. Add the ingredients that need the most processing first. The tomatoes can be easily over processed. This results in a salsa that is too smooth or runny, so we add the tomatoes toward the end. Also, only use the pulse button. It only takes a few taps of the pulse button to finely chop these ingredients. So, in short, only use the pulse button and add things in the order that the instructions dictate.
This Thick Restaurant Style Salsa is thick, fresh and flavorful. Its great for entertaining or as a homemade condiment for your Mexican style dinner nights. Its perfect paired with tortilla chips, or added on top of tacos, or as a topping for quesadillas.
Thick Restaurant Style Salsa
Equipment
- Food Processor
Ingredients
- ¼ Large Red Onion, large dice Or ½ of a medium onion- it will be about ⅔-3/4 cup
- 1 Large Clove of Garlic
- ½ Large Jalapeño, seeded and cut into 3 pieces More or less depending on heat preferences
- 5 Medium Roma Tomatoes, quartered and seeded
- 1 15oz Can of Fire Roasted Diced Tomatoes, drained
- 2 tablespoon Lime Juice
- ½ teaspoon Salt, or more to taste
- ½ Cup Cilantro Leaves, lightly packed
Instructions
- Place onion and garlic into the bowl of your food processor. Pulse about 5 times, until the onion is roughly chopped.
- Add jalapeño, pulse a 3-5 more times, until the jalapeño is roughly chopped.
- Add the Roma tomatoes and pulse 5-7 times, or until the tomatoes are chopped.
- Add the fire roasted tomatoes, salt and lime juice into the food processor. Pulse a few 5-7 times until everything comes together.
- Now add the cilantro and pulse 5-7 more times or until the cilantro is chopped and the salsa is your desired consistency.
- Taste for seasoning- you may need another pinch of salt. This will depend on the ripeness and quality of your tomatoes. If you need more salt, add a pinch and stir it in with a spatula.
- Eat immediately or store in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Let me know how this recipe works for you!
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