Pico de Gallo Recipe
A scoop of pico de gallo is a real taste sensation in your mouth, bursting with fresh flavors from tomatoes, onion, peppers, fresh cilantro, and lime juice, this tasty fresh salsa is what tortilla chips were made for! Tried, tested, and tasted, this is a winning recipe!
Why you’ll love this delicious recipe
- Quick and easy to make, you’ll rustle this up in just 10 minutes!
- Ideal for Cinco de Mayo, as an appetizer or on a game day.
- Pico de gallo is a perfect side dish for Mexican food.
- Using only plant-based ingredients, this fresh tomato salsa is 100% vegetarian and vegan.
Easy, fresh, and delicious, this is one of our favorite salsas, it’s so versatile and everyone loves it!
What is pico de gallo?
Pico de Gallo is a Mexican fresh salsa.
In Spanish, pico de gallo means rooster’s beak, it’s unclear as to why it’s called this!
You’ll find that it’s also called salsa Fresca or salsa cruda.
It’s simple, but deliciously fresh, using just fresh ingredients, fresh diced tomatoes, diced onion, finely chopped jalapeno pepper, fresh chopped cilantro, and lime juice.
What is the difference between pico de gallo and salsa?
While the ingredients for pico de gallo can be found in many salsas, pico de gallo is made from chopped fresh ingredients that are tossed, there is hardly any liquid in it.
Whereas with other salsas there is much more liquid.
What do you serve it with?
There are SO many ways to serve pico de gallo, below is just an example, it’s not an exhaustive list by any means!
It’s great with any Mexican dish, on tacos, burrias, burrito bowls, and of course, with tortilla chips.
But maybe consider having it with a veggie burger or hot dog.
Our pico recipe is great in a salad, a wrap, on burgers, hot dogs, or added to scrambled eggs.
What are the best tomatoes to use?
When making pico de gallo, always use fresh ripe tomatoes.
Roma tomatoes are perfect, and we used them in our pico de gallo recipe, the reason they are so good, is that they don’t contain as much liquid as other varieties.
You can use cherry tomatoes, but as they are firmer, you’ll need to let them marinate for longer to absorb all the flavors.
Play with the ingredients
While the traditional pico de gallo recipe is delicious, and we always recommend making our recipe before adopting it, it’s sometimes good to add a little of what you love into it!
Add diced avocado, diced cucumber, minus the seeds, red onion instead of white, carrots, radishes, red bell pepper, corn kernels, fresh garlic, Mexican oregano, or cumin – any of these would make a fun addition or alternative, just choose to suit your tastes.
How do I store it?
Our pico de gallo stores well when kept in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
We don’t advise freezing this fresh salsa as tomatoes don’t freeze well.
Recipe notes and expert tips
- Want a spice kick?
Use a serrano pepper instead of jalapeno pepper. - Beware the spice
Even though the peppers aren’t too spicy in this recipe, you may want to wear gloves to deseed them. - Make it sweeter
Use red onions instead of white. - Reduce the liquid
If you’re going to use your pico de gallo as topping rather for dipping into, you may want to limit the amount of liquid by adding tomatoes with the seeds removed.
More Mexican inspired recipes for you to try
If you love our pico de gallo recipe then why not try these delicious vegetarian recipes; vegan birria tacos (quesabirria tacos) and salsa taquera.
How to make pico de gallo with step-by-step instructions
Making our pico de gallo recipe is easy if you follow our simple instructions.
Add fresh tomatoes, jalapeno peppers, chopped onion, chopped fresh cilantro, lime juice, kosher salt, and pepper.
Mix together and ideally leave to marinate for at least 30 minutes, but you can also serve immediately.
We hope you enjoy making and eating our pico de gallo recipe and would love to hear how you got on with making it.
Please leave a comment below and feel free to ask any questions you may have.
Pico de gallo recipe
Ingredients
- 5 Roma tomatoes diced
- 1 Jalapeno pepper minced
- ½ Onion diced
- 1 ½ tbsp Cilantro (coriander) chopped
- 2 tbsp Lime juice fresh
- ½ tsp Kosher salt
- ½ tsp Black pepper
Instructions
- Add fresh tomatoes, jalapeno peppers, chopped onion, chopped fresh cilantro, lime juice, kosher salt, and pepper5 Roma tomatoes, 1 Jalapeno pepper, ½ Onion, 1 ½ tbsp Cilantro (coriander), 2 tbsp Lime juice, ½ tsp Kosher salt, ½ tsp Black pepper
- Mix together and, ideally leave to marinate for at least 30 minutes, but you can also serve immediately
Notes
- Want a spice kick?
Use a serrano pepper instead of jalapeno pepper - Beware the spice
Even though the peppers aren’t too spicy in this recipe, you may want to wear gloves to deseed them - Make it sweeter
Use red onions instead of white - Reduce the liquid
If you’re going to use your pico de gallo as topping rather than dipping into, you may want to limit the amount of liquid by adding tomatoes with the seeds removed
Nutrition
Disclaimer
Please note that nutrient values are estimates only. Variations can occur due to product availability and manner of food preparation. Nutrition may vary based on methods of origin, preparation, freshness of ingredients, and other factors.
Learn how to make pico de gallo with step by step photos!
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