You can trust this homemade Pico de Gallo is the handy helper to add freshness and health to your meal.
A Timeless Salsa Perfect For Every Occasion. It Is Made With Fresh Tomatoes, Cilantro, Lime, And Onion.
Homemade Pico de Gallo is a popular side dish here in Mexico. It is filled with fresh uncooked vegetables tossed in lime juice. The ingredients are very straightforward: tomatoes, red onion, cilantro, Serrano peppers, lime juice, and salt.
If I need to pick only three ingredients to make Pico de Gallo would be tomato, lime, and onion. These 3 ingredients is essential to make homemade Pico de Gallo! An authentic recipe from Mexico.
This post is all about homemade pico de gallo.
Sometimes the easiest dish with the freshest ingredients is the best tasting dish.
How to Make Homemade Pico de Gallo
If you can chop and toss, that's basically it.
It's a great recipe for those summer days you're not feeling too excited to cook something. It's refreshing and it requires no cooking. All you need to do is chop the ingredients, mix it up, and enjoy!
When I say this is a homemade Pico de Gallo easy, it's truly simple. This is one of those recipes I allow my kids to help out! I obviously watch them when they use the knife, but it's a great cooking recipe to get children started in the kitchen. I noticed when they make their own food they have more of an interest to eat it, no matter what it is.
Food Processor Pico de Gallo
Technically yes, you can make Pico de Gallo in a food processor with the same ingredients but the texture will be different. The food processor tends to not chop but puree food, even if you pulse it. Liquid from the tomato will bleed out when you're using the food processor. However, if you're interested in the more wet texture and a stronger tomato taste, go for it!
Is Homemade Pico de Gallo Healthy?
Homemade Pico de Gallo is uncooked vegetables chopped in small pieces, so yes, it is healthy! Tomatoes has so many health benefits and vital nutrients.
Lime juice also has an abundance of vitamin C and antioxidants. Eating or drinking lime juice has benefits of improve immunity, reduce heart disease, prevent kidney stones, and iron absorption.
Pico de Gallo is perfect for the fall when you need the extra vitamins to fight off the cold and flu season.
How to Pick Fresh Ingredients
There are some straight forward methods on how to pick the freshest ingredients. You just need to use your eyes and touch to figure this out.
Touch the tomatoes to make sure it is firm and plump, and it is radiating red colour. If it is too soft, it won't hold up in the salad and eventually it will turn into mush.
Onion, serrano peppers, and lime should be firm to the touch. No bruising or mold at the tip of the vegetable.
Cilantro should be bushy and green. A strong smell of cilantro should be present. I like to pick cilantro that has thin stems, versus thicker stems. Thin stems tells me the cilantro is young and will taste better.
Why Make This Homemade Pico de Gallo?
Healthy - a delicious healthy option on the side or a main dish for lunch of dinner. Homemade Pico de Gallo has no oil, all vegetable, low calories and low fat.
Vegan - If you have someone that is vegan or a vegetarian, this is a great recipe for them! This salsa is great on sandwich, crackers, or a side dish for something else.
Now Let's Talk about some Pro Tips!
Pro Tip #1 Always Fresh!
The key component on making this the BEST tasting homemade Pico de Gallo is freshness. Because it requires no cooking, and can't hide the flavour through spice or carmelizing flavour into the dish, fresh produce is what will make or break this recipe.
So the key is really picking the best produce here!
Pro Tip #2 Take out the seed inside the tomato
Tomato seed presents a bitter taste, so taking the seeds out is a must. I use a spoon to scoop out the inside. Make sure it is not wet and pat dry the flesh of the tomato.
If you want to make homemade Pico de Gallo with canned tomatoes is possible. However, you still need to follow the above mentioned instruction which is to take out the seeds and anything inside that is liquid. Pat dry the canned tomato flesh and mix the other ingredients together.
Pro Tip #3 Use Sea Salt
You may think salt is salt, but not all salt is made the same or taste the same. I highly recommend using sea salt because it does make the salsa taste fresher. Table salt is way too salty, and very unhealthy. Natural sea salt also has an extra crunch to it that is incomparable to table salt.
Pro Tip #4 Serve it Cold
This homemade Pico de Gallo needs to be serve cold! The freshness comes through when the salsa is cold, including the dish! So after you finish making it, put the whole dish in the fridge to seal in the coldness. When it is ready to be serve, just give it another toss so the lime juice gets reintroduced back into the salsa.
Pro Tip #5 Use the Stem of the Cilantro
Cilantro stem has great flavour. I argue it is probably the best part of the cilantro. I recommend to use the leaf and stem of the cilantro for the salsa. I think its a waste to throw out the stem when the flavour is from there.
Not a fan of cilantro? Not a problem! Homemade Pico de Gallo without cilantro is not an issue. Just omit cilantro and you can still get a tasty homemade Pico de Gallo without cilantro.
Pro Tip #6 Molcajete
Molcajete is is a Mexican mortar and pestle made with volcanic stone. I love using it to smash, smash, and grind good with it. Although we don't need to use it for this recipe, but I love serving it with the Mocajete. You can purchase the exact same one I have here on Amazon: Molcajete Spice Grinder 6-Inch, Gray
Homemade Pico de Gallo
Ingredients
- 5 ripe roma tomato
- ¼ red onion
- 1 serrano pepper deseeded and chopped
- 3 cilantro stem with leafs
- 2 lime juiced
- 1 tsp sea salt
Instructions
- Wash the tomato with mild soup and rinse. Also give the onion, Serrano pepper, and cilantro a good rinse under running tap water. Dry with towel or paper towel.
- Cut the tomato and serrano pepper in half and take out the seed.
- Chop the tomato and Serrano pepper into ¼" pieces
- Finely chop cilantro and red onion.
- In a mixing bowl, put everything together: tomato, onion, Serrano pepper, cilantro, lime and sea salt together. Toss to make sure everything is well coated with lime juice. Serve immediately.
Notes
- If you're not ready to serve right away, chop everything in a bowl and place it in the fridge. When you're ready to serve, just add the lime juice and salt.
- Serrano pepper too spicy? You can always replace it with jalapeño peppers to reduce the heat level.
This post was all about Homemade Pico de Gallo.
An original Mexican recipe that is simple and delicious.
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