This Pico de Gallo recipe is the most fresh, quick and delicious salsa recipe. Loaded with fresh tomatoes, cilantro, onion, lime, and optional jalapeño for a kick, it is perfect for serving with chips, on a salad, tacos or with any of your favorite Mexican dishes and made in minutes.

Pico de gallo ingredients including tomatoes, cilantro, jalapeno, lime and onion

Table of contents

Easy Homemade Salsa!

One of the things I love so much about salsa is that the flavors are so fresh and simple, but also crazy delicious.

Pico de gallo, or Pico for short, is one of my favorite salsas and it is so easy to make at home! It is created simply by combining fresh tomato, onion, cilantro, and lime with optional jalapeño for heat.

While many salsas use canned tomatoes, or can require cooking, Pico de gallo just uses fresh veggies and herbs, and because of this, is sometimes also referred to also as salsa fresca.

If you can chop veggies, you can make this salsa! And it only takes just a few minutes from start to finish!

How to Serve Pico de Gallo

Pico de Gallo is super versatile and can be used as a salsa for dipping, topping for a salad or even as a garnish for your favorite Mexican dishes. Here are some of our favorite ways to serve it!

With tortilla chips
On tacos- Like these crock pot chicken tacos or these classic tacos
On top of enchiladas
With fajitas (try my sizzling steak fajitas or Tex Mex chicken fajitas)
On top of a salad- Try this taco salad or a fajita salad
In or on an omelet
In a burrito
As a garnish on bean dip or Jalapeno Ranch dip
Mixed in guacamole

I could literally go on for pages with recipes that go great with Pico de gallo, but this is a good place to start.

Recipe Tips!

Pico de Gallo is as easy to make as I promised! I will walk you though a few of my tips and tricks here to help you get the absolute BEST and tastiest pico.

Make sure to scroll to the bottom of this post for the FULL recipe card. If you have more questions, you can drop them in the comments below.

Process shots for how to make homemade pico de gallo

Ingredients

This recipe has simple fresh ingredients that combine together to get the best of each flavor.

Tomatoes
Onion
Jalapeño pepper
Cilantro
Lime juice
Salt

Pick the best produce

It is important to pick out produce that looks fresh and is free of blemishes. Since we don’t cook this salsa recipe, the produce needs to be at its best to really shine.

I prefer sweeter varieties of tomatoes. Generally speaking the smaller and brighter red the tomato is, the sweeter it will be. Since the tomato really is the star of the show, finding great flavor is important. I tend to use grape or roma tomatoes most frequently.

Chop it up

Taking the time to chop the produce into a fine dice will reward you with the flavors combining even better and packing more of those flavors in every bite!

Since the salsa is simply made from the diced fruits and veggies, the smaller you can dice them, the more salsa like it becomes.

Little extras

Making pico de gallo can be as simple as tossing the ingredients together. If you have an extra minute or two you can do two things that can make it just that much better!

Salt the tomatoes- stir the salt into the diced tomatoes and place them in a mesh strainer. Allow them to sit like this over a bowl for about 10-15 minutes. The salt will pull additional moisture from the tomatoes enhancing their natural sweetness. If you don’t have extra time for this you can stir the salt in at the end as directed in the recipe.
Mix the onions and jalapeño peppers with the lime juice first. Doing this allows the acidity from the lime juice to temper the bite of the onion and jalapeño. This step also makes the flavors of the most potent ingredients combine more readily.

Chill

Once the Pico de Gallo is prepared, allow it to chill for 10-30 minutes. This gives it time to develop its flavor as a whole, instead of the individual flavor of each ingredient standing out.

Homemade pico de gallo being lifted from dish on a chip

How to Store Pico de Gallo

Once you are done making the salsa, you can store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator. It can be stored for up to 5 days for the freshest and best taste.

Can you freeze Pico de Gallo?

Pico de gallo can be frozen however it will change the texture of the salsa slightly when thawed.

It is still a great salsa, however it will lose some of the firmness that the tomatoes and onions once held.

To freeze Pico de Gallo:

Prepare recipe as directed.
Drain any excess liquid.
Store in a zip top bag or freezer friendly container.
Freeze.

When ready to serve, thaw in refrigerator for 24-48 hours. Do not heat to thaw.

More Mexican Favorites

Being born and raised in Texas, many of the recipes I share here have a Tex-Mex flair. Make sure to check out a few of my favorites listed below.

Easy Pico de Gallo

By: Kimber Matherne

5 from 1 vote

This fresh and easy salsa recipe is made from fresh tomatoes, onion, cilantro and lime. You can add jalapeno for kick or leave it out all together. Use it as a dip for chips, or pile it on top of your Mexican favorites like tacos, nachos, burritos and more.

Prep Time: 10

chill time: 10

Total Time: 20

12 servings

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