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Home » Recipes » Appetizers and Beverages

Classic Pico de Gallo

Published: Apr 29, 2023 · Modified: Oct 14, 2024 by Marisa Franca

Jump to Recipe

This easy Pico de Gallo recipe is a popular Mexican salsa with fresh tomatoes, onion, jalapeno peppers, garlic, lime juice, and chopped cilantro. 

Serve this flavorful fresh chunky tomato salsa immediately or refrigerate it overnight and enjoy it as a delicious condiment with your favorite Mexican dishes

A white bowl filled with a fresh tomato, onion, cilantro mixed salsa with tortilla chips in the background.
This easy chunky fresh salsa bandera recipe can be served immediately or chilled overnight.
Jump to:
  • ❤️ Why I love this recipe
  • 🛒 Ingredients
  • 🗒 Instructions
  • 👩🏻‍🍳 Tips
  • 🤔 FAQs
  • 📚 Variations
  • 🥫 Storage
  • 📗 Related Recipes
  • 🍽 Serve with
  • 📞 Chiacchierata (chat)
  • 📝 Recipe Card
  • 📖 Recipe
  • 💬 Comments

❤️ Why I love this recipe

  • This fresh pico de gallo consists of minimal ingredients, which makes it easy and fast to assemble. 
  • You can enjoy this classic tomato-onion salsa immediately or store it overnight. The ingredients will meld together in storage for stronger flavors!
  • You can adapt this authentic chunky salsa cruda easily to suit your taste preferences. 

Make this flavorful and easy salsa bandera (flag sauce) recipe in 10 minutes - the perfect condiment for your favorite Mexican dishes. And if you're curious why it's called flag sauce? It's because the colors represent the Mexican flag.

🛒 Ingredients

As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Image of the ingredients needed to make a chunky salsa cruda with tomatoes, onion, and hot peppers.

Note: The full list of this fresh salsa cruda recipe is in the recipe card below.

  • fresh tomatoes
  • garlic
  • cilantro
  • onion
  • fresh lime
  • fresh jalapeño peppers
  • kosher salt and pepper

🗒 Instructions

Note: This is an overview of the instructions. The full instructions are in the recipe card below.

Collage of the first four steps to making the Mexican salsa cruda.
  1. Prepare the pico de gallo ingredients.
  2. Combine the diced tomatoes, onion, and jalapeno pepper in a medium bowl.
  3. Add the garlic and chopped cilantro. 
  4. Mix the ingredients and stir in the lime juice and seasoning.
This salsa fresca recipe is completed and mixed in a glass bowl ready for the tortilla chips.
  1. Serve the pico de gallo right away or refrigerate overnight. 

👩🏻‍🍳 Tips

  • It's important to use the freshest produce for this salsa cruda (raw sauce), especially since this salsa only requires a few ingredients.
  • Remove the seeds from the jalapeno peppers unless you want extra heat in your pico de gallo.
  • Taste the fresh salsa as you mix the ingredients and adjust the seasoning as required. 
  • Serve this authentic pico de gallo chilled to enjoy enhanced flavors in this condiment.

🤔 FAQs

These are the questions we are most frequently asked about making fresh garlicky tomato-cilantro salsa.

What does pico de gallo mean?

Pico de Gallo means “Beak of rooster”. It’s a type of Mexican salsa consisting of diced tomatoes, onion, jalapeno peppers, cilantro, lime juice, and seasoning. 

What is pico de gallo versus salsa?

Pico de gallo is chunkier than various types of salsa. Pico de Gallo consists of fresh ingredients compared to other types of salsa that can include various ingredients.

What do Mexicans call pico de gallo?

Other names for Pico de Gallo include salsa fresca, salsa bandera, and salsa cruda.

What goes with pico de gallo?

Serve the fresh salsa with pita bread, nachos, or chips. It’s also great over tacos and burritos.

A bowl filled with the fresh chopped tomato salsa fresca and a tortilla chip stuck in the middle.
This fresh tomato salsa is delicious with nachos, chips, pita bread, or over tacos and burritos.

📚 Variations

  • Add more jalapeno peppers to this recipe if you enjoy a spicier pico de gallo.
  • Omit the jalapeno peppers, and use green bell peppers if you don’t enjoy any heat in the salsa.
  • Add black beans, corn, and chili to this pico de gallo. 
  • Chop or dice the fresh ingredients as finely or coarsely as you like to suit your preferences.

🥫 Storage

Store this fresh tomato salsa in an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days. Serve immediately or chilled.

Hand holding a tortilla chip that's holding a bite with the chunky tomato salsa fresca on top.
Authentic Salsa Cruda can be made in 10 minutes with the freshest ingredients!

📗 Related Recipes

  • Smokin Hot Italian Avocado Salsa - This Italian-inspired salsa is spicy with Italian dressing and Chipotle sauce. 
  • Easy Creamy Guacamole Salsa Recipe - Guacamole salsa is rich and creamy and only takes 5 minutes to make!
  • Triestine Sauce {Salsa Triestina} - Salsa Triestina is a light sauce consisting of feta cheese and lemon and is delicious with delicate greens, vegetables, roasted pork, and beef.

🍽 Serve with

Serve this classic salsa fresca over nachos, tacos, enchiladas, or burritos. You can also enjoy this salsa alongside chips and pita bread.

📞 Chiacchierata (chat)

If you’ve followed me for a while, you’ll know that we all love spicy foods and sauces in this family! We love it when we're at a restaurant and they bring us a heaping bowl of their traditional salsa fresca and dippers. This recipe is just like that restaurant's chunky salsa. We love to pair this salsa with various Mexican dishes. It also takes me 10 minutes or less to make!

Tutti a tavolo, è pronto!

Stacked Small White glass bowls with top one filled with the fresh chopped tomato salsa cruda with onion and cilantro.
Adjust the lime juice and seasoning in this Mexican salsa to suit your taste preferences.

What's new? Check out my All Our Way Store on Amazon. We'll be adding more items we love and use or wish we had to make cooking fun and easy.

📝 Recipe Card

This Pico de Gallo is a popular Mexican fresh chunky salsa fresca consisting of seasonal ingredients and is perfect for serving over tacos, burritos, nachos, or served with chips and pita bread.

If you love this recipe please give it 5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.

📖 Recipe

A glass bowl filled with Pico de Gallo a fresh Mexican salsa.

Classic Fresh Pico De Gallo Salsa

Pico De Gallo is a popular Mexican salsa that's loaded with fresh tomatoes, onion, jalapeno, garlic, cilantro, and lime juice. Pico De Gallo is excellent over tacos, burritos, nachos, or served with chips.
4.67 from 3 votes
Print Pin Rate
Course: Appetizer, dipping sauce
Cuisine: Mexican
Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes
Cook Time: 0 minutes minutes
Total Time: 10 minutes minutes
Servings: 6 servings
Calories: 20kcal
Author: Marisa Franca @ All Our Way
As An Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Equipment Needed

  • Cuisinart Food Processor
  • Sharp knife
  • Non-skid cutting board
  • Glass mixing bowl

Ingredients

  • 1 lb plum tomatoes (4-5 medium), diced - if too juicy remove some of the seeds.
  • ½ medium onion (1 cup finely chopped)
  • 1 jalapeno pepper seeded and finely chopped or 2 fresh serrano peppers finely chopped
  • ½ cup cilantro chopped include stems too
  • 2 tablespoon lime juice from 1 lime
  • 1 clove garlic finely minced
  • ½ teaspoon salt or to taste
  • ⅛ teaspoon black pepper
  • Tortilla Chips for Serving
Get Recipe Ingredients

Instructions

  • In a medium bowl, diced tomatoes, onion, jalapeno pepper, garlic, and chopped cilantro.
  • Stir in 2 tablespoon lime juice and lightly season with ½ teaspoon salt and ⅛ teaspoon black pepper, or season to taste. Enjoy right away or cover and refrigerate overnight.

Nutrition

Calories: 20kcal | Carbohydrates: 5g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 0.2g | Saturated Fat: 0.03g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 0.03g | Sodium: 199mg | Potassium: 214mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 748IU | Vitamin C: 16mg | Calcium: 13mg | Iron: 0.3mg

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    I’m Marisa Franca, a home chef, food writer, and photographer who believes that you can make gourmet quality food at home with simple seasonal ingredients. I’m passionate about family, food, friends, everything Italian, and happy endings.

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