Canned Tomato Salsa (Restaurant Style)

This salsa tastes just like the salsa served at Mexican restaurants. Made with canned tomatoes that blend beautifully.

Easy salsa recipe made with canned tomatoes, onion, garlic, jalapeño pepper, cilantro, lime, salt.

One of my favorite parts about eating at a Mexican restaurant is the salsa. There’s something about their salsa that just tastes better than salsa made with store-bought tomatoes.

The secret is using canned tomatoes for salsa.

I promise you that using canned tomatoes is a salsa game changer. Canned tomato salsa tastes amazing.

It’s an easy salsa recipe, just a few ingredients and very little time.

Why Canned Tomatoes Work Better Than You’d Think

Late July to September is the only time of year when it makes sense to make salsa with fresh tomatoes. That’s because those are the months when it’s prime salsa tomato harvesting season.

Any time besides those few short summer months and you’re going to be dealing with sad, bland, mealy, watery tomatoes. Yikes.

But canned tomatoes? Those babies are canned while they’re nice and ripe.

There’s no need to harvest tomatoes early (still green) to survive long trips to get to grocery stores because canned tomatoes don’t go anywhere but your pantry.

Canned tomatoes have depth and flavor. Plus, whole peeled canned tomatoes puree beautifully.

What Goes Into This Salsa

You’ll be surprised at how few ingredients it takes to make a flavorful and delicious salsa. Here are the salsa recipe ingredients:

• Canned tomatoes: I prefer to use whole peeled tomatoes for salsa. Any brand works great. San Marzano, Tuttorosso, Cento, your local store brand…they’re all good. Use all of the tomatoes and juice in the can, which is typically 28 ounces. Don’t use diced tomatoes as they don’t puree well.
• Yellow onion: Any type of onion is fine to use here. White, sweet, red…they’re all good. Roughly chop about 3/4 of a medium-sized yellow onion.
• Cilantro: About 4 tablespoons of coarsely chopped cilantro, as stems are good to use too, they’re pretty tasty.
• Garlic powder: Garlic powder has a nice, rounded flavor that doesn’t overwhelm a dish. If you blend fresh garlic into salsa, it tends to have a harsh, strong flavor that stands out. If you’d rather use fresh garlic, toast a small clove in a pan for 5 minutes before adding to salsa.
• Jalapeño pepper: Use one pepper for a milder salsa. Remove the seeds for extra-mild salsa, leave them in for a medium-spicy salsa. Use two jalapeño peppers for a spicier salsa.
• Salt: One teaspoon of salt to start. Depending on the brand of canned tomatoes used, you may need more or less added salt, as some brands add tons of salt when canning tomatoes and others hardly any.
• Lime juice: Freshly squeezed lime is best. The juice of one lime is about 2 teaspoons. Bottled lime juice is ok but lacks flavor.

How to Make Canned Tomato Salsa

Making this salsa couldn’t be easier. Add the following ingredients to a blender:

• one can of whole peeled tomatoes (undrained)
• 3/4 yellow onion, roughly chopped
• one to two jalapeño peppers, stems removed
• one teaspoon garlic powder
• four tablespoons chopped cilantro
• two teaspoons freshly-squeezed lime juice
• one teaspoon of salt

Give the salsa a quick blend. If you like a thicker salsa with some texture, similar to most Mexican restaurant salsas, pulse the blender about 5-10 times.

If you like a smoother, more blended salsa, blend for 5-10 seconds on medium speed. Be careful not to over-blend the salsa.

It could become more soup-like. Taste the salsa to see if it needs additional salt or lime.

Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, preferably overnight. The salsa tastes best after chilling overnight as the flavors have a chance to meld.

Why Whole Peeled Tomatoes Make the Best Tomato Salsa

Many people wonder what kind of canned tomatoes make good salsa? It’s an excellent question.

Diced canned tomatoes will not work well for making salsa. This is because diced canned tomatoes are treated with a mineral (calcium chloride) that helps the tomatoes to retain their diced shape.

So when you blend salsa using diced tomatoes, instead of pureeing, you’re left with tiny little pieces of tomato swimming in a puddle of tomato juice. Not so fun.

Whole peeled canned tomatoes do not contain added minerals, thus, whole peeled tomatoes puree more evenly for salsa.

How Long It Keeps and Why Day Two Tastes Better

Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator. It will keep for about 10 days.

It’s great from days 2-4, starts to fade in flavor toward day 10. Stir well before serving.

This salsa gets better after it has sat in the refrigerator overnight. Trust me, you do NOT want to skip this step.

As soon as you pull it out of the blender, you’ll want to dip into it and love it. It’s delicious but harsh, raw sounding.

The garlic punches too hard, the onions are bracing, lime shouts at you. But, after it sits in the refrigerator and those flavors marry up, oh man, that’s another salsa.

Even the heat relaxes a little. It’s amazing how something can be the same ingredients, blended, sitting in a bowl and taste so different after resting in the refrigerator.

The garlic powder especially needs time to blend in. Give this salsa the love of a good rest and you’ll be so pleased with the results.

Canned Tomato Salsa Questions I Get All the Time

Can I make this with diced tomatoes?

I prefer to make it with the whole, peeled tomatoes. Diced tomatoes have calcium chloride added to keep them firm so they don’t fall apart.

This works great if you want them to hold their shape for chili and soups, etc., but in this recipe we want them to break down, so canned diced tomatoes leave a somewhat watery salsa with pieces of tomato in it. The canned, whole tomatoes do not contain calcium chloride and make a smoother salsa.

Can I use fresh tomatoes?

Four to five ripe Roma tomatoes are equal to 1 average 28 oz. can. Fresh tomatoes work well at their peak, farmer’s market ripeness in the summertime but canned tomatoes are pretty fail-safe, no matter what time of year.

Do I NEED a blender?

A food processor will work but will leave larger chunks of tomato. A blender gives it a very smooth texture like salsa you’d get at a restaurant.

Is it spicy?

It’s not overly spicy as written. One seeded jalapeño gives it a nice, mild kick.

Use more if you prefer.

More Appetizers Worth Making

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Use this salsa with tortilla chips, in an Easy Baked Bean Dip made with cream cheese, sour cream, refried beans and taco seasoning. It’s the best.

Seven Layer Dip is the party appetizer that combines guacamole, refried beans, green onions, sour cream, taco seasoned cheese, olives and salsa.