Watermelon Mango Salsa Appetizer Recipe

Watermelon Mango Salsa

I love salsa. I love mango salsa, I love peach salsa and even watermelon salsa. I really, really love a good appetizer recipe for a canned tomato salsa. But this Watermelon Mango Salsa seriously takes the cake.

There's a bit of slicing and chopping, but this watermelon slicer and this veggie chopper are the real deal and make this recipe so much easier. On a side note, I use the melon slicer all summer long and love mine. It's a great investment if cutting watermelon is messy for you. All of the juice stays in the melon rind until you want to use it – yum!

Anyhow, what I really adore about this watermelon mango salsa recipe is that it's sweet, but yet it has a bit of spice with the jalapeno pepper, red onion and black pepper, so it's still perfect paired with pita chips or regular tortilla chips.

To get this salsa going you'll want to first combine the lime zest, lime juice, sugar and pepper in a bowl. Choose from these lime zesters if you don't have one — or you can zest citrus fruits without a zester tool by cutting some of the rind off the fruit with a vegetable peeler, cutting it into strips with a sharp knife and then mincing it. This will do and you'll save some dough.

Once the lime and pepper mixture is together, mix in your watermelon, cucumber, mango, jalapeño, onion and basil and toss gently. This is where the watermelon slicer comes in to make this recipe (and your entire spring, summer and fall) so much easier. Seriously, this thing is worth it. Take my word. As for your cucumber, peel it really well first so you only get the moist inside pieces of the veggie in your salsa but leave out the seeds. The seeds will make your salsa really watery with cucumber juice once it sits for a bit.

Peel and chop the mango, add to the salsa concoction. Next, tackle the jalapeno. The jalapeno seeds will give the salsa an extra kick, so if you like spice leave them in the salsa recipe, but consider yourself warned.  🙂

Chop up and throw in your onion and toss the chopped basil in as well. Basil makes everything better in the summer, right?

Chill the salsa until you're ready for it to make its debut for dinner or the party and give it a little toss of garlic salt right before serving for just a little more flavor. Seriously delicious. You're going to love this watermelon mango salsa on so many things… on top of being a great appetizer dip with chips, it's a great mango salsa for fish. It would even be fantastic with some grilled chicken or shrimp tacos. This watermelon salsa is simply fantastic. See how it's so interchangeable that I can really call it anything? Yum — so delicious!

If you're looking for a sweeter salsa, be sure to also give this fruit salsa with cinnamon chips a try as well.

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Watermelon Mango Salsa Appetizer Recipe

This watermelon mango salsa is amazing on fish, chips or grilled chicken. And it's really so simple, too!

Course Appetizer

Prep Time 25 minutes

Total Time 25 minutes

Servings 7 cups

Author Kate

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 t lime zest 1 lime worth
• 1/4 cup lime juice from about 3 limes if using fresh
• 1 T sugar
• 3/4 t ground pepper
• 3 cups seeded and finely chopped watermelon
• 1 cucumber peeled, seeded and diced
• 2 mangoes peeled and diced
• 1 jalapeno pepper seeded and minced
• 1/2 red onion finely chopped
• 10 fresh basil leaves finely chopped
• 1/2 t garlic salt
• Pita chips or tortilla chips for serving

Instructions

1. Stir together the lime juice, lime zest, sugar and pepper in a bowl.
2. Add the watermelon, cucumber, mango, jalapeno, onion and basil and toss gently.
3. Chill the salsa until ready to serve, atleast 2 hours.
4. Add the garlic salt just before serving and give it another good gentle stir.
5. Serve with chips.