This Cherry Tomato Salsa is bright, fresh, and bursting with flavor! Sweet cherry tomatoes, spicy jalapeños, and fresh lime come together in just minutes in your food processor. Perfect served with tortilla chips, tacos, or burrito bowls, this is a salsa that's sure to become a summer favorite!
Making homemade salsa doesn't get easier than this!
No roasting or extra chopping required.
Just toss fresh cherry tomatoes, cilantro, red onion, and jalapeño into a food processor and pulse until perfectly chopped.
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Ingredients
Got an abundance of cherry or grape tomatoes?
This salsa is the perfect way to use them!
With just a handful of ingredients like cherry tomatoes, cilantro, onion, and jalapeño, and a food processor, you can create this chunky, flavorful recipe in no time.
Cherry Tomatoes: The star of the salsa. You can use cherry or grape tomatoes.
Red Onion: Yellow onion works too.
Garlic Cloves: Fresh is best. Roughly mince before adding to the food processor so it blends evenly.
Jalapeño: Adds a touch of heat. I usually remove the seeds to keep it mild.
Cilantro: Essential for that classic salsa flavor.
Green Onion (optional): Adds a mild oniony kick if you like a little extra flavor.
Lime Juice: Must have for salsa! Adds a necessary acidic flavor, use more or less depending on preference.
Salt and Black Pepper: Enhances all the flavors.
See recipe card for quantities.
Helpful Equipment
This fresh tomato salsa is made using a food processor.
You can use a blender but make sure you pulse, not blend. You want this salsa to be finely chopped and not puréed.
How to Make This Recipe
Did you know you can use cherry tomatoes for salsa?
Toss them in a food processor with cilantro, jalapeño, onion, and garlic, and you'll have a delicious homemade salsa ready in under 5 minutes!
The full written recipe can be found in the recipe card below.
Step 1: Add all the ingredients to a food processor (except the lime juice)
Step 2: Process until finely chopped but not puréed. It will be foamy but don't worry- that will go away after it settles.
Step 3: Add a strainer over a container and pour in the salsa. It should not be strained until dry, but you'll want to remove roughly ⅓ cup-½ cup of liquid, depending on how juicy the tomatoes were.
Step 4: Pour into a large serving bowl and add the lime juice to taste. Adjust the salt and pepper as needed.
If it's too acidic for your preference, add a tiny pinch of sugar.
Serve with tortilla chips or on tacos!
Note: Use a food processor to make this salsa. Not a blender. You want it to be finely chopped but not puréed.
Substitutions & Variations
This blender salsa recipe is completely customizable. I recommend taste-testing and tweaking based on your own personal preferences.
Everyone's preference for salt, spice, and texture differs so feel free to adjust things as desired to achieve your perfect salsa!
Cherry Tomatoes: Grape tomatoes aren't as sweet as cherry tomatoes and their flesh is meatier and less watery but they are a great substitute for cherry tomatoes. You might need to adjust the other ingredients to taste. Roma tomatoes will also work.
Red Onion: Yellow or sweet onion is a great substitute for red onion.
Jalapeño: Leave out to omit any heat or replace with a habanero pepper if you want more heat.
Serving Ideas
With tortilla chips: My favorite way to serve this cherry tomato salsa is with homemade air fryer tortilla chips.
Tacos: Add beans, tofu ground beef, guacamole, and fresh salsa to tortillas to make vegan tacos.
Burrito Bowls: Build a burrito bowl with a base of rice, black beans, fajita veggies, and guacamole.
Nachos: Layer tortilla chips with black beans, vegan cheese sauce, pickled jalapeños, guacamole, vegan sour cream, and homemade salsa.
Tips & Tricks
This salsa recipe features fresh cherry tomatoes. While many blended salsas use roasted or canned tomatoes to reduce water content, my method involves adding all ingredients to a food processor, blending them, and then straining off the excess liquid to achieve the perfect consistency.
The lime juice is added after draining off the excess liquid to ensure that all the lime flavor is retained.
Salt to preference. If you're serving this with a salty tortilla chip, you might want to avoid adding too much salt.
Storage
Fresh salsa typically lasts for about 5 to 7 days when stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
To ensure it stays fresh, keep it chilled and always use a clean utensil when serving.
If you notice an off smell or mold, discard it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes! Grape tomatoes work just as well. They're slightly less sweet and have less water, so you may not need to drain the salsa, but they're still perfect for this recipe.
Straining helps remove excess liquid and gives the salsa a thicker, scoopable texture. If you like a thinner, saucier salsa, you can skip this step.
You can but be sure to pulse, not blend! We don't want to make soup. A food processor leaves the salsa with texture. Alternatively, you can use a knife and finely chop all the ingredients.
More Dip Recipes
Looking for other recipes that you can dunk tortilla chips in? Try these:
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Recipe
Cherry Tomato Salsa
Ingredients
- 3 cups Cherry Tomatoes or grape tomatoes
- ½ cup Red Onion roughly chopped
- 2 Garlic Cloves minced
- 1 Jalapeño seeds removed
- ½ cup Cilantro chopped
- 1 Green Onion optional
- ½ teaspoon Kosher Salt or to taste
- Black Pepper to taste
- 2 Limes juiced
Instructions
- Add all the ingredients to a food processor (except the lime juice). Process until finely chopped but not puréed.
- It will be foamy but don't worry, that will go away after it settles.
- Add a strainer over a container and pour in the salsa. It should not be strained until dry, but you might need to strain out ⅓-1/2 cup of liquid depending on how juicy the tomatoes were.
- Pour into a large serving bowl and add the lime juice to taste. Adjust the salt and pepper as needed.
- If it's too acidic for your preference, add a tiny pinch of sugar. Serve with tortilla chips or on tacos!
- Pour leftover salsa into an airtight container and store for later. It tastes even better the next day!
Notes
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