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Easily customized to your own taste, this restaurant style salsa pairs perfectly with chips, scrambled eggs, enchiladas, and more!

restaurant style Salsa
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We eat salsa on just about anything, from more traditional Mexican fare to our (in)famous clean-out-the-fridge skillet meals. There’s generally a purchased jar or two in our fridge at all times, and we have a great pico de gallo recipe for the summer when tomatoes are in full force. Being such a salsa fan, I was surprised to only recently become introduced to a new salsa concept – roasted tomato salsa. We purchased some to go with our black bean tostadas, and it was so good that I was itching to replicate the concept. This recipe was my first time trying to reverse engineer a recipe from the back of a label, but a few tries and some internet research resulted in a restaurant style salsa that fit both of our tastes.

The great thing about salsa is that you can easily customize it – just add the amount of ingredients to your own liking! We enjoyed the smoky, slightly sweet taste of this version; it’s a great variation while we wait for our new tomato plants to get started. Incidentally, we rarely eat salsa with chips, but since we had some leftover tortillas we tried our hand at homemade tortilla chips. I was pleasantly surprised at how good they were; they were much less greasy than the store-bought version. (To learn how to make your own tortilla chips, check out our fire-roasted tomato salsa recipe).

How to eat salsa (besides on chips)

I already know what you’re thinking: if you don’t eat your salsa with chips, how do you eat it? A few of our favorite ways to enjoy this restaurant style salsa are:

  • On top of scrambled eggs—scrambled eggs are taken to the next level with a few spoonfuls of salsa on top. For a heartier breakfast, you could fold the eggs and salsa into a corn tortilla with a few other toppings to make a breakfast taco.
  • As a dip for Mexican pizza—we have two different Mexican pizza recipes on our blog, and I honestly don’t know which is my favorite. No matter which I make, I like to dip my slice into this restaurant style salsa for an extra burst of flavor.
  • As a substitute for enchilada sauce—salsa works perfectly on top of enchiladas. The flavor is different from enchilada sauce, of course, but it adds a freshness to the dish that’s unbeatable.
  • Mixed into soups—any peppery, tomato-based soup will benefit from a few scoops of homemade salsa. Your soup won’t end up tasting like salsa, but it will have a depth of flavor you’ll really like.
  • On tacos and other Mexican dishes—no explanation is needed for this one. Top your favorite Mexican dishes with salsa and dig in! These loaded nachos are particularly good and make excellent use of this restaurant style salsa.

Looking for more easy Mexican recipes?

Outside of this restaurant style salsa, here are a few more Mexican inspired recipes:

This restaurant style salsa recipe is…

Vegetarian, vegan, and gluten-free.

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Restaurant Style Salsa


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  • Author: a Couple Cooks
  • Prep Time: 15 minutes
  • Cook Time: 0 minutes
  • Total Time: 15 minutes
  • Yield: 4 cups 1x
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Description

Easily customized to your own taste, this restaurant style salsa pairs perfectly with chips, scrambled eggs, enchiladas, and more!


Ingredients

Scale
  • 28-ounce can fire roasted tomatoes
  • 2 to 3 ounces canned fire roasted green chilies
  • Half of a yellow onion
  • One jalapeño pepper (or more to taste)
  • Handful cilantro
  • 1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
  • Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper

Instructions

  1. Dice the jalapeño pepper. Reserve the amount of seeds you’d like to add (remember, they are spicy!). Cut the half onion into a few chunks. Drain the can of tomatoes.
  2. Place the jalapeño pepper and onion in a food processor. Pulse a few times to chop.
  3. Add the cilantro, tomatoes, and green chilies to the food processor. Pulse several more times to achieve the desired consistency.
  4. Stir in around 1 ½ to 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar and salt and pepper to taste. To add more spiciness, add another jalapeño, some red pepper flakes, or cayenne pepper.
  • Category: Side Dish
  • Method: Blended
  • Cuisine: Mexican

About the authors

Sonja & Alex

Hi, we’re Alex and Sonja Overhiser, married cookbook authors, food bloggers, and recipe developers. We founded A Couple Cooks to share fresh, seasonal recipes and the joy of cooking! Our recipes are made by two real people and work every time.

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10 Comments

  1. Debbie B (DebaRooRoo) says:

    Looks fabulous and so simple :) :)

  2. Veronica Gantley says:

    I love fire roasted tomatoes. What a good idea to put them in a salsa. You could even make this in the winter when tomatoes are out of season.

  3. Erin @ Dinners, Dishes and Desserts says:

    Fire roasted tomatoes give such a different flavor. Great idea! We are huge salsa fans in this house!

  4. Lindsey@Lindselicious says:

    Oooh I have all these ingredients at home! That salsa look so yummy I can practically taste it by just looking at the photo.

  5. Jenn@eatcakefordinner says:

    Great photos. I love your salsa dish.

  6. Tammy says:

    Love fire roasted salsa. Especially with a some of the charred tomato pieces left on for added depth. Looks delicious.

  7. Maggie @ Vittles and Bits says:

    I just recently discovered roasted tomatoes for salsa and it’s delish! This looks awesome!

  8. Cookie says:

    YUM! I love the smoky taste of fire-roasted tomatoes! This would be great for the upcoming Tailgating season!

  9. Lauren @ Healthy Food For Living says:

    For some reason, I rarely make salsa. Thanks to this easy recipe & gorgeous photo, I’m motivated to pick up a few cans of fire roasted tomatoes to have on hand in order to make this salsa! Considering how often my husband and I eat Mexican food, this will be a great recipe to add to our repertoire.

  10. Lindsay @ Pinch of Yum says:

    I love canned fire roasted tomatoes! This would be a great way to hold myself over until the farmers market tomatoes arrive! :) Keep up the good work!