This is the best restaurant style salsa recipe, and I’ve been making it blissfully for almost a decade! What makes this the best restaurant style salsa recipe? Spoiler alert: it comes from one of my favorite Mexican restaurants (but I’ll never say which)! It blends fresh garlic, cilantro, chiles, onions, and tomatoes with canned tomatoes for the perfect blend of fresh and traditional restaurant style salsa. So good! Made easily with my very favorite food processor from Cuisinart.
I have a super special, super weird post for you all today: an update of my very first post ever. This is the best restaurant style salsa recipe, and, as evidenced by this EIGHT YEAR OLD BLOG POST (I know), I’ve been making it blissfully for years.
I wrote this post back when I made the best restaurant style salsa recipe to detract from my looming almost-fat: law school. I started this blog, originally called Legally Eating, as a way to hoard my creativity whilst heading full-throttle into a dry, immersive legal experience. Suffice it to say, I realized that playing on the Internet and making food was my actual dream, and the law school thing didn’t last too terribly long. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Nothing about the recipe has changed, and it’s even more tried and true than ever. The story of how I got it is still fantastic, even though recipezaar.com became food.com many, many years ago (I’m old).
On top of that, can we even talk about my photography?! I’m not even sure you could call it that, since, what is this, even? Which brings me to an exciting point…
I wrote a book! An eBook, to be exact, but it has over 100 pages and lots of photos and a table of contents and everything (= *real book*). It’s called Improve Your Food Photography Almost Instantly, because that’s what it’s all about: improving your food photography almost instantly. I went from absolute crap photographer to pretty OK in a very short period of time by following a few principles. The book covers each of these, provides a solid foundation for your photography practice, and offers dozens of immediately applicable tips and methods that will take your food photography to the next level right away.
See?
LOVE that I remembered to garnish in that first photo… pretty sure it makes all the difference (?).
I couldn’t be more excited about this venture, and I hope you’re interested, too! I’ll be sending out a special early-bird discounted price, so sign up below to get that offer!
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Originally published: July 7, 2009
Yesterday’s culinary adventure… was more of a culinary autopilot.
I’ve been making this salsa for at least two years now, but it’s become something of a favorite–nay, necessity, in my.. surroundings.
Back at college, my friends always willingly hung out at my house, knowing that in return for such convenience, I’d have them stocked on the stuff. In Paris, I chopped everything by hand into tiny, tiny pieces, and as a going-away present, I gave the girl who drank the salsa from a wine glass… like it was, well.. wine, the recipe. Back at my parents’ house, it is literally one of my duties to keep at least half a gallon around at all times. Whatever would we do if some family dropped by and there were no salsa to feed them? Oh, quel horror!
But hey, I can’t blame them. Check out the story of how I even got the recipe: So, I have my profile up on recipezaar.com, of course, and at the bottom of my page, it said my ultimate goal was to create a copycat recipe of this particular restaurant’s salsa.. My absolute favorite food in the world. Well, apparently a fellow student at my university had randomly made one of my recipes, liked it, checked out my profile, and, it being Christmas and all, decided to get the recipe for me. It took a little tugging at the heartstrings of the woman who runs the restaurant, but lo and behold, it came my way. What can I say? It’s utterly delicious.
The thing about this salsa is that it combines fresh ingredients with cooked ingredients, unlike most salsas which either all meld together in a big pot, or are all raw, like a pico de gallo. Combining the two gives it a depth that’s to die for. That, my friends, is what makes it the best restaurant style salsa recipe! It’s not a chunky salsa, but chunky salsas just remind me of the crappy El Paso I shelled out 5€ for in Paris, out of utter desperation. You should see me try to go longer than a few days without Mexican food..
It ain’t pretty.
Best Restaurant Style Salsa Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 cloves garlic
- 1-3 serrano peppers , quartered (depending on how spicy you dig it)
- 1/2 bunch cilantro (or a bit more)
- 1/2 pound yellow or white onions about 1/2-1, cut into 1″ pieces
- 3/4 pound Roma tomatoes about 3, cut into 1″ pieces,
- 3 14- ounce cans diced tomatoes , drained
- 2 teaspoons salt
Instructions
- Add garlic, jalapeños, and cilantro to a food processor and pulse until chopped and pretty uniformly smooth. Add Toss in onions and pulse a few times, until pretty smooth again. Throw in fresh tomatoes and pulse until you have no big chunks of tomato.
- Add in drained canned tomatoes and pulse again until the salsa is the desired consistency. Add salt and transfer to an airtight container.
Notes
Nutrition
Cheryl Malik is the recipe developer, writer, and photographer behind the healthy, flavorful, family friendly recipes at 40 Aprons. She’s been a blogger for 10+ years and is known for her delicious recipes and detailed recipe instructions. Cheryl is a mom of three who lives in Memphis, TN.
Paul Bachmann says
What kind of canned tomatoes do you recommend/use?
Savannah | 40 Aprons Team says
Any kind, really!
Persephone says
Would you recommend the Serrano or jalapeno?
Amelia Camurati says
It depends on your heat and taste preference! On average, a Serrano pepper is about five times spicier than a jalapeño.
Esmeralda says
Simple components, awesome taste! The best recipes just require quality ingredients not complicated mixes.
🙂
Cheryl Malik says
Definitely agree! High quality ingredients make ALL the difference.