Fresh Salsa Picante
Salsa is a beloved condiment in many households. It’s the topper for tacos, it’s a dipper for vegetables and other snacks, and you’ll even find it in several breakfast dishes (atop eggs and inside breakfast burritos). As far as condiments go, salsa is ultra healthy and chocked full of flavor and depth. Like many condiments, though, the pre-packaged varieties you purchase in a store can get loaded with so many preservatives and sugars that it can detract from what is actually just fresh diced vegetables marinated together. Unlike other condiments, salsa is actually incredibly simple to make at home. And, did we mention less expensive to make at home? In fact, once you start making it from scratch and seeing how you can tailor and tweak your ingredients to your exact preferences, you’ll never want to purchase it from a store again!
Salsa comes in a variety of flavors, colors, and forms. You’ve got salsa verde, salsa roja, thick and chunky salsa, smooth salsa, mild salsa, spicy salsa, traditional salsa, fruit salsas and everything in between! One of our favorite salsas is a chunky salsa picante (spicy), and that’s what we’ve prepared here. If spicy isn’t your thing, then you can lessen or remove the spice altogether (we recommend adding just a pinch of salt to boost the flavor of the other ingredients).
We gravitate towards chunky salsas because they have more texture, feel more filling, and honestly, they make for the best looking dishes, too. The combinations of vegetables and flavors that you can use are truly only as limited as your imagination, and we encourage you to experiment with the vegetables and flavors that you prefer (or even just happen to have laying around in the kitchen and garden needing to be used up). We’ve used pretty common ingredients: tomatoes, jalapenos, green onions (a lower-carb and lower sugar alternative to white or purple onions), and cilantro. One thing we do recommend - no matter what foods you decide to use in your salsas - is to use fresh, ripe ingredients. In terms of both taste and nutrition, you’ll find that there’s no substitute for fresh!
Fresh salsa is as simple as dicing and chopping your ingredients, mixing in a bowl, and letting marinate for several hours (or overnight) in an airtight container in the fridge. Salsa can be made ahead of time and stays good for about 4-6 days in an airtight container in the fridge! So, go ahead and start it in the morning before you head out for your day or prep it on Sunday with your other meal prep, and enjoy it as you please all throughout the week!
Ingredients:
- 8 oz. fresh tomatoes, diced
- 2 oz. fresh jalapenos, seeded and diced
- 2 oz. fresh green onions, chopped
- 1 - 1 ½ TBSP fresh cilantro, chopped
Instructions:
- Blend all ingredients together in a bowl.
- Place in an airtight container and let sit in the fridge for at least 4 hours (preferably overnight), and serve chilled.
Makes 3 Servings | Serving Size: 4 oz. | One serving Replaces: ½ vegetable serving
