Nitrate & Nitrite Free No-Cook Salsa Fresca
Fresh, vibrant, and made entirely from whole ingredients, this salsa fresca is the kind of recipe that makes you wonder why you ever reached for a jar. Ripe tomatoes, white onion, jalapeño, cilantro, garlic, and a squeeze of fresh lime juice come together in minutes with zero cooking required. For anyone avoiding processed preservatives, store-bought salsas can be a minefield — many commercial versions rely on additives to extend shelf life, making the label-reading exhausting. This recipe sidesteps all of that entirely, since every single ingredient is fresh and unprocessed by nature. The brief 10-minute rest before serving is a small but important step that lets the tomatoes release their juices and allows the flavors to meld into something that tastes far greater than the sum of its parts. You can dial the heat up or down depending on how you handle the jalapeño seeds, making it easy to please a crowd. Serve it with chips, spoon it over eggs, or pile it onto tacos — it disappears fast no matter how you use it.
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Learn more →Ingredients
6 servings
- 1 lb ripe tomatoes (about 3 medium), cored and finely diced
- ½ medium white onion, finely diced
- 1 jalapeño, seeds and ribs removed for mild heat or left in for more, finely minced
- ½ cup fresh cilantro leaves and tender stems, roughly chopped
- 2 tbsp fresh lime juice (from about 1 lime)
- ½ tsp kosher salt, plus more to taste
- 1 small garlic clove, minced
Instructions
- 1
Combine the diced tomatoes, white onion, jalapeño, cilantro, garlic, lime juice, and salt in a mixing bowl and stir to combine.
- 2
Let the salsa rest at room temperature for 10 minutes, until the tomatoes release some of their juices and the flavors meld.
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