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Pico de Gallo is a classic Mexican inspired salsa, using tomato, onion, cilantro, jalapeno and limes. A little salt and pepper and dig in!

Step-by-step photos and instructions are below!

I do love me some guacamole and pico with some corn chips and a frosty beer in the summer.

Living in the Southwest, we have a lot of amazing, fresh ingredients available to us. While many of them are grown in Mexico, I consider this an Americanized version of the Mexican classic.

If you’re making Mexican dishes (or Tex-Mex or Southwestern), chances are you’ll need a yummy fresh salsa recipe. Basically, you need Pico de Gallo. Add this to my Baja Shrimp Tacos!

You don’t need to visit a Mexican restaurant to get the good Mexican food anymore! Of course, you probably should because unlimited chips and salsa is kind of amazing, but I digress. That said, you can make this great recipe right in your own home and eat the entire batch. I won’t tell if you don’t.

The great news is that it is easy to make, and you can get it in your bowl very fast. You can even make it ahead and let it hang out in the refrigerator ready for whenever you need it. It will stay good for a few days.

Unfortunately, I have no actual data on this because we generally eat the entire batch pretty fast. I have to make more on the same day I make the first batch!

If you love Pico de Gallo, make my Homemade Guacamole, too. Serve together, with some Mexican Black Beans!

Pin this recipe for later!

close up of pico de gallo on a tortilla chip

What is Pico de Gallo?

It is a Mexican salsa made up of tomatoes, onions, jalapenos, and cilantro. I add garlic because that’s who I am, but that is not required.

Pico de Gallo is also known as salsa fresca and salsa cruda. If you ever see it on your favorite Mexican menu you’ll know they’re essentially the same thing.

Why you’ll love this recipe

It’s super simple. Just good quality ingredients.
It’s super easy to make. Just finely chop some fresh tomatoes, jalapenos, onion, lime, and a little cilantro, and you’re good to go.
It can be used like salsa, served with tortilla chips or on queso dip, quesadillas, nachos, tacos, and other recipes.
Serve with Carne Asada (or Pollo Asada) and any Mexican type of dish.

I have included step by step photos and instructions, as well as tips and tricks in the post. If you’d rather skip all that, scoot right on down to the recipe card located at the bottom of the post.

Recipe Ingredients and Possible Substitutes

The full list of ingredients and quantities is found in the printable recipe card below.

How to make Pico de Gallo:

Scroll for Recipe

The full list of ingredients, quantities and instructions can be found in the printable recipe card below.

Chop veggies

Slice the tomatoes in half, and dig out the seeds. Chop into small pieces.

Dice the onion and jalapeno, mince the garlic, chop the cilantro.

4 photos showing how to make pico de gallo

Combine all ingredients

Add tomatoes, onion, garlic and jalapeno to a bowl. Add the cilantro, squeeze lime over top and mix thoroughly.

Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Refrigerate until needed, or serve immediately at room temperature.

Serve with chips. Devour.

Tips

I use roma tomatoes. I cut them in half and scoop out the seeds. It makes for a less watery pico de gallo.

Serrano peppers can be used in place of jalapenos. I remove the seeds so my pico isn’t too spicy.

Onions: white onions, yellow onions or red onions all work in this recipe.

Garlic. Garlic is not a traditional ingredient in an authentic pico de gallo recipe. I love to add it to mine for a little extra pop. You can obviously choose to leave it out if you wish.

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