• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

An Oregon Cottage logo

  • Recipes
    • Best Desserts
    • Easy Salads
    • Easy Side Dishes
    • Homemade Breads
    • Homemade Soups
    • Pantry Basics Recipes
    • Simple Dinner Recipes
    • Simple Slow Cooker Recipes
    • Simple Snacks
  • Canning & Preserving
    • Canning Recipes
    • Dehydrator Recipes
    • Freezing Produce
    • Fermented Food Recipes
  • Gardening
    • Yard & Garden Tour
    • Vegetable Garden
    • Flowers, Beds & Borders
    • Gardening Tips
    • Ultimate Vegetable & Fruit Guides
  • DIY & Remodeling
    • 1900 Farmhouse
    • 1982 Ranch-turned-Cottage
    • Easy Handmade Gifts
  • Shop
    • Flexible Planner, Cookbooks, Ebooks & More
    • An Oregon Cottage's Amazon Shop
    • Shopping and Gift Guides
menu icon
go to homepage
search icon
Homepage link
  • Home
  • Recipes
  • Organic Gardening
  • DIY & Remodeling
    • Email
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • YouTube
  • ×

    Get my newsletters + access to a library full of printables!

    Home » Whole Food Recipes » Appetizers & Drinks

    September 18, 2018 | By Jami

    Garden Fresh Salsa Cruda & Pico de Gallo Recipe

    Jump to Recipe

    Easy garden fresh salsa recipe that you can make into a smooth, restaurant-style salsa cruda for dipping or a chunky pico de gallo for topping tacos and more. Find more great ideas on the Quick Healthy Recipes page!

    Garden Fresh Salsa-Pico de Gallo-Salsa Cruda

    One of my favorite things about having a garden is being able to make fresh salsa when tomatoes and peppers are in season. A reader asked me recently where my fresh, uncooked, salsa recipe was and I realized I'd never posted this simple - yet super flavorful - recipe. Which, since I make it several times a week during August and September, was quite an oversight!

    While fresh salsa is a simple recipe - if you've got tomatoes, peppers, and onions you're basically good - there are many variances in flavor additions: garlic, lime, cilantro - or not.

    There are also texture differences and in our house I like to make two versions of fresh salsa, just like we are served at our favorite Mexican restaurants. This may or may not be because of a certain picky eater who prefers a smooth sauce while others like it nice and chunky (a-hem). In either case, it's a simple way to please everyone and to have the two styles of salsa available for different applications.

    Garden Fresh Salsa

    Garden Fresh Salsa-pico de gallo

    First up is the classic, chunky pico de gallo full of diced tomatoes, peppers, onions and garlic. If you'd like to add other ingredients like corn, black beans, (or sweet bell peppers as I did here), pico de gallo is the version you'll want to use for those additions.

    Garden Fresh Salsa-Salsa Cruda

    Next is a restaurant-style salsa cruda where the same tomatoes, peppers, onions and garlic have been whirred in a food processor to a much smoother consistency. This is the salsa to keep 'pure' with only tomatoes, onions, and hot peppers - and spicy if you like it that way. Since we do like ti hot, I always leave the seeds and the membranes of jalapeño peppers before adding to the food processor.

    Note: 'salsa cruda' simply means a raw, uncooked sauce that can be any texture. Some recipes leave it chunkier, but I wanted to differentiate it from the pico de gallo and we are mostly served it smooth in restaurants, so that's why I call the smoother salsa 'cruda.'

    Can you make both these fresh salsa variations at the same time?

    Garden Fresh Salsa-Pico and Cruda_650

    I will often make both these salsas together because they use almost the same ingredients and it's easy to do - half the lime for one, the other half for the other, and so on.

    Here's where I probably should confess that I'm not a cilantro fan - I think it overtakes the other flavors in salsas most of the time. I usually use Italian parsley and I like the fresh flavor it adds that only enhances the other flavors. I don't mind a bit of cilantro, just not overkill.

    Like always in making your own real food, the choice is yours on how much an ingredient to add or whether to add it at all!

    Garden Fresh Salsa-Pico de Gallo and Salsa Cruda

    While I've made versions of these fresh salsas for years, dealing with the large amounts of juice from ripe tomatoes has always been an issue (a little tomato in your liquid, maybe?), so I added a draining step to the recipe that I adapted after reading about it in Cook's Country.

    It's not crucial, so you can choose to skip that step, but it does make using the salsas with finger foods like tacos much easier, since it cuts down on the extra liquid that tends to run down your arm and pool on your plate.

    Garden Fresh Salsa-Pico-Cruda

    Oh, and our favorite way to eat these salsas is with 10 Minute Baked Tortilla Chips to put all the emphasis on those garden fresh flavors - yum!

    Garden Fresh Salsa-Pico de Gallo and Salsa Cruda
    Print Recipe Pin Recipe
    4 from 1 vote

    Garden Fresh Salsa Cruda & Pico de Gallo

    Easy garden fresh salsa recipe you can make into both a smooth, restaurant-style "salsa cruda" and (or) a chunky "pico de gallo."
    Prep Time20 mins
    Total Time20 mins
    Course: Condiment
    Cuisine: Mexican
    Yield: 3 -4 cups
    Author: Jami Boys

    Ingredients

    • 3 pounds tomatoes
    • 1 teaspoon salt
    • 1 small onion halved
    • 2 to 4 jalapenos halved (use smaller amount and remove seeds for milder salsa)
    • 1 anaheim pepper halved & seeded
    • 1 lime halved
    • 4 garlic cloves peeled
    • 1/2 teaspoon pepper
    • 1/4 cup chopped parsley or cilantro
    • 1/4 teaspoon cumin optional
    • optional diced vegetables for pico de gallo: beans corn, sweet peppers

    Instructions

    • For both salsas: core and quarter the tomatoes. Optional draining step: Sprinkle tomatoes with salt and let sit in a strainer to drain while preparing the other vegetables.
    • For Salsa Cruda:* add one half of the remaining ingredients to the bowl of a food processor (roughly chop the half onion first) and the juice of one half of the lime - pulse until ingredients are roughly chopped. Add half of the drained, quartered tomatoes to the processor and whir with ingredients until the desired consistency is reached; transfer to a serving bowl.
    • For Pico de Gallo:* dice the remaining half of the ingredients and add to a serving bowl, along with the juice from the other half of the lime. Chop the remaining quartered, drained tomatoes and add to the pico de gallo ingredients and stir together well.
    • Salt and pepper both salsas to taste and serve.

    Notes

    *Of course you can just make one type of salsa - just use all the ingredients for whichever type you choose and either process them all for the salsa cruda or hand chop them all for the pico de gallo.

    Nutrition

    Serving: 1/4 cup | Calories: 29kcal | Carbohydrates: 6.2g | Protein: 1.2g | Fat: 0.03g | Saturated Fat: 0g | Cholesterol: 0mg | Sodium: 207mg | Fiber: 1.8g | Sugar: 3.5g
    Did you make this recipe?Mention @anoregoncottage or tag #anoregoncottage!

    Other Salsa Recipes You May Like:

    • My Favorite Thick Salsa for Canning
    • Roasted Tomatillo or Green Tomato Salsa
    • Quick & Easy Roasted Corn Salsa
    • Ultimate Hot Pepper Guide (with tons of recipes, including salsas)

    Simple Real Food Dinner Menus + Shopping Lists

    Subscribe to the popular newsletters AND get access to this Seasonal Menu Ebook with 20 weeks of dinner menu ideas in the VIP Subscriber Library - with more notebooks, checklists & recipes. We'll never send spam - read our Privacy Policy here.

    Welcome - I'm so glad you've joined the AOC community! Your first step is to check your email to confirm your subscription and you'll be on your way to your free eBook and more printables.

    There was an error submitting your subscription. Please try again.

    Unsubscribe at any time. Powered by ConvertKit

    About Jami

    Since 2009 Jami Boys has been helping readers live a simple homemade life through whole food recipes, doable gardening, and easy DIY projects on An Oregon Cottage. From baking bread, to creating a floor from paper, to growing and preserving food, Jami shares the easiest ways to get things done. She's been featured in Cottages and Bungalows, Old House Journal, and First for Women magazines as well as numerous sites like Good Housekeeping, Huffington Post, and Apartment Therapy.

    Primary Sidebar

    Jami Boys headshot

    Hi, I'm Jami and I'm so glad you're here! My goal is to help you live a simple homemade life on your terms: cooking delicious real food, painless gardening, and making easy things that are totally worth your time. 

    Read More →

    Popular Posts

    • Roasted Cabbage Wedges with Onion Dijon Sauce
    • Easy Sourdough Artisan Bread Recipe (Ready in 1 Day)
    • Original Brown Paper Floor Tutorial: A DIY Alternative to Wood Floors
    • How To Freeze Green Beans The Easy Way Without Blanching
    • 5 Reasons To Grow Cucumbers On A Trellis (And Taking Up Less Space Isn't One Of Them)
    • Quick Honey Sweetened Homemade Ketchup Recipe

    ALL OUR CATEGORIES

    Jami Orgeon CottageHi, I'm Jami and I'm so glad you're here! My goal is to help you live a simple homemade life on your terms: cooking delicious real food, painless gardening, and making easy things that are totally worth your time. Read More...
    2021 Flexible Planner

    Popular Posts

    How to make a French style bench from old chairs upcycling them into high-end looking furniture.

    How to Make A French-Style Bench From Old Chairs

    Better than Store Bought Easy, Soft 100 Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread

    Easy, Soft 100% Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread Tutorial

    Homemade Garlic-Mint Natural Garden Insect Spray - An Oregon Cottage

    Homemade Garlic-Mint Garden Insect Spray (that really works!!)

    Three Ways to Freeze Corn - An Oregon Cottage

    How To Freeze Corn Three Ways: Blanched, Unblanched and Whole

    DIY Roasted and Salted Almonds pin

    Perfectly Salted DIY Roasted Almonds (seriously the BEST)

    Buttered whole wheat dinner rolls in baking pan.

    The Original Soft 100% Whole Wheat Dinner Rolls Recipe

    All Our Categories

    • Email
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • YouTube

    Footer

    ↑ back to top

    About

    • Privacy Policy
    • Disclosure Policy

    Newsletter

    • Sign Up! for emails and updates

    Contact

    • Contact
    • Collaboration & Advertising

    Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

    Disclaimer: All Content Provided On An Oregon Cottage Is For Informational Purposes Only. The Owner Of This Blog Makes No Representations As To The Accuracy Or Completeness Of Any Information On This Site Or Found By Following Any Link On This Site.

    Copyright © 2022 An Oregon Cottage | No Content On This Site, Including Text And Photos, May Be Reused In Any Fashion Without Written Permission.