5-Ingredient Pico de Gallo
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Learn how to make a quick 5-ingredient Pico de Gallo! This recipe calls for easy ingredients, and Pico de Gallo can be used on tacos, fajitas, or served straight with your favorite tortilla chips!
It’s chip and dip season!!
A batch of homemade Pico de Gallo is a staple in our house once spring hits. Nevermind the fact that my husband won’t even look in the general direction of raw tomatoes. Okay, it’s me. I eat all the pico in the house, alright! I admit it! It’s a simple, low-calorie, and rest assured, a healthy recipe that adds tons of flavor to salads, serves as a quick snack with tortilla chips and goes with any and all kinds of meat that you throw on the grill this season!
I ate pico by the buckets on our honeymoon, is that even a surprise now? And years and years later, I still remember the way it tasted. We stayed at an all-inclusive resort, and they made pico fresh with the most delicious ripe tomatoes. So needless to say, I was piling it high on my eggs, loading it up in my shrimp tacos, and for dinner, you got it, more pico de gallo on the side, please!
My favorite thing to make come April is all the things for Cinco de Mayo. And since I shared blender salsa the other day, I figured it was time for Pico. Living in Texas certainly has it’s perks, like having full access to the best Tex-Mex food. That means I get to try all the things and then come back here and share them with you! This is without a doubt the best job perk.
In previous years, I’ve shared how to make elotes (grilled corn with all the things), Mexican street corn salad, Mexican shrimp cocktail stuffed avocados (a personal faveee), street tacos, easy refried beans, shrimp enchiladas in cheesy sauce, avocado corn and rice salad and the list goes on and on,
What I’m trying to say is that if you haven’t planned your Cinco de Mayo menu, rest assured I’m going to be bombarding you with a few more Cinco de Mayo recipes before the big day!
WHAT IS PICO DE GALLO?
Depending on where you are in the world, pico de gallo is also referred to as salsa fresca. It’s a blend of fresh tomatoes and a few select ingredients. Pico de Gallo tastes great on homemade tacos and burritos, but you can also serve it with tortilla chips.
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PICO DE GALLO AND SALSA?
Pico de gallo or salsa fresca uses fresh ingredients as the name suggests. Salsa can also be made with fresh tomatoes, but some salsas are made with canned tomatoes and some with canned fire-roasted tomatoes (and sometimes the onions and peppers are roasted too.) The ingredients in pico de gallo are the starting point of salsa, but salsa often contains fresh garlic and spices, which Pico does not. Pico de Gallo is made by chopping onions, tomatoes, and peppers finely whereas most salsas are made in a blender or food processor.
WHAT DO YOU NEED TO MAKE PICO DE GALLO?
- Tomatoes
- Onions
- Jalapeños
- Cilantro
- Lime juice
- Salt
HOW TO MAKE THE BEST PICO DE GALLO
I have a special trick to share with you if you want to make the best restaurant-style Pico de Gallo. Start by mincing the onions finely and allowing them to sit in the lime juice while you chop the remainder of your ingredients. I find this small little step helps take away the harsh bite from the onion and makes it much more pleasant to eat in a gathering!
HOW TO USE HOMEMADE PICO DE GALLO
You can pretty much use Pico de Gallo on anything you like! I love it with homemade taquitos (coming soon), but also with my chicken or beef fajitas, served simply with chips for a dip trio, along with my homemade avocado dip + blender salsa. You can also serve it with my chicken carnitas, or street corn chicken tacos. Plus, my homemade Pico de Gallo can be used anywhere you see fit!
5-Ingredient Pico de Gallo
Learn how to make a quick 5-ingredient Pico de Gallo! This recipe calls for easy ingredients, and Pico de Gallo can be used on tacos, fajitas, or served straight with your favorite tortilla chips!
Ingredients
- 5-6 Roma tomatoes, chopped (about 1 ¼ pounds)
- ½ cup onions, finely minced (or more to taste)
- 1 -2 minced jalapeños, seeds and ribs removed
- ½ cup cilantro, chopped (use stems too!)
- 2 - 3 tablespoons lime juice
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt (plus more as desired)
Instructions
- Add onions and jalapeños to a bowl. Add 2 tablespoons of lime juice and salt, and stir to combine, let sit for 5 minutes while you chop your tomatoes. Add the tomatoes and cilantro. Taste and adjust with additional salt or lime juice as desired. Allow the Pico de Gallo to sit at room temperature for 20-30 minutes (or refrigerate for 2 hours, covered) and then serve with tortilla chips or on top of your favorite foods!
- Leftover pico de gallo can be kept covered and refrigerated for up to 3 days.
Notes
- I like to remove the seeds from my tomatoes, however, this is entirely optional.
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