Restaurant Style Blender Salsa

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If you're looking for an easy salsa recipe that tastes amazing, it doesn't get easier than Restaurant Style Blender Salsa. Restaurant style means the salsa is usually made with canned tomatoes, has a mild to medium spice level and has a smooth yet slightly chunky texture. And it doesn't get any easier than throwing all your ingredients in a blender and pulsing a few times to end up with a delicious blended salsa.

Overhead view of bowl of restaurant style blender salsa with a spoon sticking on a decorative plate full of corn tortilla chips. Blue corn tortilla chips and cut limes are in the background.

Ask people what they love about Mexican restaurants, and the free chips and salsa would be really high on the list. Many restaurants are now starting to charge for chips and salsa though, but we still order it anyway. Why? Because well-made salsa is so good. Now you can make your own though! Blender salsa is my favorite condiment too. Yes, it's perfect for tortilla chips, but it's also great for wraps, bowls, most Mexican foods and even potatoes and scrambled eggs!

We use canned fire roasted tomatoes in restaurant style blender salsa to make it quick and easy. But, if you are looking for a fresh tomato salsa recipe, try my Pico de Gallo salsa.

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Ingredients
Instructions
Salt
Spice levels
Substitutions
Variations
Equipment
Storage
Next Level Tips
FAQ
Related
Restaurant Style Blender Salsa

Ingredients

Canned fire roasted tomatoes
Canned mild green chilis
Onion
Garlic
Jalapeños
Cilantro
Lime juice
Apple cider vinegar
Salt

See recipe card for quantities.

Instructions

Overhead view of onion and jalapeño cut into large chunks for blender salsa

Step 1: Rough chop the onion and jalapeño.

Blender salsa in a blender at the stage where it has been pulsed but it's still chunky

Step 2: Pulse the blender several times before blending.

Step 3: After pulsing, blend on medium until all the large chunks are gone and the texture is smooth but slightly chunky. Don't over-blend. Cover and chill.

Overhead view of bowl of restaurant style blender salsa made with fire roasted tomatoes on an orange plate with half regular tortilla chips and half blue corn tortilla chips

Step 4: Enjoy!

Salt

We can't make salsa without talking about salt. When we make food at home, we use a lot less salt than restaurants use. But there are a few foods that just need a lot of salt, like tomatoes and potatoes. No one wants to eat french fries without salt, and no one wants to eat salsa without salt either. Fire roasted tomatoes are the best canned tomatoes to use for blended salsa, and it's very difficult to find unsalted fire roasted tomatoes. So we're going to start with regular, fire roasted tomatoes and add even more salt. Why? We can make homemade salsa look like restaurant style salsa without a lot of salt, but we can't make it taste like restaurant style salsa without a lot of salt.

Spice levels

This blender salsa is written to have a restaurant style salsa texture, flavor and spice level. Everyone has differing sensitivities to hot peppers, but here are some basic guidelines on how to adjust the spiciness of this blender salsa recipe:

Mild - use only one jalapeño
Mild to Medium - make the recipe as written
Solid Medium - add one more jalapeño pepper
Medium to Hot - add one more jalapeño and one habanero pepper
Solid Hot - add one more jalapeño and two habanero peppers.

Overhead view of bowl of restaurant style blender salsa with a spoon sticking out next to regular and blue corn tortilla chips

Substitutions

Apple cider vinegar - if you don't have apple cider vinegar, you can substitute a rice vinegar which also works really well. Vinegar is often a secret ingredient to making salsas pop, but if you don't have vinegar or don't want to add it, you can substitute more lime juice. Vinegars and lime juice are both acidic like tomatoes, but they are less acidic than tomatoes and help bring down the overall acidity levels some. You can also add a teaspoon of sugar as sugar balances out the acidity of tomatoes too.

Variations

Smoky - you can also add some canned chipotles in adobo sauce or some chipotle pepper powder (start with only ½ teaspoon and taste) to add a smoky, spicier flavor. If you don't have chipotle pepper powder, you can also use smoked paprika with a pinch of cayenne pepper to kick up the heat in a smoky way.

Overhead view of bowl of restaurant style blender salsa on an orange plate with half regular tortilla chips and half blue corn tortilla chips

Equipment

A blender or food processor is needed for this blender salsa recipe.

Storage

Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator up to 7 days.

Next Level Tips

If you have time, make this salsa the day before you need it which gives the flavors more time to blend and meld. Yes, you could theoretically make this blender salsa in 5 minutes. But if you're going for the best flavor, then give the salsa some time to develop a deeper flavor.
Don't be afraid of adding extra salt. Potato and tomato dishes need a lot more salt than home cooks expect. Have you ever tasted salsa and think it needs more of something but you're not quite sure what it needs? The answer, when it comes to salsa, is usually more salt. Salt enhances the other ingredients, cuts down on bitterness and balances acidity. And remember, we're making restaurant style salsa, and restaurants use a lot more salt than we typically do at home.
Don't over-blend the salsa. Over-blending ruins the texture and can also result in a bitter flavor.
If you're worried about raw onion flavor, you can soak the rough chopped onion for 10 minutes. Then drain and rinse. That mellows the flavor. You can also use a red onion as most people find red onions less intense than white onions.
Be careful handling jalapeños and habaneros. Cut jalapeños only to remove the stem and into a few large chunks for the blender. Only remove the stem on the habanero and add it directly to the blender. Wash your hands with dish soap immediately after handling hot peppers. The capsaicin that causes the heat can stay on your hands for hours. Your hands usually don't burn, but it can burn hours later taking out your contact lenses or going to the bathroom.
If you're looking for a salsa with fresh tomatoes, try my Pico de Gallo recipe. Pico de Gallo is the perfect salsa recipe to use fresh tomatoes.

FAQ

Can I eat the salsa immediately?

You can, but salsa is best when given time for the flavors to combine and meld. I suggest waiting for at least an hour before eating. But the very best salsas are usually made the day before. If you're taste testing while you are making the salsa, I suggest only doing an initial taste for salt and/or heat. Those also need a little bit of time to develop, but you can get a rough idea if the salsa needs more salt or heat as you make it.

Can I use other types of tomatoes?

Yes, you can also use regular diced, canned tomatoes that are not fire roasted. If they are unsalted, then you may need to add more salt. If you want to use fresh tomatoes, I would recommend more of a Pico de Gallo recipe. However, you could use fresh tomatoes with this recipe. You would need to cut the tomatoes before adding them to the blender so that you could drain off the juices though.

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