Restaurant-Style Blender Salsa

4.57 from 104 votes
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🍅🎉💃🏼 My Quick & Easy Blender Salsa recipe is FAST, EASY, and will teach you how to make salsa at home in just a few minutes in the blender, so you’ll never run out! It tastes just like that addictively amazing salsa that your favorite Mexican restaurant serves alongside a basket of warm tortilla chips. Get ready to DIG IN and impress your friends and family with this restaurant-style blender salsa recipe!

Restaurant-Style Salsa in a bowl surrounded by tortilla chips.

I’m a chips and salsa fiend. I almost don’t even need the chips and can just shovel in the salsa by the forkful. When I want salsa now, I turn to this restaurant-style salsa recipe made in a blender.

The best part of this salsa is how fast, easy, and goofproof it is. Add all the ingredients to your blender or food processor, blend, and you’re done in under 2 minutes. My favorite kind of recipe!

Over time, the flavors really marry, and the rawness of the onion and garlic mellows.

We love this easy salsa recipe so much more than any restaurant or store-bought salsa. I love it when homemade, easy recipes trump all the others.

This is just perfect and so easy. It’s my go to summer party salsa. Who knew it was simple to make your own salsa!

Kate

A bowl of blender salsa surrounded by tortilla chips.

Homemade Blender Salsa Ingredients

I prefer making my blended salsa with canned tomatoes rather than fresh. Using canned tomatoes keeps this a dump-and-blend recipe and eliminates the need to dirty a knife and cutting board.

Gather the following ingredients to make the salsa in a blender:

  • Canned tomatoes – I used canned whole tomatoes, but you can use diced if that’s all you have on hand. Just make sure to buy a large enough can, and double check that your tomatoes don’t contain extra flavorings (sometimes they’re canned with basil or other herbs). It probably would be fine to use fresh tomatoes instead of canned. It will result in a slightly different flavor, perhaps, but if you have them to use up, I would go for it
  • Yellow onions 
  • Jalapeño pepper
  • Fresh garlic
  • Ground cumin
  • Salt 
  • Granulated sugar – You can omit the sugar, but try making a batch with a little sugar in it and see what you think! The sugar balances the heat from the pepper and the acidity in the tomatoes. Start with less and add more if necessary, and definitely be careful not to over-sweeten
  • Fresh cilantro
  • Fresh lime juice

Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.

A tortilla chip dipping into a bowl of blender salsa.

How to Make Salsa in a Blender

This blender salsa recipe is customizable and requires you to stop, taste-test, and tweak based on your own personal preferences. Everyone’s preference for salt, heat, and texture differs.

Here’s an overview of how blender salsa is made:

  1. Add all the ingredients to a blender.
  2. Pulse until the salsa reaches your desired consistency.
  3. Adjust the seasonings to taste.
  4. If desired, stir in optional black beans or corn to the blended salsa to add extra flavor and texture (stir in by hand, don’t pulse in the blender). 
  5. Transfer the salsa to an airtight container or jar, or serve right away!

Tip

You can enjoy the blended salsa right away, but I actually think it tastes best after it’s been allowed to sit in the refrigerator for a day. This gives the flavors time to come together. 

A bowl of blender salsa surrounded by tortilla chips.

Recipe FAQs

How long does homemade salsa last?

This salsa will last up to a week in the fridge and can be paired with chips, tacos, burritos, and more! 

Can the salsa be made in advance?

Yes! This restaurant-style salsa is extremely hard to resist right out of the blender, but if you can make it a day in advance and store it in the fridge, it’s much better the second and third day. I’ve never been able to get it to last past the third day.

How spicy is the blender salsa?

Fairly spicy! Use fewer jalapeños and/or remove the seeds if you don’t like four-alarm fires as much as I do.

Easy Restaurant-Style Blender Salsa Pinterest image.

What to Serve with Restaurant-Style Salsa

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More Homemade Salsa Recipes: 

Chunky Tomatillo Avocado Salsa — If you like salsa verde, you’re going to LOVE this homemade version that includes creamy chunks of avocado! As FAST and EASY and tossing a handful of healthy ingredients into your food processor and the salsa is ready in seconds.

A spoon in a bowl of chunky tomatillo avocado salsa.

The Best Peach Mango Salsa — Fast, easy, and tastes a million times better than anything store-bought! So.darn.good!

A small bowl of peach mango salsa.

Pineapple Salsa — Pineapple Chunks, yellow bell peppers, Roma tomatoes, red onion, cilantro, lime juice, salt, and pepper — a healthy, clean, and simple ingredient list that packs big time flavor and texture.

A bowl of pineapple salsa.

Blueberry Corn Salsa — The salsa is packed with fresh blueberries, corn, strawberries, jalapeno, cilantro, lime, and hot sauce. There’s texture galore in every bite, but you can blend it if you prefer a smooth texture.

A bowl of blueberry corn salsa.

Sweet and Spicy Chipotle Salsa — A sweet and spicy salsa with a lovely smokiness from pineapple, tomatillo, onion, and garlic that are blistered under broiler and then blended with chipotle peppers! PERFECT over tacos, with chips, or as a great addition to any Mexican-inspired meal! 

Sweet and Spicy Chipotle Salsa with tortilla chips.

Watermelon Mango Salsa — The EASY salsa is made with watermelon, mango, and mint adds so much fresh FLAVOR! Healthy, FAST, EASY!

Watermelon mango salsa over chicken.

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4.57 from 104 votes (76 ratings without comment)

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Please note: I have only made the recipe as written, and cannot give advice or predict what will happen if you change something. If you have a question regarding changing, altering, or making substitutions to the recipe, please check out the FAQ page for more info.

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Comments

  1. I’m not a big fan of salso, but because of these pictures it looks delicious, will ask if my wife can make them, thanks!

  2. It’s always good to have a good salsa to snack on with some chips. This one seems easy enough and sounds flavorful.

  3. One of my favorite parts about going to a Mexican restaurant are the chips and salsa. This looks delicious!

  4. Gorgeous photos Averie! You know I love salsa too and yours looks better than restaurant style. Much better! I could house the entire recipe myself with a few chips. Chips and salsa are my favorite snacky food, without a doubt! And now I’m craving them for breakfast lol.

    1. Thanks for the compliments, Sally. I took these pics on vacation and the lighting is even more ‘unique’ here…ahem….than in San Diego. It’s total potluck what my shoots will look like! I think between me and you we could do some serious damage on salsa and a pitcher of margaritas! Hope you guys have a Happy New Year!!!

  5. So quick and easy! I didn’t think I could make it myself and I love the consistency of it. I know this will be a regular recipe for us, thanks so much! Love your stunning photos, too!

  6. Now that’s a big ole bowl of beautiful salsa right there! I’m a fan of the heat, too, so I’d be adding jalapenos, chipotles or whatever else to give it a kick! Great recipe and beautiful photos, too, Averie. :)

  7. We always use homemade salsa. It’s tasted so much better! Thanks for this one, is much more easy then what I was used to. Pinned it btw, pictures look awesome!

  8. Love homemade salsa especially when it’s so easy like this one. My tip: add a tablespoon or two of green Tabasco sauce to salsas or to your pico de gallo. It adds a really nice zip that leaves everyone wondering what the secret ingredient is.

    1. Great tip! I love Tabasco but would have never thought to add green Tabasco to salsa or pico. Trying that for sure! Thanks!

  9. I brought some salsa that I’d canned from my garden this summer to Christmas at my uncle’s house….everyone was screaming about how hot it was. I guess the jalapenos I used (and didn’t de-seed) were kind of spicy. ;)

    Canning salsa is great because none would never make it past day 3 either, if I didn’t do that. But now, I’ve still got a good 3-4 pints in my pantry that I need to make last for another few months. A little bit of salsa heat in the cold winter….I can pretend I’m in a tropical paradise if I crank the heat and close the drapes.

    1. Leave it to you to can salsa! I really didn’t know you could can it, per se. But now that I think about it, that’s how companies are able to make it and store it on grocery store shelves forever. Despite not having a garden, I think I’m going to stop up on summer tomatoes this summer and can it. I’ll be emailing you for boiling instructions :)

      My family was freaking out a little about the heat levels. Like they put a tiny pinch of salsa on a huge chip. I literally submerge the chip in as much salsa as it will hold before it breaks AND have a spoon next to me so I can shovel in some non chip bites, too :)

    1. Me too. I like a few chips with my bowl of salsa :) We totally need a salsa, guac, and margarita party to happen this summer!!

  10. Bring on the heat!
    I love how easy this salsa is, and that you can totally tailor it to suit your own taste buds! I foresee this and A LOT of salty chips in my very near future!
    Pinned!

  11. Gotta love a good homemade blender salsa!! We’re going to the neighborhood New Year’s eve party tomorrow so I’ve been pondering what to take. This or the hummus from your cookbook. Either would be a winner and equally easy to make!

  12. I love a good salsa recipe especially one with lots of cilantro and lots of heat. I always like to use spice instead of salt that way the salt on the chips isn’t too much. Cant wait to try.

    1. I always like to use spice instead of salt that way the salt on the chips isn’t too much = AGREED!!! But if I don’t write to add salt, then people write in to tell me how ‘bland’ things are. I am super sensitive to salt so I really go with the smallest amount necessary but some people are more of the dump a half of salt shaker in and then add some more mentality :) Hope you have a great New Years, Lisa!!