Quick & Easy Blender Salsa — This easy salsa recipe will teach you how to make salsa at home in just a few minutes in the blender so you’ll never run out!
Table of Contents
Easy Homemade Salsa … in a Blender!
I’m a chips and salsa fiend. I almost don’t even need the chips and can just shovel in the salsa by the fork-full.
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.
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
- Yellow onions
- Jalapeño pepper
- Garlic
- Ground cumin
- Salt
- Granulated sugar
- Fresh cilantro
- Lime juice
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.
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:
- Add all the ingredients to a blender.
- Pulse until the salsa reaches your desired consistency.
- 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).
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 fridge for a day. This gives the flavors time to come together.
Recipe FAQs
Yes, 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.
This salsa will last up to a week in the fridge and can be paired with chips, tacos, burritos, and more!
Also, 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).
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.
Fairly spicy! Use fewer jalapeños and/or remove the seeds if you don’t like four-alarm fires as much as I do.
Yes, 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!
What to Serve with Restaurant-Style Salsa
Keep things simple by serving this blender salsa with homemade tortilla chips, or pair it with one or more of the following Mexican dishes:
- Tacos al pastor
- Beef taco salad bowls
- Sweet potato black bean enchiladas
- Veggie burrito bowls
- Smothered beef burritos
You can also use this salsa to make my favorite cheesy salsa chip dip or baked salsa chicken!
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Blender Salsa
Ingredients
- one 28-ounce can tomatoes, including juice (I used these whole, peeled plum tomatoes)
- 1 small yellow onion, peeled and roughly chopped
- 1 or 2 jalepeno peppers, de-stemmed and roughly chopped*
- 3 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
- 1 ½ teaspoons ground cumin, or to taste
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt, or to taste (remember some brands of tomatoes and chips are much saltier than others)
- ¼ to 1 teaspoon granulated sugar, optional and to taste**
- 1 or 2 handfuls cilantro leaves, discard stems (I prefer 2)
- about 3 tablespoons lime juice
- about 3/4 cup corn, optional
- about 3/4 cup canned black beans, drained and rinsed, optional
- corn chips, for serving
Instructions
- Add all ingredients (except optional corn and beans) to the canister of a blender or food processor in the order listed. Pulse or blend on high power until texture is as smooth as desired. If you have a very strong blender, you probably don’t need to pre-chop the ingredients before adding them to the blender, but I do just to make sure I don’t get large random, accidentally unblended chunks of any one ingredient.
- Taste the salsa and based on personal preference tweak as necessary.
- Optionally stir in the corn and black beans.
- Transfer to airtight container and serve immediately with chips. However, I prefer to refrigerate salsa for 1 day prior to serving because I prefer chilled salsa and because the flavors marry, mellow, and the flavor improves on the second and third day. Salsa will likely keep up to 1 week airtight in the fridge; however, we’ve always eaten a batch within 3 days.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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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.
The Best Peach Mango Salsa — Fast, easy, and tastes a million times better than anything store-bought! So.darn.good!
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.
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.
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!
Watermelon Mango Salsa — The EASY salsa is made with watermelon, mango, and mint adds so much fresh FLAVOR!! Healthy, FAST, EASY!
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!
Your blender salsa seems really refreshing to begin this new year! Beautiful photos, too
It’s always good to have a good salsa to snack on with some chips. This one seems easy enough and sounds flavorful.
One of my favorite parts about going to a Mexican restaurant are the chips and salsa. This looks delicious!
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.
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!!!
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!
Thanks for the compliments and hope you enjoy this!
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. :)
Thanks for the compliments, Julie!
Yum! This looks great. I’m always game for salsa.
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!
Thanks for pinning and for the compliments! Glad it’s even easier than what you’re used to, too!
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.
Great tip! I love Tabasco but would have never thought to add green Tabasco to salsa or pico. Trying that for sure! Thanks!
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.
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 :)
That salsa looks amazing, and so easy!
Paige
https://thehappyflammily.com
I am in love with this Averie!! OMG, I could eat salsa like it’s my job. Pinned!
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!!
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!
Thanks for pinning and enjoy the HEAT! :)
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!
THIS!! Omg I loveeee this stuff. I have been eating it non-stop the past few weeks! :)
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.
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!!