Pico de Gallo
on May 23, 2022, Updated Jul 04, 2024
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Pico de Gallo is full of fresh tomatoes, jalapeño, onion, cilantro, and lime juice. It only takes 15 minutes to make and is perfect to use as a topping for all your favorite Mexican dishes!
Pico de gallo is one of my favorite salsas. It reminds me of whenever my sister and I get together. It’s basically tradition that she makes it whenever we are back home visiting our parents.
I honestly can’t tell if she enjoys making it, there’s a lot of chopping, and I know cooking isn’t her passion the way it is mine. Either way my mom and I basically stand over her with the bag of tortilla chips dipping away before she even finishes making it.
The great thing about pico de gallo is that you only need a handful of basic ingredients to make it and they’re ingredients that are relatively inexpensive. It’s a great appetizer to take to parties or barbecues and you almost never come home with leftovers!
What Is Pico de Gallo?
Pico de Gallo is also commonly called salsa fresca which translates to fresh sauce. It’s a type of salsa often used in Mexican cuisine.
It consists of chopped fresh tomatoes, onion, serrano or jalapeño peppers, cilantro, lime juice, and salt. It’s often used as a topping for tacos or fajitas or you can serve it as a dip with tortilla chips.
Ingredients For Pico de Gallo
Tomatoes – I use roma tomatoes for pico de gallo because they tend to not release as much water as other tomatoes. However, go with the ripest and best looking tomatoes you can find since this is the main ingredient.
Onion – I suggest using a white onion for this recipe instead of a yellow onion. The flavor is slightly sweet and a little bit milder. I’ve used red onion as well, although the onion flavor is a bit stronger.
Jalapeño – You can either deseed the jalapeño and cut out the vein if you don’t want all the heat, or leave them in if you want your pico to have a spicy kick.
Cilantro – Essential for the flavor. If you don’t like cilantro, please don’t substitute with parsley, it’s not the same.
Limes – Fresh lime juice adds a bright citrus flavor. Use fresh lime juice, not bottled.
Cumin – This is an optional ingredient, but if you like cumin it adds a bit of a warm, earthy flavor.
Salt – The amount of salt you add to pico de gallo is up to you. I find it needs a fair amount to balance out all the flavors, not to mention tomatoes generally need a little help. Use either kosher salt or sea salt and avoid using iodized table salt.
How To Make Pico de Gallo
- Halve the tomatoes and scoop out the seeds. Leaving them in will make the pico pretty watery.
- Dice the tomatoes and onion. Try to keep them similar in size so that you get an equal amount of each in every bite.
- Finely dice the jalapeño, removing the seeds and membrane if you don’t want the spiciness. Chop the cilantro. Theres no need to remove the leaves from the stems unless you want to. The stems actually have lots of flavor.
- Combine the tomatoes, onion, jalapeño, and cilantro in a large bowl. Sprinkle with a good amount of salt and about a 1/2 teaspoon of ground cumin if you’re using it.
- Squeeze the juice of a lime all over the top and then stir everything together. If you’re limes aren’t juicy you may find that you need a couple of them.
- Be sure to taste the pico de gallo and adjust as needed with extra salt and/or lime juice.
Ways To Serve It
- On top of these skillet chicken fajitas.
- On these creamy green chile chicken tacos.
- With tortilla chips as a dip.
- As a topping for this skillet enchilada chicken with black beans and corn, or this green chile chicken enchilada skillet.
- On top of scrambled or fried eggs for breakfast.
How Long Will It Keep?
Pico de gallo is best eaten the day it’s made, but will still taste good the next day. The longer it sits the more juices will be released from the tomatoes and it can become quite watery. If you have leftovers, simply drain off the excess liquid the next day.
More Mexican Recipes
- Shrimp Tacos with Creamy Slaw
- Chicken Chile Verde
- Mexican Chicken, Sweet Potato and Black Bean Skillet
- Sheet Pan Steak Fajitas
- Skillet Enchilada Meatballs
Did you make this Pico de Galllo? I’d love if you’d leave a recipe rating and review below.
Pico de Gallo
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 pounds roma tomatoes seeded and diced
- 1 jalapeño seeded and diced
- 1/2 cup diced white onion
- 1/2 cup cilantro leaves chopped
- 1-2 limes juiced
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin optional
- 1/2 – 3/4 teaspoon kosher or sea salt or to taste
Instructions
- Dice and chop all of the vegetables and add them to a large bowl. Squeeze the lime juice in and sprinkle in the salt and cumin.
- Stir everything together and taste for seasoning. Add additional lime juice and salt as needed. The pico de gallo can be eaten immediately, but for the best flavor let it sit for 30-60 minutes so the flavors can marry.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
