Pico de Gallo, often times referred to as salsa fresco, is a type of salsa using fresh, ingredients like diced tomatoes, onions, chiles, cilantro, lime juice, and salt. Perfect for dipping tortilla chips while drinking your favorite beverage.

Pico de Gallo

This is a classic, authentic recipe for Pico de Gallo and is a must to serve as a side for Mexican food. Although I enjoy it most with tortilla chips and drinks. I have a little secret when I make this pico de gallo that makes a big difference, too. It’s all about the lime juice and onion, but more on that in a moment.

Salsas can have a lot of different variations, like my Tomatillo Salsa Verde or Roasted Tomato Salsa, where both of these are blended and cooked first, then chilled.

The best pico de gallo is eaten the day it’s made for freshness and the ingredients don’t start to slightly “cook” due to the acid in the lime juice. I find the tomatoes start to get a little tough after the third day of refrigerated shelf life, but that’s me.

Are tomatoes a fruit?

Tomatoes are usually considered a vegetable because of how it’s used in the culinary world. However, as it grows from flowers and contains seeds, it’s botanically a fruit.

My little secret for this pico de gallo is to marinate the chopped onions first in fresh lime juice.

I feel it takes the bite out of them and works beautifully.

What goes in pico de gallo?

• tomatoes
• lime juice
• sweet onion
• jalapeño or Serrano chile
• cilantro
• kosher salt
• black pepper

So grab some fresh tomatoes, onions, limes and jalapeños (or Serrano chile) on your next trip to the market. While I love to go down the block and get a fresh batch of tortilla chips from a local restaurant, I will usually have a bag of tortilla chips around the pantry.

Perfect for dipping and snacking alongside these Mexican Pickled Carrots, Roasted Tomato Salsa or Tomatillo Salsa Verde.

This is also great to serve alongside any Mexican dinner and even spoon some on top like on my Carne Adovada. Enjoy!