This pico de gallo recipe is an easy salsa made with fresh ingredients like tomato, onion, cilantro, jalapeño, and lime. We can’t get enough and add it to everything!
I’ve made this pico de gallo recipe more times than I can count, and I am always happy that I did! We love it with tortilla chips, with all of our favorite tacos, inside burritos, on top of rice bowls, and I love it spooned over scrambled eggs for breakfast.
This recipe is quick and easy, and with a few simple tricks, you can make it taste truly authentic. For the ultimate spread, consider serving with homemade tortilla chips or next to a bowl of guacamole!
Key Ingredients
- Tomatoes: For the best pico de gallo, use ripe, juicy tomatoes and chop them small. Look for tomatoes that feel heavy for their size and really smell like a tomato! Roma tomatoes (or plum tomatoes) are popular for their firm texture, but I usually go with whatever smells the best at the store.
- Onion: I use white onions when I can find them since they are the most authentic choice, but you can swap for yellow, sweet, or red onion.
- Jalapeño: This adds a bit of heat and more flavor. For a mild salsa, remove the seeds and white membrane inside the peppers. For spicy pico de gallo, leave some or all of the seeds and membrane in. Serrano peppers are a good substitute, but pack a little more heat.
- Cilantro and Lime: Fresh cilantro and a squeeze of fresh lime juice are a must for authentic pico de gallo. Don’t miss these!
Find the full recipe with measurements below.
How to Make the Best Pico De Gallo
Tip 1: Soak your onions. Letting raw onions sit in cold water for 10 minutes tones the raw flavor of the onion. This way, your onions will have crunch crisp and taste sweet, but won’t leave you with onion breath! I call it “de-flaming” the onions, and use this trick for guacamole, too!
Tip 2: Salt the tomatoes and let them sit. Salt does magical things to fresh tomatoes. For the best flavor, season your tomatoes and other pico de gallo ingredients with salt, and then let them sit for 20 minutes on the counter before serving. The salt draws out flavor and liquid from the tomatoes and further tones down the bite of raw onion. It’s worth the wait! Just make sure you give the salsa an extra toss before serving to distribute all the flavorful juices.
Serving Suggestions
Serve pico de gallo with tortilla chips for a perfect appetizer, or spoon it over your favorite tacos, nachos, enchiladas, fajitas, and rice bowls. I especially love this fresh salsa with breakfast tacos, our pork tacos, and this amazing taco salad!
You can also serve it alongside other salsas and dips. Try our roasted tomato salsa, easy red salsa recipe, homemade queso, 7 layer dip, pineapple avocado salsa, or my favorite roasted tomatillo salsa.
Fresh Pico de Gallo
- PREP
- TOTAL
Pico de gallo is a fresh tomato salsa popular in Mexico (also known as salsa Mexicano, salsa fresca, and salsa cruda). Use ripe tomatoes for this, and look for tomatoes that are deeply colored and heavy for their size. If they don’t smell like anything, skip them. They should smell like a tomato (sweet and woody). Serve with Homemade Tortilla Chips!
Watch Us Make the Recipe
You Will Need
1 ½ pounds of tomatoes, chopped, 4 to 5 medium (680g)
1 medium onion, chopped, about ⅔ cup
1 jalapeño pepper, finely diced, remove seeds and membranes for a mild salsa
½ cup finely chopped fresh cilantro leaves (15g)
Juice of 1 lime
Salt to taste
Directions
1Soak the onions: This is optional, but to remove the raw bite of your onion, add the chopped onion to a bowl with cold water. Leave for 10 minutes, drain and rinse.
2Make the salsa: Add the tomatoes, soaked and rinsed onion, cilantro, diced peppers, and lime juice to a bowl. Generously season with salt (start with ½ teaspoon and go from there). Set aside for 20 minutes.
3To finish: Stir to distribute the juices left at the bottom of the bowl. Taste and adjust with more salt. Serve!
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- Storing: Pico de gallo is best the day you make it, but leftovers will keep for up to 3 days in an airtight container in the refrigerator. In his book, “Authentic Mexican,” Rick Bayless says that a fresh salsa like pico de gallo is at its best for an hour or two. We agree, but I must admit that we’ve still been plenty happy with this recipe after a few days in the fridge.
- Spicy salsa: Increase to 2 jalapeño peppers. You can also swap the jalapeños for a serrano pepper, which packs a bit more heat. Also, remember it is the seeds and white membrane inside the pepper that hold most of the heat, so leave that in for more spice.
- Fun fact: Pico de gallo translates to “rooster’s beak,” but there’s not really a consensus for why.
- The nutrition facts provided below are estimates.
so easy, so delicious! i make it all summer long! thank you! 🙂
This is a question before I make this – can I substitute daikon or just radish for the onions? I want to make this for my son who loves pico de gallo but is allergic to onions. Thank you ahead of time. Kimberlee
Great question. I think both would be excellent (crunchy and fresh). I’ve also enjoyed fresh Mexican salsas with small chopped cabbage and loved it!
On hot dogs with potato sticks yummy
I love pico de gallo on just about anything, so sounds good to me!
Back in the 60s my grandma make it for breakfast , serve it over eggs , pico de gallo , means , peak of a rooster ,
Yes! Thanks for sharing, and I love how your grandma served it. This salsa over eggs is a favorite in my house.
Super easy, super tasty.
So glad you enjoyed the recipe 🙂
I love this recipe. Doesn’t contain garlic and has lots of cilantro. Roma tomatoes have less juice and are great if you like a drier chunky salsa like I do. I’ll eat this on lots of things like scrambled eggs, iceberg lettuce, baked tofu in addition to Mexican style food.
Eating this salsa with scrambled eggs is one of my favorite ways to enjoy it as well 🙂
We love this recipe! I’ve made it over and over and it’s a hit every time! I do not us 1/2 c. Cilantro though. We like a lot less. It’s nice you can tweek it and make it how your family enjoys it.
We are so happy the recipe is a hit 🙂
This is pretty authentic if you use serrano peppers. But it needs to be used fresh, not stored for 2 or 3 days. It gets very strong and tastes like gasoline smells the next day.
Totally agree that this is best served fresh! Serranos are a great tip.
Love your recipes. Your very informative with simple step by step instructions that everyone can understand. You and your husband are such a cute couple, inviting people in to your kitchen for your delicious recipes is a nice touch. Bravo
Thank you, Kathy. You are very kind.
Wonderful flavor!
We are thrilled you enjoyed the salsa recipe, Kandi. This is one of my favorites!
Do you use the entire tomato?
It’s really up to you. I usually use the whole tomato (seeds and all) unless I have a particularly seedy tomato.
This is the absolute best pico I ever made. The whole family devours it.
Oh wow, Kathy! This is so wonderful to read 🙂 Thank you for coming back and sharing.
I saw your advice on selecting the best tomato…do you have any advice on the kind of tomato that would taste best? Thanks!
Hi Wanda, Any ripe tomato will work, here!
How can I adapt your recipe to serve a party of 50 people. Thanks, Jodi
Hi Jodi, I’d multiply the recipe by 4 or 5 — in our experience, not everyone eats exactly one serving of dips/salsas when at a party with so many people (especially if there are other dishes available).
I thought half a cup is too much cilantro (and I LOVE cilantro!). Next time I think I’ll cut it in half and add more if needed. I also added some fresh chopped garlic, so yummy!
Garlic is a great idea, Mo. I’d use a small clove though, as garlic can quickly take over in the flavor department.
amazing!!!
We are so happy you enjoyed it! Thank you for the review.
Try using equal parts of white vinegar and fresh lime juice!!!
Hi Paul, thanks for the suggestion. I have used apple cider vinegar when I was out of limes.
Excellent.
I’m so glad you enjoyed the pico de gallo. Thank you for your outstanding review.
Very good video. Thanks.
Hi Linda, Thank you for the compliment. I’m so glad the video was helpful.
Can I use parsley instead of cilantro as my son says it tastes like soap and I find the taste is too strong! It gives me heartburn.
Yes, absolutely. The salsa will taste different, but it would still be excellent.
I don’t have lime or lemon can I leave that out? Thank you, Doris
Hi Doris, You can leave the lime out.
Should I remove the seeds from the tomato?
TY
Hi Missy, It is completely up to you! We usually leave them in.
I have lots of tomatoes for this recipe can pico be frozen to enjoy in the middle of winter
I would not recommend freezing.
Love this recipe. So easy to make. My son said “never buy store made pico again”. Thank you!!
This is a fantastic recipe, Glad to add it to my collection.
I made the recipe for mom my, I added a few extra ingredients. Mom doesn’t like jalapeño so I used green pepper instead, along with parsley, garlic and green onions she loved it. It was pretty tasty. Thanks for the tips
My recipe calls for vingar instead of lime juice
I have no lime juice today, could I sub lemon
juice?
Yes, lemon juice will be fine.
You have a fabulous blog! This pico will be the perfect finishing touch to tomorrow night’s tacos! Thanks!
Thanks Jamie, that means a lot coming from you 🙂
I’m getting really antsy about tomatoes! I think a day or two and we’ll have at least a couple ripe enough to pick. This recipe is a great way to celebrate the ingredient – simple and full of flavor.
Sarah, oh my gosh, we know … my mother is growing her own tomatoes this year and they are so close!