The Best 5 Minute Tomato Salsa

Whip up a batch of deliciously spicy salsa in super quick time! This best 5 minute tomato salsa hits all the right notes for party-friendly snacking. Grab your friends and some nachos then tuck right in.

Perfect Party Pleaser

What could be more deliciously satisfying than tucking into a big bowl of freshly made zingy tomato salsa with your friends?!

This super quick, best 5 minute tomato salsa hits all the right notes for a crowd pleasing party-friendly dip. It pairs perfectly well with the traditional crunchy nacho, although you can dunk almost anything into it like crudités, crispbreads, or even spread it toast and sandwiches.

Obviously, you can buy jars of tomato salsa in stores but often these are chocked full of preservatives and flavourings so they’re just not as healthy nor as delicious as home-made salsa. This is why I fully recommend making your own from scratch. When it takes only five short minutes, there’s no excuse to ever rely on the shop bought type again!

A hugely popular dish the world over, salsa originates in Mexico and is really famous there in all types of cuisines. It’s been around for many hundreds of years; thought to have originally been eaten by the Aztecs many moons ago.

I really love Mexican inspired dishes of all different types. The combination of flavours including tomatoes, coriander, chilli and lime in particular is just so thoroughly delicious! Such fresh and lovely ingredients are also super healthy which is an added bonus. These sorts of ingredients also lend themselves wonderfully to quick cooking and as I’m all about the quick, it’s no surprise you find several recipes that use these ingredients on my site.

Check out my 10 minute quesadillas and my best 5 minute guacamole for two other Mexican inspired recipes that you can make incredibly quickly and that are sure to please whomever you feed them to. Yumm.

Chilli Chomping

Now, a crucial ingredient in any decent tomato salsa Is the chilli! Some people are fiery food fans and some people have a much milder-loving palate. Of course, it’s important to gauge your audience in deciding how spicy to make any given recipe.

So when it comes to prepping your chilies, to de-seed or not to de-seed? That is the question! Now, many recipes involving chilli recommend that you deseed them before using them. This means slicing them lengthways, opening them up and scooping out then discarding the white pith and the little seeds. By doing this, you end up with a much milder flavour as the flesh of the chilli is not as spicy as the seeds and pith.

I am not a fan of this approach! I figure if you’re going to add some chilli you might as well add a decent slug of it. This is why for my 5 minute tomato salsa recipe, I recommend chucking in the chilli, seeds and all! (After chopping off the stem).

Of course, if you or your guests have a more sensitive pallet aren’t huge chilli fans then feel free to de-seed them first. This will add a little extra to your prep time so you’ll need to bear this in mind.

What type of chilli should one use to make the perfect 5 minute tomato salsa, I hear you ask?? Well, there are lots of options really! From the relatively mild and calm ones like cayenne right through to the fiery infernos of ghost and naga chillies, the key is to choose one you love and – more importantly – one you can tolerate! It’s no good using a chilli as hot as the sun when you and your guests won’t be happy to eat it!

My all-time favourite chilli to use in this best 5 minute tomato salsa recipe is the jalapeno. Easy to grow in pots and with a decent, fiery kick without blowing your head off, I think the jalapeno is the perfect addition here. These are also very widely available in shops these days so another reason to use them.

Finally, the jalapeno originates from- you guessed it, Mexico! Making it perfectly apt for use in our lovely quick tomato salsa recipe.

Terrific Tomatoes

Of course, this best 5 minute tomato salsa would be nothing without – the humble tomato. I really can’t think of any other ingredient more versatile that the tomato. Perfect for soups. sauces. stews, salads and a huge range of other recipes, tomatoes are delicious and healthy. They also lend themselves wonderfully to quick recipes as obviously can be eaten cooked or raw.

In terms of which variety of tomato you use for your super quick salsa, it actually doesn’t really matter! I suggest using bog standard medium sized tomatoes. This is partly because these are the type that generally are most available in stores. However, if you have different types kicking around at home such as plum or cherry tomatoes, these will work just as well so feel free to use it instead if you like.

In a perfect world, your tomatoes would be on the vine, as fresh as possible and seasonal. I love making quick recipes with homegrown tomatoes wherever possible. However, of course if you’re making this quick five minute tomato salsa in the depths of winter then homegrown isn’t an option!

As I said before, any tomato will do, but aim for as high quality as you can, as that will make all the difference to the final flavour of your salsa.

Classic Flavours

Coriander (cilantro) really is my all-time favourite herb. It’s so delicious and versatile. Throw a few of these vibrant, citrusy leaves into a recipe and you introduce an element of gorgeous freshness that is so hard to top.

Lime juice is another key ingredient to really get this super quick tomato salsa singing! A generous squeeze of lime juice is perfect to add that sharp sourness the recipe needs to cut through all the flavours and bring the true taste of Mexico right to your palate.

My tomato salsa also includes spring onions. Salsa traditionally includes some sort of onion in it and although there are many types you can use, I really like spring onions as they’re lovely and mild, and also tend to blend together better than some other types of onion.

The last thing anybody wants are huge chunks of super bitter onion in your salsa, making your eyes water! Spring onions I find are the perfect choice here. I love them in many of my quick recipes as they require no cooking which is a big bonus for me.

A word now on the garlic. This features frequently in my quick recipes and readers will know that I really love using pre-minced garlic that you can get in jars or in squeezy tubes. I always keep a jar to hand in my pantry. Nobody gives you a round of applause for spending valuable time chopping up your own garlic by hand so I firmly believe in making life easier with the pre-minced varieties.

A final word now on salt. Normally, I’m not a huge fan of adding much salt to my recipes. It’s not that healthy and I think sometimes overpowers the other flavours if you put too much in. However, salt and tomatoes are a real match made in heaven. This is what I have included a fairly generous amount in this best five minute salsa recipe.

Salt just elevates a tomato flavours to a whole new level and without it, the salsa is just pretty bland. As with all recipes, feel free to add a little more a little less of it if you would prefer, to your taste.