Everyone loves this easy Pico de Gallo recipe, made in just 10 minutes with fresh tomatoes, cilantro, red onion, and jalapeño. The best topping for all of your Mexican food favorites!
Spoon Pico de Gallo on top of carne asada tacos, tamales, tostadas, mushroom tacos, Fajita Bowls, burritos, or other favorite Mexican recipes.
Why I love homemade Pico:
- Quick and Easy – Only a few ingredients are needed, and it takes only 10 minutes to make!
- Fresh – It’s so fresh and healthy and bursting with flavor!
- Versatile – Serve it with tacos, burritos, quesadillas, on top of grilled chicken or fish, or just enjoy it plain with tortilla chips!
Pico de Gallo vs Salsa:
Although Pico de gallo and salsa contain similar ingredients, salsa has more of a “sauce” consistency, with more liquid in it, and pico de gallo contains very little liquid and is made with fresh, uncooked ingredients. Homemade Pico de Gallo always contains the same ingredients: fresh and uncooked tomatoes, onion, cilantro and jalapeño. Both pico de gallo and salsa are popular toppings on Mexican food, inside tacos or served with tortillas chips.
There are tons of different ways to make salsa, with a variety of cooked, roasted or uncooked tomatoes, peppers, spices and other ingredients. Here’s my favorite 5-minute homemade salsa recipe.
How to make Pico de Gallo:
Prep Ingredients: Chop the tomatoes, onion, cilantro and jalapeño and add to a bowl.
Season with salt and add lime juice to taste.
Serve on your favorite Mexican dishes, or with chips. Store in the fridge for 5-7 days.
Make Ahead and Storage Instructions:
To Make Ahead: I think pico tastes best when made an hour or two in advance, and depending on the freshness of the ingredients, it should keep in the fridge for about one week.
Recipe Variations:
- Spicier: Keep some or all of the jalapeño seeds in, depending on how spicy you want it. You can also add extra jalapeño peppers.
- Add Avocado: Stir in some diced avocado right before serving. Keep in mind this won’t save as well with the avocado.
- Add Mango: Dice a mango and stir it in right before serving for a fun flavor twist.
More Popular Mexican Recipes:
- Authentic Mexican Rice
- Tres Leches Cake
- Horchata
- Pozole Verde
- Elote (Mexican Corn)
- Wet Burrito
- Taco Salad
- Tamales
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Recipe
Pico de Gallo
Equipment
Ingredients
- 5 Roma tomatoes , diced
- 1/2 cup white or red onion , diced
- 1/2 cup fresh cilantro , chopped
- 1 small jalepeño pepper , veins and seeds removed, diced
- 1 – 2 teaspoons lime juice , to taste
- salt , to taste
Instructions
- Combine tomatoes, onion, cilantro and jalapeño in a bowl.
- Season with salt and add lime juice to taste.
- Top on your favorite Mexican food, or serve with chips.
- Pico de gallo is best eaten fresh, within 12 hours of making it. Store in the fridge.
Notes
Nutrition
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*I originally shared this recipe April 2015. Updated May 2018 and April 2022.
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Very good
Everybody loved this recipe…. no changes at all to proportions (I mean add more lime juice if you like, or no salt if you can’t have it) but perfect as is. One thing I don’t like is liquidy pico. So after chopping tomatoes i dumped them into a colander and swirled them around. All the seeds and lots of juices fall out. Just a preference of mine. Thanks for such a quick delicious recipe!
This recipe was SO good!! We made it with your wet burritos and it was perfect. Thank you!!!!
I have been following this recipe for a couple years. I always make a double batch and add a medium head of cabbage diced.
I just started liking this maybe a couple years ago. I wanted to try it homemade. I followed your recipe and it was so good and fresh, I was eating it with a spoon!! Thanks for the great recipe.