You are going to love this easy to make Copycat Chipotle Pico De Gallo Recipe. It’s so simple to make and only takes a few ingredients. Enjoy it on its own with tortilla chips for scooping or as a side dish to your favorite Mexican dishes.
My family loves the freshly made tacos and burritos that you get at Chipotle restaurants. I love eating there too. The one thing I don’t love is the cost for our family to eat out. I’m always looking for ways to enjoy the restaurant foods we love but without it killing my weekly food budget.
If you’re like me, and want to save yourself some money without giving up on flavor, then try making your own fresh Pico de Gallo salsa at home to enjoy with your favorite dishes. With it’s combination of fresh tomatoes, red onion, lime juice, cilantro and seasonings this is one recipe you want to make again and again.
Copycat Chipotle Pico De Gallo Recipe
When making this fresh Pico de Gallo salsa here are a few tips to help you with the jalapeno peppers:
Use rubber gloves when seeding and cutting the jalapeno. It’s difficult to wash the oil off your skin. Getting jalapeno oil into your eye, mouth or other areas is not something you want to do. I can speak from experience on that one! It only takes one time of touching your face when you think you’ve washed all the oil off to use gloves when handling jalapenos.
If you don’t want to handle a fresh jalapeno you can use canned diced jalapeno peppers. I usually find them in my local grocery store in the section where I find all the salsa and taco shells/seasoning mixes. One fresh jalapeno is equal to about 2 tablespoons of canned, diced jalapenos.
I place any leftover canned jalapenos into a small freezer bag or container and store it in the freezer. You can always use the leftovers in your next batch of chili, soup, enchiladas or even more Pico de Gallo.
Ingredients for Copycat Chipotle Pico de Gallo:
You’ll need the following ingredients to make this recipe:
- Tomatoes – I prefer to use plum tomatoes for this recipe. You can use your favorite type.
- Red Onion – red onions have a bolder flavor than yellow onions and the color is great in this dish. If you want to tone down a bit try soaking the diced onion in some cold water while you prep the other ingredients.
- Lime Juice – don’t leave this out. It adds great flavor to the dish and it will taste a bit flat without it. Go with fresh lime juice or bottled. If you are using fresh limes try heating them for 20 to 30 seconds in the microwave before slicing to juice. You’ll find you will get more juice out of them using this method.
Don’t have limes? Swap this out for lemon juice. Both will work in this salsa.
- Jalapeno pepper – adds a bit of heat to the salsa. For a spicier salsa you can swap these out for chipotle chiles or some other type of hot peppers.
- Fresh Cilantro – nothing gives salsa a delicious flavor than adding in fresh cilantro.
Are you one of those people who finds it tastes soapy? My husband is one of those poor people who will just never be able to understand how delicious cilantro tastes. Seems him, and many others, have a gene that makes cilantro it taste soapy.
If you are one of those people try swapping out the cilantro for some fresh parsley. The parsley will add a nice, fresh flavor to the salsa without giving it that soapy flavor.
- Seasonings – you’ll want to add granulated garlic, black pepper, ground cumin and salt to this recipe
How to make Copycat Chipotle Pico de Gallo salsa:
Start by peeling and dicing the onion. Remove the stems on the tomatoes and dice into small pieces. Using gloves, remove the seeds from the jalapeno pepper and dice into small pieces.
Wash the fresh cilantro, remove the leaves from the steam and finely chop it.
In a large bowl combine the diced tomatoes, onion, jalapeno and cilantro.
Add the granulated garlic, ground cumin, black pepper and salt.
Pour the lime juice over the other ingredients. Mix until well combined.
Refrigerate for at least an hour to allow the flavors to blend. Refrigerating for 4 or more hours is even better. Serve and enjoy!
How to store leftovers Pico de Gallo:
For the best flavor don’t store this salsa for long. The texture of the fresh vegetables will begin to change. You can store the leftover Pico de Gallo in a covered airtight container in the refrigerator for 3 to 5 days.
Can this Pico de Gallo salsa be frozen?
No, you don’t want to store leftover Pico de Gallo in the freezer. This fresh salsa does not freeze well. The tomatoes will become very soft and mushy when thawed. This will cause the salsa to become very watery.
This salsa is better stored in the refrigerator and used within 5 days.
How do you keep Pico de Gallo from getting watery?
Here’s a few tips to keep your Pico de Gallo from becoming watery.
Start by choosing plum or Roma tomatoes. They are more fleshy and have fewer seeds. You want to use tomatoes with thick flesh to get the best texture for this salsa.
Removing the seeds can help reduce chances of your salsa becoming watery. Use your finger or a small spoon to scoop out the watery seeds and discard them.
You can also dice the tomatoes, place them in a strainer and sprinkle them lightly with a half teaspoon salt. Allow the tomatoes to sit in the strainer so the excess water can drip off of them.
Is salsa the same as Pico de Gallo?
Salsa and Pico de Gallo are made from similar ingredients including tomatoes, onion, jalapeno, cilantro, garlic, cumin, pepper and salt. Sometimes they both include bell pepper. However there are two main differences between the them.
Salsa is usually made with cooked tomatoes while Pico de Gallo is made with fresh tomatoes.
Another difference between the two is the texture. Pico de Gallo is made from chopped or finely diced tomatoes and vegetables and it shouldn’t have very much liquid.
Salsa, because it is made with cooked tomatoes and vegetables, is often pureed or blended until there’s small bits and more liquid. Check out this recipe for easy spicy salsa.
Try serving up this Pico de Gallo with some of the following:
Pork Carnitas as well as Pork Carnitas Burrito Bowl
Don’t forget to include some Easy Refried Beans as a side dish with any of the meals.
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Copycat Chipotle Pico De Gallo Recipe (Mild Salsa)
Equipment
- large bowl
- Sharp knife
- Mixing spoon
Ingredients
- 4 Tomatoes diced
- 1 Red Onion small, finely diced
- 1/2 jalapeno seeded, finely diced
- 1/3 cup fresh cilantro chopped
- 3 tablespoons lime juice
- 1 teaspoon Garlic Powder
- 1/2 teaspoon Ground Cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon Black Pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon Salt
Instructions
- Start by peeling and dicing the onion. Remove the stems on the tomatoes and dice into small pieces. Using gloves, remove the seeds from the jalapeno pepper and dice into small pieces.
- Wash the fresh cilantro, remove the leaves from the steam and finely chop it.
- In a large bowl combine the diced tomatoes, onion, jalapeno and cilantro.
- Add the granulated garlic, ground cumin, black pepper and salt. Pour the lime juice over the other ingredients. Mix until well combined.
- Refrigerate for at least an hour to allow the flavors to blend. Refrigerating for 4 or more hours is even better. Serve and enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
You might also like these other recipes:
Salmon Fish Cake with Bang Bang Sauce
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