Almost Homemade Salsa

Dress up a jar of salsa in a hurry with fresh ingredients. Add some diced tomatoes fresh from your garden, and some green onion for color contrast. Fresh avocado is a must, and a squeeze of lime is delish. Add as much, or as little, to an ordinary jar of salsa and stretch how far it goes. Enjoy your Almost Homemade Salsa and the homemade quality without quite so much work as starting from scratch.

Fresh avocado, tomatoes, green onion, in serving bowls.

Starting out with a jar of your favorite salsa, the base is already there.

A lot of the “hard” work is already done for you, and I’m good with that. Especially when I’m in a hurry, which seems to be most of the time. Yet, anything homemade has that special ingredient of love. So love yourself and add your favorites. 

Serve this Almost Homemade Salsa with some Homemade Cheese Enchiladas, Homemade Green Chicken Enchiladas, or this amazing Chicken Chilaquiles Casserole recipe.

Salsa is the perfect compliment to any Mexican meal, along with being an appetizer with tortilla chips.

Small bowl of salsa with chunks of avocado.

What is Almost Homemade Salsa?

First, start with a jar of salsa. Mild, medium, or hot. Thick and chunky, or more blended. Better yet, get whatever’s on sale. 

Second, decide what your favorite parts of salsa are. This recipe added tomatoes, avocado, green onion, lime juice, and a dash of garlic powder. Other ingredients, like jalapeno, green chilies, and/or red onion might be more your style. 

But, don’t limit yourself to the traditional ingredients. Think outside the box, like mango, bell pepper, and apple.

Speaking of apples, check out my recipe for Apple Salsa with Cilantro. It’s perfect with tortilla chips, or as a side with pork chops.

Turn a jar of regular salsa into a strawberry salsa. It’s up to you, have fun with it.

Almost Homemade Salsa

Almost Homemade Salsa should be easy to eat.

If you plan on serving your Almost Homemade Salsa with tortilla chips, keep in mind how big you chop the tomatoes and avocado.

In other words, they are easier to scoop up when the pieces are smaller. 

Even the green onions, keep them smaller so that your chip does all the work. 

Do I have to remove the stems from the cilantro?

No. The stems actually taste just as good as the leaves, so leaving the stems on is a preference.

It’s much easier and faster to chop the top of a cilantro bunch, but then you get some stems.

Otherwise, you’ll have to pluck the leaves off, which takes a little more time, then chop through the leaves.

Either way, it’ll taste delicious. 

Fresh tomatoes, avocadoes, cilantro, and limes in bowl.

As you can see in the picture above, I tried to chop the ingredients to be approximately the same size.

Squeeze the lime juice directly onto the chopped avocado. The lime juice is a strong antioxidant that slows down the browning process. Doesn’t hurt that it also tastes darn good.

Sprinkle some garlic powder over the top of this salsa, then stir it up. 

That’s really about all there is to it: dump a jar of salsa into a bowl, and add some fresh ingredients to it. It’ll definitely have that “homemade” taste and look to it, plus it makes that one jar go a lot further. 

Also, don’t be surprised if everyone doesn’t aim for the avocadoes first. I tend to keep an extra avocado just in case they’re picked out, and I need to add more.

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5 from 5 votes

Almost Homemade Salsa

Adding fresh ingredients like chopped tomatoes and avocado to a pre-made jar of salsa to give it that "homemade" taste and look.
Prep Time10 minutes
Total Time10 minutes
Course: Salsa
Cuisine: Mexican
Keyword: avocado, cilantro, fresh veggies, quick and easy
Servings: 20 servings
Calories: 25kcal
Author: Sweet Ordeal

Ingredients

  • 16 oz. jar of salsa, mild, medium, or hot
  • 2 small tomatoes, chopped
  • 2 green onions, chopped
  • 1 avocado, chopped
  • 1/2 lime, juiced
  • 1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
  • 1/4 tsp. garlic powder

Instructions

  • In a medium bowl, pour in jar of salsa. Add the chopped tomatoes, green onions, and avocado.
  • Squeeze lime juice directly onto avocado to prevent browning.
  • Add cilantro and garlic powder and stir.
  • Serve with tortilla chips or as a topping on Mexican food. Refrigerate leftovers. Enjoy!

Notes

Chop all ingredients on the smaller side -- easier to pick up with a chip. 
Add other favorite ingredients like jalapeno, apple, or strawberry.
 

Nutrition

Calories: 25kcal | Carbohydrates: 3g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 2g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 161mg | Potassium: 140mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 238IU | Vitamin C: 4mg | Calcium: 10mg | Iron: 1mg
Tried this recipe?Mention @sweetordeal or tag #sweetordeal!

Neutralize spicy hot salsa.

Avoid the heat and keep it mild, but if you made it hot enough that your mouth is burning, here’s yet another reason to love chocolate.

The high fat content in milk chocolate helps to cut through the capsaicin, which causes the heat. 

So in other words, don’t forget dessert. To savor some sweet relief, try this delicious recipe for Chocolate Pumpkin Cupcakes, which is made with chocolate pudding frosting. That should work perfectly.

Or try this show stopper, a No Bake Chocolate Cherry Dessert or this decadent Chocolate Raspberry Trifle

Life is short, eat dessert first…unless you ate some hot salsa, in which case, save dessert till the end. 

Follow me on Pinterest and post a picture of your Almost Homemade Salsa. I’d love to hear what you think about it, and sincerely hope you enjoy this quick and easy recipe. 

 

Two bowls of salsa with fresh ingredients.Bite of salsa on a tortilla chip. Copyright © Sweet Ordeal. All content and images are copyright protected. Do not use any images without prior permission. If you want to republish this recipe, make sure to re-write the recipe in your own words and only list ingredients making sure to link back to this post for the original recipe and directions.

5 from 5 votes (4 ratings without comment)

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One Comment

  1. 5 stars
    This salsa is making my mouth water! I love me some good salsa and this looks delicious and better yet, so simple to throw together! What a great semi-homemade idea! I love it!