Easy Homemade Restaurant-Style Salsa Recipe

I was catching up on a few of my favorite blogs the other morning, when a very cool recipe caught my eye.

It was shared by Lisa of A Dinner Party, who talked about throwing a low-key dinner party with some friends after a few harried weeks at a new job. On the menu? Fish tacos, a salad, and a batch of homemade restaurant-style salsa.

Lisa's description of the salsa as that "addictively spicy salsa you get in better Mexican restaurants," totally grabbed my attention.

I knew exactly what she meant, and I immediately wanted to taste it.

No joke...barely 10 minutes had passed before I was in the kitchen tossing ingredients into my food processor.

This salsa is incredible!

So very simple to make, and the results are killer. Salty, savory, and with just the perfect amount of heat. You know? The kind of heat that keeps you going back for more, without completely destroying your tastebuds for the rest of the meal.

The recipe makes about 3 cups, and I suspect would keep well for a couple days in the refrigerator, although I cannot testify to that since ours did not last the afternoon. Whoops!

Sidenote: While cleaning, I told Eugene that I couldn't "believe we ate all that salsa today!"

To which he replied, "Yeah...you definitely ate most of it by yourself."

Guilty as charged, my friends! (And not at all sorry.)

I made a few minor changes to the original recipe that Lisa posted (my version is posted below), cutting out the Rotel, and using whole, drained plum tomatoes (because it's what I had on hand). I also increased the jalapenos, garlic, and lime juice.

I need to pick up another couple cans of tomatoes so that I can make this again.

(And again and again and again...)

By the way, these would be excellent with my recipe for Easy Homemade Corn Tortilla Chips!

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Easy Homemade Restaurant-Style Salsa
Makes about 3 cups (Adapted from a recipe found on A Dinner Party, originally from Mountain Mama Cooks)

Ingredients
1 28oz can whole plum tomatoes, drained (save the tomato sauce it comes in for something else--don't use the kind with basil in it)
1/2 medium red onion, roughly chopped
2 large garlic cloves, peeled
1 large jalapeño, stem and most of seeds removed (Like it super spicy? I would start with one, then taste and add another if needed. It's got pretty decent heat at this level, and the heat increases as it sits.)
1 teaspoon honey
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 small to medium size bunch of fresh cilantro, washed and bottom roots/tough stems trimmed
Juice of 2 medium limes

Directions
Combine all the ingredients in the base of a food processor or blender and puree until smooth. Taste and adjust seasoning to taste, adding more cumin, salt, or lime juice as needed. (Note: I recommend actually tasting it with tortilla chips so that you don't over-salt it.)