The Best Restaurant-Style Salsa

This is the best restaurant-style salsa recipe—at least, by our family’s estimation! It’s pretty straightforward to make, and you can’t help but dunk chip after chip after chip! Everyone we’ve made this for has loved it.

There are a few secret ingredients here that make this salsa taste like you spent a lot more time and effort on it than you actually did. It’s a recipe from a family friend, and after years of requesting his salsa at dinner parties, we’re finally documenting it here on the blog.

Another David Special 

My dad’s childhood friend David, of Catskills fame, is the kind of home cook that strives to perfect a single recipe. One of his specialties has graced our blog before. His Korean fried chicken, a carefully-studied Bonchon copycat recipe thanks to more than a few orders of late-night tenders, is beloved by all. 

The man also knows his salsa. During the summertime, this is one of our most often requested recipes from David. He makes a big big batch of it and stores it in a clean, repurposed macaroni salad tub from the store. Straight out of the refrigerator, with a good chill and the flavors perfectly melded, it’s VERY addictive. 

He initially found the recipe on Perry’s Plate, and it’s a Chevy’s restaurant copycat salsa. He made some adjustments to it, and we’ve also included a few notes and tips for success here. 

More Jalapeños, More Addictive

David’s secret to this salsa is making it CRAZY spicy. Like 6-7 jalapenos in one batch. It burns. But it burns good. 

Our recipe is more even tempered with a mix of 1-4 jalapenos and serranos (though if you can only fine one or the other, no need to fret—it’s great either way). Trust us when we say you can use 1, but it’s really best with 2+—the rest is up to you! 

You can also easily taste your finished salsa, and if it’s not spicy enough, char another pepper on the stove, whiz it in the food processor and mix it in.

Tips for successful restaurant-style salsa: 

• Tomatoes that are ripe but not too ripe are ideal. You want your salsa to still have some body. 

• Charring the jalapenos and onion right on a gas burner and browning the tomatoes in a hot cast iron skillet is a good workaround if you don’t have access to a grill (or are overcome with laziness). 
• I said this earlier, but more peppers = more addictively delicious. To avoid the salsa becoming too spicy, you can start with fewer peppers, taste the salsa, and grill/add more peppers later as needed. 
• Don’t skip the white distilled vinegar.
• Don’t skip the liquid smoke.
• Don’t chuck EVERYTHING into the food processor at once. Do the onion, cilantro, garlic, and the peppers first, then when it’s coarsely chopped, add the tomatoes to take it the final stretch. The tomatoes are delicate after taking a turn on the grill, and you don’t want to end up with tomato puree. 

White Distilled Vinegar? Really???

Yes. Really. 

Don’t be a snoob—reach for the distilled white vinegar. The generic stuff. The industrial stuff. The stuff that comes in a giant jug for miscellaneous use in the kitchen and laundry room. 

Now’s not the time for your fancy vinegars—your white wine vinegars, your apple cider vinegars—no. The good old fashioned cheap stuff does the trick. (That said, the other day we made this with Datu Puti, mild-tasting cane vinegar, because we ran out of white distilled, and it was delicious as well.)

And don’t bother with lime juice either. I know the picture of the ingredients shows lime. (:facepalm:) That’s proof that we’ve tried it. It will be fine, but it won’t be the addictive knockout it is with distilled white vinegar. Inspired by the words of Lizzo—the juice ain’t worth the squeeze. Save your money and trust us! 

The Best Restaurant-Style Salsa: Recipe Instructions

Heat a grill over medium-high heat. 

In a large bowl, toss the tomatoes in a drizzle of any high smoke point oil.

Grab your peppers and onion, and walk them out to the grill. (You can also use an indoor grill pan or a cast iron skillet for this step. I’ve also had good results just charring the onion and jalapeno straight over a gas burner.) 

Toss the oiled tomatoes, peppers and onion onto the grill. The goal is for the skin of the peppers and the edges of the onion to get some char, for the tomato skin to get blistered enough that you can peel it off, and for the raw edge to get taken off of most of the tomato. Don’t let it get overcooked and mushy, though. 

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Remove the tomato, peppers, and onion from the grill. Put the tomatoes back in the same bowl you used to toss them in. Cover the bowl with a plate to let the tomatoes steam. This will help remove the skin. Use the blade of a knife to scrape the skins off of the peppers, and remove seeds as desired (we do not remove them). 

Transfer the peppers to the bowl of a food processor along with the onion, garlic, and cilantro. Pulse a few times until coarsely chopped. 

Using your fingers, peel the tomatoes. The skin should come off easily. If you can’t get every last bit of skin, don’t worry. Add the tomatoes to the food processor, along with the white vinegar, salt, and liquid smoke. Pulse until you reach your desired consistency (from chunky to runny).

Pour the salsa into a resealable container and transfer to the refrigerator. The salsa is best served chilled, so let it sit for at least 1 hour in the refrigerator, or ideally overnight, before serving.