Ingredients
- 8 plum red tomatoes
- 1 yellow onion
- Freshly ground black pepper to taste
- Pinch of salt
- 2 limes
- 2 jalapeños
- Fresh cilantro (not pictured)
Fun little fact: pico de gallo translates to “roosters beak”. This is because originally people ate it by pinching pieces between the thumb and forefinger. It’s a widely known salsa, used alongside many dishes in the Mexican kitchen.

Kitchen equipment needed
- Chef’s knife + cutting board
- Large bowl
Preparing pico de gallo — 5 minutes
WASH and clean out the seeds from 8 plum tomatoes, then quarter them. If you’re wondering what that looks like, be sure to check out the ingredients photo. REMOVE the seeds from the jalapeños, and finely dice them. FINELY dice the yellow onion. Check out our page on how to dice onions like a pro here.

Finishing up — 5 minutes
COMBINE all of the diced ingredients in the large bowl. SQUEEZE out all of the juice from the two limes, pour it over the ingredients. MIX together and season with some freshly ground black pepper and a pinch of salt. ADD a bunch of chopped fresh cilantro to make it authentic! (we didn’t!)
REFRIGERATE until you’re ready to serve it as a side-dish. The longer it sits, the better the flavors will blend together. You can refrigerate for up to 3 days, when covered with cling film. Tip: GRAB some tortilla chips and serve this pico de gallo on movie night, enjoy!
This looks lovely – great job on dicing the tomatoes, but it MUST have cilantro. I live in Mexico, and this salsa (called Salsa Mexicana in our part of the country, not pico de gallo) always has cilantro.
Hi Karen, thank you for your clarification! We’ll update the recipe so it has cilantro!