Do you love pico de gallo like I do? It’s a classic Mexican tomato dip (or sauce) that adds a fresh, healthy, low-calorie boost of flavor to just about any Mexican meal.

When I was little, I piled pico de gallo on my tortilla chips at our nearby Mexican restaurant and called it dinner (refill, please). I didn’t fully appreciate pico de gallo’s wonder, though, until my family traveled to Mexico one summer when I was in college.

We stayed at an all-you-can-eat resort, which meant all-you-can-eat pico de gallo. Their pico de gallo was super fresh and utterly irresistible, and I piled it onto every single meal. Eggs! Tortillas! Beans! Spaghetti, even! Why not?

It’s funny that I’ve shared so many variations on pico de gallo over the years, but never my classic pico de gallo recipe. Today is the day. Let’s make pico de gallo while the tomatoes are still good.

Pico de gallo is so easy to make. You will need only five ingredients (six if you count the salt): ripe red tomatoes, white onion, jalapeño, cilantro, lime and salt. That’s it!

What’s the difference between pico de gallo and salsa?

Pico de gallo shares the same basic ingredients as traditional red salsa, but the preparation methods are different.

Pico de gallo always uses raw, diced ingredients. It’s less wet, and it adds a wonderful chunky texture and substance to tacos and more. Salsa can call for roasted or stewed tomatoes, and is generally closer to a purée in texture.

Both are delicious, both go great with guacamole, and I often layer pico de gallo over salsa for double the flavor (if only you could see my regular burrito bowl order at Chipotle).

Ingredients

6 tomatoes
3 jalapenos (warning: hot)
1 medium white onion
1/2 a medium red onion
1 cup cilantro (I’m a fiend- so a little less if you aren’t)
5 cloves garlic
3 limes juice (hell, I even threw in some of the pulp)
1 tbsp cumin
1 tsp sea salt (More can always be added but not taken away!)
1 tsp chili powder

Directions

1 cup (2-3 ears) of grilled/pan fried corn. If pan frying it, try putting in 3 tbsps of pineapple juice and 2 tbsp EVOO. Since you are using pans now, I would probably add the garlic, salt, 1/2 the cilantro, cumin and chili powder now.
Sweeten it up with some diced fruit of your choice- pineapple, mango, peach etc.

You can also add lemon or black pepper if you like .