Southwest Salsa

This southwest salsa is a delicious chunky, flavorful, southern inspired salsa. It’s perfect served with chips, on tacos, burritos, salads, etc. 

This southwest salsa is so fresh and delicious, it only takes a few ingredients, and a few minutes to make, and you’ve got a delicious homemade salsa. It’s amazing with chips, crackers, on tacos, burritos, nachos, salads, etc. It would also be delicious alongside some grilled steak, chicken, or fish. 

It’s a great option for serving at a potluck, summer barbecue, game night, or while watching your favorite sporting events. 

You’ll need a combination of canned, and fresh ingredients to make this southwest salsa. You can change it up to customize based on your preferences. 

The salsa gets its yummy southwest flavors from the chili powder and cumin in the salsa, and the corn and black beans add a nice touch too.

Ingredients Needed:

• tomatoes
• red onion
• canned corn – this adds a little sweetness to the salsa, you can also use fresh grilled corn cut off the cobb.
• black beans
• jalapeno – this adds just a little kick to the salsa
• cilantro – 
• fresh lime juice
• salt
• sugar
• cumin
• chili powder

How to make Southwest Salsa?

Dice up the tomatoes, and onion on a cutting board, re-piling and cutting as needed until the pieces are as small as you want them. Add them to a bowl. 

Dice up the jalapeno into tiny pieces, you don’t want them too big as you don’t want any bites that are too spicy. Add the jalapeno into the bowl. 

Chop up the cilantro as finely as you want, and add it to the bowl.

Add the drained and rinsed corn and black beans to the bowl. 

Add in the salt, cumin, chili powder, sugar, and lime juice. 

Toss is all together until the ingredients are well mixed. Cover the bowl and place it in the fridge for at least 1 hour to let the flavors meddle.

Enjoy with chips, on tacos, salads, etc.

How to store?

You can store the southwest salsa in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 1 week.

This is a great make-ahead dish because the flavors taste best after an hour or two in the fridge. While it can store for up to a week, it will be the best quality in the first day or two, so I recommend only making it about 24 hours before your event, for the best results. 

Tips and Tricks:

• I prefer a Roma tomato because it’s a little firmer and makes it easier for dicing up, and has less seeds in the middle.
• I love using fresh vegetables and herbs from my garden for this if I have them. 
• This salsa is easily customizable, by adding more or less of the ingredients in the recipe. More jalapenos to make it spicy, less cilantro if you don’t like it, less cumin, more lime juice, etc.
• Add about 1 cup of diced bell pepper, or avocado if desired.
• You can chop up the tomatoes, onions, and jalapenos in the food processor if you want this salsa to be more of a restaurant style. The corn and black beans should not be processed/chopped, and will still add texture.
• Prepare the salsa at least 1 hour before you want to serve it to really give the flavors a chance to meddle together. 

This southwest salsa is a delicious homemade salsa, perfect served up with tortilla chips, and as a topping for any of your favorite Mexican dishes!

More salsa recipes:

• Chunky Salsa
• Mango Salsa
• Restaurant Style Salsa
• Fruit Salsa

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This southwest salsa was first posted on Sept 7, 2012. The photos and text were updated on June 15, 2022.