Best Pico de Gallo Recipe (2024)

Whether it’s Taco Tuesday or Taco Any day, you need The Best Pico de Gallo recipe!

This recipe comes together with just a few fresh ingredients and is perfect for eating with chips or on top of chicken tacos! This recipe is a keeper!

With Cinco de Mayo right around the corner, I wanted to make sure you had The BEST Pico de Gallo recipe. I make this recipe all the time. It is easy to throw together and so delicious. Perfect on my tacos or just with chips.

What Makes this the Best Pico de Gallo

This Pico de Gallo recipe really is the best.

• It has the perfect balance of flavors with the jalapeños, onions, garlic, and just the right amount of lime juice and salt.
• It comes with tons of great tips! How to store cilantro, how to cut jalapeños, and what tomatoes to buy.

Pico de Gallo Ingredients

This is the simplest of simple recipes, which makes it perfect for weeknight tacos! There are only a few things that you need to make it. Get the full amounts in the recipe card at the bottom of the post.

• Plum Tomatoes
• Jalapeño
• Small White Onion
• Garlic
• Lime Juice
• Cilantro
• Kosher Salt

How to Make Pico de Gallo

1. Dice the tomatoes: Slice the tomatoes and remove the pulp. Cut into small diced sized pieces.
2. Dice the jalapeño and white onion: I have tips on dicing jalapeños below.
3. Combine the ingredients: Combine everything in a bowl, and then taste. Add more salt as needed.

What Type of Tomatoes to Use

I love using plum tomatoes in this recipe. They have a lot of tomato meat without a lot of juice which makes them perfect for this recipe. It leads to pico that is hearty but not too liquidy.

I like to pull out the seeds and pulp of the the tomatoes before I start dicing them and throwing them in. You get the great taste of the tomatoes, without it being too liquidy.

How to Cut Jalapeños

The downside to using jalapeños in a recipe is how much it can burn your fingers and anything you touch afterwards. I suggest you either use cloves or cut the jalapeño in a way that avoids the ribs and seeds.

1. Don’t cut the jalapeño down the middle.
2. Think of the jalapeño as four sided and cut off one side at a time.
3. Discard the middle with the seeds and ribs.
4. Slice each “side” into small strips and then dice them.

You can see this in action in the video in the recipe card.

Bottled or Fresh Lime Juice?

I always have a bottle of lime juice in my refrigerator. It is so easy to keep on hand when I’m throwing together recipes like Carne Asada or Watermelon Salad.

That being said, fresh lime juice is always better than bottled. While bottled is good in a pinch, I suggest that you try to keep fresh limes on hand also. You can count on 2 to 3 tablespoons of lime juice per lime.

Given the few ingredients in this recipe I recommend using fresh.

How to Keep Your Cilantro Fresh

Just like with the lime juice, you want your cilantro to be at the top of its game for this recipe. Here are some tips to keep your cilantro fresh until you make this recipe:

1. When you get home from the store, dry off the cilantro.
2. Cut off the bottom inch of the stems.
3. Remove any leaves that are down at the bottom of the stems and will get in the water.
4. Place them in a drinking glass with about two inches of water.
5. Cover the cilantro and the entire glass cup with the plastic bag the cilantro came in from the store.
6. Put it in the refrigerator.

It will last more than two weeks this way, though you may need to change the water after a week.

What to Serve with Pico de Gallo

If you are having a full on taco night, I have so many great recipes to go with this!

• Chicken Tacos – Our family makes this recipe almost once a week.
• Instant Pot Chicken Tacos – This is my favorite thing to eat the pico de gallo on!
• Margaritas – This is the BEST margarita recipe.
• Guacamole – My very favorite guacamole recipe, and it’s so easy too.
• Pineapple Mango Salsa – The perfect twist to your taco night.
• Cilantro Lime Rice – A simple recipe but a must.

If you make my homemade Pico de Gallo recipe or any of my other recipes, please leave me a comment and let me know what you think!