Pico De Gallo (aka Pico) is an easy-to-make, popular, Mexican condiment that makes everything taste better. Amazing with a big bowl of chips, on tacos or served sprinkled over nachos like these incredible vegan nachos with sausage and queso!
Why We Love Pico de Gallo
- easy to make
- healthy
- better than store bought
- vegan, vegetarian, plant based, oil free, gluten free, nut free
- makes everything 1000 times better
Pico is delicious on so many dishes. On Friday nights, we love digging into a big bowl of taco chips, pico, TexMex Cashew Cream, and Guacamole. Pico is a must add to crispy vegan fish tacos and elevates any breakfast scramble, burritos, loaded nachos, quesadillas, and pizzas.
Ingredients for Pico de Gallo
Since Pico de Gallo has only a few basic ingredients, look for the best quality ingredients you can find. You'll need ripe tomatoes, white onions, jalapeno peppers, fresh cilantro, juicy lime, and coarse salt.
Tomatoes: Since tomatoes are front and center for pico flavour, it's imperative to select the reddest, ripest, most flavourful tomatoes available.
Do you deseed the tomatoes in your pico? Sometimes yes, sometimes no.
Plum tomatoes (like Roma) have a higher solid to seeds ratio and lower moisture content than regular tomatoes making them a good choice for pico. As long as the tomatoes are top quality, and perfectly ripe, any variety will work; but if they are super juicy, I remove most of the seeds and pulp to manage an over abundance of liquid.
Onions: I used to use red onions for my pico. I love red onions for their flavour and nutrition profile. BUT, after a pico-eating trip to Mexico, I switched to white onions. The sharpness and pungency of white onions is a perfect compliment to the ripe tomatoes in pico.
Everything Else: chopped fresh cilantro, jalapeno chiles (to taste), juicy limes, coarse ground salt, and chipotle Tabasco (optional).
Let It Rest: Once you've sliced and diced all the veggies and herbs and mixed them together, let it sit out on the counter where the flavours will mingle and be enhanced. Just before serving, taste the pico and adjust the seasonings to suit your personal preference.
Vegan Dinner Ideas
If you like pico, you're going to love these dinners made with fresh tomatoes too:
- Tender-Crispy Fish Tacos (vegan)
- Spicy Sweet Tofu Pineapple Bowl
- Loaded Mushroom Tacos
- Healthy Stuffed Sweet Potatoes
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Perfectly Simple Pico de Gallo Recipe
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INGREDIENTS
- 4-5 medium plum tomatoes (like Roma), medium dice
- ½ medium white onion, diced
- 1-2 juicy limes, juiced
- ⅓ cup cilantro, chopped
- 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced
- 1-2 pinches coarse salt, to taste
- 1 splash Chipotle Tabasco
INSTRUCTIONS
- This is so simple.Slice the tomatoes in half and remove seeds and pulp if desired.
- Cut the tomatoes into about ½" pieces (medium dice). Place the tomatoes into a medium-sized bowl.
- Chop the onions and cilantro, and mince the jalapeno. Add to the tomatoes.
- Squeeze the juice of one lime onto the tomatoes (if it's a really juicy lime, that might be enough, but sometimes the limes are small or a bit dry so add more to taste).
- Season with coarse ground salt to taste. Taste and adjust lime and salt as desired.
- Add a splash of Chipotle Tabasco sauce - this is optional but delicious.
- Let the pico sit at room temperature for 20 - 30 minutes for flavour development.
- Stir, taste, and adjust the seasonings once again. Enjoy!
NOTES
This recipe is from simplyceecee.co food blog. All images and content are copyright protected. Please do not use my images or republish this recipe without prior permission. Thank you.
Darren
I love Pico, and this was delicious and very easy to make. I'll be having this again for sure!
Tracy Halasz
Thank you! It is so easy and so fresh. Thank you for the comment.