Pico de gallo is like… the perfect condiment for Mexican food.
I use it on almost everything I make that’s Mexican. Tacos, taco salads, nachos, quesadillas, even as a dip on its own. Obviously you want to make sure you have the freshest, ripest ingredients as this is a raw dish with simple flavors.
Two things I find to be essential for good pico are cilantro and lime juice. I know a lot of people hate cilantro, but I love the stuff and can’t get enough of it. If your tastebuds don’t agree with me though, feel free to omit both – you will still get plenty of flavor from the ripe tomatoes and the tangy onion and the spicy pepper.
I really don’t have much else to say about pico except – stay tuned, as this is really only the beginning of my Cinco de Mayo series and I promise you will have uses for it as May 5th draws near!
Ingredients
4 ripe tomatoes on the vine, or 5 ripe Roma tomatoes, seeded and diced
1/2 white onion, diced fine
1 medium serrano pepper, or 1 large jalapeno pepper, seeded and diced fine
Juice of 1 lime
Handful of cilantro, minced
Salt and pepper to taste
Directions
Combine all ingredients in a bowl and stir to combine. Eyeball it – don’t add all the onion if you’re not an onion fan and it looks like too much. Same with the pepper!
** NOTE ** Please use caution when dicing serrano or jalapeno peppers. If you touch the pepper with your bare fingers, keep your hands away from your face! Clean hands thoroughly when finished dicing. Or use rubber gloves.