Pineapple Salsa

This easy Pineapple Salsa recipe is loaded with fresh pineapple, tomatoes, red onion, jalapeños, and cilantro. This is fruit salsa is dreamy scooped up with chips as a snack idea or pile it atop your favorite protein for dinner.

I’ll never forget the first time I got my hands on this Pineapple Salsa recipe: After devouring a huge bowl at my brother’s house, he promised to track down the original source and email me a copy. Later that day, an email arrived. Attached was a scanned PDF of a hand-written recipe called “Benny’s Pineapple Salsa;” definitely not my brother’s name.

So who is Benny? How did he come to make such amazing Pineapple Salsa? Did I ever meet him? These questions and more are unanswered, while one truth remains: This fruit salsa was definitely worth tracking down.

While most tropical fruit salsas don’t contain the most common salsa-fied fruit, tomatoes, I adore the sweet-tart touch they add to this colorful recipe. Toss it together in 20 minutes for your next dinner party, and chances are, you’ll receive requests for the easy Pineapple Salsa recipe, too. What’s mine is yours!

Recipe ingredients

At a Glance: Here is a quick snapshot of what ingredients are in this recipe.
Please see the recipe card below for specific quantities.

Ingredient notes

• Pineapple: As with any salsa recipe, you’ll want to start with fresh produce, not frozen or canned. Slice the fruit straight down the middle and carefully slice out the flesh to recreate the serving bowl idea featured above.
• Roma tomatoes: Remove the core to keep the salsa a scoopable (and not too liquid-logged) texture.
• Red onions: I adore the pop of color red (actually, purple) onions lend, but you could also swap in white, yellow, or sweet onions here.
• Jalapeños: For a spicier salsa, toss in an extra jalapeño or two, or use fiery serrano chiles instead.

Step by step instructions

1. In a large bowl, combine pineapple, tomatoes, cilantro, red onion, and jalapeños.

2. Add lime juice and toss to coat. Season to taste with salt, pepper, and hot pepper sauce, if using.

3. For best results, allow flavors to blend at room temperature for at least 10 minutes or chill until serving time. Serve with tortilla chips.

Recipe tips and variations

• Yield: This Pineapple Salsa recipe makes enough for about 14 appetizer-sized or protein-topper servings.
• Storage: Store extra pineapple salsa in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
• Make ahead: You can definitely make this a day ahead! The extra chill time allows the flavors to blend even more.
• Pineapple bowl: Obviously carving out half of a pineapple to use as your serving vessel is always a good idea!
• Tropical Party: When I decided to create a Tropical Party menu, Pineapple Salsa was at the top of the list. Serve with crunchy Coconut Shrimp and Hawaiian Macaroni Salad on the side (an official component of “plate lunch” in Hawaii). For dessert, I love classic Pineapple Upside-Down Cake. Sip on a Blue Hawaiian cocktail to complete the menu (although a Mai Tai or Piña Colada are equally good options).

Recipe FAQs

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Pineapple Salsa

By Meggan Hill

This easy Pineapple Salsa recipe is loaded with fresh pineapple, tomatoes, red onion, jalapeños, and cilantro. This is fruit salsa is dreamy scooped up with chips as a snack idea or pile it atop your favorite protein for dinner.

Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 10 minutes mins

Total Time 30 minutes mins

Servings 14 servings (½ cup each)

Course Appetizer

Cuisine American, Mexican

Calories 54

4.85 from 45 votes

ReviewPrint

Ingredients 

US CustomaryMetric

• ▢ 1 pound pineapple diced (see note 1)
• ▢ 5 Roma tomatoes cored and diced (see note 2)
• ▢ 1/2 bunch cilantro finely chopped, about ½ cup
• ▢ 1/2 cup red onion finely chopped (see note 3)
• ▢ 1-2 jalapeño peppers seeded and finely chopped (about ¼ cup or more to taste. see note 4)
• ▢ 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice from 1 lime
• ▢ Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• ▢ Hot pepper sauce to taste, optional
• ▢ tortilla chips for serving

Instructions 

• In a large bowl, combine pineapple, tomatoes, cilantro, red onion, and jalapeños. Add lime juice and toss to coat.
• Season to taste with salt, pepper, and hot pepper sauce, if using. For best results, allow flavors to blend at room temperature for at least 10 minutes or chill until serving time. Serve with tortilla chips.

Recipe Video

Notes

1. Pineapple: As with any salsa recipe, you’ll want to start with fresh produce, not frozen or canned. Slice the fruit straight down the middle and carefully slice out the fresh to recreate the serving bowl idea featured above.
2. Roma tomatoes: Remove the core to keep the salsa a scoopable (and not too liquid-logged) texture.
3. Red onions: I adore the pop of color red (actually, purple) onions lend, but you could also swap in white, yellow, or sweet onions here.
4. Jalapeños: For a spicier salsa, toss in an extra jalapeño or two, or use fiery serrano chiles instead.
5. Yield: This Pineapple Salsa recipe makes enough for about 14 appetizer-sized or protein-topper servings.
6. Storage: Store extra pineapple salsa in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
7. Make ahead: You can definitely make this a day ahead! The extra chill time allows the flavors to blend even more.

Nutrition

Calories: 54kcalCarbohydrates: 14gProtein: 1gFat: 1gSaturated Fat: 1gSodium: 4mgPotassium: 239mgFiber: 2gSugar: 10gVitamin A: 558IUVitamin C: 49mgCalcium: 19mgIron: 1mg

Did you make this recipe?Tag @culinaryhill on Instagram so we can admire your masterpiece! #culinaryhill

Meggan Hill

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Meggan Hill is a classically-trained chef and professional writer. Her meticulously-tested recipes and detailed tutorials bring confidence and success to home cooks everywhere. Meggan has been featured on NPR, HuffPost, FoxNews, LA Times, and more.

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