This colorful fresh Cherry Salsa is bursting with cherry flavor and a little kick from jalapeño pepper. Delicious with tortilla chips, or used to top grilled fish or seared pork tenderloin.
When it’s cherry season, I can’t get enough of ripe sweet cherries. I love them in this Puff Pastry Cherry Danish, and also cook them down into a sweet Cherry Compote. But have you ever tried a savory application for cherries? Once you’ve tried this easy cherry salsa, you’ll want to make it every year.
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Why Make This Recipe
- Cherries make a sweet and spicy salsa that is unexpected but delicious!
- Works as an appetizer or a topping for a main course
- Great use for in-season cherries
🥗 Ingredients
- Cherries: Look for smooth, firm, and shiny cherries that are deep red in color. Fresh cherries are definitely preferred, but you can try this with frozen cherries as well. Make sure to defrost and pat dry very well before using.
- Green Bell Pepper: A bell pepper adds crunch and a little balance to the sweet cherries. But you could substitute a red bell pepper if you don’t mind the cherry salsa a little sweeter.
- Red Onion: You could substitute a sweet Vidalia onion or a couple of shallots for the red onion if you’d like.
- Jalapeño Pepper: For extra heat, you could substitute a Serrano pepper.
- Lime: A fresh lime is the way to go, so you can use both its zest and juice. Try with a lemon if you don’t have a lime.
- Basil: I love the pairing of basil and cherries, but you could try different fresh herbs as well, like mint or thyme or cilantro.
🥣 Step-by-Step Instructions
Rinse a pint of fresh summer cherries and pat dry. Pit them using a cherry pitter or a sharp knife.
Cut each cherry in half, then slice 3 times one direction and 2 or 3 the other, so you have about 6-9 small pieces.
Chop ½ of a green bell pepper into similarly-sized pieces. Finely chop ½ of a small red onion—you should have about ¼ cup chopped onion.
Peel and mince 2 garlic cloves. Cut off top of a jalapeño pepper, then slice in half and cut out the seeds and membrane. Finely chop the remaining pepper.
Combine all chopped ingredients in a large bowl. Zest a lime over the bowl, then slice the lime in half and squeeze both halves over the bowl.
Add 2 tablespoons olive oil, ½ teaspoon kosher salt, ¼ teaspoon pepper, and 1 ½ tablespoons of chopped fresh basil, and stir gently.
Pour into a serving bowl, and garnish with additional basil leaves.
Best to wait an hour or so before serving, to allow flavors to meld.
🧐 Recipe FAQs for Easy Cherry Salsa
Cherry salsa is best within a few hours of making, but you can store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Over time, the lime juice in the salsa will begin to break down the cherries and peppers so they are softer and not as crisp. Also, the colors will begin to blend all together, so this cherry salsa is definitely prettier the day you make it!
I would not recommend freezing cherry salsa, as the texture will break down after freezing and then defrosting.
I love digging into a bowl with some whole wheat tortilla chips, but this salsa has so many other great uses. For a different type of appetizer, smear some goat cheese or ricotta cheese on crostini toasts, then dollop a spoonful of salsa on them. Or, use the salsa as a sauce for your main course. It’s delicious over grilled duck, pork, chicken, or fish. You can also use it as a topping for fish tacos.
👩🍳 Expert Tips
If all the chopping in this recipe is too much for you, you can also throw the ingredients into a food processor. Pulse gently until everything is finely chopped. You will find that the mixture becomes more uniformly purple from the cherry juice, but it’s still delicious!
If you are not using a food processor, take care to stir the ingredients gently together in your mixing bowl. That will help the different colors of the peppers, cherries, basil, and onion stay vibrant.
For extra heat, add an additional jalapeño pepper or don’t remove the seeds before chopping.
You can also turn this into a fruit salsa by adding other fruit to the cherries—chopped peaches or nectarines would be perfect.
If your cherries are super ripe, you may find there is a lot of liquid at the bottom of the mixing bowl. If you want, you can use a slotted spoon to spoon out the salsa into your serving bowl.
Other Delicious Dips and Salsas
Now that you’ve tried this summer cherry salsa, how about trying some other dips and salsas? This pineapple salsa is bright and tropical. Or try one of these:
You should also check out the Vanilla Bean Cuisine appetizer archive for even more ideas.
If you try this homemade cherry salsa recipe, we would love to hear from you! Please rate this recipe and leave a comment below—your feedback is invaluable to us.
And please follow along on Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook or subscribe to our newsletter. We’d love to inspire you with more delicious, healthy, and seasonal recipes!
📖 Recipe
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Cherry Salsa
Ingredients
- 1 pint fresh cherries (285 grams)
- ½ green bell pepper
- ½ small red onion
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 jalapeno pepper
- I lime
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 ½ tablespoons chopped basil plus more to garnish
Instructions
- Rinse cherries and pat dry.
- Pit them using a cherry pitter or a sharp knife.
- Cut each cherry in half, then slice 3 times one direction and 2 or 3 the other, so you have about 6-9 small pieces.
- Chop bell pepper into similarly-sized pieces.
- Finely chop onion—you should have about ¼ cup chopped red onion.
- Peel and mince garlic cloves.
- Cut off top of jalapeño pepper, then slice in half and cut out the seeds and membrane.
- Finely chop the remaining pepper.
- Combine all chopped ingredients in a large bowl.
- Zest the lime over the bowl, then slice the lime in half and squeeze both halves over the bowl.
- Gently stir in olive oil, salt, pepper, and chopped basil.
- Pour into a serving bowl, and garnish with chopped basil.
- Wait an hour or so before serving if possible, to allow flavors to meld.
Notes
Cherry salsa is best within a few hours of making, but you can store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Over time, the lime juice in the salsa will begin to break down the cherries and peppers so they are softer and not as crisp. Also, the colors will begin to blend all together, so this cherry salsa is definitely prettiest the day you make it! Expert Tips:
If all the chopping in this recipe is too much for you, you can also throw the ingredients into a food processor. Pulse gently until everything is finely chopped. You will find that the mixture becomes more uniformly purple from the cherry juice, but it’s still delicious! If you are not using a food processor, take care to stir the ingredients gently together in your mixing bowl. That will help the different colors of the peppers, cherries, basil, and onion stay vibrant. For extra heat, add an additional jalapeño pepper or don’t remove the seeds before chopping.
Nutrition
Instagram Users: Now that you've made this fresh cherry salsa recipe, tag us @vanillabeancuisine or #vanillabeancuisine because we’d love to see your results!
More About Molly
Cooking healthy(ish) meals with seasonal ingredients is my passion. Trained as a French pastry chef, I spent over 10 years as a personal chef. Here you'll find well-tested recipes that you and your family will love!
mimi rippee says
Oh yes! This is fabulous! Similar to my cranberry salsa recipe a friend shared. Some zing!
http://www.chefmimiblog.com
Molly Pisula says
Yes, cranberry salsas are delish too!
Mimi Rippee says
This sounds incredible!
Molly Pisula says
It is really so tasty! I'm so glad I played around with making cherries into a salsa!