Summer Cherry Salsa

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. 

Jump to:

• Why Make This Recipe
• 🥗 Ingredients
• 🥣 Step-by-Step Instructions
• 🧐 Recipe FAQs for Easy Cherry Salsa
• 👩‍🍳 Expert Tips
• Other Delicious Dips and Salsas
• 📖 Recipe
• More About Molly

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

👩‍🍳 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 of our other dips and salsas?

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!

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!