Beautiful homemade 5-ingredient Pineapple Salsa! Sweet, salty, and tangy, this easy recipe tastes incredible served with shrimp tacos, burrito bowls, grilled fish, or tortilla chips. Good enough to eat on a spoon! Healthy, gluten free, and kid-friendly.
Behold the most glorious, refreshing, and oh so vibrant pineapple salsa in all the land! I'm dreaming of everything I want to put it on (ahem, every taco ever) as grilling season quickly approaches.
For now, I'll be shoveling it in my face with a spoon, and perhaps my fave crunchy blue corn tortilla chips. Divine!
Ingredients
- Pineapple: You'll need half of a fresh, ripe pineapple for this recipe. While you could use drained canned pineapple, I really recommend fresh for the best flavor!
- Cilantro: Beautiful herby notes and a pop of green.
- Fresh lime: Adds bright tang to contrast the sweet pineapple. Zest and juice for extra flavor.
- Red onion: That zing makes for the perfect bite.
- Salt: Key for rounding out the flavor!
Be sure to see recipe card for the full list of ingredients and exact quantities.
Add-ins and substitutions
- Avocado: This salsa tastes amazing with the addition of 1 ripe, cubed avocado!
- Jalapeño: Make it spicy by adding 1 small de-seeded and finely chopped
- Bell pepper: Great for color and crunch! You can add 1 small de-seeded and finely chopped bell pepper plus a squeeze more lime juice and salt to taste.
- Ginger: A tablespoon of freshly grated ginger is delicious here!
- A note on cilantro: I think cilantro makes this salsa, but I've tested it without cilantro and it's still yummy. I'd add diced green pepper or jalapeño for that nice pop of green.
How to make pineapple salsa (step by step instructions)
Chop pineapple into small pieces.
Combine pineapple, red onion, cilantro, lime, and salt in a mixing bowl.
Mix and and adjust seasoning as needed. Serve!
How to dice a pineapple for salsa
- First, rinse the pineapple. Stand it up on a cutting board and using a sharp knife, carefully slice off the outer layer all around so you're left with just the flesh. Try to remove all the brown spots (the "eyes"). The sweetest part of the pineapple is closest to the outer skin!
- Cut the pineapple into four pieces, slicing along the tough, inner core so it's not part of the pieces. Discard the hard center core.
- Dice each quadrant into small, even pieces.
What to serve it with
This salsa is amazing as that fresh juicy bite on top of these sheet pan southwestern tacos, quesadillas, bowls, fried rice, and pizza.
It's also stunning on any grilled protein you love--seared fish, tofu, or chicken. I love it paired with creamy guacamole on tortilla chips, too!
How to store
While it's best eaten the day of, you can store leftovers in an air-tight container in the refrigerator for 3 days.
After that, the pineapple releases juices and the salsa gets watery.
Can you freeze salsa?
Yes, but I don't recommend it. The texture will be mushy after you thaw it! This is why we want fresh versus frozen pineapple.
I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I do!
I'd be super grateful if you'd leave a comment and star rating letting me know how you liked it. Dig in!
Print
Crazy Flavorful Pineapple Salsa
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 0 minutes
- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: 2 ½ cups 1x
- Category: Side Dishes
- Method: No Cook
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Gluten Free
Description
Beautiful homemade 5-ingredient Pineapple Salsa! Sweet, salty, and tangy, this easy recipe tastes incredible served with shrimp tacos, burrito bowls, grilled fish, or tortilla chips. Good enough to eat on a spoon! Healthy, gluten free, and kid-friendly.
Ingredients
- 2 cups fresh ripe pineapple, diced small* (½ pineapple)
- ¼ cup red onion, finely chopped
- ¼ cup cilantro, chopped
- 1 lime, zested and juiced
- ¼ tsp fine sea salt
- optional: pinch of Tajín or smoked paprika
Instructions
- Combine pineapple, red onion, cilantro, lime juice and zest, and salgt in a medium mixing bowl or serving bowl.
- Taste and adjust seasoning as needed, adding more salt or lime if you like. Serve immediately or let the flavors come together for 15 minutes.
Notes
*Using fresh, ripe pineapple is key here for the best flavor! Smell the bottom of the pineapple. If it smells sweet and fragrant, it's ripe and ready to use.
For spicy pineapple salsa, add 1 small de-seeded and finely chopped jalapeño.
Alexis Joseph says
Fab, thanks Janelle!
Dylan says
Yummm we had this with veggie tacos yesterday and it was fab! So much flavour and so fresh 🙂
Alexis Joseph says
Yayyy isn't that the best?! Thank you Dylan!!