This pineapple jalapeño salsa recipe is a spicy, tropical sensation! Serve it with chips or use it to top your tacos, nachos, or favorite, colorful recipes. With just 5 ingredients and 20 minutes of your time, this delightful salsa will be ready to serve and impress your guests!
I love to serve this salsa with seafood! I’ll use it as a bed for scallops, top it over white fish, or fill my coconut shrimp tacos to the brim. It’s also great to whip up when I have friends popping over on short notice.
I’d rather spend a tiny bit of time making something exciting and delicious like this than run out and grab a basic salsa for my friends. When you come to my house, you get something special… that may or may not have taken only 20 minutes to make.
Why This Recipe is Special
It’s easy and inexpensive to make in a big batch – Having a big party? This recipe calls for just half a pineapple, but if you use the whole thing, you could have enough to serve a party of 20 people! And I bought all of the ingredients for this recipe for less than $10!
You can use it to turn just about any recipe tropical – Again, I regularly use it for tacos, scallops and white fish, but you could use it in pork recipes, chicken recipes, lamb and shrimp – create tropical pork meatballs, mix it into coconut cauliflower rice, pearl couscous or mix it into stir fry!
Pineapple and jalapeño were simply made for each other – They make such a lovely duet of flavor! Together, they add such a beautiful, bright zing to your recipes. I personally love them together in cocktails like my “Hawaiian Bonfire” cocktail!
Ingredient Notes
pineapple – You can use pre-cut pineapple if you like, just make sure it isn’t too ripe or it will be tricky to dice.
jalapeño – This recipe only calls for 1 jalapeño, making this recipe medium-spicy. If you’re sensitive to spiciness and just want more of the jalapeño flavor than spice, just use half.
red onion – red onion looks pretty with the yellow and green, but you can also use white onion or even shallot if you please.
cilantro – You can also use mint for a lovely fresh flavor if you’re not a fan of cilantro.
lime – As always, use fresh lime juice, not juice from a lime-shaped bottle.
How to Make This Salsa – Step by Step
1. Slice the top and bottom off of your pineapple and slice the rough skin off of the sides. Remove any rough “eyes” (the brown, spiky bits) that remain.
2. Turn the pineapple on its side and cut half of the pineapple into ½ inch slices. Save the other half for another recipe.
3. Place 3 or 4 slices on top of each other, and dice into tiny pieces around the center core. Place in a mixing bowl and discard the cores.
4. Slice 1 jalapeño. Here’s a tip! Once you’ve sliced off the top, use an apple peeler to cut around the white core, then simply pull out all of the seeds. Pulling out the core makes it easy to slice perfect, seedless rings.
5. Finely dice the jalapeño and place into the mixing bowl with pineapple.
6. Dice 1 heaping tablespoon of red onion. Place in mixing bowl.
7. Finely chop 1 heaping tablespoon of cilantro. Add to mixing bowl.
8. Slice 1 lime and juice ½ into the mixing bowl. Mix ingredients and serve.
Common Questions
I would say it’s “medium spicy,” but I’m a spicy gal. If you’re concerned it may be too spicy for you, feel free to use only half (or less) of the jalapeño. But if you really want to spice it up, use 2 jalapeños!
3-5 days. Keep in mind, it will get spicer as it sits in its jalapeño juices over time. You can also freeze this salsa and keep it for up to 3 months and thaw.
1. Use it to top pork chops
2. Mix it into rice or cauliflower rice
3. Add it to pork meatballs
4. Mix it into stir fry recipes
5. Top seafood recipes like shrimp, salmon, scallops and whitefish
6. Add to tacos
7. Add it to smoothies
8. Top steaks or lamb seasoned with South American, Caribbean or Hawaiian or spices
9. Top on burgers with rich cheeses like gorgonzola or blue cheese
10. Add it to a Hawaiian pizza
A Helpful Tip
If you’re using this salsa for a recipe like tacos, make sure to dice very finely so you’re tacos are filled with big chunks. If you’re just serving as a dip for chips, however, feel free to dice a bit bigger.
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Pineapple Jalapeño Salsa
Equipment
- cutting board and sharp knife
- apple peeler
- mixing bowl
Ingredients
- ½ pineapple – finely diced
- 1 jalapeño – finely diced
- 1 tbsp. red onion – finely diced
- 1 tbsp. cilantro – finely chopped
- juice from ½ lime
Instructions
- Slice the top and bottom off of your pineapple and slice the rough skin off of the sides. Remove any rough “eyes” (the brown, spiky bits) that remain. Turn the pineapple on its side and cut half of the pineapple into ½ inch slices. Save the other half for another recipe. Place 3 or 4 slices on top of each other, and dice into tiny pieces around the center core. Place in a mixing bowl and discard the cores
- Slice 1 jalapeño. Here’s a tip! Once you’ve sliced off the top, use an apple peeler to cut around the the white core, then simply pull out all of the seeds. Pulling out the core makes it easy to slice perfect, seedless rings. Finely dice the jalapeño and place into the mixing bowl with pineapple.
- Dice 1 heaping tablespoon of red onion. Place in mixing bowl.
- Finely chop 1 heaping tablespoon of cilantro. Add to mixing bowl.
- Slice 1 lime and juice ½ into the mixing bowl. Mix ingredients and serve.
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