How to Make Fresh Pico de Gallo
- Ashley Qurollo
- Jun 19
- 3 min read
June 19, 2025
Today I’m going to share a simple recipe for making pico de gallo that my family and I just love! If you have fresh tomatoes bursting forth in your garden, this would be a perfect dish! Or you can cheat like me and buy a pack of tomatoes on the vine from Aldi. Wink, wink.
My dear friend, who is soon moving to Brazil, introduced this delicious dish to our family. Before tasting my friend’s pico, my husband wouldn’t touch the stuff and always scraped it off of any restaurant dishes. But my friend’s pico was different. It was light, refreshing, and not too-oniony. And so my hubby decided that he liked pico and asked if I could get the recipe.
So I asked my friend to guide me through the process of making her pico, and she directed me to a Brazilian blog. While the blog was helpful, I kept going back to my friend’s text message simply stating the ingredients and how she made it, and then I just “went with it” and guessed what the proportions should be.
While I might not be making pico perfectly, we are sure enjoying this fresh dish with any meals centered around steak, rice, beans, Mexican, tacos, etc. I think you will find my simple adaptation of my friend’s pico easy to make. I will always think that my friend’s pico tastes the best, but here’s a runner-up!
This recipe makes a small batch, about 3-4 servings. You could easily double or triple this recipe for a larger crowd. It tastes best fresh, so I don’t make huge amounts at a time. Instead, I will save the ingredients and whip up another batch if we are having pico again later in the week.
Ingredients
3-4 tomatoes, seeded and finely diced
1/2 white onion, finely diced
2 green onions, chopped
2 tablespoons minced cilantro
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, or red wine vinegar (I use lemon juice since it's what I have on hand)
1/2 teaspoon salt
Directions
1. Start by prepping all of your veggies. I cut the tomatoes into quarters and then scooped out the centers and discarded the fleshy part with all the seeds. Finely dice the tomatoes into small pieces.
2. Slice the green onions into thin sections (I don’t cut too far down into the white parts).
3. Mince the cilantro. To do this, I pulled the leaves off and discarded the stems. Then I used my chef’s knife to finely mince the cilantro.
4. Once you have all of your veggies and cilantro prepped, put them into a bowl or I put them straight into a storage container. Add the oil, lemon juice (or vinegar) and salt. Stir gently but thoroughly.
5. If you have time, let the pico sit in the fridge for a bit to enhance all the flavors.
6. Enjoy!
Happy cooking, friends!
-Ashley
Personal Disclosure
As the author of Ashley Qurollo Blog, all opinions are my own. Any possible applications are universal in nature, not directed at any one individual or people group. My sincere desire is to help others by sharing what I am learning. Nothing stated on this blog is ever intended to hurt others. Ashley Qurollo, owner of Ashley Qurollo Blog and Website, is not held liable in any way for any application of the ideas and thoughts stated here.
This sounds terrific! I will be trying it out very soon :)