Sweet Mango Pineapple Salsa

If your house is anything like mine, Taco Tuesday is more of a Taco Any-day. We absolutely love tacos, of any kind.

Well, the kids pretty much only love the standard beef tacos or taco cups, but my husband and I are a bit more adventurous!

With a good taco, comes a great salsa… and this mango salsa is no exception.

While it could be delicious on beef tacos or turkey tacos, we really love it on seafood, chicken, or pork tacos (carnitas anyone?)!

Mango salsa is amazingly refreshing and sweet, with a back-note of spice that lingers a bit. It does use fresh produce, but if it’s out of season or you can’t source it, canned/frozen mango and pineapple will also work well.

How to make mango salsa?

This is just an overview; the full ingredients and directions are in the recipe card toward the bottom of this post.

1. Chop and combine fresh produce. I like to do this separately so the cilantro can be well distributed throughout the salsa.
2. Add liquids and spices. I also like to stir the citrus juices into the salsa first, to make sure they’ve coated all of the ingredients rather than just pooling in one spot. Then stir the spices in.
3. Rest and serve! If possible, I recommend resting this salsa in the refrigerator for up to an hour. All the flavors really come together that way!

Variations of this recipe

• More pineapple – feel free to play with the ratio of mango to pineapple in this recipe, it’s up to you!
• Avocado – diced avocado is a great addition to this salsa.
• Hotter – if you love heat, feel free to add more peppers to this salsa. Additional fresno peppers, jalapeños, serranos, habaneros, etc are all great options.
• Milder – this salsa is pretty mild, but if you’re sensitive to heat, you can omit the fresno pepper, and just use the bell pepper, or try a poblano pepper instead (they’re generally pretty mild).
• Chopping size – feel free to chop the mangos and pineapple as small or large as you’d like.

Making mango salsa ahead of time

Like most salsas and condiments, mango salsa actually tastes better when it’s made ahead of time! But just a little bit ahead.

I like to make this salsa about an hour before we want to serve it, but it can be made up to 24 hours ahead of time.

Much longer than that, and the fruit breaks down to much and it takes on an unappetizing mushiness.

You can also prep ahead for this recipe:

• Chop the fruit – the mango and pineapple can be chopped and stored together in the refrigerator. Drain well before using in the salsa.
• Chop the peppers/onion/cilantro – the bell pepper, fresno pepper, red onion, and cilantro can also be chopped and stored together in the refrigerator.

Storage

Leftover salsa should be refrigerated in an airtight container and eaten within 2 days. Technically, the salsa will last longer than that, but the fruit will break down and it’ll end up pretty mushy.

If you’d like to keep the salsa a bit longer, I find that pureeing the salsa (in a food processor or blender) keeps it fresher longer (since there aren’t big pieces of fruit to break down).

The pureed salsa is actually a great sauce to use for seafood, chicken, and pork!