Why Ree Drummond Uses Canned Tomatoes For Restaurant-Style Salsa

Ree Drummond, better known as The Pioneer Woman, knows a thing or twelve about making doable, delicious home-cooked recipes. She isn't one to shy away from using store-bought shortcuts to save time. Famed for her blog, TV show, and ever-expanding food empire, Drummond is beloved for her comforting, approachable recipes and down-to-earth tone. If you're looking for a fuss-free restaurant-style salsa that saves time and money, Drummond's approach, which she demonstrated on an episode of "The Pioneer Woman" TV show, is super simple and eschews fresh tomatoes in favor of the canned kind.

Given how pricy fresh ones can be (especially depending on the time of the year), Drummond saves a bit of cash by using canned tomatoes. No worrying about washing, peeling, slicing, or any other messy, time-consuming steps, either.

For Drummond's version, she simply pops open some canned tomatoes from the pantry — specifically, a can of whole tomatoes with juice along with a couple of cans of diced tomatoes with green chiles. They get blitzed in a food processor with jalapeños, salt, paper, cilantro, garlic, and even sugar (to accentuate the tomatoes' inherent sweetness). On her website, Drummond takes to her digital soapbox to decry that all salsa should be finely pulsed to a smooth texture, and canned tomatoes are essential for achieving the ideal consistency.

Ree Drummond's take on restaurant-style salsa is a time-saving option thanks to its pantry-staple shortcut. It's also just the ticket for when you want some salsa in the dead of winter, when juicy, just-picked tomatoes are still months away from being readily available.

When it comes to salsa, there are numerous variations ranging from chunky recipes like pico de gallo, and smoother more pureed salsas with thinner consistencies closer to bottled hot sauce. Drummond's version is decidedly in the latter category, which is why she makes sure not to drain away the liquid. Including all the juices from the can is essential when blending everything in the food processor, which is necessary to transform the ingredients into an almost sauce-like texture. Unlike store-bought salsa which stays fresh in the fridge for about a month, if you follow Drummond's lead, you should plan to use up your homemade version in a week. Just add chips, your favorite tacos, or any recipe that could use a little extra kick of heat and acidity.