Here's How Long Your Fresh Homemade Salsa Will Last In The Fridge

While there's a time and a place for store-bought salsa, fresh salsa is like a walk through the garden when it's homemade. This condiment comes in many varieties, each with its own delicious use case, but today, we're talking about classic pico de gallo, the uncooked kind that you can toss together with barely any tools and relative ease. (This is also the kind of salsa many people imagine when they consider what to pair with chips.) As is so often the case, though, "relative" is the operative word here.

Minimalist as your salsa recipe may be, washing and chopping up the ingredients does require a bit of elbow grease, so it's important to keep in mind that you should consume your homemade salsa as quickly as possible. It will technically keep for about a week in the refrigerator, but its peak flavor takes a sharp decline after a day or two, even in an airtight container at 40 degrees Fahrenheit. It's also not suitable for freezing, as its high water content will pummel your formerly perky produce when all that water turns to ice, leaving you with a mushy mess upon thawing.

The bright, juicy tomatoes that anchor a bowl of fresh salsa also hasten its demise. It's hard enough to keep the darn things at peak ripeness, even when you store them at room temperature like you're supposed to. Start dicing, and they deteriorate even faster. Even if you deseed them, which is ideal for salsa (not to mention bloody marys), they'll still lose their moisture over time, quickly rendering your salsa more watery than intended. Heartier ingredients like onions and jalapeños will hold up better, and salt and lime juice are natural preservatives, but forget about the integrity of your cilantro. The herb's fluttery leaves will start wilting almost as soon as they hit the mix.

Cooked salsa, like a salsa verde that blends fired tomatillos, onions, chilis, salt, and cilantro together into a smooth, verdant finish, doesn't last much longer than fresh. Still, it fares a little better during that week in the fridge. Since its texture is already broken down, and since those incidental preservatives are all pulverized together, it's not quite as vulnerable to decay. It also freezes better for a similar reason: There's just less solid material for the ice crystals to corrupt. So, if you need a salsa that will last, this might be the time for that store-bought alternative. Jarred salsa can last for up to a month when refrigerated after opening.