Ethan Stigler

A lineup of the 10 store bought salsas which underwent a scrutinizing taste test.

Sometimes you are just in need of salsa, but just do not have time to make it at home. In this situation you are forced to go to the store and pick out a salsa purely based on looks, which is scary and unpredictable.. Today I will be testing 10 store bought salsas, effectively eliminating the store-bought salsa stress. 

For this taste-test I used Santitas chips and organized the salsas in alphabetical order, with ratings out of 10. I washed down each salsa in-between every different competitor with water. All of the salsas are of the medium spice variety.

1. Chi-Chis Restaurant Style

This salsa has the smell of mostly spice with a hint of tomato. The salsa was quite chunky and watery, and I saw chunks of pepper and tomato with a couple of seeds. The flavor of this salsa is quite disappointing, most of the flavor is tomato and salt from the chips. A very bland salsa. 4.5/10. 

2. Fareway Medium Salsa

This salsa had the smell of a pasta-esque sauce. This salsa was not very watery which was appreciated and appeared to have many tomato chunks and fewer other vegetables than I would have liked. This salsa had little to no spice and tastes like a tomato sauce with a hint of pepper. 6/10.

3. Great Value Medium Garden Pepper Salsa (Walmart Brand)

This salsa had a wonderful smell of peppers, onions and tomato. The look of this salsa was quite blended with smaller chunks than the previous salsas. I saw mostly tomatoes with a small bit of pepper and onion. However, this salsa was nearly inedible. It had the flavor of chili powder and that is it-no juicy tomatoes and nice vegetables, just chili powder. 2.5/10.

4. Kramer’s Homemade 

This salsa smelled of tomato paste and nothing else. This salsa was not chunky but had many tiny bits of non-tomato substance, which was nice to see. This salsa wasnot incredibly spicy, and it had a great flavor. It did not taste like a plain tomato sauce, which is always good.7.5/10.

5. The Mad Butcher’s Medium Salsa

This salsa had a very faint tomato smell, and it was extremely watery with a small amount of tomato chunks. This salsa simply did not taste good, and I had to check to make sure the salsa was still in date. It had a building spice and the tomatoes just tasted off-not at all fresh. 2.5/10.

6. Old Dutch Restaurant Style

This salsa smelled exactly like tomato sauce, and it was extremely chunky with vibrant color. Although it looked very fresh, it unfortunately only tasted like tomato, with an extremely faint taste of spice. 4.5/10.

7. On The Border Medium Chunky Salsa

This salsa had a great scent, but looked bland to the naked eye-very much like mush with minimal peppers in it. This salsa had almost no spice in it. It had decent non-tomato flavor,but the tomatoes were just average. 6.5/10.

8. Simply Nature Thick and Chunky Salsa (Aldi Brand)

This salsa had a wonderful spice scent whilst also having a nice fresh tomato smell. This salsa was orange and very chunky, with many different vegetables in it. It had a nice kick of spice with the vegetable’s flavor still maintaining prominence. This salsa was phenomenal and very budget-friendly.9/10 (why do you think half of the jar is missing in the picture?)

Note: if you do not like spice, I would go for the mild version.

9. Tostitos Restaurant Style Salsa

This salsa had almost no smell and was so watery that I spilled it when I poured it into a dish. It tasted like tomato sauce with a touch of spice. Gross!4/10.

10. Tostitos Salsa Verde 

This salsa had a very distinct smell-very peppery. Unlike our last Tostitos entry , it was chunky and pretty thick. It was obviously verde (green for our non-Spanish speakers) with spices and onion in it. This salsa had no spice and lacked any flavor. It is not bad, but it also is not very good. 6/10.