Choosing The Right Vinegar Makes All The Difference In Upgrading Jarred Salsa

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Spice-laced tacos, rich quesadillas, hearty enchiladas, and a hearty Mexican gazpacho soup. Know what's the one thing they all have in common? Yes, it's salsa — and while we all love our DIY fire-roasted salsa, many of us simply don't have the time (or the energy) to make it from scratch. That's when the store-bought version, like Pace Chunky Mild Salsa, comes into play. They may not taste as good as homemade, it's a good thing that you don't need much to bring it back to life. The secret's a splash of vinegar, but not just any kind — white vinegar's your best bet.

A very common complaint with jarred salsa is that it tends to taste flat with none of the brightness that the sauce's known for. This is typically unavoidable, as the heat that the salsa's subjected to during the canning process can ruin much of its flavors. You can get back much of these lost flavors with an acid like vinegar. Some people have suggested using apple cider vinegar or rice vinegar, but these either tend to taste too strong (ACV) or, in the case of rice vinegar, can cause the salsa to taste cloying if it leans on the sweeter side.

White vinegar has a sharp, clean taste, which is precisely why it's considered perfect for the job — it can help brighten the salsa without stepping on the other flavors in the jar. Stir in 1 teaspoon at a time and taste as you go. It's really important that you go slow here. You can always add more vinegar, but when you accidentally add too much... well, you can't really "un-add" it.

You can technically give your jarred salsa a splash of any vinegar. However, if you don't have white vinegar on hand, you'll want to be really careful. First, give the salsa a taste and decide precisely what's missing from it. For dull-tasting salsa, white vinegar like Iberia All Natural Distilled White Vinegar is going to be your safest choice to brighten it up. But if you've got something on the fruity side, like Margaritaville Salsa Cilantro Lime (according to our review), consider using apple cider vinegar, instead. It'll help you play up the natural sweetness and make the fruit-forward flavor really pop.

The gentle sweetness of rice vinegar, on the other hand, will make it a natural match for the tart, tomatillo-based Herdez Salsa Verde by dulling the sharp edge (while still preserving the complexity that makes it special). Despite being known for its freshness, pico de gallo (also called salsa fresca) can still be found "jarred," like Amazon Kitchen's. For those, a splash from a bottle of good white wine vinegar, like the one from 365 by Whole Foods Market, will work beautifully alongside a twist of lime juice. This combo will add a crisp acidity to the salsa without pushing the sauce into overly citrusy or sweet territory.

It takes some experimentation to figure out the best combo (flavor obviously is going to be different from one brand to another). But once you've figured it out? You can get salsa that's very close to homemade — just with none of the time or effort commitment.