Zingy, zesty and zippy. Veggie-packed salsas to pep up your plates.

Salsas are crunchy, colourful and chock-a-block with good stuff from the garden. We’ve gathered our top five recipes, much-loved by kids in the Kitchen Garden Program. Let’s get scooping, scattering, spooning and dolloping!

1. Simple tomato salsa

This is the classic combo – tomatoes, onion and herbs. Try it tucked into a wrap or served with warm flatbread as a dip. Kitchen Garden Program members can find the recipe on the Shared Table, our online resource library and networking hub.

Recipe for members: Simple tomato salsa

💡 Kitchen Garden Foundation team top tip: Stir simple tomato salsa through roughly mashed avocado for the ultimate loaded guacamole.

Holy guacamole!

2. Spicy tomato salsa

Small, grape-sized tomatoes deliver a sweet hit, while fresh chilli brings the heat, in this salsa from Stephanie Alexander. Spicy tomato salsa is a zingy flavour bomb – perfect with huevos rancheros. Find both recipes in Fresh, Stephanie Alexander’s most recent cookbook, and in this feature:

Recipes: Spicy tomato salsa and huevos rancheros

💡 Kitchen Garden Foundation team top tip: Spicy tomato salsa is great for children to explore different heat levels by adding chilli in stages.

Students at St Joseph's Catholic Primary School in Werribee looooove fresh tomatoes from their garden!

3. Salsa verde

Not all salsas are red! Salsa verde, the herby green cousin, is packed with garden goodness and adds a flavour pop to just about anything. Spoon it over pan-fried mushrooms (try a mix of white button mushrooms and halved brown flat mushrooms) and serve with creamy polenta. Or stir it through freshly-cooked pasta with a splash of reserved pasta water for silkiness.

Kitchen Garden Program members have access to a step-by-step recipe for salsa verde, formatted specifically for literacy learning or for those learning English as a second language.

Recipe for members: Step-by-step salsa verde

💡 Kitchen Garden Foundation team top tip: Host a class taste test with different herb and citrus combos to see which verde gets the top vote!

4. Corn salsa

Corn makes the most sunshiney-bright salsa with crisp capsicum, coriander and spring onions. Lightly cooked and loaded with texture, it’s a natural on nachos.

Corn salsa is very popular with Kitchen Garden Program kids! Photo: Kelli Morris.

Find the recipe in this story, which celebrates some of the most popular recipes from the Kitchen Garden Program:

Recipe: Corn salsa

💡 Kitchen Garden Foundation team top tip: For a quicker, crunchier corn salsa, skip the frying of the capsicum.

5. Berry good salsa

Who says salsa must be savoury? Not us! This fruity twist is berry, berry good! Serve with yoghurt or spoon onto pancakes. Kitchen Garden Program members will find a recipe for Tiganites (small, unsweetened Greek pancakes) on the Shared Table.

Berry delicious!

Berry good salsa recipe

Serves 6-8

Ingredients
1 punnet strawberries, hulled and halved
1 punnet blueberries
1 punnet blackberries, halved
1 small pineapple, chopped
½-1 tbsp honey, to taste
1-2 tbsp lime juice, to taste
fresh mint leaves, torn, to serve

What to do
Place prepared fruit in a bowl and drizzle with honey and lime juice, to taste. Gently toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate. Allow to macerate for at least 30 minutes. Serve, scattered with mint.

💡 Kitchen Garden Foundation team top tip: Maceration is a simple way to soften fresh fruit by soaking it in a liquid, helping to release the fruit’s natural juices. Try a mini science experiment! Compare how dried apricots change after soaking in different liquids (water, different citrus juices, or even balsamic vinegar). What softens best? How does the flavour change?

6. DIY Salsa Bar

Set up a Salsa Bar at your school or service! Students can mix and match fresh ingredients to invent their own ‘salsas of the imagination’. Serve with tortilla crisps for scooping and tasting.

Try:
Chopped avocado
Cocktail tomatoes or chopped truss tomatoes
Diced capsicum
Finely diced raw zucchini
Finely chopped red onion
Lots of different herbs
Finely sliced radish
Halved grapes
Different citrus juices (try mandarin, orange and grapefruit)

Making salsa is a fun way to encourage food exploration, taste-testing and discussion around seasonal produce. Plus, salsa is a top dish for building knife skills!

👉 Be sure to share your salsas with us by tagging us on Instagram.

A fruitful partnership

The Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation and Costa Group have partnered in a values-aligned multi-year agreement that ensures more children and young people from around Australia experience pleasurable food education. Costa Group is Australia’s leading grower of fresh fruit and vegetables, including avocadoes, bananas, berries, citrus, table grapes, mushrooms and tomatoes.

Our three-year partnership will support 30 schools in rural and regional communities where Costa Group has farms. Read more about the partnership here.

Like to learn more about the Kitchen Garden Program? Join a community of educators all around Australia teaching children and young people how to grow, harvest, prepare and share fresh, seasonal, delicious food.

👉 Learn about the Kitchen Garden Program

👉 Learn more about partnering with the Kitchen Garden Foundation