Picante vs. Salsa: How the Sauces Compare

Picante sauce in US grocery stores is a type of salsa—a savory, vegetable-based sauce. A food corporation developed picante sauce in the 1940s and named the product “Pace picante sauce.” Like salsa, picante contains tomatoes, white onions, jalapeños, and spices; however, picante is smoother than chunky salsa, owing to its finely chopped vegetables.

Mexican food stores also sell salsa picante, which translates to hot sauce. This is not the same as American picante sauce. Salsa picante is a thin hot sauce of red peppers, spices, salt, and vinegar that the cook or manufacturer blends until it is completely liquid.

Salsa—the Spanish word for sauce—is a condiment or dip that frequently accompanies Mediterranean dishes and Latin American dishes, including Mexican cuisine and a range of Tex-Mex meals. Salsa reportedly originated in the cultures of the Aztecs, Incas, and Mayas, who combined tomatoes with other vegetables, including jalapeño peppers, chili peppers, squash, corn, and seasonings to create a spicy sauce.

Modern versions of salsa are typically chunky in texture with roughly chopped or diced vegetables. You can find variations in spice levels, ranging from mild salsa to medium salsa to hot salsa. The amount of jalapeño peppers in the salsa affects the spiciness.

Restaurants that serve burritos, enchiladas, tacos, baskets of tortilla chips, and other popular Tex-Mex cuisines often also serve fresh salsa as an accompaniment. Fresh salsa often contains a drizzle of olive oil and a squeeze of lime juice.

Salsa and picante are both spicy sauces; however, they are distinct condiments, with the biggest difference being in their textures. Here are four areas in which you can compare and contrast between picante and salsa:

1. 1. Consistency: Picante contains finely chopped vegetables, which gives the sauce a thinner consistency with only a little chunky texture. By comparison, salsa contains roughly chopped vegetables.
2. 2. Ingredients: Both salsa and picante are tomato-based sauces that also include jalapeños, red or green peppers, spices, onion, and garlic.
3. 3. Production: Commercial producers make salsa and picante using the same methods. They cook and combine the fresh ingredients, then bottle and ship the products to grocery stores.
4. 4. Uses: Picante, which is smoother than salsa, is easier to pour on top of dishes like tacos or other handheld foods. Salsa is more common atop nachos, alongside black beans, or as an accompaniment for other entrées and side dishes at Mexican restaurants.

Other condiments are similar to picante sauce and salsa. Pico de gallo, for example, usually contains the same ingredients as salsa. But to prepare it, you roughly chop the vegetables—jalapeños, tomatoes, onions—and add cilantro, so the texture is closer to a salad than a sauce. Green salsa (or salsa verde) is a variation of traditional tomato salsa, but it uses tomatillos instead of tomatoes, and green peppers instead of red peppers.

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