Mateo’s Gourmet Salsa at Costco

Every now and then I will go to Costco and grab a bunch or random products (condiments, frozen foods, snacks, etc.) just to see if I can find a real diamond.

One of the products I bought in my latest exploratory buys was a jar of Mateo’s Gourmet Salsa (Medium Heat).  The label has the cute tagline, “Not Responsible For Obsession” and the salsa is good enough to give credence to the warning!

Gourmet Salsa Nutrition and Ingredients

Let’s take a closer look at what you get with this jar of salsa.

Nutrition Facts

You get 32 ounces of salsa per jar.  One serving is two tablespoons and there are about 32 servings per jar.

The nutritional facts for a single serving are:

• Calories: 10
• Fat: 0g (0% DV)
• Cholesterol: 0mg (0% DV)
• Sodium: 210mg (9% DV)
• Carbohydrates: 2g (1% DV)
• Protein: 0g

Ingredient List

The salsa has the following ingredients:

• Tomatoes
• Water
• Jalapeno peppers
• Garlic
• Salt
• Cilantro
• Red wine vinegar
• Spices
• Lemon juice concentrate

The back of the label indicates that this salsa is “Medium Hot”.

How Does Mateo’s Salsa Taste?

The salsa has a wonderfully complex flavor profile.  The best words to describe the flavor are earthy and bright, two terms that are not usually used together.

The tomatoes, peppers, garlic and cilantro give the salsa an full bodied earthy flavor while the vinegar and lemon juice follow along and brighten up the profile.

The texture of the salsa is thick but it is absolutely not chunky.

The salsa is labeled as “Medium Heat” but the heat level is actually pretty mild.  What I found intriguing is that while most Mild salsas are incredibly bland, this mild salsa is full bodied, complex and absolutely delicious.

Mateos does offer a “Hot” gourmet salsa but that one is still pretty mild as well.  If you are looking for a spicy salsa then give the Kirkland Signature Salsa a try.

I think this salsa is great and I will be buying it again.  I like this salsa much better than Trader Joe’s Salsa Autentica.

Reviews From Amazon Customers

I wanted to see what other people thought about this salsa so I checked out the customer reviews on Amazon.  There were 644 reviews for this salsa on Amazon as of November, 2021 which is enough information to draw some general conclusions.

The takeaway from this data set is that, in general, people really like this salsa with 92% of customers leaving either a 5 of 4 Star review.  Only 3% of reviewers were unhappy enough to leave a 1 or 2 Star review.

Some of the Positive comments left by Amazon customers include:

• Great flavor, a little bit of heat (but our kids like it), great texture (I don’t love chunky salsa – this is blended down a bit more). Fantastic salsa!
• It says on the label “Not Responsible For Obsession” and for good reason!!! Best store bought salsa ever!!! So good!! Truly tastes better than homemade or restaurant fresh salsa – and from a jar – who knew it was even possible?!!!
• What an excellent flavored salsa..not too salty, not too spicy, not too much tomato, just right. It makes a great dipping salsa with chips, on eggs, on ground meats, etc. 

Almost all comments associated with the 1 and 2 Star reviews were about problems with Amazon’s shipping and did not reflect on the quality of the product itself.

Costco Value

I bought the 32 ounce bottle of this salsa at Costco for $5.99 which works out to a cost of $0.187 per ounce.

You can buy a 16 ounce bottle of the same salsa at Target for $3.99 which works out to a cost of $0.249 per ounce.

This means that you will save $0.062 per ounce (24%) when you purchase the larger bottle at Costco.