This consome sauce is a flavorful and hearty condiment perfect to serve over crispy tacos, sopes, flautas, and other Mexican popular dishes. It is tasty, comforting, and a staple at any cenaduria!
If you ever enjoyed dinner at any cenaduría in Mexico and asked for tacos dorados, flautas, or sopes, you probably got these dishes served generously drizzled with a flavorful and light tomato sauce. Well, that’s consome (or consommé).
Mexican consommé is a brothy sauce made of tomatoes, onions, garlic, oregano, cumin, pepper, and stock. It is usually prepared and served at Mexican home restaurants that specialize in various street foods.
The recipe is pretty simple to make at home. It consists of boiling tomatoes and then blending them with various spices and aromatics. The final step involves cooking the sauce with chicken or beef stock to develop its amazing and hearty flavor.
Ingredients
- Fresh tomatoes: Use Roma or any other type of red tomatoes you prefer.
- Stock: You can use any type of stock you prefer. I usually use homemade stock from cooking the meat I will use in the final dish, for example, if I want to make chicken sopes, I’ll cook the chicken and use the cooking water to make this consome recipe. Same when making beef tacos or other preparations with that type of meat.
- Aromatics: Onions and garlic.
- Spices: Mexican oregano, cumin seeds, and black peppercorns.
- Olive oil: Or any vegetable oil you prefer.
How to Make Consomé
Start by preparing the tomatoes. Wash them well under running cold water and then, using the tip of a knife, remove the stem scar of each piece.
Place tomatoes in a large pot and fill with water.
Place the pot over medium heat and bring to a boil. Cook tomatoes for about 15 minutes or until the skin is falling off. Allow to cool down completely then remove the skin.
Top tip: My grandma, who owned a cenaduría in Mexico and made this consome sauce countless of times, used to cook the tomatoes in the same water where she cooked the meat.
Place tomatoes into a blender. Add 1 small onion cut into chunks, garlic, cumin seeds, and peppercorns.
Pour in 1 cup of chicken or beef stock and blend until you will have a smooth sauce.
Next, in a medium stockpot heat the oil over medium-high heat. Slowly, pour in the sauce. Cook for 2 minutes.
Now, pour in the remaining stock, mix, and season with salt to taste.
Bring to a simmer and cook for 15 minutes over medium-low heat or until the sauce thickens a bit (read the notes below).
Turn off the heat, add oregano rubbing it between the palms of your hands. Allow the sauce to rest for 5 minutes before using it.
Recipe Tips & Notes
- Best tomatoes to use: Choose ripe, juicy tomatoes for your sauce. Fresh, in-season tomatoes will provide the best flavor. Roma or plum tomatoes are often preferred for their meaty texture and rich taste.
- Make it spicy. Cook one of two chile de árbol, jalapeño, or serrano peppers and blend with the other ingredients. You can also add some guajillos or chipotle peppers for a smoky touch.
- Make it smoother. If you’d like a smoother sauce, strain through a fine sieve before adding the sauce to the pot.
- Make it thicker. If you want a thicker sauce, just add less stock or allow it to boil longer.
- Simmer for flavor: Allow the sauce to simmer gently for at least 15-20 minutes. This simmering process helps meld the flavors and develops a richer taste.
- Make it ahead. This is my staple salsa for antojitos and I highly recommend making at least 2 batches of this recipe and freezing it. This way you’ll always have it ready whenever you crave those Mexican street food favorites and save time in the kitchen.
How To Use
This recipe is perfect to use for drizzling over tacos (the crispy ones, not the ones made with soft tortillas), tostadas, fried quesadillas, flautas, and sopes.
Here are my favorite recipes to use this aromatic sauce with:
- Sopitos (photo below).
- Chicken flautas.
- Fried quesadillas.
- Tostadas de pollo.
- As a dip for birria tacos!
Store and Reheat
Consome leftovers can be stored in the fridge for up to 3 days. Allow the sauce to cool to room temperature, then transfer to a jar or container with an airtight lid and store.
The sauce can also be frozen for up to 3 months. When you’re ready to enjoy it again, transfer it from the freezer to the refrigerator and allow it to thaw overnight. This gradual thawing process helps maintain the sauce’s texture and flavor.
You can reheat on your stovetop by placing the sauce in a saucepan over medium heat and stirring from time to time. Alternatively, transfer to a proper container and reheat in the microwave in 1-minute intervals.
More Sauces Recipes
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Consomé
Ingredients
- 1 pound tomatoes (stem scar removed)
- 4 cups beef stock (or chicken stock)
- 2 cloves garlic (peeled)
- ¼ teaspoon cumin seeds
- ½ teaspoon black peppercorns
- 1 ½ Tablespoons Mexican oregano
- 1 Tablespoon vegetable oil
- salt (to taste)
Instructions
- Place tomatoes in a large pot and fill with water.
- Place the pot over medium heat and bring to a boil. Cook tomatoes for about 15 minutes.
- Leave tomatoes to cool down then remove the skin.
- Place tomatoes into a blender, add onion, garlic, cumin seeds, and peppercorns.
- Pour in 1 cup of stock and blend until you will have a smooth sauce.
- In a medium stockpot heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Slowly, pour in the sauce. Cook for 2 minutes.
- Pour in the remaining stock, mix, and season with salt to taste.
- Bring to a simmer and cook over medium-low heat for 5 more minutes or until the sauce thickens a bit (read the notes).
- Turn off the heat, add oregano rubbing it between the palm of your hands, then mix well.
- Use the consome to drizzle over crispy tacos, flautas, sopes, or tostadas.
Notes
- Make it smoother. If you’d like a smoother sauce, strain through a fine sieve before adding the sauce to the pot.
- Make it thicker. If you want a thicker sauce, just add less stock or allow it to boil longer.
This consome is so good! We had tacos dorados last night and we paired it with this. Everyone loved it, it was so flavorful!
I really loved this tomato sauce consome! It was perfect to serve potato crispy tacos and my kids loved the flavor and everyone enjoyed it. Definitely a must-make recipe!
This was amazing! I asked my mom what did she think about this recipe and she said this how she remember eating her antojitos back in Mexico, she didn’t knew it with the consome name btw, but she said is exactly as she used to make it. Thanks!