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You are here: Home » Recipes » Salsas

Basic Tomato Sauce

Published: Oct 20, 2015 · Updated: Oct 12, 2018 by Mely Martínez

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There is a saying we have in Mexico that says: “Recado hace guisado”. That means that the end result of what you’re cooking depends on how well your tomato base sauce is done. “Recado” (or “recaudo”) can be raw, fried, or cooked like in this recipe. The ingredients are tomato, onion, and garlic. Recado is used every single day in Mexican households to prepare rice, stews, soups, etc.

Basic Tomato Sauce for Stew, Soups, Rice, and many other Mexican Dishes

Basic Tomato Sauce | Mexican Recipes


Some people don’t even know it has a name, they simply learned how to cook dishes using this sauce that is so essential in our cuisine. The most popular version is the raw salsa that is made in a blender and then poured in to cook with the rest of the ingredients.

Here are a few examples of recipes using this salsa: Vermicelli Soup/Sopa de Fideos, Mexican Rice, Beef Soup/Caldo de Res, Meatball Soup, and Entomatadas, just to name a few. It’s a great idea to make some and freeze it or prepare it for canning when tomatoes are in season or if you find tomatoes on sale at the supermarket.

How to make basic tomato sauce

JUMP TO FULL INSTRUCTIONS

Basic Tomato Sauce | Ingredients

INSTRUCTIONS:

Basic Tomato Sauce | Instructions step by step
  • Place tomatoes, onion and garlic cloves in a large stockpot or saucepan. Cover with water, place the saucepan lid on, and cook over high heat until it starts boiling; once the water starts boiling reduce heat to simmer. Cook until tomatoes are soft and skins are peeling. (Please check the ingredients list below)
  • Carefully, place only the tomatoes, onion and garlic in a blender and puree until you have a very smooth sauce.
  • Using a strainer, pour into glass jars. Once they’re completely cool, store in your refrigerator. The sauce will last about 4 days. Use as needed for your soups or other recipes.
Basic Tomato Sauce | Authentic Mexican Food Recipes

Provecho!

Mely,

PS. Name a dish where you use this sauce in your cooking.

Basic Tomato Sauce

Mely Martínez
Basic Tomato Sauce, The ingredients are tomato, onion, and garlic. Recado is used every single day in Mexican households to prepare rice, stews, soups, etc. Some people don’t even know it has a name, they simply learned how to cook dishes using this sauce that is so essential in our cuisine.
4.67 from 3 votes
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 8 mins
Cook Time 17 mins
Total Time 25 mins
Course Salsas
Cuisine Mexican
Servings 3 Cups of Salsa
Calories 41 kcal

Ingredients
  

  • 20 oz. of Tomatoes
  • ¼ of a medium white onion
  • 2 small garlic cloves skins removed
  • Water
  • ½ teaspoon of salt to season Optional

Instructions
 

  • Place tomatoes, onion and garlic cloves in a large stockpot or saucepan. Cover with water, place the saucepan lid on, and cook over high heat until it starts boiling; once the water starts boiling reduce heat to simmer. Cook until tomatoes are soft and skins are peeling.
  • Carefully, place only the tomatoes, onion and garlic in a blender and puree until you have a very smooth sauce. (Add a few tablespoons of water to the blender, only if your blender is having a hard time processing the sauce)
  • Using a strainer, pour into glass jars. Once they’re completely cool, store in your refrigerator. The sauce will last about 4 days. Use as needed for your soups or other recipes.

Notes

  • You can use plum or round tomatoes to make this sauce.
  • You can core the tomatoes and make a small “X” cut at the bottom of each tomato to easily remove the skins after cooking, once they’ve slightly cooled. I have a powerful blender so I skip this step.
  • This sauce is also prepared raw and then fried with 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil in a frying pan until it is fully cooked.

Nutrition

Calories: 41kcalCarbohydrates: 9gProtein: 2gFat: 1gSaturated Fat: 1gSodium: 10mgPotassium: 461mgFiber: 2gSugar: 5gVitamin A: 1574IUVitamin C: 27mgCalcium: 23mgIron: 1mg
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Esmelda Mitchell

    September 06, 2021 at 10:03 am

    I have so many tomatoes and what to do with them? Well today I am making large batches of this tomato sauce and freezing it. I did this last year and it worked out great for my rice, fideo, soups etc. Love your blog..

    Reply
    • Mely Martínez

      September 07, 2021 at 12:30 pm

      Hello Esmeralda,
      That is such a great idea. Thank you for sharing it with us.

      Mely

      Reply
  2. Juan

    April 15, 2021 at 3:02 pm

    4 stars
    I live in Mazatlan, just made this sauce for the first time, when
    I called it "recado" my Mexican friends had absolutely no idea
    what I meant. I found recipes for a totally different sauce from
    the Yucatan called recado rojo. Colour me confused.....
    It's good though!!

    Reply
    • Mely Martínez

      April 15, 2021 at 6:14 pm

      Hello Juan,
      Maybe they have known it in that area as recaudo. But, if your friends are young, I'm pretty sure they have not idea about it. That is mostly abuelitas kitchen lenguague.

      Reply
  3. Rebecca

    March 12, 2019 at 4:16 pm

    Can this sauce be frozen?

    Reply
    • mmartinez

      March 12, 2019 at 9:37 pm

      Hello Rebecca,
      Yes, it can be frozen.

      Reply
      • Beth

        May 19, 2019 at 3:20 pm

        I freeze this in my glass canning jars (leaving room for expansion) and it works out great!

      • mmartinez

        May 19, 2019 at 3:39 pm

        Hello Beth,
        You can make all the amount indicated and freeze the already made tortillas. You can also store them in the fridge for up to 5 days. Just reheat them and they are ready to enjoy.

  4. Nola

    January 30, 2018 at 1:03 pm

    I'm going to make this next time I make Mexican Rice! I enjoy your recipes so much, thanks for sharing them!

    Reply
  5. La Gringa Poblana

    November 16, 2016 at 9:28 pm

    Blended raw and fried I use this for fideo seco, sopa de cualquier pasta, arroz, sopas. The smell when it hits the oil is intoxifying.

    Reply
  6. Leen

    October 24, 2016 at 7:00 pm

    Fideo soup

    Reply

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ABOUT ME

Mexico in my kitchen | Mely Martinez

Hi, I'm Mely Martinez, a former Mexican school teacher, home cook, and food blogger. I moved to the United States about ten years ago, after living in Mexico my whole life. Now I love to share home-style recipes for authentic Mexican food.

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