Consomé

This Mexican consomé recipe comes together perfectly with the fresh flavors of tomatoes, garlic, onion, and spicy chiles. Use it as a base for soup, to drizzle on your tacos, and so much more.

Table of Contents

• 📖 About
• 🍲 Ingredients
• 🔪 Instructions
• 🌡️ Storage
• 💭 Tips & variations
• 🍴 Tasting notes
• 📋 Recipe
• ♻️ Similar recipes
• 💬 FAQ

📖 About

Knowing how to make a quick consomé is a handy kitchen skill to have — especially when it's the base for so many great Mexican recipes. You're not going to want to skip out on making your own!

What is consomé?

Technically speaking, consomé (or consommé) is a clear soup made by clarifying stock or bone broth.

Basically, the stock is simmered with egg whites, which form a sort of raft on the top. This way, all of the impurities can be strained out, leaving a crystal clear broth (or consommé).

So, this recipe is not a consommé in the most technical sense. But, consomé is often used to describe a flavorful broth in Mexican cuisine. It can be used for dipping tacos, gorditas, or tostadas.

A common preparation includes some type of meat, vegetables (like tomatoes, onions, garlic), chiles, and different seasonings like in birria.

Stock vs broth vs consommé

Since there are so many overlapping features, it can be a little challenging to understand the differences between stock, broth, consommé, and the like. Here are the basics:

• Stock: The necessary ingredients for a stock include mirepoix (carrots, onion, and celery) and bones. Stock is generally quite a lot thicker than broth and unseasoned.
• Broth: A broth is just the liquid that various meats have been simmered in. Broth can be made with a base of stock, and it is seasoned with salt. It is also lighter and thinner than stock.
• Consommé: Made from clarified stock or bone broth. It becomes a crystal clear liquid that can be served on its own or with additional meats and vegetables.

Consomé vs consommé

While a French-style consommé is always clear, a Mexican consomé has a somewhat broader definition.

It is often a saucier bone broth made for serving foods like tacos, flautas, and other antojitos with, which generally feature the meats used to make the stock.

But, it can also be a relatively clear broth like in consomé de pollo where a more clear chicken stock is served with meat and vegetables.

Is consomé vegan?

Of course, a traditional consomé isn't vegan because of the bones, meat, or egg whites used in the cooking process.

However, many consomé recipes (like this one) can be adapted to be fully plant-based. Switch out the bones and add in more vegetables or vegan "chicken stock" like Better Than Bouillon.

History

Consommé has been around since the Middle Ages, taking on many forms from drinking liquid and soups to gelatinous desserts sweetened with fruits.

This type of sweet consommé is essentially where modern-day gelatin-based sweets originated (jello, candies, etc).

We're not entirely sure when consomé landed in Mexican cuisine. But nevertheless, this version of broth has been around for quite some time.

Hopefully, we haven't confused you too much. Regardless, this plant-based version will surely make you realize how much your favorite dishes have been needing a trusty sidekick dip!

Serving

Consomé is the perfect way to add flavor and depth to many Mexican antojitos and meals. Some of our favorite ways to serve our consomé include:

• Tacos dorados
• Tostadas
• Sopa de fideo
• Gorditas
• Entomatadas

🍲 Ingredients

For a complete ingredient list and step-by-step guide, scroll down to our recipe card.

• Tomatoes: We use a base of tomatoes to add acidity, but feel free to use a solo chile base if you prefer. Tomatoes contain an important antioxidant, called lycopene.
• Onion, garlic: This combo adds a savoury flavor and aroma, making it the perfect combination to use in consomé.
• Chiles in adobo: To add depth and a little smokiness to this consomé, add chipotles in adobo. You don't have to use any chiles, or you can add other varieties like guajillo or pasilla for different flavor profiles.
• Better Than Boullion "No Chicken" base: To add savoury flavors similar to a traditional consomé, we opted for "no chicken" base. It adds salty and umami flavors that are more intense than vegetable broth.
• Salt, pepper: To enhance and add flavor, use salt and pepper until your consomé tastes just right.

🔪 Instructions

If you have questions about consomé recipe, don't forget to check out our FAQ section at the bottom of this post.

Step 1: Preheat your oven to 450°F, and line a baking pan with foil. Spread the tomatoes, onions, and unpeeled garlic out evenly on the pan and roast for 20 minutes, flipping halfway.

Step 2: Add the roasted tomatoes, onions, peeled garlic, chipotle in adobo, and 1 cup of broth to a blender. Mix on high until smooth.

Step 3: Heat the olive oil in a stockpot over medium, then pour the mixture through a fine-mesh strainer into the pot. Season it for 5-6 minutes.

Step 4: Add the rest of the broth and cilantro sprigs. Bring it to a light boil, then turn the heat down to simmer for 15 minutes to deepen the flavors. Taste and season with salt and pepper to your liking.

Step 5: Fill your consomé with vegetables to make sopa de verduras, noodles for sopa de fideo or sopa de conchas, or use it as a dipping sauce for tacos. Happy eating!

🌡️ Storage

You'll never know when you need a quick base for a soup or the perfect drizzle on your antojitos. Keep these tips in mind when you go to store your consomé for later.

Fridge

This vegetable broth will keep in the fridge for 4-5 days in an airtight container. We prefer glass containers as we find the flavor stays fresh for longer this way, but just make sure they have a good seal.

Freezer

Consomé is freezer-friendly when you store it in freezer-safe bags or containers. You'll easily get 3-4 months out of this recipe, and longer if the container is heavy-duty.

When you're ready for consomé again, thaw it in your fridge overnight and it's ready the next morning.

Reheat

To reheat this consomé, add to a saucepan and cook on medium-low until it's warmed all the way through. It can also be microwaved in 30-60 second bursts, but be careful of hot spots.

💭 Tips & variations

We'd like to share some tips and variations we learned while experimenting with this consomé recipe:

• Use fresh vegetables. Using fresh vegetables yields the best-tasting recipe. Try to avoid anything frozen.
• Make it spicy. If you want a spicier consomé, add a morita chile, arbol chile, or more chipotles in adobo.
• Leave it chunky. If you prefer a chunky sauce, you don't have to strain your consomé.
• Make a double batch. We like to make extra consomé to save for days when we don't have time to cook a long meal. We just heat it up with extra noodles or vegetables and we're done!

🍴 Tasting notes

It's never a bad thing to have some flavorful broth kicking around, especially when it's so dang good. This recipe is:

• Smoky
• Spiced
• Light
• Savoury
• Versatile

If you try this consomé, please rate it and leave us a comment below! Want to stay up-to-date with new recipes? Subscribe to our newsletter or connect with Broke Bank Vegan on social media. Happy eating!

📋 Recipe

♻️ Similar recipes

For more saucy and soupy vegan dishes, check out our:

• Lentil soup for a plant-based recipe filled with fiber, protein, and tons of flavor.
• Quesabirria tacos to try osyter mushrooms and cheese squished between a corn tortilla and dunked in savoury broth (don't forget extra napkins!).
• Sopa de albóndigas for a bean-based "meatball" soup that's perfect for lunch or dinner.
• Tortas ahogadas to try a jackfruit carnitas sandwich that's been "drowned" in fiery red salsa and served with quick-pickled onions.

💬 FAQ