Entomatadas are similar to enchiladas, but if they go head-to-head in a ‘what are we having for dinner tonight’ showdown, cheese entomatadas get my vote every time. That’s because instead of prepping all of the ingredients, wrapping, rolling and then baking everything, you make this on the stove and assemble as you go.
When I ask my husband to make dinner, this is one of his go-tos, and it’s one of our family’s favorite dishes.
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What are Entomatadas?
Entomatadas are made with corn tortillas that have typically been lightly fried in vegetable oil, coated in a tomato-based sauce and then filled with queso fresco, topped with more sauce, mexican crema or sour cream, cilantro and diced, raw onions. It’s the epitome of delicious food with simple, fresh ingredients. When we order this in Mexico, it comes served with frijoles negros and the option to add cecina, or salted, air-dried beef. In Mexico, you often eat this dish as a late brunch meant to keep us full until an 8 or 9 o’clock dinner.
Frying them in hot oil is optional (especially if you find yourself making these on a busy weeknight), but this step not only makes them more pliable but also keeps the tomato sauce from turning them into a soggy mess as soon as they hit your plate. Sometimes we forgo the frying and simply brush uncooked tortillas with oil. Doing it this way doesn’t do much for pliability, but it does still help the tortillas repel some of the tomato sauce.
And although this is a recipe for entomatadas, this dish’s name changes depending on the sauce that you use. You can also use the same methods detailed in this recipe to make enchiladas (chile sauce), empipianadas (pumpkin seed sauce), encacahuatadas (peanut sauce), enfrijoladas (bean sauce), or my personal favorite, enmoladas (mole sauce).
Entomatadas Ingredients
- Yellow Corn Tortillas: Corn tortillas over flour because the flavor just won’t be right otherwise. Use yellow corn tortillas over white corn tortillas because they aren’t as likely to fall apart.
- Queso Fresco: These are traditionally filled with crumbled queso fresco. This is a cheese that won’t melt, but will be nice and warm and slightly salty. If you make these on a whim and all you have is shredded mozzarella, that’s fine too. Be forewarned, however, the tortilla and the sauce won’t be hot enough to melt the cheese.
- Roma Tomatoes: This is the tomato that is traditionally used. This is a great tomato for this sauce because Roma tomatoes have more flesh and less juice than regular tomatoes.
- White Onion: For flavor.
- Red Bell Pepper: This is our family’s “secret” ingredient to enhance the natural sweetness of the tomato – especially when they aren’t in season!
- Cilantro: You don’t always see cilantro in the tomato sauce for this recipe, so if you’re a “cilantro tastes like soap” kind of person, you can always omit it without sacrificing authenticity.
- Spices: Garlic, oregano, cumin and cilantro.
- Chicken Broth: As you’re cooking, you may need to add some liquid to thin out your tomato sauce.
- Garnishes: Mexican crema or sour cream, sliced avocado, diced white onion, more cilantro
How Do You Make the Homemade Tomato Sauce for this recipe?
You might see the ingredient list in the recipe and think you’re essentially making salsa. And while any sauce is technically a salsa (or a sauce) in Spanish, it’s definitely not the one you’re going to dip your chips into. This salsa, made with roma tomatoes, is meant to be more of a light sauce that uses onion and garlic to enhance the natural sweet and acidic flavors you get from your tomatoes. This isn’t a screaming hot tomato sauce either.
In Mexico, entomatadas aren’t usually spicy. Instead, the table is served one or two salsas with different heat levels, which you add to taste. This isn’t a spicy recipe either, and at home, we serve it with our favorite hot sauces. However, you can definitely use fresh green chiles like serrano peppers or jalapeno or even powdered chili pepper, but do so in moderation until you reach your desired level of heat.
In this recipe, we’re making a simple stovetop sauce, but alternatively – and if you have time – you can roast your tomatoes in the oven and saute your onions to draw out more intense flavors.
Our family’s ‘secret’ ingredient to give the tomato sauce a little extra sweetness is red bell pepper. Alternatively, my husband says you can also add a teaspoon or two of tomato paste if you find the tomato sauce to be lacking in flavor, or if you need to thicken the sauce up a bit. (You might need to fall back on this trick if, like us, you live in a state where we have snow on the ground 5 months of the year.)
If you have extra time, you can also use roasted tomatoes to further intensify the flavor of your ‘salsa de tomate.’
How to Assemble
- First, lightly fry each tortilla on both sides over medium-high heat, stacking on a plate.
- Dip corn tortilla in a large skillet with hot tomato sauce. (Alternatively, you can wait until you fill these and then pour the sauce over the top.)
- Using a pair of kitchen tongs, slide onto plate.
- Fill.
- Now you have two options: You can either roll these, enchilada style, or you can simply fold in half. Rolling feels too involved to me and you’ll most often find these folded over in half.
- Top with more sauce! (Alternatively, you can skip the first step and just wait until you fill these to douse the plate in tomato sauce, but I have never done that and prefer coating the entire tortilla; no one wants little bits of dry tortilla in a dish like this!)
- Garnish.
Different Fillings
In addition to experimenting with the types of cheese , you can also fill these with refried beans, shredded chicken, chorizo, carne asada or any combo of these.
To keep this dish vegetarian, you could also try experimenting with scrambled eggs, corn, spinach or sauteed zucchini.
What to Serve with Entomatadas
- Refried beans
- Mexican rice
- Simple salad (lettuce, tomato and white onion, with olive oil and lime juice are a traditional accompaniment)
- Carne asada: You can usually add cecina or some other carne asada if you order these in a restaurant. If you’re looking for something hearty, this will do that for you.
Buen Provecho!
More Mexican-Inspired Dishes You’ll Love
📖 Recipe
Entomatadas
Ingredients
- 6-7 Roma tomatoes
- ½ onion
- ½ red pepper
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 ½ teaspoon oregano
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon salt plus more to taste
- 2 tablespoon cilantro
- 1 jalapeno optional
- ½ cup chicken broth optional, to thin
- Vegetable oil
- 6-8 corn tortillas
- 3 cups Queso Fresco or your cheese of choosing
- Mexican Crema or sour cream Optional, for garnish
- Chopped cilantro Optional, for garnish
- Diced white onion Optional, for garnish
Instructions
- Start by rinsing and de-stemming the tomatoes.
- Quarter ½ of a white onion. Quarter ½ of a red pepper.
- Add all of this to a pot of water, along with garlic and jalapeno or serrano (if using).
- Bring to a boil. After 3-5 minutes, using a pair of kitchen tongs, remove ingredients from the water and transfer to a blender.
- Blend with ½ teaspoon of salt, oregano, cumin and cilantro. Combine well. Taste and adjust salt as needed. If using jalapeno, serrano or any other type of chile, add this a few slices at a time until you reach your desired heat level.
- In a frying pan, heat 2 tablespoons of oil and fry each tortilla in the oil. Remove one by one and place on a plate.
- In a separate frying pan, add 1 tablespoon of oil over medium heat. Add all of the tomato sauce from the blender and bring to a simmer.
- Use a pair of kitchen tongs to dip tortillas in the tomato sauce one at a time, completely submerging the tortilla in the sauce. Then, remove the tortilla and put it onto a plate as it comes out of the sauce, filling with crumbled cheese.
- Fold the tortilla – or roll it up – and once you have two or three on a plate, coat them with more tomato sauce.
- Garnish with Mexican Crema, a sprinkling of finely chopped cilantro, and diced onion. Serve immediately. Accompany with hot sauce of your choosing depending on the entomatadas’ heat level.
