Lechon sauce is a Filipino condiment made with liver, vinegar, and spices. It's the perfect medley of sweet, tangy, and savory flavors that pair well with crispy pork and our many favorite dishes.
ย Mang Tomas is one of the bottles of condiments you'll always find a good stock of in my pantry. I love it with lumpiang shanghai and filipino-style fried chicken. I use it as sarsa for everything, I even put it on my breakfast eggs.
But, when it comes to my pork belly lechon, I want the real lechon sauce to enjoy it with. Not an "all-purpose sauce" in a bottle. Sure, it's convenient and, I admit, quite tasty, but if I go through the tedious process of making lechon kawali, I might as well make the accompanying sauce from scratch and complete the whole experience with a bang.ย
What you'll need
- Liver- I prefer chicken liver, but you can also use pork or beef liver
- Vinegar- adds a tangy flavor and cuts through the richness
- Brown sugar- balances the sour taste with sweetness.
- Breadcrumbs- help thicken the sauce
- Onions and garlic- aromatics act as a flavor base
- Salt and pepper- season to taste
- Water- adjust the amount to desired consistency
- Oil- for sauteing
Lechon sauce cooking steps
This sarsa is an easy recipe and can be made simpler using a hack that significantly cuts down the effort involved. The secret? Reno! Use this liver spread instead of fresh chicken livers; you can have the sarsa ready to enjoy in no time!
- In a saucepot over medium heat, bring to a boil enough lightly salted water to cover the liver. Add liver and cook for about 3 to 5 minutes or until cooked through. Drain well and discard liquid. Mash the cooked livers with a fork or finely chop with a knife.
- In a sauce pot over medium heat, heat oil. Add onions and garlic and cook until softened. Add vinegar and water, and boil uncovered and without stirring for a few minutes to boil off the strong acid taste.
- Season with sugar, salt, and pepper. Add mashed cooked liver and continue to cook, stirring regularly until well-combined.
- Add breadcrumbs and cook until sauce is thickened as desired. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
Quick tip
I like it a little chunky. If you prefer a smoother consistency, you can use an immersion blender or food processor to puree the mixture.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Mang Tomas a lechon sauce?
While Mang Tomas started as a liver sauce to accompany lechon, this condiment brand is now marketed as an all-purpose sauce to use with fried or grilled meats and other Filipino favorites.
What is lechon sauce made of?
This homemade sarsa recipe is made of liver, vinegar, bread crumbs, sugar, aromatics, and spices for a delicious medley of sweet, tangy, and savory. Some of the commercially prepared sauces no longer contain liver.
How to serve and store
- Lechon sarsa is the perfect dipping sauce for dishes such as crispy pata, lechon manok, lumpiang shanghai, kikiam, and other fried foods. You can also use it to turn leftover meat into a tasty paksiw na lechon.
- This homemade sauce has no preservatives and will spoil more quickly than the commercial sauce. Store in an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 3 days.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons canola oil
- 1 onion, peeled and chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
- ยพ cup vinegar
- 3 cups water
- ยพ cup brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon salt
- ยผ teaspoon pepper
- 1 cup cooked chicken livers, mashed
- โ cup breadcrumbs
Instructions
- In a sauce pot over medium heat, heat oil. Add onions and garlic and cook until softened.
- Add vinegar and water. Boil, uncovered, for about 1 to 2 minutes.
- Add sugar, salt and pepper and continue to cook, stirring until sugar is dissolved.
- Add mashed cooked liver and continue to cook, stirring regularly until well-combined.
- Add breadcrumbs and cook, stirring well, until sauce is thickened as desired.
- Remove from heat and allow to cool. Serve as a dipping sauce.
To cook chicken livers
- In a saucepot over medium heat, bring to a boil enough lightly salted water to cover the liver.
- Add liver and cook for about 3 to 5 minutes or until cooked through. Drain well and discard liquid.
- Alternatively, grill chicken livers in a single layer over hot coals until cooked through.
- Or, in a wide pan over medium heat, heat about 2 tablespoons of oil. Add chicken livers in a single layer and fry, turning as needed, until cooked through.
- Mash the cooked livers with a fork or finely chop with a knife.
Notes
Nutrition Information
โThis website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.โ
Virna C. says
Youโre my go to website for Filipino recipes. For the Lechon sauce, what chili can I add to make it spicy.? When should I add it?
Yolanda says
APRECIATE YOUR SHARING. THANK YOU...
Lalaine Manalo says
You're welcome ๐
len says
I cooked lechon sauce po. pero amoy na amoy ang liver ano po ang kailngan gawin?
joyce says
great recipe
KM says
Can I make it without liver or do you know of a good substitute?
Mags says
recipe is very easy and taste great! however the Reno i bought here (NC) doesn't taste like the Reno we have in the Philippines.
Mike says
I tried making a lechon kawali and it came out so-so, so I lost interest in trying again. A friend of my wife's gave us a pork belly she cooked in the oven and it was unreal, so that piqued my interest. I have checked out all your lechon recipes and I can't wait to try all these out! You have freely given us a gold mine of information on how to knock these pork bellies out of the park! Thank you so much for your time getting this all figured out for us! Time to go load up the cart with pork bellies!
nalou says
Hello Lalaine can i substitute liver spread to liver pate? thank you so much
MJ Tayag says
Hi.. Thanks for the recipe. I want to try it with the Reno + chicken liver. Hope it tastes as good.๐
new subscriber here.
Lalaine says
I hope so, too ๐
Per says
Is this similar to Andok's sauce? ๐
Lalaine says
Hello Per,
I haven't tried Andok's sauce so I wouldn't know. This is delicious, though, and worth a try ๐
Jo Anne says
February 13, 2017 Dear Lalaine, Thank you so very much for the Lechon Sauce recipe! I was not brought up on Filipino cusine, but I really enjoy it, and since there are not many Asian restaurants near where I live (and those are almost entirely Chinese), I prefer to cook for myself. I am looking forward to making this.
By the way, I imagine that if someone wanted to use fresh liver, get 3/4 of a pound of chicken livers, and simmer them in water seasoned with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 2 crushed cloves of garlic; simmer for about 15 minutes or until completely cooked.
Again, thank you!
Jo Anne
Lalaine says
Thank you so much, Jo Anne, for the tip. I hope you enjoy and find the recipes useful, nothing beats home cooking ๐
Jo Anne says
February 19, 2017 Dear Lalaine, I made the Lechon Kawali sauce recipe, and I LOVE IT! It was EXACTLY what I was looking for! i used fresh chicken livers (12 oz.), cooked them and used them in place of the pate. They worked perfectly well! Truly a winning recipe, and thank you again.
Lalaine says
Glad it turned out well. Happy cooking!
winsev says
Hi,
usually how long the sauce will last in the fridge, i mean will still be okay after 5-7dys in the fridge?
Lalaine says
I suggest 2 to 3 days for food safety ๐
winsev says
Tanks!
Jorge Lopez says
Ok you have managed to flip and read the ingredients of Mang Tomas. And you found out that it's basically rubbish. And then you tell me about Reno in your recipe. Have you ever flipped and read the label of Reno? Liver?
Philippines is the one of the places where no one reads the labels. And manufacturers sell all kids of things that are not real, packed full of chemicals.
How about Evap and Condensada? You think there is any milk in it? What a joke.
If you are going to post a recipe then make everything from scratch.
I am a Filipino chef who makes everything from scratch. And I will compete with anyone on a recipe.
Lalaine says
Hello Jorge
My first inclination when I read your comment was to ignore it and not even bother responding. Experience has taught me that people who have nothing nice to say and who have taken upon themselves to be condescending to others do not deserve my precious time. But since it is the New Year and I am feeling a bit generous, yes, I will reward you with the reaction you seemed bent to achieve.
I did read the Reno label and yes, its primary ingredient is liver.
No milk in evap and condensada? Please do your research. Evap and condensada ARE milk. In fact, they are cow's milk where water was removed for longer shelf life.
I have the prerogative to post any recipe I want, whether from scratch or not. This is, afterall, my website. I am sure you'll find many other blogs online with recipes that better match your preferences. Feel free to check them out.
Good for you, a Filipino chef who makes everything from scratch and will compete with anyone on a recipe. I am just a poor Director of Food Services who manages a dozen chefs on a daily basis.
Thank you for visiting Kawaling Pinoy.
Andrei says
I think he's talking about "Evaporada" and "Condensada" which I think is what Alaska uses for the cheap, sort of fortified milk products that are sort of like margarine is to butter. It's the terrible tasting stuff in yellow cans that ruin buko shake and halo-halo. They don't taste the same, you can always tell. "Evap" is what Carnation says to get away with it.
They're "creamer." instead of milk, like Coffee-mate. Probably made of oils and soy and sugar and other stuff.
You're correct, Evaporated Filled Milk and Condensed Filled Milk of course have milk. I think the "filled" part means that the process includes introducing additional milk solids in the form of powdered milk to the milk they're evaporating or condensing. But they are supposed to use milk.
I think The Philippines has a self-regulating advertising organization that has very strict rules about how products are advertised. I know that's not regulatory or anything, but if no one will make ads for their product if it's labeled wrong, the probably are not going to label them wrong.
That Reno and "Evap" and "Condensada" do have labels, as incomplete as they might seem to be, probably means they're only lying as much as they can get away with. And that doesn't include calling the products "milk" if it's not milk. Reno gets to call itself "Reno Liver Spread." It probably means it has liver. The FDA or whoever probably does still have rules.
Also, Reno is pretty good, though apparently it's not as good when it's stuff made in South America or something.
Maybe it's because of the pigs the locally made stuff is made from, or the type of sugar added, or maybe they have better or worse food regulations. But you're right, the first ingredient listed is "pork and beef livers" which means it's mostly pork and beef livers. And then other offal.
Also, it's for lechon sauce, how healthy does the chef think the diner's trying to be?
Lalaine says
Hello Andrei,
I suppose I got a little carried away. As you I can tell from my response to his comment, I was a little peeved. It's not that I am not open to ideas or opinions but I didn't appreciate his tone.
Processed foods, of course, are for the most part not as good in quality or nutrition as from scratch but that is kind of the price we pay for the convenience of use. From my understanding of labels, companies are supposed to list first the primary ingredient (like Reno has pork and liver listed first) but they do add a lot of extenders which I understand they have to put on the label as well.
Thank you!
mark says
calm down.
DJ says
I'm working in the ship is white sugar can be use also for the replacement of brown sugar? Wala kasing brown sugar sa barko thnx
Lalaine says
Hi DJ
Yes, you can substitute white sugar, just adjust the amount as granulated sugar is sweeter than brown. Happy cooking!
rosario says
I have to disagree about Reno liver spread being an acceptable short cut . At present, it tastes nothing like the Reno liver spread that we used to enjoy in my high school and college days. In fact about two weeks ago I bought a can to put in my menudo. Fortunately I decided to lick the spoon . It tasted awful so I decided to fish it all out instead of mixing it in. It tasted like something I would never feed my family. Please give us a a recipe from scratch.. I am all for shortcuts. I do use them but Reno Liver spread, no way.
Lalaine says
I am sorry if you don't find the quality of Reno acceptable as a substitute. Are you in the U.S or Philippines? For some reason, the Reno here in the U.S. has a different taste and texture from the Reno my mom sends me from the Philippines. The Philippine version seems to have more breadcrumbs and extenders than liver.
Please feel free to substitute chicken or pork liver. Grill liver and then run through a food processor until paste-like. After sauteing the onions and garlic, add the processed liver and cook, stirring regularly, for about 3 to 5 minutes. Proceed with the rest of the recipe. Thank you for the feedback. ๐
Danilo Ang says
Lalaine
You have to excuse people who are not appreciative of your efforts to post Pilipino recipes. As you know our ingredients are different in a particular recipe because we come from different regions in our country. If I look at a recipe it is a guide and I modify it to fit my portion or enhance it to make it better. If you are cooking nobody is telling you to follow it to the letter.
I just appreciate you ladies for taking the time to post your cooking skills. We are losing a lot of young women to fast food and delivery service from restaurants.
I cook not professionally but I used whatever ingredients that are available.
I deconstruct the sauce recipe and try to fit what I have. For example, you call for the liver. I don't have that in my pantry. Usually, I have liver pate, but this time I don't have it. So to construct your recipe I substituted potted meat. I am assuming that the liver is to add body and give it that distinct of the liver, which is on the bitter side. The potted meat will add body to the sauce minus the taste.
Cooking is a lot of experimenting. As you probably knew a good amount of spectacular recipe was created because of mistakes.