Whether picked fresh from your garden, or simply bought in your local supermarket, tomatoes are a staple in many household kitchens across the country. Generally, at their tastiest later on in the year, there are plenty of dishes they can be added to and knowing what ingredients to pair them with can quickly transform them.

While they’re no doubt delicious with a drizzle of olive oil, and some basil sprinkled over them, one chef has shared the secret ingredient that she swears by. In a video posted on TikTok, Sohla El-Waylly showed her followers the tomato salad she enjoys making during the summer, and said: “I’m going to add my secret ingredient which is going to upset a lot of you.”

After cutting her tomatoes in half, the chef then produced a bottle of Knorr’s Tomato Bouillon with Chicken Flavour, and proceeded to sprinkle a little of it over each tomato. “It just makes the tomatoes so much more tomato-y,” she said.

Also known as Caldo de Tomate, the seasoning is often used as a base in Mexican dishes, particularly rice and soups and is part of Knorr’s Mexican and Latin line of products.

Another staple in many British households, while bouillon simply means broth in French, it’s also used to describe the stock cubes and powders many of us use while cooking, with Knorr being one of the most popular brands.

A granulated seasoning mix of chicken, tomato, onions, parsley and spices, Sohla wrote in the caption of her video: “I can’t do tomato season without tomato knorr.”

Creating a salad with mixed vegetables, Sohla instructed viewers to sprinkle Knorr’s Tomato Bouillon on your tomatoes “and then just let it hang out and get nice and juicy while you cut the rest of your veggies”.

Knorr’s Tomato Bouillon also contains MSG, which provides the strong umami flavour that makes tomatoes even more tasty.

In an article for The Kitchn, Andrea Rivera Wawrzyn who tried the recipe said: “Something about the combination of the dehydrated tomatoes and MSG really makes tomatoes sing.”

She tried adding tomatoes to toast and revealed that she “can’t picture eating tomato toast without a sprinkle of tomato bouillon ever again.”

If you do plan on trying it, it’s best to start with a little sprinkle, as bouillon is often very salty, and as it’s meant to be used as a base instead of a seasoning, it could be overpowering.

But if you find that idea of sprinkling bouillon on your tomatoes slightly strange, you can instead opt for tomato powder.

Knorr’s Tomato Bouillon with Chicken Flavour is only available in the UK on Amazon for £6.99, but Sainsbury’s sell their own brunch seasoning, which is a combination of tomato powder, smoked paprika, parsley, for £2.50 and would work perfectly for this recipe too.