Mexican Recipes
504 recipes found
Sopa de Albóndigas (Mexican Meatball Soup)
Ask 10 people for a recipe for a particular dish, and you’ll probably get 10 different recipes. Mexican sopa de albóndigas is no exception. Most variations are likely to involve vegetables, rice, a tomato-based broth and, inevitably, meatballs. Wesley Avila, the chef of Guerrilla Tacos in Los Angeles, learned this recipe from his mother, who learned it from her grandmother. His meatballs are hefty in size but light in density, and follow his family’s tradition of adding uncooked white rice to the pork-beef mixture before shaping it into balls and cooking: “My mom always told me that when the rice is done, the soup is ready,” Mr. Avila said. “She used it almost as a timer.” The toppings — piled on as you would atop chili — skew cheffy, but they are entirely optional.
Sonoran-Style Flour Tortillas
In Sonora, a Northern Mexican region where wheat has been cultivated for more than 400 years, tortillas are typically made of flour rather than corn. But unlike the generally lackluster store-bought wrappers most Americans are familiar with, handmade flour tortillas are pliable, chewy, fragrant, and dotted with mahogany blisters. While this recipe, adapted from Teo Diaz and Julia Guerrero of Sonoratown taqueria in downtown Los Angeles, isn’t complicated, it does require allowing some time for the dough to rest. But the investment is worth it. Once you roll out the tortillas and set them on the hot griddle, they’ll begin to puff with steam as they start to brown. When you take a bite, the aroma of sweet flour enveloped in fat will fill your nose and mouth. Finally, you’ll understand that a tortilla is meant to be an essential component rather than just monotextured wrapping paper for tacos, burritos, or chimichangas.
Creamy Queso With Pickled Jalapeños
Queso, the crown jewel of Tex-Mex cuisine, is a creamy, tangy dip made with melted cheese. But it can't be just any cheese. This is one of those rare instances (see also: cheeseburger) where the preferred cheese is good, old-fashioned, highly processed American cheese. Velveeta is tops, but Land O'Lakes and Boar’s Head have deli versions that will do. Kraft singles work, too, but it's a lot of unwrapping. The pickled jalapeños in this recipe aren’t traditional, but they do add some welcome heat and a bit of tang that cut through the richness.
Chivichangas de Machaca (Stewed Brisket and Cheese Chimichangas)
Teo Diaz grew up eating chivichangas, or small burritos typically filled with stewed meat, almost every day in San Luis, Arizona, just miles from the U.S.-Mexico border. His single mother would prepare a dozen or more of them early each morning before heading out to pick and pack produce in the fields of nearby Yuma, wrapping them individually in aluminum foil and leaving them on the counter for her six children to eat throughout the day. Now the chivi, as he calls it, is one of the most beloved items on the menu at his tiny downtown Los Angeles taqueria, Sonoratown. The kitchen is too small for a stove, so he simmers brisket in an industrial-sized rice cooker before shredding it and cooking it a second time with fire-roasted chilies, tomatoes, and heaps of grated cheese. The result, wrapped in a fragrant, chewy handmade tortilla, is perfectly spiced and mouthwateringly unctuous. Everyone will want seconds.
Onion and Tomato Salsa
Frijoles de la Olla
There is nothing that feels more like comfort food than a fresh batch of brothy, tender pinto beans topped with cilantro, jalapeños and avocado, and served with warm tortillas. It’s so simple, yet so filling and delicious. Frijoles de la olla are beans cooked in a pot, and here, that pot is an electric pressure cooker, which makes preparation quicker and even more hands-off. Seasonings like dried chiles, garlic and dried mushrooms take the broth’s flavor to another level. For a spicier version, toss in some chiles de árbol, too. You can swap in dried black or flor de junio beans for an equally delicious and rich broth. Any leftovers would be great in enfrijoladas or chili.
Pineapple Avocado Salsa
A sweet, fruity flavor and a mix of textures set this salsa apart. It goes great with salmon or just about any other fish. This is a sweet, fruity salsa, with a wonderful array of textures: juicy, sweet-acidic pineapple; soft, creamy and subtle avocado; and crisp and refreshing jicama, with everything set off by the heat of the chiles. The avocado gives a pale green cast to the mix. It looks beautiful with salmon and goes with just about any other fish, as well as with chicken or even fajitas.
Tinga de Pollo (Chicken with Chipotle and Onions)
Guadalupe Moreno runs Mi Morena, a tacos de guisado business in the Bay Area, where a number of saucy fillings and toppings are used to mix and match tacos to order. She shared her recipe for tinga de pollo with Leticia Landa and Caleb Zigas for their cookbook "We Are La Cocina." Ms. Moreno's tinga de pollo works perfectly in tacos and also on top of crisp tostadas with lettuce and salsa, inside quesadillas or as a tamal filling. It’s a great way to use up any leftover cooked chicken (just skip straight to step 2), whether pulled from a roast or poached bird, or grocery-store rotisserie.
Cranberry Sauce Salsa
Don't toss that little bit of cranberry sauce leftover from Thanksgiving dinner. This recipe, which we developed for a special kids' edition of The New York Times, calls for making it into a savory-sweet salsa that everyone will love. Just add some chopped fresh tomatoes, onion, garlic, cilantro and jalapeño to prepared whole cranberry sauce (not the jellied stuff). Stir in some lime zest and juice, and a sprinkling of chile powder, cumin and cayenne. Serve with enchilada pie or tortilla chips, and consider stocking canned cranberry sauce in your cabinet all year long.
Mexican Buñuelos With Piloncillo Syrup
These buñuelos, which are made by deep-frying dough shaped like a disk, are typically eaten year-round as a street food in Mexico. But buñuelos are most popular around the Christmas season when many people make them on Nochebuena, or Christmas Eve. The ingredients in buñuelos vary depending on the region, but this version is adapted from Mely Martínez, a food blogger and the author of “The Mexican Home Kitchen: Traditional Home-Style Recipes That Capture the Flavors and Memories of Mexico.” The dough is rolled out flat, and though it’s not called for here, can be laid on an inverted bowl covered with a pastry cloth or parchment to stretch it even thinner (similar to when women flattened the dough on their knees) to make a crispy, paper-thin buñuelo. The finished buñuelos are topped with granulated sugar and spiced syrup made with cinnamon, anise, orange zest and piloncillo, a raw form of cane sugar.
Albóndigas de la Familia Ronstadt (Ronstadt Family Meatballs)
Fragrant with mint and cilantro and a hit of oregano, these delicate Mexican meatballs have served Linda Ronstadt’s family for generations. They were lunch for her grandfather, or a soup course when the family gathered at her grandparent’s house. The recipe, published in her memoir-cookbook hybrid “Feels Like Home: A Song for the Sonoran Borderlands” (Heyday, 2022), is different from many traditional albóndigas recipes, which use rice or soft vegetables like potatoes or carrots to bind the meatballs. It may seem like the meatball components won’t come together when kneading at first, but stick with it. The poaching liquid becomes a broth, which benefits from skimming off the little bit of foam that appears before serving. A variation of the Ronstadt family meatballs first appeared in The Times in 1989.
Papadzules (Rolled Tortillas With Pumpkin Seed Sauce)
In 1970, Craig Claiborne took a Mexican cooking class at the New York City home of Diana Kennedy, where he learned how to make these papadzules, a Yucatecan dish of rolled tortillas with pepitas (pumpkin seeds). After the death of her husband, Paul Kennedy, a reporter for The New York Times, and with encouragement from editors in New York to write a book, Ms. Kennedy moved to Mexico to record its culinary diversity. As Mr. Claiborne noted in his 1970 article, a coffee grinder works best for puréeing the pepitas here, but the best way to coax the rich oil out of the seeds is by hand. (Tejal Rao)
Chipotle, Peanut and Sesame Seed Salsa
This nutty, spicy salsa with the tang of vinegar is from Veracruz, Mexico, where it’s called salsa macha. It has long been a favorite of Pati Jinich, the Mexican-born chef who lives in Washington, D.C. Her version comes together fast, and offers a lot of character and versatility. Use it to liven up roasted vegetables or grilled meats. It’s especially great on lamb chops and skirt steak, or even baked potatoes served with sour cream and cheese. The salsa lasts for a couple of weeks in the refrigerator; the solids will sink to the bottom, leaving a deeply flavored oil that can add a little muscle to sauces or a finishing touch to other dishes. You can use other nuts in place of the peanuts, or a mix of nuts and sunflower or pumpkin seeds.
Shrimp in Green Mole
There are only three basic steps to making green mole: Whip up a purée of toasted pumpkin seeds, tomatillos and chiles in a blender; sear the purée in oil and cook it until it thickens slightly; then add chicken stock and simmer until the mixture is creamy. Once the sauce is done, you can poach shrimp right in it; it only takes five to eight minutes to cook them in the simmering mole. Better yet, you can make the sauce up to three days ahead and keep it refrigerated until you’re ready to use it, or freeze it (whisk or blend to restore its consistency after thawing).
Spicy Clam Chorizo Pasta
Clams work their way into plenty of dishes in the Baja Peninsula of Mexico, which is where the chef Pati Jinich picked up this recipe for pasta con salsa picante de chorizo y almejas. The dish, which she featured on an episode of her PBS show, “Pati’s Mexican Table,” is a nod to the prized clams that are harvested in and around the coastal lagoons on Mexico’s Pacific shores. It pays homage to the surf-and-turf dishes in Tijuana, where cooks find seemingly endless ways to mix meat and seafood on a single plate. The dish takes its aggressive heat from chorizo and chiles de arbol, but it can be dialed down by substituting 1/2 teaspoon or less of red-pepper flakes. The beer in the dish is Ms. Jinich’s nod to the craft-beer boom in Baja.
Salsa Macha
Salsa macha is a rich chile oil from Veracruz, Mexico, made from variations of dried chiles, garlic, nuts and seeds fried in oil and finely chopped. As a condiment it’s easy to make, and stores well. It’s also incredibly versatile, adding texture and depth to everything it touches, from tacos and fried potatoes to poached eggs or a simple bowl of noodles with herbs. Once you’ve made it once, feel free to adjust the ingredients to suit your taste, playing with the chile varieties, or swapping in different seeds or nuts.
Chili Verde
Birria de Res (Beef Birria)
Birria took off in the United States as a soupy style made with beef and as birria tacos, popularized by birria vendors in Tijuana. The chef Josef Centeno, who grew up eating beef and goat birria in Texas, makes a delicious, thickly sauced version based on his grandma Alice’s recipe, mixing up the proteins by using oxtail, lamb on the bone and even tofu (you can, too). Preparing the adobo takes time, as does browning the meat, but it’s worth it for the deep flavors in the final dish. The best way to serve birria is immediately and simply, in a bowl, with some warm corn tortillas, which can be used to wrap the meat for tacos. But make sure to put any leftovers to work: Extra meat, pulled from the bones, can be shredded for crisp quesabirria tacos, fried in the birria fat for cheesy, lacy edges. And the leftover broth, or consomé, is ideal for a comforting bowl of birria ramen, with an egg and some fresh herbs on top.
Menudo
Menudo is magic in a bowl — sporting tripe, a deeply spiced broth, and the choice of many different seasonings, the Mexican soup is a gift. Also known as pancita, the dish is amenable to many variations and this version from Mely Martínez’s book, “The Mexican Home Kitchen” (Rock Point, 2020), is especially soothing. Most menudo recipes follow a similar blueprint: protein (usually tripe) is simmered in broth until it reaches a silky completion. Your choice of meat sits nestled in a base which can be as spicy or soothing as your tolerance and preference allows. On the side, lime, oregano and onions are among the accoutrements to season your dish — and hominy can be a hearty addition to the bowl, complementing the textures that have been stacked atop one another.
Torta Ahogada
Torta ahogada, which translates to drowned sandwich, is a staple across Guadalajara, Mexico. Birote salado is the bread typically used for this stuffed, smothered sandwich, partly because its salty sourdough flavor complements the fillings, but mostly because its crunchy exterior stands up well to ladles of hot salsa. If you’re not able to get your hands on birote salado, you can substitute bolillo or a French baguette. The options for fillings are endless, and this version with creamy puréed pinto beans is ideal for a meatless meal. If you happen to have mushrooms, you can sauté them and add them to this torta for an extra-filling dish.
Enfrijoladas Pintos
In this take on enfrijoladas, chipotle makes the pinto bean sauce slightly smoky and spicy, perfect for dipping pan-fried blistered corn tortillas. If you don’t have pinto beans on hand, use black or mayocoba beans for equally delicious results. Top this dish with quick-pickled red onion, which tastes even better if you make it the day before. For a perfect weeknight meal, garnish with a dollop of sour cream, avocado slices, and a sprinkle of toasted pepitas and cilantro leaves. To get vegetarian recipes like this one delivered to your inbox, sign up for The Veggie newsletter.
Capirotada (Mexican Bread Pudding)
Capirotada is a seasonal dish eaten for Lent or Cuaresma, a time of the year when many Mexican households whip up meatless meals on Fridays. This cinnamon-scented bread pudding is a balance of textures, and sweet and slightly savory flavors. Its array of garnishes vary, and families debate which ingredients should make the cut and which should be forgotten. In Zacatecas, Mexico, onion is an unexpected ingredient that ties together the piloncillo and cheese. This dish can be made traditional or plant-based by selecting dairy-based or vegan butter and cheese. The key ingredient is a stale or lightly toasted baguette, birote or bolillo, which absorbs sweet piloncillo syrup melded with melted cheese, and holds up your chosen ingredients.
Sizzling Pork Tacos
Heavily spiced strips of pork shoulder fried crisp in a pan. Warm corn tortillas. Tomatillo salsa and hot sauce. Pair the tacos with a pot of garlicky black beans, an avocado salad and mangoes for dessert, and you’ve got an incredible dinner for about an hour’s work. Go to.
Chiles Rellenos
This recipe for chiles rellenos comes from Andrea Serrato, who sells an exquisite version of the dish out of her home in East Los Angeles. Ms. Serrato learned to make it from her mother, Rose Serrato, who fills big chile poblanos simply with queso ranchero, fries them in a cloudlike batter and simmers them in a garlicky salsa roja. Be sure to take your time charring the chiles on the flame to make sure they get evenly tender. The dish is time-consuming and labor-intensive, but extremely worthwhile — delicious, comforting and beautiful, too.