Mexican Recipes
487 recipes found

Peppadew Martini

Shrimp-and-Crab Campechana

Mole Negro
Mole negro is one of the most striking and complex moles from the state of Oaxaca. The color and flavor come from nearly incinerating the chilhuacles negros, the native dried chiles used for the base. They’re then rinsed and soaked to revive their flavor and to remove the bitterness from the charring. What results is a velvety black sauce that’s traditionally served over roasted poultry, but also pairs beautifully with roasted vegetables and fish.

Tamales de Rajas con Queso (Poblano and Cheese Tamales)
A plant-based breakfast or midday snack sold in the streets of Oaxaca, tamales de rajas y queso rival pork- and chicken-filled tamales in their appeal. Unlike their corn husk-wrapped northern cousins, these tamales feature charred banana leaves, which give them a roasted, almost vegetal flavor. The masa is then pressed on top before it’s filled, sauced and wrapped.

Tostadas Campechanas de Mariscos (Seafood Tostadas)
At the beautifully abundant Mercado Negro in Ensenada, Baja California, the clams, mussels, oysters, shrimp and fish that are for sale each day are highly sought after by locals and chefs. Almost more common than street tacos served there are these tostadas, made in stands that sell towers of fresh, raw seafood tossed with squeezed lime juice and topped with a number of different housemade salsas.

Chicken Flautas Ahogadas
These crunchy, tube-shaped flautas ahogadas — the name roughly translates to “drowned flutes” — are served in a pool of spicy tomatillo sauce, and the idea is to slather each bite in the sauce as you eat. They’re immensely popular in Mexico City, where they’re prepared using long corn tortillas specifically made for the dish. This faster version uses standard corn tortillas and a quick rotisserie chicken filling, but the tomatillo sauce, which is tart with an underlying sweetness, deserves to be made from scratch. Prepare it a day in advance or freeze it to save time. It’s worth making a double batch of the sauce, because it brightens up just about anything: tacos, quesadillas or eggs.

Hibiscus Quesadillas (Quesadilla con Flor de Jamaica)
Dried hibiscus is cheap and plentiful, usually available in specialty grocery stores or international supermarket bulk bins. It has a place in kitchens around the world, in drinks and syrups and remedies and stews. The calyxes of the flower — the part we actually eat — also happen to have a high pectin content, making them ideal for jelly making. Lately, the ingredient has been marketed as a kind of health food, or meat substitute, but the ingredient has deep, ancient roots and stands on its own. Adriana Almazán Lahl, who owns a catering business in San Francisco, rehydrates the flowers and sautés them with onion and chiles, then folds the spicy mixture into flour tortillas with a little cheese. The result is a quick, delicious meal, and an excellent way to use up the entire flower. Be sure to rinse the hibiscus well before you get started; grit hides in its folds.

Chicken Thighs With Cumin, Cayenne and Citrus
Chicken thighs have a huge advantage over lean breasts. The skin browns nicely and the meat stays juicy even when thoroughly cooked, which makes them ideal for grilling or broiling. The dark, rich meat also responds brilliantly to the strong equatorial flavors often associated with grilling. The Mexican-inspired treatment here, a quick liquid rub for the thighs, packs plenty of punch, even if you use just a little cayenne. What makes it evoke Mexico is the combination of two characteristic spices, cumin and oregano, with a mixture of orange and lime juices to simulate the sour orange that is used in the Yucatán but is rarely seen in this country.

Gorditas de Flores de Jamaica (Spicy Hibiscus-Stuffed Gorditas)
Flor de jamaica is a type of hibiscus flower that is dried and often boiled with sugar and spices to make agua fresca, a sweet-tart beverage found across Mexico. In a savory main, the boiled flowers, which have an almost meaty, mushroomlike texture, are often pan-fried, seared or charred. But here, they’re stewed with dried chiles, cinnamon and sweet potato to make a saucy filling for a gordita — a thick corn patty that’s griddled, split and stuffed.

Chiles Anchos Rellenos de Queso
Well known in Mexico and the United States, chiles rellenos are most often thought of as featuring charred, batter-fried and stuffed fresh poblanos, but dried chiles are also commonly used. Dried poblanos, called anchos, are similar in texture and flavor to dried apricots but with a smoky, slight spicy finish. Soft, pliable and mildly sweet, they can be stuffed without having to be charred and peeled.

Carnitas
Carnitas (or “little meats”) are a traditional Mexican dish of cubed pork shoulder braised with spices and citrus until tender. Fresh orange, crushed garlic, earthy oregano and aromatic cinnamon and bay leaf create a rich and fragrant braising liquid that imparts its savory flavors into the pork as it cooks. There’s very little hands-on work involved, and the carnitas can be made a day ahead. Store the pork in the liquid overnight, then gently reheat before serving. A final finish under the broiler creates a golden, crispy exterior on the meat.

Carne Adobada (Chile-Marinated Steak)
Mexican adobada, a tangy marinade with guajillo chiles, is often reserved for large cuts of pork, but it’s also well-suited to any sturdy cut of steak, such as flank. The acid comes from lime juice in this formula, but vinegar or lemon juice works as well. An overnight marinade yields incredibly tender results, but a 30-minute steep is sufficient to infuse the meat with the fruity flavor of the chiles. Here, the steak is paired with a nice piquant roasted red pepper relish, which complements the deep flavors of the marinated meat. Side dishes like rice, beans and warm tortillas round this dish out for a wonderful weeknight meal.

Nana José’s Chocolate Pecan Cake
A Passover flourless chocolate pecan torte, served with berries sweetened with shaved piloncillo, raw Mexican brown sugar, and flavored with lime juice.

Dulce de Leche Chocoflan
Also known as el pastel imposible (the impossible cake), chocoflan is a baking wonder, its layers of chocolate cake batter and dulce de leche flan swapping places in the oven and coming out as a tiered two-desserts-in-one showstopper. This Mexican staple is often served at birthday parties and other celebrations, but comes together easily enough to enjoy as a sweet treat at home.

Chicken Birria
Birria, a classic Mexican stew from Jalisco, is traditionally made with goat but also enjoyed with lamb or beef. This weeknight version features juicy chicken thighs for faster cooking. A quick blender sauce of dried chiles, garlic and tomatoes creates a smoky and rich base for the stew, which deepens in flavor as the chicken simmers. Here, the birria is enjoyed as a stew, but it also makes terrific tacos: Simply dip tortillas in the warm broth, fill them with shredded chicken and top with chopped white onion and cilantro, then fold in half and pan-fry until golden and crispy.

Chicken Soup With Lime and Avocado
When I lived in France, in the ‘80s and early ‘90s, I hardly ever ate avocados. Those sold in the markets were smooth, thin-skinned varieties grown mostly in Israel. They were watery, not as creamy or nutty-tasting as Haas avocados, the dark, pebbly-skinned variety that we get in California. “Poor man’s butter,” they used to call avocados when my father was a child. (Now they would more aptly be described as “rich man’s butter.”) Simple Mexican soups like this one often include avocado, which is diced or sliced and added to the soup when it’s ladled into bowls.

Gonzalo Guzmán’s Pork-Braised Butter Beans With Eggs
Gonzalo Guzmán is the chef at Nopalito, a Mexican restaurant with two locations in San Francisco. His bright take on frijoles puercos, or pork and beans, is inspired by a version he once tasted in northern Mexico. It involves butter beans simmered with chile and onion until tender and plump, mixed up with crumbled chorizo and scrambled eggs. The result is a delicious, one-pot meal with a fresh garnish of cheese and herbs, and it makes for an ideal breakfast, lunch or dinner, ideally with a stack of warm tortillas on the side.

Broiled Fish Tacos
There’s no reason to reserve fish tacos for vacation or a night out. Put your broiler to work, and make them an easy weekly affair. Paprika and coriander give meaty white fish like mahi-mahi or halibut tons of impact, but the real star here is the lime-laced herb salad, which makes every bite pop. Make sure to start with the best corn tortillas you can find. And don't worry about loading the tacos up with cabbage and pico de gallo: There’s no need here. These are at their best (and easiest) when they're pared down.

Cochinita Pibil
The traditional way to make Yucatecan cochinita pibil is to bury a pig in a steaming, smouldering, stone-lined pit and cook it slowly for many hours. The pork has first been marinated with a bright red paste of achiote seeds, garlic, spices and bitter orange juice, and then wrapped in banana leaves. This tender meat is pulled and served simply in its own juices with hot tortillas and pickled onion. Diana Kennedy’s no-fuss method for home cooks involves baking a small piece of pork in the oven for just a few hours, inside a heavy lidded pot, with a little water at the bottom.

Bay Scallop Aguachile
Adapted from John Martinez, Super Linda, Manhattan

Mexican Street-Corn Paleta (Corn, Sour Cream and Lime Popsicle)
Fany Gerson makes her paletas, Mexican fruit ice-pops, the traditional way: with real fruit for intense flavors. Although this flavor isn't traditional, it was inspired by esquites, a favorite Mexican street food of corn dressed with sour cream, lime and chile. To make it, infuse milk with fresh sweet corn and chile, and then blend it into a smooth base. Fold in some lime and sautéed corn for texture, and freeze for a rich, sweet-savory treat.

Mexican-Style Pepper Steak
Shaved steak is not a staple of Mexican cuisine. Most cooks prefer the slightly thicker beef milanesa cut, similar to minute steak. But Memo Pinedo, the proprietor of a restaurant and a food truck in Houston, both called Jarro Cafe, appreciates Angus beef sliced from sirloin for his tacos de bistec. It’s so thin he can cook it in steam coming off a skillet of sizzling onions, tomatoes and jalapeños.

Mexican Pizzas

Chanclas Poblanas (Chorizo Sandwiches With Tomato-Guajillo Salsa)
Sold in the markets and street stalls of Puebla, chanclas poblanas are made with a slightly flattened, flour-dusted, oval-shaped bun called pan para chanclas which gets its rise and flavor from pulque, a fermented alcoholic drink made from the maguey plant. (Chancla, which means flip-flop or sandal, refers to the shape.) Then, they’re opened and stuffed with chorizo and bathed in a rich tomato-guajillo salsa. They’re messy, but they can be eaten with your hands or a fork and a knife.