Mexican Recipes
487 recipes found
Pearl of Puebla
Mexican Hot Chocolate
Mesoamerican women are believed to be the first to ferment and roast cacao beans, a crucial step in chocolate making that is still used thousands of years later. Then, it was prepared as a frothy, unsweetened drink for rituals and medicinal purposes. Later, Spanish colonists brought the ingredient back to Spain, where sugar, cinnamon and vanilla were added, making it more similar to the spicy-sweet beverage we know today. This recipe is adapted from Churrería El Moro, a restaurant in Mexico City known for churros and hot chocolate. To get the signature foamy top, use a molinillo, a Mexican wooden whisk, or a wire whisk to make it light and frothy. And while it’s not traditional, you can also put the hot chocolate in a blender for about 2 minutes.
Pressure Cooker Chipotle-Honey Chicken Tacos
If you have an electric pressure cooker, you can throw together a big batch of spicy chicken and black bean tacos in about 30 minutes. Smoky canned chipotles in adobo and honey do most of the heavy lifting here, combining to create a glossy, spicy-sweet sauce. Chipotles can pack varying levels of heat, so if you want your tacos on the milder side, use only one or two peppers. You can always drizzle with hot sauce at the table. The pickled onions are not absolutely necessary, but they add acidity and crunch that contrast nicely with the spicy shredded chicken. (Get the slow cooker version of this recipe here.)
Slow-Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup
While the origins of tortilla soup (also known as sopa Azteca or sopa de tortilla) can be traced to central Mexico, it has many variations, often characterized by a brothy chicken base flavored with puréed roasted tomatoes, chiles and garlic, and topped with fried leftover tortillas and other garnishes. In this nontraditional slow-cooker version, tomatoes, onion, garlic and chile are charred under the broiler (on a foil-lined sheet pan, for easy clean-up), then go straight into the slow cooker, where they add savory depth to the chicken soup. (No slow-cooker? Use the stovetop version of this recipe.)
Slow Cooker Shortcut Chicken Pozole
Part of the joy of pozole is topping it generously and exactly as you like, and this take on the original dish is no exception. Traditional red pozole often requires toasting and then puréeing dried chiles for a flavorful broth, but this version relies on canned chipotles in adobo sauce. Adjust the chiles to your taste: more if you like it, less if you don’t. This brothy, smoky-spicy chicken soup is sensational with crunchy add-ons like crushed chips, shaved cabbage and red onion. The pressure-cooker version of this recipe is available here.
Elotes (Grilled Corn With Cheese, Lime and Chile)
Whole ears of corn are a classic street food in Mexico, where they are either grilled or boiled, then often dressed with some combination of lime, chile, mayonnaise and grated cheese. This grilled version calls for all of the above, which get mixed together into a creamy, bracing topping, and slathered all over the hot, sweet ears. It's not strictly traditional, but it does make it easier to assemble the corn and its dressing before serving. Or place the various topping in small bowls and let guests have the fun of garnishing their own. And if you don’t have a grill, the broiler works too though watch the ears carefully so they don’t burn.
Grilled Corn, Asparagus and Spring Onion Salad
In this cookout perfect salad, corn, asparagus and spring onions benefit from the deep flavors of the grill. Their outer layers get a rustic char, their full sweetness is released, and they go from raw to cooked while maintaining a crunchy bite. Still warm, they’re doused in one of Mexico’s most fun ways to dress grilled vegetables or potato chips, an easy-to-eat sauce where umami, citrus and heat converge. The mixture is typically referred to as salsa preparada, meaning you simply mix these sauces together to “prepare” your food. You may wonder if the soy, Worcestershire and Maggi sauces compete, but each has a different character of sazón, which is whisked with plenty of fresh squeezed lime juice and a punch of chile oil. If more heat is desired, you can add a splash of your favorite hot sauce. This salad is great solo as an appetizer, but it is even better served right next to grilled meats.
Pollo Asado
Pollo asado, Mexican marinated and grilled chicken, uses pigmented annatto seeds to get its signature brick red color. Annatto seeds can be found in Latin supermarkets or online, but a cube of prepared achiote paste is a suitable sub. This recipe uses two types of dried chiles, for which there are no substitutes; however, if they’re hard to come by, swap them out for a can of seeded chipotles in adobo for a different, but still delicious, smoky vibe. The acidity from the citrus in the marinade helps tenderize the chicken legs, but a limit does exist; keep it under 12 hours. Serve the chicken alongside pickled onions and warm tortillas for quick tacos, or beans and rice.
Carne Asada
Nothing beats carne asada tacos, the smoky richness of charred sliced steak stuffed into tortillas. Carne asada translates to “grilled meat” and refers to the many variations on this dish, as well as parties that center around grilling the marinated meat. Esteban Castillo, the author of the cookbook and blog “Chicano Eats,” combines the intensity of a dry spice rub with a citrus juice marinade in his recipe. Sometimes, he pours some beer into the mix too, but this version, fresh with cilantro, garlic and scallions, already gives the steak big, aromatic flavors.
Tajín Grilled Chicken
Tajín is a Mexican seasoning made from dried, ground red chiles, sea salt and dehydrated lime juice. It is great sprinkled over fresh cut fruit like mango and pineapple, or rimmed on an ice cold margarita. But it is also an easy way to add chile and lime to your favorite grilled meats, rubs or sauces. In this dish, the lime in the Tajín balances out the sweetness from the agave syrup, while the red chiles complement the smoky flavor of the chipotles. Serve the chicken as is or on toasted hamburger buns with a schmear of mayonnaise, chopped grilled scallions, cilantro leaves and sliced pickled jalapeños. This Tajín sauce also would pair well with grilled bass, cod or salmon, or with shrimp skewers.
Bricklayer-Style Nachos
Bricklayer-style beef, or puntas al albañil, made with tender pieces of beef, salty bacon and sometimes chorizo in a chunky fire-roasted salsa, is a beloved taco filling in Mexico. Once a common snack available near construction sites in central Mexico, it became popular beyond street food stands, expanding into homes and restaurants over the years. Here it’s used as the foundation for nachos, topped with mounds of melted cheese, tangy queso fresco, creamy avocado and crunchy scallions for a hearty, delicious meal.
Shrimp and Mango Tacos
This sweet and pungent combination of mango, shrimp, chilies and cumin is as quick to put together as a stir-fry. Indeed, if you don’t have corn tortillas on hand, serve the shrimp with rice.
Pistachio Green Mole (Mole Verde de Pistache)
Many Mexican moles require hours of cooking and a laundry list of ingredients, but this green mole does not. This vibrant vegan version is made with herbs, baby spinach and pistachios, and the sauce comes together in about 30 minutes. This recipe calls for zucchini or summer squash, but feel free to swap in another roasted vegetable, depending on the season. The chef Enrique Olvera included it in his “Tu Casa Mi Casa” cookbook to show how fresh and seasonal a mole can be.
Sopa Tlaxcalteca (Creamy Chicken Vegetable Soup)
Sopa Tlaxcalteca, from the central state of Tlaxcala, is a seasonal chicken soup simmered with ripe local produce like corn, carrots, mushrooms, squash and squash blossoms. What makes it special is the whole milk that is added to the simmering broth. It lends a very slight creaminess that accentuates the sweetness of the vegetables and amps up the richness of the chicken stock. There are many soups in Mexico, but this is easily one of the most comforting.
Papadzules (Eggs and Asparagus in Tortillas With Pepita Sauce)
A dish from the Yucatán Peninsula in southeastern Mexico, papadzules are similar to enchiladas in that they feature tortillas that are dipped and coated in a sauce, then filled, rolled and topped with more sauce. Traditionally, papadzules are served with hard-boiled eggs and topped with a toasted pepita sauce and a spicy habanero-tomato salsa. In this late-spring version, jammy eggs and blanched asparagus serve as the filling, and an uncooked sauce of pepitas and jalapeños finishes everything off. Be sure to cook the eggs for the full 6½ minutes or the yolks will be too runny.
Tacos With Spicy Tofu, Tomatoes and Chard
In these tacos, tofu stands in for meat in a vegan picadillo, cooked in a modified salsa ranchera. I’ve never been one for meat “substitutes,” and I normally don’t advocate using tofu in anything other than Asian dishes. But I find this pretty irresistible, a sort of vegan picadillo. You can make it spicier by adding more chiles, milder by using less. The tofu is cooked in a modified salsa ranchera; being tofu, it absorbs the sweet and spicy flavors of the tomatoes and chiles. I used firm tofu and mashed it with the back of my spoon. Silken tofu is also a good choice, though then you will have something more akin to Mexican scrambled eggs.
Green Rice (Arroz Verde)
There are many ways to make arroz verde, but most have something in common: a brightness and depth from the addition of plenty of fresh green ingredients, such as chiles and herbs. This recipe toasts the rice in oil first, then seasons it with a purée of onion, poblano, jalapeños and herbs. For a more complex dish, replace the cooking water with chicken stock or vegetable stock, and serve it with a side of soupy black beans.
Vegan Arroz con Leche
Rice is a grain enjoyed around the world, and it’s typically eaten in savory forms. In this recipe, sweetened grains are cooked until creamy with almond milk, raisins, star anise, vanilla and flaky Ceylon cinnamon, which is commonly used in Mexican cooking. (Ceylon cinnamon is preferred to the other varieties for it’s sweet, delicate flavor.) This warm and comforting dessert is easily pulled together with ingredients likely already in your pantry.
Encacahuatado de Costillas de Cerdo (Pork Ribs in Peanut-Chile Sauce)
Encacahuatados are mole-like sauces made with peanuts, dried chiles, tomatoes and cinnamon. Traditionally, they are served with chicken and prepared for special occasions, like birthdays and holidays. In Xalapa, a town in central Veracruz along the Gulf Coast, encacahuatados are made with pork, whose richness pairs well with the nuttiness of roasted peanuts in the spicy-sweet sauce.
Pescado Zarandeado (Grilled Fish With Chile-Citrus Sauce)
This pre-Hispanic dish comes from Mexcalitlán, a small island in the state of Nayarit on the mid-Pacific Coast. Originally, the fish was seasoned with a chile-lime salsa and grilled over a zaranda, a pit made of mangrove wood from which the dish gets its name. But there are many regional variations, using either freshwater and saltwater fish, found along the Pacific Coast as well as inland, in the northern central states.
Carne Asada Lorenza
For centuries, Sonoran carne asada tacos have traditionally been assembled in flour tortillas. However, the corn tortilla, salted and crisped on the same grill that cooks and seasons the meat, has been added to the mix, creating a crunchy open taco called the Carne Asada Lorenza. Not only is it a sight to behold, but it has become such a favorite that it’s starting to rival the flour tortilla taco. Once the corn tortilla is seasoned and grilled, it is slathered with refried beans, mounted with copious amounts of melty cheese, and placed back on the grill for the cheese to ooze all over. The taco base becomes a sumptuous bed for the carne asada. Finish it with fire-roasted salsa and guacamole, and you will see what the Lorenza hype is all about.
Mango With Chile-Lime Salt
This take on the classic street food, served throughout Mexico, is encountered often in open air markets, beaches and parks in summer. The original is often made with tajín spice, a store-bought blend of ground chile, lime and salt. This preparation allows you to use any variety of mango, in states of ripeness from soft and juicy to firm, and the homemade chile-lime salt can be used for a variety of savory or sweet dishes as a garnish or topping. If using store-bought chile-lime salt, substitute the ground chile, lime zest and salt with 2 tablespoons of the seasoning.
Beans, Bacon and Avocado Concha Sandwich
Conchas are the most well-known Mexican pan dulce. They are eaten for breakfast with hot chocolate, coffee or milk; as an anytime pick-me-up; as part of dinner or even as dessert. They can also be the base of a satisfying sandwich, creating a welcome clash between savory and sweet. Mexicans seem to be divided on the sandwich topic: Some can’t do without them; some can’t stand them. It is a dish you will not find in a cafeteria or restaurant, but in Mexican homes and lunch boxes. The most well-known versions involve refried beans; this one is filled with chipotle refried beans, bacon and avocado. A sunny-side-up egg can be a good addition.
Salsa Tatemada Norteña (Fire-Roasted Salsa)
Every region of Mexico has its way of making a chunky, fire-roasted salsa, with the classic tomato, onion and chile trio; it goes by tatemada, if charred, or martajada, if mashed. With only three ingredients, regional variations taste radically different based on the chile of choice, which becomes the soul of the salsa, defining its personality. In the Yucatan, the feisty habanero rules, but in Mexico’s north (as well as Arizona and New Mexico), the king is Anaheim chile, whose crisp bite and mild, peppery taste embody this salsa tatemada norteña, a favorite for carne asada cookouts. The secret to making this salsa shine is to be generous with the salt; the charred juicy ingredients will appreciate it. Dip your chips in it, top your quesadillas with it or ladle it on sunny-side-up eggs sitting on refried beans for a northern style variation of huevos rancheros.