With the best Mexican food, where do you even begin? Having spent six months in Mexico, I’m completely enamored. With my Mexico food guide, you’re in the perfect place if you’re wondering what to eat and where to eat it in Mexico. It turns out that I was mistaken to believe that I could enjoy another cuisine as much as Thai, Indian, or Vietnamese. Additionally, Mexican food is delicious. Mexican food never gets old to me. Not a single one of the many options is nachos or fajitas. I was shocked to discover that these items didn’t actually exist when I first moved here. While burritos are infrequently seen and nachos are occasionally sold in tourist destinations, they are primarily found near the US border.
A Mexican Food Guide
Maize is the first thing you should know about Mexican food. During my travels, I discovered that a single fundamental component is used in almost every cuisine in various countries. Most Asian countries consume rice, but Eastern Europe consumes potatoes. Corn serves as the foundation for all of the best Mexican cuisines. When crushed and combined with limestone, it produces masa (dough) suitable for making tamales. It is renowned for producing tortillas, which are used to make quesadillas, enchiladas, and tacos. Fried tortillas are used to make chilaquiles and other Mexican foods.
Basically, corn is life or as the Mexicans would say ‘no pais sin maiz’ (literally: there’s no country without corn). This is especially true when you consider that, according to pre-Hispanic religion, the first man and woman were crafted from corn.
Visiting Mexico? Check out my food posts:
Where to eat and drink in Roma & Condesa, Mexico Cit.
Best Mexican food
So, what to eat in Mexico? I hope you never need to ask this question again after reading my guide. The list below includes the best Mexican foods to try, as well as popular Mexican drinks, both alcoholic and non-alcoholic.
What would a Mexico food guide be without tacos? I can’t believe I used to think tacos were hard, crispy shells. Maybe they are in the West but not here in Mexico City (or anywhere else in Mexico for that matter). These soft tortilla circles are made fresh from fresh corn mixed with limestone.
The best Mexican food
So, what to eat in Mexico? I hope you don’t have to ask yourself this question again after reading my guide. The list below includes the best Mexican foods to try, as well as the most popular Mexican drinks, with and without alcohol.
What would a Mexican gastronomic guide be like without tacos? I can’t believe I used to think that tacos were hard and crispy tortillas. Maybe there are in the West, but not here in Mexico City (or anywhere else in Mexico, in fact). These soft circular tortillas are made with fresh corn mixed with limestone.
Tacos come in a range of sizes. Al pastor tacos are normally little, so you’ll need at least three of them to create a meal, although larger tacos can be eaten alone for a light dinner.
Popular taco ingredients include
al pastor– kebab-style meat brought to Mexico by Middle Eastern immigrants. Taco establishments serve it directly from the trompo, complete with onions, pineapple, and cilantro.
Flor de calabaza – a healthy and delectable veggie taco filling.
Fish tacos – freshly-battered pescado (fish) tacos topped with coleslaw and lime. Camaron (shrimp) and marlin tacos are also fantastic.
Chorizo – very self-explanatory; I enjoy a chorizo taco.
Nopales – another vegetarian option, cooked cactus makes a great taco.
Guisado– tacos are stew-style and available in multiple flavors. Guisado taco restaurants include scoops of meat or vegetables in a sauce with your tacos. They’re typically consumed for breakfast or lunch.
Carnitas– which translates as’small meats’, are meat-filled tacos. Whole pigs are used, so be aware that any part of the animal could be involved.
Taco Variations:
When you visit a taco restaurant, you’ll see a few more items on the menu that you might not recognize. They’re not very different from tacos, although they have different names. Some examples are:
- Gringas: Gringas are two enormous wheat tacos that are folded over and filled with pineapple and cheese. Al pastor is a very popular filler.
- Volcanes: Volcanes are crispy fried tacos with cheese poured on top. Tasty, though I like a soft, warm tortilla rather a crispy one.
- Tortas: The sole positive outcome of colonialism was the global spread of bread. Tortas are essentially big sandwiches stuffed with meat, cheese, veggies, and sauce. Tortas are typically large and dripping with many fillings, keeping you filled for hours. The Cubano torta combines ham, milanesa (breaded beef fillet), cheese, avocado, salad, and chipotle. Only order one if you’re very hungry!
Alternatively, pick a torta with 1-3 fillings for a slightly lighter meal (although still not very light). My favourite combination is milanesa, cheese and pineapple. Another mouth-watering torta filling is a cochinita pibil, a type of slow-cooked pork originating from the Yucatan Peninsula. - At local markets and street food stands, you can expect to pay between 30 and 60 pesos for a torta.
- Tostadas: Tostadas are crispy, fried tortillas topped with ingredients. I love a seafood tostada served with fresh prawns (camaron) and avocado, seasoned with a dash of lime.
- If you’re in Mexico City, head to Coyocan neighbourhood for some of the best tostadas of your life at Tostadas Coyoacan inside. Here you can get all kinds of fish and meat tostadas. I’d recommend the chicken (pollo) and mole sauce or the octopus (pulpo).
- Enchiladas / enmoladas: We’ve all heard of enchiladas before, right? Enchiladas, unlike fajitas and other Tex-mex meals, are considered’real’ Mexican food. These huge tortillas are folded over and covered with sauce. Enmoladas are included in the same entry since they are so similar. Both meals are drenched in sauce, as is most of the best Mexican cuisine. Enchiladas are frequently topped with a tomato-based sauce, whereas enmoladas are created with mole. Given my fondness for mole, I’d choose enmoladas over enchiladas any day, though let’s be honest: I’d never say no to both.
- Mole: Mole is a Mexican sauce made from chillies and other components. My favourite is the chocolate-based mole poblano. If you didn’t know, chocolate began in Mexico as a bitter drink before the Spaniards brought it back to Europe and blended it with milk and sugar. Mole is one of the most difficult Mexican meals to prepare, as any Mexican chef or abuela (grandmother) will tell you. Making it from scratch can take hours and includes combining a variety of ingredients such as pine nuts, golden raisins, garlic, and chili, before cooking the paste, adding stock, and stirring the sauce for hours.
An easier approach is to purchase prepared paste or powder from a market and combine it with chicken stock. Alternatively, simply order chicken mole enmoladas at any Mexican restaurant. Other versions include white mole, which I created at a cooking class with Aura Cocina, and pink rose mole (made with rose petals and sesame seeds), which I tried while in Taxco. 6) Pozole I’m not a great soup enthusiast, but I’m craving delicious Mexican soups. Pozole is a popular Mexican dish recognized for its rich taste. While a tomato soup with corn kernels may sound vegetarian, pozole is typically made with chicken broth. However, many vegetarian restaurants in Mexico City will serve it without. Before you order, make sure to ask.
Like most Mexican foods, pozole is only as spicy as you make it. Mexican restaurants tend to serve dishes non-spicy and let you add chilli sauces set at the table. On a cold day in Mexico City (they do exist!), there’s nothing more warming than a spicy, steaming bowl of pozole.
Flautas: Thought there might be a dish without corn coming soon? No chance. For this Mexican dish, corn tortillas are rolled up into flute shapes (flauta means flute in Spanish) and stuffed with ingredients such as potato, beans, cheese and meat.
Sometimes you can combine the flavours and have beans and cheese in the same flauta. Usually they’ll come topped with cheese, lettuce and cream: the ultimate Mexican combo.
Flautas are not my favourite Mexican dish because they can be fatty. Potato flautas are tasteless, however a pig flauta dipped in salsa is rich and delicious.