Sweet Tamales - Isabel Eats {Easy Mexican Recipes} (2024)

FAQs

What are sweet tamales made of? ›

Sweet tamales are a Mexican dessert made from a sweet masa corn dough and filled with a variety of fruit, nut and sugary fillings. Common fillings include raisins, pineapples, fruit preserves, cajeta and dulce de leche.

While you can eat a cooked tamale cold, the corn masa will probably feel thick and dry so hot tamales are going to be ideal. The tamale should already be cooked, but if it has been cooled, you can give it a brief steam or pop it in the microwave to warm it up.

Wrapped in corn husks like little gifts, tamales are undeniably enticing. But many traditional recipes–at least those that are now typical in the U.S.–use lard in the corn masa (dough), while pork is a popular filling. For kosher keepers and the halal observant, that takes them off the table.

The filling of Mexican tamales consists of chunks of chicken or pork that have been cooked apart and later mixed with the masa. Cuban tamales, however, are filled with a mix of fried pork and seasoning evenly distributed throughout the dough.

Tamales are a traditional Mexican dish made with a corn based dough mixture that is filled with various meats or beans and cheese. Tamales are wrapped and cooked in corn husks or banana leaves, but they are removed from the husks before eating. Try them served with pico de gallo on top and a side of guacamole and rice.

It's a Time-honored Tradition

Their origins can be traced back to Mesoamerica and they were eaten during the times of the Aztecs, Mayans and Olmecs. Since tamales were portable food, they were often used to feed men when they were away for battle or on hunting trips.

To eat tamales, unwrap the corn husks or banana leaves to enjoy the flavorful masa within. Tamales can be eaten with your hands as a portable snack or breakfast, or they can be eaten with a fork when they are served on a plate.

Corn husks are most commonly used to encase foods to be steamed or baked, imparting a very light corn flavor. Corn husks can be used in the presentation of a dish, but are not edible and should be discarded after use.

Tamales verdes.

The bright, herbal and spicy mix of tomatillo and green chilies pair up with chicken or pork to create the most popular tamal, whether it comes wrapped in corn or plantain.

There are many popular tamales in Oaxaca's most tourist-filled region: salsa verde de pollo, chicken in a sauce of chiles serranos, tomatillos, scented with pungent epazote; mole coloradito thickened with sweet plantains.

Do Mexicans eat tamales for breakfast? ›

Tamales are a favorite comfort food in Mexico, eaten as both breakfast and dinner, and often accompanied by hot atole or champurrado and arroz con leche (rice porridge, "rice with milk") or maize-based beverages of indigenous origin.

Making tamales using masa harina is a good way to make your tamalada (tamal-making party) just a bit easier. Our masa harina is a fine grind, so the texture of your finished tamales will be especially delicate and lovely.

There are sweet tamales filled with fruits, savory tamales filled with meat or vegetables, and plain tamales with no filling at all. The most common tamales are made with nixtamalized corn.

Tamales are a Mesoamerican dish made with nixtimalized cornmeal dough—masa—steamed in a cornmeal husk, or banana leaf, and seasoned with cheese, beans, meats, and other flavors.