Mexican Recipes: How To Make Your Favorite Dishes At Home

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Each flavorful taste of Mexican cuisine is centuries in the making and tradition and heritage are at its heart. More often than not, recipes are passed down generations with little consideration as to exact measurements and more emphasis on muscle memory. Luckily for us, some have sat and recorded what it takes to make recetas de comida Mexicana muy deliciosas.

Served over rice or plain pasta, camarones con rajas consists of sauteed shrimp in a creamy sauce of garlic, onions, poblano peppers and cilantro. Be sure to add salt to the boiling water and avoid other common pasta cooking mistakes as you prepare the noodles. 

For the Camarones Con Rajas recipe, click here.

Carnitas are made of pork braised and browned in lard. In this case, the meat is caramelized in brown sugar and milk during its last pass in the dutch oven. 

For the Brown Sugar Carnitas recipe, click here. 

Best served with pork dishes like tacos al pastor, this pineapple habanero salsa makes for good summer barbecue eating. 

For the Pineapple Habanero Salsa recipe, click here.

A sauce for anything from enchiladas and tacos to shrimp or chicken, mole may seem like a Mexican mystery sauce. Admittedly, its contents are cause to scratch your head: chiles, tomatoes, sesame seeds, lots of peanut butter, raisins and much more. But mole just works.

For the Mole Sauce recipe, click here.

So fundamental to Mexican cooking, pozole has earned two spots on this roundup. In English, pozole translates to hominy, the ground corn used to make grits, a southern U.S. breakfast essential. In this first pozole recipe, the hominy is drained and cooked alongside shredded chicken (or pork) in a red sauce. 

For the Pozole recipe, click here.

An unforgettable childhood dessert, arroz con leche (rice pudding) warms the heart and the belly. The secret to this recipe: orange. 

For the Arroz Con Leche recipe, click here.

Sometimes called pastel impossible or impossible cake, chocoflan lives up to its nickname. In a seemingly impossible and unexpected twist, chocolate cake only adds to flan's inherent yumminess.

For the Chocoflan recipe, click here.

The perfect remedy for when salsa sets your tongue on fire, horchata makes an ideal summer beverage too. Let water, two cinnamon sticks and long-line rice sit overnight. The next morning, use a sieve — a common kitchen tool — to strain any remaining rice, blend in sweet condensed milk and pour over ice. 

For the Horchata recipe, click here.

In the best Mexican restaurants, you will surely find a classic take or modern spin on the enchilada. This simple family recipe results in rolled-up tortillas stuffed with crumbled cheese and covered in chile sauce.

For the Enchiladas recipe, click here.

These potato chorizo taquitos are baked, not fried. The crispiness may be turned down a notch, but the flavors stay the same. Word of wisdom: resist the urge to peep inside the oven too often as your taquitos bake. Wait until about 15 minutes after the taquitos have been placed inside. Learning to let food be as it cooks is a restaurant secret every home cook should know. 

For the Potato Chorizo Taquitos recipe, click here.

Pair the "Gimme Mora" cocktail with Vida Verde's signature guacamole. A no-frills take on the classic tortilla chip dip, this recipe makes a tasty addition to any dinner spread. Avocados are also a famously heart-healthy food, so eat up. 

For Vida Verde's Guacamole recipe, click here.

Order anything off a Mexican menu and prepare for it to almost always be paired alongside a mound of rice placed next to a pool of refried beans. A trademark Tex-Mex recipe too, refried beans pair well with just about everything under the sun. 

For the Refried Beans recipe, click here.

Chef Jose Flores of Brooklyn's de Mole crafted this flavorful guajillo sauce to put on basically anything at the restaurant, but most importantly the fajitas. Make the sauce ahead of time and store in the refrigerator for up to a week for optimal flavor.

For the Red Guajillo Fajita Saucerecipe, click here.

In English, tostada simply means toasted. Pile your toppings high with grilled chicken, healthy veggies and your favorite salsa. 

For the Chicken Salad Tostadas recipe, click here.

Pie crust can be used to make more than iconic pies. Press the crust dough into muffin tins, cover with foil to hold shape and bake. Stuff the crusts with your choice of breakfast meat, green chili salsa, heavy cream and cheese. 

For the Green Chili Mexican Mini Quiches recipe, click here.

What list of Mexican recipes would be complete without a margarita? And this one is a twist on the classic using lemons instead of lime. 

For the Meyer Lemon Margarita recipe, click here.

These crispy chicken flautas will require some at-home frying skill, but nothing too difficult. 

For the Chicken Flautas recipe, click here.

Chili pepper is the key ingredient in camarones a la diablo. The shrimp based dish packs a wave of heat that's complemented by the addition of tomato sauce, red onion and lime juice.

For the Camarones a la Diabla recipe, click here.

Boozy tacos anyone? In this recipe from Esteban Castillo, author of Chicano Eats, chicken is marinated in a blend of tequila, orange juice, serrano peppers, cilantro and more. The tangy combo has a dynamic blend of flavors that are brought to life when then chicken is tossed onto the grill. 

For the Grilled Citrus Tequila Chicken Tacos recipe, click here. 

If you're looking for something to satisfy your sweet tooth, make it jamoncillo de leche. The milk-based fudge is smooth, rich and easy to prepare (plus it only requires four ingredients).

For the Jamoncillo de Leche recipe, click here.

To make this recipe correctly, you'll need to give yourself some extra time to let the pork marinate (overnight is preferable). Once cooking, add it to a tortilla with your burrito fillings of choice, like beans, rice, shredded cheese, avocado and lettuce.

For the Pork Al Pastor Burritos recipe, click here.

Traditional Mexican Chalupas are made of a simple corn masa dough that is fried and topped with a variety of fillings. The crispy street food can be prepared up to two days in advance and stored in an airtight container until it's ready to be served.

For the Crispy Chalupas recipe, click here.