Top food in Mexico: my trip favorites

Mexico has some of the most delicious dishes in the world! Before your next trip, read my list of the top food in Mexico!

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One of the mayor benefits of traveling to México over some other places in the world is its gastronomy.

Simply put, México has amazing food!

I was born and raised in México. I’ve had home cooking, I’ve had street food. I’ve also been privileged to travel to many different regions in Mexico. I don’t consider myself an expert, but I can tell you when I taste good, authentic food 😉

México blends its culture into the taste of its cuisine. In this article, my objective is to share with you some of the top food in Mexico that put an exclamation point during my travel.

This article is not meant to evaluate all dishes. For instance, one of my favorite dishes in all of México is enchiladas rojas (red enchiladas). There’s other dishes such as gorditas, mole, cabrito, aguachiles, chilaquiles, and others are definitely very good and very Mexican.

However, I want to simply shift the focus to tastes and bites I’ve had that had me consider heading back to that place “just to try it one more time.” So yes…that good! 😋

Warning: If you’re vegan, this may not be the article for you 😞 If you’re a carnivore, wide cuisine-lover, welcome to the show!

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Here’s my baker’s dozen of top foods I’ve tasted while traveling all of México!

13. Poc-chuc: Mérida, Yucatán

Poc-chuc is composed of two Mayan words: poc (from pok), which means to toast or grill, and chuc, which means charcoal. In other words, grill over charcoal.

This is one of my favorite dishes in the Yucatán peninsula. Poc-chuc is a dish that features a seasoned pork leg accompanied with roasted onion, chiltomate (a traditional sauce from Yucatán), avocado and beans.

I specifically enjoyed the poc-chuc served at La Chaya Maya in downtown Mérida. While you’re at it, try the sopa de lima (a type of soup) and the cochinita pibil (a traditional slow roasted pork dish).

12. Tortas de la Barda: Tampico, Tamaulipas

This dish is an emblematic sandwich from Tampico-Madero (two sister cities). The locals love it, and it is no wonder why.

Its ingredients are: soft bun, chorizo, ham, pork rinds, pork cheese, pork rind sauce, white cheese, beans, shredded beef, tomato, onion and avocado. This combination of flavors will make you keep wanting more.

An awesome combination of different flavors and textures that will reach max harmony in your palate. This will make for a very solid lunch!

Tortas Paquirri and Tortas Brava (GPS: 22.22231° N, 97.86257° W) are two spots I recommend to grab your torta de la barda

Traditionally, seafood is the representative dish in Tampico. So if you’re there enjoying a torta de la barda, go ahead and knock yourself out trying some stuffed jaibas for dinner.

Torta honorable mention: The tortas ahogadas in the state of Jalisco are also very good. If you’re visiting Guadalajara or its surroundings, make sure to try one!

11: Nieve de Garrafa: Tlaquepaque, Jalisco & Dolores, Hidalgo

Nieve de garrafa is Spanish for darn good ice cream.

A nieve de garrafa is made by hand, blending it in a metal mold that contains the ice cream mixture. The mold is made out of metal due to its heat transfer properties. This metal mold sits inside a wooden container with ice and salt. Adding salt to the water lowers the melting point of the ice (remember how you add salt to icy roads in winter?). The wooden container then becomes a very cold chamber where you need some muscle to mix the ice cream into its creamy composition.

There’s several places in central México where you will find nieve de garrafa. There’s two places to rise to the top:

Tlaquepaque, Jalisco: “Chapalita” offers the best tasting ice cream I’ve ever had. Creamy, and delicious. A taxi driver in Guadalajara gave me the pointer. The line outside corroborated the pointer!

Dolores Hidalgo, Guanajuato: this will be an amazing experience if you’re into new/different flavors. You’ll find some exotic flavors such as shrimp with octopus, beer, tequila, carrots with cream, and rose petals to name a few. You’ll also find the traditional favorites, such as strawberry, pecan, vanilla, caramel, and many others!

Ice cream honorable mention: With regards to ice cream, an honorable mention is the nieve de pasta in Pátzcuaro. Very good, too!

10: Pescado Blanco: Island of Janitzio, Michoacán

I’ll start off by saying that I’m not a big fish fan. This fish was so good, though, that the second time I visited Janitzio I was most excited to try the pescado blanco again.

The pescado blanco is fished from the nearby lakes. Unfortunately, the lakes are becoming polluted and mistreated, affecting the population of fish.

The fish is fried, and it is tender in the inside. A squeeze of lime, and voila, you’ve got a great lunch so you can enjoy your day-trip to the island of Janitzio!

9: Blue corn gorditas: Bernal, Querétaro

Coming back to the basics, next in the list are some of the tastiest gorditas I’ve had while traveling in México. Think of a gordita as a thick tortilla, which gets filled with a delicious stew.

Gorditas Doña José in Bernal, Queretaro (GPS coordinates 20°44’29.2″N 99°56’28.8″W), have a few things that differentiate them: they are obviously handmade, they use the traditional & delicious blue corn, and their fillings taste great!

Some of the fillings include chicharron (pork rinds), carne deshebrada (shredded beef), nopales (cactus), picadillo (ground beef stew), potatoes with chorizo, rajas (pepper slices), mushrooms, and beans.

Bernal is one of my top pueblos mágicos in México. Check out my full list of top magical towns!

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8: Burritos: Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua

The burritos in the north are so good that Netflix devoted an entire episode in its series Taco Chronicles (Volume 2: Burritos).

The story behind the burrito dates back to the times of the Mexican Revolution (early 1900’s) when a person selling these freshly-made tortilla-wrapped wonders would show up on a donkey. Donkey in Spanish is burro. Burrito is the diminutive of burro. Tada! 😊

My all time favorites include: barbacoa, deshebrada (shredded beef), and chile colorado (red chile). However, there’s a number of different types of burritos including picadillo (ground beef with potatos), chiles rellenos, avocado, beans, chicken, and several others.

Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, is my hometown. It is located right across the border from the west Texas town of El Paso. If you’re in El Paso, you can simply park your car at the Americas bridge, cross by foot, and walk downtown Juárez to taste this amazing food! Alternatively, some burrito restaurants, such as Crisóstomo, have also opened a restaurant in El Paso.

7: Chiles en Nogada: México City

I’m from the north where I was raised eating chiles rellenos (cheese stuffed chiles). Chiles en Nogada take the concept of stuffed chiles to the next level!

Picture this: poblano chiles stuffed with picadillo (a dish made of ground beef with some spices).

But that’s not all, folks.

The chile is topped with a walnut cream sauce called nogada. In turn, the sauce is sprinkled with pomegranate seeds (yes, that’s right!) and parsley.

You will not find many people who would argue this is NOT one of the top foods in Mexico!

One of the best tasting chiles in nogada that I’ve tasted was in Coyoacán, in the México City metro area, a couple of blocks south of Frida Kahlo’s home museum. Note that this may be a seasonal dish served closer to the fall.

After enjoying your chiles en nogada, you can stroll the streets of Coyoacán and enjoy some delicious churros and atole (traditional Mexican beverage).

6: Tascalate: San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas

Time for another quick Spanish lesson: Tascalate is Spanish for “delicious, traditional cocoa-based beverage.”

Tascalate is a typical, Chiapas-native beverage prepared with either water or milk (I highly recommend it with milk), with a powder mix made up of roasted corn, cacao, achiote, pine seed, and achiote (a spice extracted from a tree). Sounds complicated, but the taste is simply amazing.

It is served cold, and I got to enjoy it with some amazing tamales. I made about three stops at Doña Ame’s tamales in San Cristobal de las Casas in a 2 day span! 😋

TIP: DOÑA AME TAMALES (CALLE 5 DE MAYO IN SAN CRISTOBAL DE LAS CASAS) HAS VERY TASTY TAMALES WITH REGIONAL INGREDIENTS AND THE BEST TASCALATE!

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You can buy the mix and make it at home. Although it is tasty, it doesn’t have the same punch as the one you’ll drink in Chiapas…

5: Tortas de tostada: Santa Clara del Cobre, Michoacan

I’m an engineer by trade. I have to admit the math didn’t seem to add up on this one for me. I love tortas. I’m not really a big fan of tostadas, but they’re ‘ok’. However, tortas + tostadas = amazing in Santa Clara del Cobre!

This amazing food was a recommendation from the one and only Cristina Potters from México Cooks! Thank you, Cristina!

This was a perfect blend of a soft, juicy torta (sandwhich) with a bit of crunchiness from the tostada. The taste was really mind-blowing.

Santa Clara del Cobre is known for its amazing copper handmade crafts. However, the tortas de tostada take a prize with this visit.

We tasted this amazing torta combo right in the main square of Santa Clara del Cobre. It was a small, simple cart. The people working it were very nice! Please look for their small cart if you’re visiting this pueblo mágico.

4: Market food: Oaxaca, Oaxaca

You cannot talk about top food in México without mentioning Oaxaca. Period.

The food you will taste at its markets will be amazing. Netflix once again hits the nail on the head with their series Street Food Latin America (Season 1, “Oaxaca, México”).

Specifically, you’ll have to try both the tlayudas and the meet selections at the market.

A tlayuda is a traditional dish from Oaxaca. It is handmade, and consists of a large, think tortilla that is covered with some type of shredded meat (beef or chicken), avocado, Oaxaca cheese, lettuce, beans, and sauce.

At the main city market, you can hear the sizzle from the meats getting grilled. There’s an area in which you can walk up to the several food stands and pick the meat or meats you’d like to try. The people there will then proceed to cook it for you.

In the mean time, you go and find a spot inside the market. There you will find people walking around selling freshly made tortillas, and will provide you with avocado, sauce, and drinks.

My goodness, this is good!

You can also have a plain quesadilla with Oaxaca cheese 😋

By the way, I don’t recommend adding crickets to your quesadilla. I tried it because ‘why not’. I would’ve enjoyed my meal without those salty & crunchy add-ons.

Oaxaca cheese is another favorite food. It’s similar to string cheese, but much much tastier! Yum!

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3: Carnitas: Quiroga, Michoacan

Let me start off by saying that carnitas (pork) has never been one of my favorites. However, I always knew that Michoacán was known for its carnitas. During one of my travels to this state, a few locals went out of their way to talk about the carnitas in Quiroga.

There’s a number of outdoor carnitas stands at the city center that help make this a memorable trip. In fact, Netflix calls it “the world’s carnitas capital” in their series Taco Chronicles (Volume 1: “Carnitas”).

The mix of types of pork meets, the long process to cook them, and the special techniques used make for a rich, mouth-watering taste that can only be accompanied by soft, freshly-made tortillas and a good salsa.

2: Tamales: Oaxaca State & Chiapas State

Yes, of course tamales! Pronounced taa mah less, not taa mah leez. And the singular form is tamal, not tamale. You’re welcome 😉

Tamal comes from the nahuatl word tamalli, which means “wrapped”. It is a generic name given to various dishes of indigenous origin made with corn dough, cooked with vapor, and wrapped with corn or banana leaves.

I was raised eating tamales in the northern part of México, and those are delicious. There’s something about eating tamales in the south, which are wrapped with banana leaves and are commonly known as oaxaqueños. This gives them a different punch.

Tamales in general can be salty or sweet. My recommendation is to go with the salty tamales. Sweet tamales simply don’t scratch the itch (and I’ve even had cholate tamales!)

Some of the common tamal fillings include a combination of pork, beef, or chicken with different types of sauces and spices, such as red chile, green chile sauce.

Regionally, chipilín (a type of plant) is an ingredient found in Oaxaca. Chaya (another type of plant) tamales is an ingredient found in Chiapas. Both are good, and you should try them if you get a chance.

A great tamal will be moist, but not soggy. It will have rich dough, and a juicy filling. It is also an excellent meal to buy on the go as street food. Yum! 😋

1: …and my top food in Mexico is….

Tacos & street food: Mexico City!!!

This is not a bail-out choice. It is straight-up a dominant category of food that Mexicans in the capital city have perfected.

Where to begin?

Tacos al Pastor

Tacos al pastor is an amazing taco that anyone going to México City should try. It is seasoned/marinated pork beef that is cut from a trompo (or “spinning top”, see below) accompanied by a pineapple on top. The best way to have it is by squeezing a lime, adding some salsa, and chasing it down with a Coca-Cola. Yes, I know. I’m not into soft-drinks either, but trust me on this one…

The taqueros (the person making your tacos) are very skilled, and it may be quite the spectacle to see them prepare your tacos al pastor.

When looking for the best tacos, pay attention to the physical appearance of the taquero. If he is a little gordito (chubby), you know the tacos are going to be good!

Gustavo Martinez

Flor de Calabaza

Flor de calabaza, which means pumpkin flower, is a delicious add-on to your quesadilla! Blew my mind. It is tasty, and blends itself perfectly with the cheese.

Warning: If you’re in México City, believe it or not, quesadillas do not default to having cheese! Make sure to ask for your quesadilla with cheese.

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Tacos de Canasta

If I stopped simply at tacos al pastor, you would not be disappointed. However, there’s several types of tacos you need to try in the streets of México City. For instance, the taco de canasta (basket taco) is a very cheap eat that you will generally find in a basket that will be filled with various stews such as beans, potatoes, or shredded beef.

Other Foods

In México City you will find other types of food that you will likely see in other places in México, such as tamales, tortas, and tlayudas. In other words, you can cover a good amount of culinary ground by visiting México City.

One memorable experience included going to the market in Xochimilco, buying some prepared meat & fresh tortillas, and taking it to a trajinera for a ride at the lake! See my article The Canals of Xochimilco for a few more details.

Bonus: Pan Dulce

Raise your hand if you’ve been to México and you’ve had the fortune of smelling fresh bread at a panadería?

Freshly made pan dulce, or sweet bread, is simply delicious. Walking by a panadería, nothing beats stopping to by a piece (or three), and eating it right away while it is still warm. And, by the way, it is very cheap.

Talk about a bonus!

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What did you think of my list? Please let me know what other stand-out food you’ve had while traveling in México in the comment section below!

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