New Mexico Pork Tamales
Serves 24 Time Prep: 2 hours Cooking: 2 hours Difficulty 4/5 Ingredients 18 Steps 15
New Mexico Pork Tamales are a classic Southwestern United States meal, made from pork and chicken. This version adds cumin, chili powder and garlic powder to outer masa flour of the tamale.
Ingredients
Meat filling
- 1 cup shredded cooked pork
- 1 cup shredded cooked chicken
- 1 can (15 oz / 400 g) beanless chili con carne
- 2 tablespoons cooking oil
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ⅛ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Wrappers
- 1 package (8 oz / 230 g) of corn husks (contains about 100 husks)
Masa mixture
- 2 pounds (900 g) masa flour
- 3 tablespoons paprika
- 3 tablespoons chili powder
- 3 tablespoons garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin
- 2 tablespoons salt
- 2 cups solid vegetable shortening
- 8 cups warm chicken stock (or 8 cups water plus 8 chicken bullion cubes)
Steps
Meat filling
- Stir the ingredients together. Refrigerate until needed.
Wrappers
- Soak the corn husks in warm water at least two hours, holding them under with a dinner plate if needed.
Masa mixture
- Mix the dry masa flour with paprika, chili powder, garlic powder, cumin and salt until evenly distributed.
- Cut the shortening into the masa mixture with a pastry cutter until it resembles tiny peas.
- Add the chicken broth one cup at a time. Mix well with an electric mixer until the consistency of peanut butter.
- Keep mixing to incorporate air. Ready when 1 teaspoon of batter floats on water.
- Lay one corn husk flat per tamale.
- Spread ½ cup masa mixture over the upward-facing husk, leaving a 1-inch (2.5 cm) gap along the long edge and narrow end.
- Spread 1 tablespoon meat mixture in a narrow band down the middle of the masa.
- Roll/fold the husk along the wide edge, touching the masa edges together, with the meat in the middle. Roll the 1-inch unspread part around the outside.
- Fold about 1 inch of the end of the rolled husk upward along the body, leaving one end open.
- Stand the tamales on end in a steamer basket, open end up. Cover the basket.
- Steam over boiling water 2 hours. Keep the tamales above the water.
- Open one tamale to check the masa is cooked, not doughy.
- Rest the tamales 30 minutes before serving.
Notes from the original
- Leftover tamales may be frozen in ziplock bags.
- Reheat frozen tamales in a microwave. If you reheat by steaming, they may become soggy.
Source. Adapted from “Cookbook:New Mexico Pork Tamales” by Wikibooks contributors, revision of 2025-06-18, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Changes. Steps rewritten into short commands. Introduction shortened. Wiki formatting removed. This adapted recipe is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.