15+ Easy Tamale Recipes to Spice Up Your Life (2024)

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Credit: Douglas Merriam; Jan Gautro

Pork is the traditional filling for tamales in New Mexico, but we chose beef filling for these tamales. Adjust the ground chile for more or less heat as you prefer. If this recipe makes more tamales than you need, freeze for up to a month.

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Credit: Johnny Autry; Styling: Cindy Barr

Homemade tamales are a delicious savory food gift, whether around the holidays or just to make someone feel special. For gift-giving, assemble and steam tamales. Cool and freeze, wrapped in husks, in an airtight container. Give frozen to loved ones with a note about reheating.

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This recipe make enough braised pork filling for both the fried tamales and one 10-inch tamale pie.

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Credit: Randy Mayor

These tamales are prepared the traditional way, making them a little time-intensive, so be sure to carve out enough space in your schedule. However, the incredible results are well worth the extra effort!

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Credit: Lee Harrelson; Styling: Jan Gautro

The shrimp cook as the tamales steam, so they're tender and perfectly done.

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Credit: Jennifer Causey; Styling: Missie Neville Crawford, Claire Spollen

Forming the tamales, albeit time-consuming, is part of the fun. Make it a family activity and set up an assembly line--one person placing the filling, another folding, and a third tying. This recipe uses lard, which actually has less saturated fat than butter.

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Credit: Oxmoor House

Hallacas are traditional Venezuelan Christmas Eve gifts that are lovingly prepared for the recipients. The filling usually starts with whole chicken, pork shoulder, bacon, and beef chuck all separately seasoned, stewed, and shredded or chopped. This lightened version uses leaner cuts of meat, skips the bacon, and stews all the meats together.

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Credit: Beth Dreiling Hontzas; Styling: Rose Nguyen

Take your love of tamales to the dessert table with these sweet twists on the classic Mexican fare. While traditional tamales feature meats such as pork or beef, these tamales calls for pumpkin, pineapple, raisins, and spices, and are served with homemade vanilla and chocolate sauces.

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Credit: Thomas J. Story

These little bites give you that same combination of soft, steamy masa dough and rich filling. To shave off even more time, use cooked chorizo instead of making a pork filling. Masa harina is fresh corn dough that's been dried and ground into flour. Find it in the international aisle of your grocery store or at Latino markets.

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Credit: Raymond Hom

In this recipe, New York chef Alex Stupak shows how to prepare steamed banana-leaf-wrapped tamales. He also gives two variations: fried until crisp (a great trick for reviving leftover steamed ones), and baked as a large pie.

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Credit: Randy Mayor; Styling: Claire Spollen

Serve these individual potpies with a side of spicy black beans.

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If you’re craving tamales but just don’t have the time, this tamale casserole is a quick and easy answer. Homemade tamales can be too time-consuming to prepare on a weeknight, but corn bread mix captures the same flavor. Feel free to experiment with different types of meat, such as ground beef or turkey, or trying chile verde salsa instead of enchilada sauce. No matter how you prepare it, this dish will quickly become a family favorite.

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Credit: James Carrier

Canned nopalitos (cactus strips) are available in well-stocked supermarkets and in Latino markets. Assemble pie through step 3 and make salsa up to 2 days ahead; chill separately. Bake chilled tamale pie about 1 1/4 hours.

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Credit: Lisa Romerein

These sweet potato tamales get a spicy kick with chiles.

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Credit: Ryan Benyi; Styling: Lynn Miller

Tamales are made easy and accessible, especially for busy weeknights, with this simple casserole featuring boneless, skinless chicken breasts, canned enchilada sauce, and crumbled cornbread.

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Credit: Ryan Benyi; Styling: Gerri Williams

If you love tamales, our Tamale Pie is for you. We take a shortcut with a make-ahead savory ground beef and kidney bean filling and top with prepared polenta rounds--tasty and quick!

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