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8 Delicious Street Food Dishes to Try in Mexico

Mexico is one of the best countries in the world for street food, but it is not the same as the rest of Mexican food.

Depending on where you are in the country, you can find different specialties, but a few are worth traveling to try.

On a trip to Mexico, you need to sample some street foods.

1- Tacos

taco is the most important item on the list when we talk about Mexican street food.

To be honest, you could wrap almost anything in a tortilla and call it a taco, but generally, they are filled with meat, and adventurous eaters may select some of the more interesting animal parts, such as brains, eyes, and tongues.

Mushrooms, potatoes, beans, or cheese are some of the taco fillings that vegetarians will find appetizing.

The popular taco al pastor is made with pork cooked on a rotating spit.

In Mexico, these tortillas take on their own flare, with a variety of spicy salsas, guacamole, and fresh onion and Cilantro topping.

2- Tamales

A popular treat in the mornings and evenings, and often served at parties, tamales are a type of corn dough dumpling that comes in a corn husk or banana leaf wrapper.

The singular of tamal is tamal, not the oft-heard “tamale”, which is what the Nahuatl language of the Aztecs means.

The sweet tamales will have sugar, cinnamon, raisins, and bits of pineapple mixed in with the dough, instead of having a filling.

If you want to eat the tamal, you need to remove the wrapping.

They are sometimes served on a bolillo bun at the street stands in Mexico City.

3- Tortas

A bolillo is a Mexican sandwich made with bread.

A torta usually has bean paste on one side of the bun and mayonnaise on the other.

There are variations to the standard.

A camera is made with a particular type of bread roll, and with the addition of a fragrant herb called Palo.

In Mexico City, Pambazos are filled with potatoes and covered in a warm red chile sauce.

Pambazos don’t have the shell of bolillos and are made with bread.

One of the most popular dishes in Guadalajara is torta ahogado, which is filled with meat and served in a spicy sauce.

4- Sopes and Gorditas

There are a lot of different Mexican street foods that are made with corn.

They are cooked on a big griddle, usually wood-fired, or gas-powered.

A sope is a corn disk that is thicker than a regular tortilla and is usually topped with beans and cheese and/or salsa.

In Oaxaca, the same thing is referred to as a “meme.

The tlacoyo is usually made of blue corn and it is very similar.

All of the corn treats can be found at street stalls throughout the country but the names and toppings may vary from place to place.

5- Tostadas

Tostadas are different from tacos because instead of a soft tortilla with a filling inside, it’s a crisp tortilla base that is either fried or baked and loaded with a variety of toppings.

You can get them with almost any kind of meat, seafood, or cheese. Don’t forget to salsa!

6- Quesadillas

The quesadilla is a folded tortilla with melted cheese.

They can be made with corn or wheat tortillas and can be grilled or deep-fried.

Oaxaca cheese, a mild string cheese, is one of the most popular and can be made with a variety of different cheeses.

Sometimes there are mushrooms, squash blossoms, or other vegetables added to a quesadilla.

Huitlacoche quesadillas, which are made with a corn fungus, can occasionally be found.

The salsa is usually put on the outside of the tortilla rather than on the comal for deep-fried quesadillas, which are usually topped with bean paste.

7- Elotes

Most of Mexico’s street foods are made from masa, the nixtamalized corn dough that is used to make tortillas and other food.

The esquites are usually made with plain corn, which is not sweet corn.

The corn cobs are covered in mayonnaise, crumbled queso fresco, chili powder, and lime juice, and served on a wooden stick.

Esquites have the same ingredients but is served as a sort of soup, with the corn kernels cut off the cob and floating in the broth the corn was cooked in.

8- Churros

What could be a better sweet treat than deep-fried sweet dough that is sprinkled with sugar?

Mexicans took to churros readily, even though they were brought from Spain.

It’s important to make sure the churros are fresh because they can be rubbery and disappointing if not.

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