More Breadcrumbs

Basic Mexican Tamale Dough Recipe

Joshua Bousel
Published: Last Updated:
Basic Mexican Tamale Dough Recipe

A light and flavorful dough to make the best tamales. [Photographs: Joshua Bousel]

This master dough recipe for Mexican tamales starts with either fresh masa (the nixtamalized corn dough used to make tamales and tortillas) from a tortilleria or masa harina (nixtamailzed corn flour that's reconstituted with water or stock). Then lard, baking powder, and chicken stock are beaten into it to create a light, tender, and flavorful tamale that can be stuffed with your favorite filling, like green chili and pork, rajas and queso, or red chili with chicken.

Why It Works

  • Back lard adds a mild porky flavor.
  • Beating the dough until light and airy creates the most tender tamale.
  • Resting the masa for an hour allows for better hydration and lighter tamales.

Read more: How to Make Mexican Tamales

  • Yield:Makes enough dough for about 30 tamales
  • Active time: 15 minutes
  • Total time:1 hour 15 minutes
  • Rated: 3

Ingredients

  • 2 pounds fresh masa for tamales from a tortilleria or 3 cups of masa harina para tamales mixed with 2 cups water or chicken stock and left to rest, covered, for 15 minutes (see note)
  • 8 ounces lard, preferably back lard (see note)
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 2 teaspoons kosher salt
  • 1 cup homemade chicken stock or store-bought low-sodium broth, plus more as needed

Directions

  1. 1.

    Combine lard, salt, and baking powder and, using an electric mixer, beat at medium-high speed until well whipped, about 1 minute.

  2. 2.

    Add one-fourth of the masa at a time to the lard, beating between additions until thoroughly incorporated. Add chicken stock and continue beating until dough is light and has a soft and spreadable hummus-like texture. Cover masa with plastic and refrigerate for 1 hour.

  3. 3.

    Remove masa from refrigerator and re-whip, adding additional chicken stock 1 tablespoon at a time, if necessary, to return it to original hummus-like texture. Use tamale dough in any tamale recipe (see links above for ideas, assembly, and cooking instructions).

This Recipe Appears In
How to Make Mexican Tamales

This post may contain links to Amazon or other partners; your purchases via these links can benefit Serious Eats. Read more about our affiliate linking policy.

Comments
ADD A COMMENT

Add a rating with your comment:

Comments can take a minute to appear—please be patient! Some comments may be held for manual review.

PREVIEW YOUR COMMENT