💀 Seasonal collection

Day of the Dead Recipes: Tamales, Candied Pumpkin and Hot Chocolate

On November 1 and 2, families in Mexico set up ofrendas with the favorite foods of the people they remember: candied pumpkin, tamales, mole and chocolate. These are the recipes on our site that belong on that table.

🫔 Tamales

Made in big batches to share.

🇲🇽 Mexico

Red Chile Pork Tamales (Tamales Rojos de Puerco)

Pork shoulder simmered down in a smooth guajillo chile sauce, wrapped in light, fluffy lard-beaten masa and steamed upright in corn husks, the central Mexican way.

4 hr · serves 8 · about 780 cal

🇲🇽 Mexico

Green Chicken Tamales (Tamales Verdes de Pollo)

Shredded chicken in a tangy tomatillo and serrano salsa verde, tucked into masa beaten fluffy with lard and chicken broth and steamed in corn husks.

2 hr 25 min · serves 6 · about 700 cal

🇲🇽 Mexico

Oaxacan Black Mole Tamales in Banana Leaves

Smooth lard-beaten masa, shredded pork and chicken and a spoonful of glossy mole negro, folded into square banana-leaf packets and steamed for an hour and a half.

3 hr 55 min · serves 8 · about 800 cal

🇲🇽 Mexico

Pink Sweet Tamales (Tamales de Dulce)

Sweet masa beaten with whipped lard and sugar, tinted pale pink and studded with raisins, steamed in corn husks and eaten with hot atole or champurrado.

2 hr 5 min · serves 9 · about 590 cal

🎃 Calabaza en tacha

Pumpkin candied in dark piloncillo syrup, a classic on the ofrenda.

🇲🇽 Mexico

Calabaza en Tacha (Mexican Candied Pumpkin in Piloncillo)

Wedges of whole pumpkin, skin and all, simmered for two hours in a dark syrup of piloncillo, cinnamon and orange until they turn deep brown and glossy, the candied pumpkin of Mexico's Day of the Dead.

2 hr 30 min · serves 12 · about 340 cal

☕ Chocolate and mole

Hot chocolate to drink and mole on the plate.

🇲🇽 Mexico

Mexican Hot Chocolate (Chocolate Mexicano)

Mexican tablet chocolate, already sweetened and spiced with cinnamon, melted into hot milk and beaten with a wooden molinillo until it foams.

15 min · serves 4 · about 240 cal

🇲🇽 Mexico

Mesoamerican-Style Cacao Drink with Chile and Annatto

Unsweetened chocolate melted into hot water with red annatto, ground chile, vanilla and a little honey, then poured from cup to cup until it wears a tall head of foam. A modern home version of the drink the Maya and Aztecs prized, not a reconstruction.

15 min · serves 2 · about 240 cal

🇲🇽 Mexico

Enmoladas with Mole Coloradito (Mole Chicken Enchiladas)

Corn tortillas dipped in a brick-red Oaxacan mole of ancho chiles, roasted tomatoes, sesame, almonds, raisins, spices and Mexican chocolate, rolled around shredded chicken and sauced at the table.

2 hr 30 min · serves 6 · about 730 cal

🇲🇽 Mexico

Mole Poblano with Turkey (Mole Poblano de Guajolote)

Poached turkey under Puebla's dark, glossy mole: three dried chiles, charred vegetables, nuts, seeds, fruit, spices and a little Mexican chocolate, simmered for two hours.

4 hr 30 min · serves 10 · about 710 cal

Settle it at the table

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