Huaraches are quite a mouthful. They are as versatile as other corn-based meals, but they’re both filled and topped with a selection of ingredients.
Through this powerful combination, they offer a great mix of flavors and textures in every bite. Furthermore, you can pick a wide range of ingredients for the toppings.
To make this dish, we consider three different preparations: the base, the salsa, and the toppings.
To make the base, we typically use corn-flour masa filled with mashed black beans and cheese. Then, we have the salsa. In this recipe, you will find both a green salsa and a red salsa. Both are tasty, and I chose to have the green salsa with one of the most toppings in Mexico City, thin beef steaks.
If you’re vegetarian or prefer to try a plant-based option, I combined the red salsa with avocado, lettuce, diced onions, and cilantro.
Both combinations are delicious, and you’ll need to be very hungry to try them both at once.
Huaraches are filling, and I enjoy their rich combination of flavors and textures.
Common questions about Mexican huaraches
This a very popular recipe in Mexico, but it’s common to find some questions about them. Below you will find answers for these questions.
While sopes and huaraches are made with corn-flour masa, they are very different.
1. Huaraches are filled before cooking them with mashed black beans and cheese.
2. Sopes are circular, while huaraches are flat and oval-shaped.
3. Finally, huaraches are considerably larger than sopes.
If you’re curious about the specifics, you can check my sopes recipe too!
The name of this dish comes from traditional Mexican sandals, which have the upper woven of leather strips. Recently, artisans started to use other materials, and even Nike created a shoes product range based on the huarache sandals concept.
Besides the options I included in this recipe, you can top them with anything you want.
Although beef steaks go well with them, they combine with most meats like fine strips of chicken, pork, or chorizo.
For vegetarian options, you could try seitan, tofu, and roasted veggies, as well.
Now, let’s cook! Find below the recipe with all the ingredients and a step-by-step guide to make them at home.
Mexican Huaraches
Ingredients
- 1½ cup of cornflour
- ¼ cup of all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp of salt
- 1½ cup of warm water
- 1 cup of black/pinto beans, smashed –
- ¼ cupz of requesón or any crumbly cheese
- A bit of oil for the skillet/comal
- 3 tbsps tbsps of lard (to fry)
- Meat of your choice: I chose 1 thin steak, but you can add chorizo, egg, etc.
Green salsa
- 5 tomatillos
- ⅓ of white onion, in medium chunks
- 1 poblano pepper, roasted, no seeds (unless you like it spicy!)
- 3 garlic cloves
Instructions
- Let start with the salsas.
Red salsa
- Put tomatoes and chile in a pot to boil. Remember to save about 1/3 of a cup of boiled water.
- Once the tomatoes are soft, add them to the food processor with the chile, a garlic clove, and the boiled water you saved. Then, blend your red salsa.
Green salsa
- Grill the poblano pepper to enhance its flavor. Then remove the stem and the seeds, unless you want a very hot sauce.
- Transfer the poblano pepper to a pot with warm water and add the onions and the tomatillos.
- Once the tomatillos change their color, turn the heat off. Save 1/3 of a cup of the boiled water from the pot.
- Put the solid ingredients in a blender along with the liquid you saved. Then add salt, garlic, and cilantro.
- Blend very well, and watch out when you take off the lid. The smell can be very spicy.
- Transfer the salsa to a ramekin or any other appropriate container.
Masa and fillings
- Squash the cooked black beans with a potato masher. Remember to drain the water before mashing the beans because we want them to stay as dry as possible.
- Pour the cornflour and a pinch of salt into a separate bowl. To prevent huaraches from breaking, you can add a bit of wheat flour to the mix. Then, add the warm water with one hand, and mix slowly with the other hand.
- Incorporate the masa and mix until it's soft and doesn't stick to the bowl.
- To form the huaraches, try to keep your hands wet. This will make it a lot easier.
- Shape the masa into an oval-like figure. Then make a dent in the middle to fill it with black beans and requesón. Close the huarache wrapping the filling from both sides and pinching the edges.
- Put the huarache over a board covered with plastic wrap, so you can flatten the huarache. Press it using plastic wrap on top too. You can use a tortilla press if you want.
- Add a bit of oil to a preheated pan and cook the huarache for each side until you get a light-brown crust.
- While cooking, sprinkle some water over the huarache to keep it moistened.
- Remove the huarache from the pan and make small holes with the back of a knife to decorate. Additionally, this adds nice crispiness when you fry them.
- Melt lard in a pan and fry well the huaraches for both sides. In the meantime, you can cook your beef steak.
- Put the huaraches on a plate with a paper towel to remove the excess oil.
- Transfer the huaraches to the serving platter. Cover each with your favorite salsa. Then, add the beef, and top with chopped onions and grated cheese.
- If you want to try a meatless option, you can add salsa and top with avocado, grated cheese, and chopped onions. A bit of cilantro matches nicely with this option.
- And now, enjoy!
Video
Notes
If you liked this Mexican Huaraches recipe, you might like some of my other recipes too.
And remember, if you try this recipe and want to share your pictures, tag me @lacooquette on Instagram. I’d love to share your pictures on my IG stories.
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