This rich chicken stock is the base for many typical Mexican soups and rice dishes. I like to freeze the stock in 1 cup portions so that I always have some on hand when a recipe calls for it.

The recipe calls for cilantro which can be substituted with parsley if you don’t care for the taste of cilantro.

Ingredients:

• 1 whole chicken quartered
• 1 medium white onion chopped
• 2 carrot cleaned and chopped
• 1 celery stalk cleaned and chopped
• 3 cloves of garlic peeled and crushed
• 6 sprigs of cilantro
• 12 peppercorns
• salt to taste

Directions:

Bring 3 quarts of water to a boil reduce heat to low. Add chicken and simmer for 20 minutes. Remove any scum that floats to the top.

Add all vegetables and simmer for 1 hour.

Remove chicken to a plate and allow to cool.

Simmer the remaining vegetables and stock for 15 minutes.

Strain the stock and discard the vegetables and remaining solids. Salt to taste.

Remove chicken meat from the bone, shred and save to use in other recipes like enchiladas and tacos.

Try this classic green enchilada sauce eaten throughout Mexico. It is usually served over chicken enchiladas. Poblano, and serrano chiles give it heat. The tomatillos give it a nice acidic kick.

It is a simple salsa recipe that requires 15 minutes of prep time and 30 minutes to cook. It will keep in the refrigerator for 3 days and 3 months in the freezer.

This sauce has some bite to it. You will want to add cheese and sour cream to your enchiladas to balance the acidity of the tomatillos and reduce the heat from the chiles.

Ingredients

• 6 Poblano chiles roasted and peeled
• 1.5 pounds of tomatillos - husks removed, rinsed, and chopped
• 1 medium onion - chopped
• 3 Serrano chiles - seeded and chopped
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• Salt to taste

Blend all ingredients until smooth. If the sauce is too thick you can add chicken broth or water until the desired consistency is reached.

Gently simmer sauce for 25 to 30 minutes until cooked through.

Makes about 4 cups of salsa, enough for 12 enchiladas.

More Mexican salsa and sauce recipes to try:

Red Enchilada Sauce

Charred Tomatillo Salsa

Authentic Mexican Salsa

Red Tomato Salsa for Tostadas

Hot chocolate is served throughout Mexico. It differs greatly from hot chocolate served in the U.S. The taste is much earthier, richer, and less sweet than hot chocolate made from chocolate syrup.

In the state of Oaxaca, you will find a hot chocolate shop on every corner instead of a coffee shop. Mexicans enjoy drinking hot chocolate on chilly mornings to get the day going, just as Americans enjoy drinking coffee.

The photo below shows Mexican table chocolate used for making Mexican hot chocolate. It is a blend of cacao paste, brown sugar, and cinnamon. It has a coarse gritty texture.

Ingredients

Mexican hot chocolate is simple to make. Ibarra and Nestle Abuelita brand chocolates are fairly common in U.S. supermarkets.

Serves 2

• 2 cups of milk
• 2 ounces of Mexican chocolate
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon real vanilla extract
• A pinch of salt
• 2 cinnamon sticks for garnish
• honey - optional

Directions

Heat the milk in a saucepan until it nears the boiling point. Add the chocolate, sugar, vanilla, and a pinch of salt. You can substitute honey for the sugar. Stir continually until the chocolate is completely dissolved. Do not allow the milk to boil.

Once the chocolate has dissolved froth the hot chocolate with a whisk or molinillo - a special hand blender for making hot chocolate - until it is very frothy. Pour into mugs and garnish with a cinnamon stick.

The finished drink. Buen Provecho!

This is my favorite salsa to serve with chicken tostadas. The oregano flavor really stands out and pairs well with mild flavor of the chicken.

Salsa Ingredients:

• 8 Roma tomatoes or 5 large tomatoes
• 1 medium onion quartered
• 5 chiles de arbol
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 3 teaspoons Mexican oregano
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon salt

Make the Salsa:

1. In a large frying pan, char the the tomatoes, onion, and garlic. Be sure that the tomatoes blacken on the outside which will add extra flavor to the salsa.

2. After the vegetables are charred, put all of the ingredients except the olive oil in the blender and blend for about one minute - until everything is well blended but not pureed. You want the salsa to have some texture when it’s finished.

3. In the same pan that you charred the vegetables add the 2 tablespoons of olive oil. In batches, fry the salsa in the olive oil over medium heat. Frying the salsa is an important step and brings out loads of flavor. Traditionally, you fry the salsa in lard, but I prefer olive oil.

4. Turn the heat to low and simmer the salsa for five minutes which cooks the salsa through, thickens it, and brings all of the flavors together.

5. Remove the salsa from the heat and allow to cool to room temperature before serving. The salsa will keep in the refrigerator for 3 days.

Makes 3 1/2 cups

More Mexican Salsa Recipes to Try:

Green Enchilada Sauce

Red Enchilada Sauce

Tomatilla Salsa

My absolute favorite brand of Mexican hot sauce is Salsa Cholula from Puebla. It’s made from chiles de arbol, a fiery dried red chile.

I put it on everything.  To me it tastes similar to Tabasco hot sauce, but less vinegary. Try it on scrambled eggs or huevos a la Mexicana. It makes the best breakfast ever.

Salsa Cholula hot sauce is easy to find at the grocery store, at least in some parts of the U.S. Most grocery stores in California carry it. And, I believe they carry it in Texas also. Look for it next time you are at the grocery store.

Out of all of the well known Mexican recipes, Guacamole recipes are all time favorites. Guacamole is the perfect blend of ripe avocados, Serrano chiles, tomato, onions, and cilantro. Guacamole is easy to make, tastes great, everybody loves it, and is even good for you. We make it about three times a week.

Let me show you how to prepare authentic Mexican Guacamole. It will take you about 15 minutes from start to finish and will serve 4 to 6 people.

Gather the following guacamole ingredients:

• 4 avocados
• 2 tomatoes
• 1 onion
• 2 serrano chiles
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 4 sprigs of cilantro
• 1 lime for juice (optional)

How to Choose Ripe Avocados

Ripe avocados are key to making a great guacamole. Choose avocados that are dark green in color that give slightly when you when you squeeze it between your thumb and forefinger. If there is no give at all when you squeeze the avocado, it is under-ripe. If the avocado feels mushy when when you squeeze it, it is over-ripe. Avocados that are bright green in color are under-ripe and will take a few days to mature. Never refrigerate avocados.

Assemble the Guacamole

1. Roast the tomatoes, garlic, and Serrano chiles in a pan and allow them to cool to the touch. Dice the tomatoes and onion. Mince the garlic, Serrano chiles, and cilantro. Place all in a large bowl.

2. Remove the flesh from the avocados and place it in the bowl with the tomatoes, onions, chiles, garlic, and cilantro. (Although the cilantro is a traditional ingredient, I usually omit it because I don’t care for the texture in guacamole.)

3. Mash all of the ingredients together with the back of a fork until the avocado has the desired texture.

4. Add the juice of one lime. Add salt to taste. Give it one final stir. Be sure that all of the ingredients are evenly mixed throughout.

Serve with tortilla chips to dip the guacamole.

Your authentic guacamole recipe will be a big hit with your family and at parties.

This recipe is for a classic Mexican red enchilada sauce or enchilada salsa. Try the out the recipe. You will use it over and over because it’s so good.

The main ingredients which give the sauce most of its flavor are ancho chiles and chiles de arbol. The chiles de arbol are what give this enchilada sauce its heat. Reduce their number if you want to prepare a milder sauce.

Provecho!

Ingredients for the red enchilada sauce:

• 12 ancho chiles (large chiles in the photo above)
• 4 chiles de arbol (small chiles in the photo above)
• 2 Roma tomatoes
• 1 small onion chopped into 4 chunks
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 teaspoon of Mexican oregano
• 1/8 teaspoon of cumin
• salt to taste

Prepare the red enchilada sauce:

1. Rinse the ancho chiles and the chiles de arbol under cold water and pat dry. Tear open the chiles and remove the seeds and veins. Toast the chiles, the onion, and garlic in a dry pan or comal over medium low heat until fragrant. This should take about five minutes. Keep turning the chiles so that they do not burn.

2. Bring six cups of water to a boil and add all of the chiles, onion, and garlic. Reduce the heat and simmer for fifteen minutes.

3. Transfer the contents of the pan to a blender and add the oregano and cumin. Blend for two minutes until the mixture is very smooth. Place a towel over the top of the blender while blending to protect from any splatters. Be careful because the mixture is very hot.

4. Return the contents of the blender back to the pan by forcing the mixture through a strainer with the back of a spoon to remove the tough bits of chile skin that remain. Don’t skip this step it greatly improves the texture of the finished sauce.

5. Simmer the strained enchilada sauce for 15 minutes to blend the flavors. Add salt to taste.

This recipe makes about 4 cups of finished salsa. Store the salsa in the refrigerator for 3 days or in the freezer for one month. The recipe for red enchilada sauce also works really well for chilaquiles.

More Mexican Salsa Recipes

Green Enchilada Sauce

Recipe for Authentic Mexican Salsa

Mexican Tomatillo Salsa Recipe

This easy to make recipe for chicken tostadas can be completed in about thirty minutes. Tostadas make a nice light lunch and are very kid friendly. Tell your kids that they are eating flat tacos. They will get a kick out of it.

Chicken tostadas can be assembled from scratch or from store bought ingredients. We usually use refried beans from a can and a homemade salsa.

For this version of chicken tostadas, I used a red tomato based salsa, but you can you use almost any salsa that you like.

Ingredients for Chicken Tostadas

• 2 chicken breasts - shredded
• 8 corn tostadas
• 1 can refried beans
• 2 cups red tomato salsa
• 2 cups shredded lettuce
• 1/2 white onion sliced into rings
• 1/2 cup Mexican cream

Prepare the Chicken Tostadas

Bring 6 cups of water to a boil and reduce heat to low. Simmer the chicken breasts until just cooked through. Remove from the chicken breasts from the water and allow to cool to the touch. Shred the chicken breasts with a fork and set aside.

Heat the refried beans in a pan over low heat. Shred two cups of lettuce. Slice half an onion into rings.

Once the beans are warm assemble the tostadas. Spread the refried beans on the tostada. Add a quarter cup of shredded chicken. Add the shredded lettuce and a few onion rings. Cover with the red tomato salsa and a dollop of Mexican cream. Serve immediately.

Recipe makes 8 chicken tostadas.

A tomatillo salsa recipe that goes well with tostadas.

A tortilla press is a workhorse in any busy Mexican kitchen. Tortilla presses are used to make corn tortillas quickly and uniformly. The dough or masa is pressed between two plates to form the tortilla.

The tortilla press in the photo is made of metal but you will also find presses made of wood. Tortilla presses are available in many stores that sell specialty cookware.

Nothing beats fresh tortillas, hot off the comal. If you prepare Mexican food regularly, you will want to have a tortilla press in your kitchen.

Here is a recipe for leftover turkey soup that I came up with to use all of the good meat and bones from our Christmas turkey. It’s a flexible recipe to make a hearty Mexican style soup from what you have on hand.

Make a Quick Turkey Stock

The first thing you need to do is make a quick turkey stock that is the base for this flavorful soup.

Put 10 cups of water in a pot. Add the leftover turkey bones that hopefully have some meat left on them to the pot. I used the legs, thighs and wings.

Add half an onion cut in chunks. Add one crushed clove of garlic. Add 1 carrot and one stalk of celery cut in chunks. Add 2 toasted ancho chiles and 1 chile de arbol that have the seeds removed.

Simmer on low for 45 minutes. Reserve the bones, vegetables, and chiles. This makes a rich spicy turkey broth.

Assemble the Leftover Turkey Soup

Once you have made the turkey stock you are ready to assemble the soup.

When the turkey bones have cooled to the touch remove all remaining meat and add to the turkey broth. If the meat from the bones is not enough, shred a cup of the leftover turkey and add it to the pot.

Thinly slice 2 carrots and and 1 stalk of celery and add to the broth. Then add one half of an onion that has been diced.

You can add any other vegetables that you have on hand. Diced potatoes or tomatoes would work well in the soup. It’s really up to you. Just add what you think will taste good.

Add 1 teaspoon of crumbled Mexican oregano and 1/4 teaspoon of cumin for more flavor.

Simmer the soup for 45 minutes and add salt to taste at the end of cooking.

Garnish the Turkey Soup

To garnish the soup you can add slices of avocado, a dollop of cream, and a squirt of lime if would like. Serve very hot.

My leftover turkey soup recipe is flavorful, easy to make, and a great way to use up your leftover turkey.