Types of Tamales: A Guide to the Different Tamales of Latin America
Written by Isabel Vasquez RD, LDN
Tamales are an iconic dish across Latin America, with each country offering its own unique take on this delicious food. From savory to sweet, tamales are made with a variety of fillings and seasonings.
Whether wrapped in corn husks or banana leaves, tamales are a beautiful example of the way Latin American cuisine shares many similarities and many differences. After all, Latin America is not a monolith.
In this article, we'll explore the different types of tamales found across 13 Latin American countries, from Argentianian tamales salteños to Venezuelan hallacas.
Mexican Tamales
We’re starting with Mexican tamales because they’re the first thing that comes to mind when many people think of a tamal. They’re made using a nixtamalized corn-based dough that’s stuffed with ingredients like meat, cheese, and vegetables. This gets wrapped in a corn husk and steamed.
Mexico is also home to sweet tamales. The dough for these is similar to savory tamales, but it’s often mixed with sugar and cinnamon. These tamales are filled with ingredients like pineapple, strawberries, raisins, and dulce de leche. They often come in fun, bright colors like red or yellow!
Since Mexico has so many distinct regional cuisines, it’s no surprise that there are a bunch of different tamales throughout Mexico. Some of the most popular or distinctive ones are:
Corundas: Pyramid-shaped tamales from Michoacán
Oaxacan tamales: filled with a signature black mole sauce
Guanajuato tamales: traditionally made with blue corn giving them a unique color
Huasteca tamales: huge, 8–10 foot long tamales shared at big gatherings
Argentinian Tamales Salteños
Argentina is home to tamales salteños. Unsurprisingly, these originated in the town of Salta, Argentina.
Tamales salteños are made of corn flour that’s stuffed and wrapped in a corn husk. They’re usually filled with boiled lamb or pork head, onions, paprika, and ají peppers.
These are unique because they’re usually wrapped like a tootsie pop, with the ends rolled so the tamal is a spherical shape.
Colombian Tamales Tolimenses
In the Tolima region of Colombia, you’ll find tamales tolimenses. They’re often enjoyed for breakfast in this part of the country.
Tamales tolimenses are made of corn dough stuffed with chicken, pork, eggs, veggies, rice, and spices. Instead of corn husks, they’re wrapped in banana leaves. The wrapping gets tied once at the top to make a round tamal.
Here is a recipe for tamales tolimenses you can try.
Other types of tamales exist throughout Colombia like Tamales Vallunos in the Valle del Cauca region, Tamales Santandereanos in Santander, and Tamales Costeños at the Caribbean coast.
Costa Rican Tamales
Costa Rican tamales are similar to Mexican ones, but they’re wrapped in banana leaves. Plus, the filling often includes rice and potatoes. They’re popular during Christmas time and many families prepare them together as a holiday tradition.
To learn how to make Costa Rican tamales, check out this recipe.
Cuban Tamales
Cuban tamales are fairly small. What sets them apart most, though, is that the meat (usually pork) is chopped and evenly distributed throughout the dough instead of the dough being stuffed with meat.
They also use fresh corn, not just nixtamalized corn, for the dough.
Dominican Pasteles en Hoja
The Dominican Republic’s version of tamales is called pasteles en hoja. Instead of making the dough from corn, Dominicans use starchy veggies like plantains, yuca, or yautia. This makes the dough more gummy and less crumbly than corn-based tamales.
Dominican pasteles en hoja are usually filled with beef, chicken, or other kinds of meat. They’re wrapped in a plantain leaf and then boiled.
Here’s a recipe for pasteles en hoja made with plantains and beef.
Ecuadorian Humitas
Humitas are Ecuador’s take on tamales. They’re fresh corn cakes wrapped in corn husks that are still green. They don’t have a filling, so they have a more mild to slightly sweet flavor than tamales filled with things like meat or veggies.
Guatemalan Tamales
Two distinct types of tamales from Guatemala are tamales colorados and paches.
Tamales colorados are made with corn masa, chicken or pork, and banana leaves. The most important feature is a savory red recado sauce that’s poured all over the tamales.
Interestingly, the dough is boiled on its own first. Then it's mixed with the meat and sauce, wrapped in a banana leaf, and steamed. Here’s a recipe if you want to make tamales colorados.
Paches stand out because they use potatoes in the dough. Instead of topping the tamal with recado sauce, it’s mixed into the dough, which can give it a reddish color. Check out this paches recipe if you want to make them yourself.
Nicaraguan Nacatamales
Nacatamales are large (about 10-ounce) tamales from Nicaragua. They have lots of fillings: pork or chicken, adobo sauce, potato, tomato, raisins, olives, prunes, chilli peppers, peanuts, and more.
They’re often eaten for breakfast with coffee and bread.
If you want to make them yourself, check out this nacatamales recipe.
Panamanian Tamales
Tamales from Panama tend to have a wetter dough than Mexican tamales, making them a little messier to eat. They’re cooked in a flavorful broth instead of water, and they’re usually filled with chicken or pork. Before being cooked, they’re wrapped in plantain leaves.
Try this Panamanian tamales recipe to make them yourself.
Peruvian Tamalitos Verdes
Peru is home to tamalitos verdes. As the name suggests, these are little tamales that incorporate herbs (like cilantro) in the dough that makes it turn green. Since they’re small, they’re usually eaten as an appetizer or side dish.
Here’s a simple recipe for Peruvian tamalitos verdes.
Puerto Rican Pasteles en Hoja
As someone who’s Puerto Rican and Dominican, I know how close Puerto Rican and Dominican cuisines are. Their versions of tamales are no exception.
Just like the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico’s version of tamales are called pasteles en hoja. They’re made just like in the DR—with plantains or root veggies in the dough, some kind of meat in the filling, all wrapped in a banana leaf.
Salvadorian Tamales Pisques
El Salvador has a more typical tamal filled with chicken and veggies, but they also have a unique type of tamal called tamales pisques. These are bean tamales. They use nixtamalized corn to make the dough and refried beans for the filling.
Check out this authentic tamales pisques recipe to make them yourself.
Venezuelan Hallacas
In Venezuela, their version of tamales is called hallacas. Hallacas are made of corn dough filled with meat (e.g. beef, pork, chicken). In addition to meat, hallacas’ filling often includes raisins, olives, onions, capers, and bell peppers. They’re wrapped in banana leaves before being boiled.
Final Thoughts
Most Latin American countries have a version of tamales, from Dominican pasteles en hoja to Venezuelan hallacas. They’re usually some sort of corn or starchy veggie-based dough that’s mixed or filled with meat, veggies, or beans, wrapped in a corn or banana leaf, and boiled.
In many countries, tamales are a traditional holiday food because they take a lot of work to prepare, but in some places, tamales are enjoyed on a weekly basis.
They’re one of many beautiful foods that help us to celebrate and connect with our Latin American cultures and families!
For education on how to ADD nutrition to your favorite Latine cultural dishes, make peace with food, and focus on your health without dieting, join our nutrition library for just $27/month.
If you liked this post, you may also like:
Are Enchiladas Healthy? A nutrition breakdown of enchiladas.
