Mexican Pork Tamales is one of the most popular dishes from Latin America and is now one of the most requested in the United States as well.
Crockpot pork roast has never tasted so good as it will when slow cooked overnight with an authentic red chili sauce. This step by step tamales recipe will show you how to make homemade pork tamales for your next special occasion.
- Make Your Homemade Red Tamale Sauce
- Is It Difficult to Make Homemade Tamales?
- Start the Tamales the Night Before
- Making Masa Tamale Dough
- How to Assemble Homemade Tamales
- Recipe
Tamales are made by spreading a homemade masa dough inside a corn husk, adding the filling of your choice and then rolling up the husk for steaming.
Pork tamales are the basic tamal, fairly common, but you can check out all our different tamales recipes here. We’ve made them with beef, chicken, even a pumpkin and jalapeno vegan variety.
No, you don’t eat the husk, although apparently a certain former president did try to do that in the Great Tamale Incident. That is Jerry. Don’t be like Jerry.
Ingredients
Not counting the red chile sauce, which is made separately (in an individual recipe below), there aren’t very many ingredients in traditional pork tamales.
The masa dough has a few seasonings, lard and chicken broth or stock. The pork filling is really only seasonings and the prepared tamale sauce.
Although I use regular corn husks, I’ve heard that some parts of the world use banana leaves instead. I would really like to try that one day.
Since I’ve used the crock pot to cook the pork roast, I didn’t use any liquid. If you wanted to use a bay leaf or two, be sure to add about ¼ cup of water to reconstitute it.
Is it Difficult to Make Tamales?
No, it’s really not difficult. That’s a misconception. Instead of being difficult, making homemade pork tamales is a matter of there being so many different little steps but each step is really very easy. In this tamales recipe, I’m going to give you the steps that helped me to not only make delicious pork tamales but I also enjoyed the process!
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Start Your Tamales the Night Before
For best results and to save yourself a lot of anxiety, start your homemade pork tamales recipe the night before.
- Rub the pork shoulder roast with your seasonings and place in slow cooker crockpot on low.
- Start your Red Tamale Sauce.
- While the Sauce is simmering, wash the corn husks with a brush and cool water. Clean them well. You need to get rid of any debris and silks.
- Place corn husks in a large pan, dishpan, large bowl or even a thoroughly cleaned sink, if you want. Fill with water and then place something heavy on top to keep them dunked under the water. Soaking them overnight really helped with assembly.
- Finish up the Tamale Sauce and refrigerate for the next day.
- Go to bed.
Make Your Red Tamale Sauce
Making a red tamale sauce yourself allows you to add as much spicy heat as you like.
You can take my basic red tamale sauce recipe and make it in a mild version with California, dried Anaheim chiles or Ancho chiles. Or, you can make your sauce more complex with Guajillo chiles and Pasilla chiles.
Learn about the different dried chiles and their levels of spicy heat at my Scoville Heat Scale.
What if You Don’t Have a Crockpot?
You could use a Dutch oven over medium-high heat to get it going then low heat to cook slowly. In this method, you would need to add liquid and braise the roast instead of slow cooking.
Assembling Tamales the Next Day
You’re going to wake up to that incredible aroma of the pork roast in the crockpot. Yum!
Take the roast out of there and let it cool enough to be able to handle. Shred it up with forks like this.
Cut Up the Shreds for Easier Eating Later
You could leave it like this but I recommend that you cut up the longer shreds with a knife. You don’t need to do a lot of cutting. But, picture this: you go to cut up your tamale into bite sized pieces and you end up dragging out long shreds of roasted pork. To make it easier to cut up, it just makes sense to make the shreds smaller.
I prefer the texture of the shreds over chunks but I don’t want them so long that it makes it difficult to cut easily with a fork.
Remove ¾ cup Tamale Sauce from the quart you’ve made and set it aside for the Masa Dough. Put the remainder in a pan with the pork shreds and begin heating.
Making the Masa for Tamales
- Whisk together the masa harina, seasonings and baking powder. This is easier with a stand-mixer, but can be done with a handheld mixer.
- Melt the lard and add it to the masa harina mixture together with the reserved Tamale Sauce. At this point, it will look like wet sand, the kind of sand you can use to make sand castles.
- Add stock, one cup at a time and mix well after each addition until the masa is smooth and has a texture similar to hummus or like cake batter. It also had sort of the consistency of wet cement that had just been poured but maybe that’s not as appetizing. Let the masa sit there a bit then mix again to see if you need to add another cup of stock.
If you’re not into using lard, you can use vegetable shortening. If you want a vegan alternative for the masa dough, use shortening for the lard and use vegetable stock instead of chicken stock. Use plant-based “meat product” for the filling to keep it completely vegan.
If you’re looking for more details on making this easy masa, you can learn how to make tamale masa dough with masa harina.
I like to transfer the masa dough into a large mixing bowl instead of using the bowl from the stand mixer. It’s not as tall and easier to get into.
How to Assemble Homemade Tamales
Okay, so you see why people are scared to do this, right? There really are a lot of steps. But, honestly, just take it easy with the steps. You don’t have to rush. Nothing is going to happen to your tamales.
- Pat dry a husk. Inspect it to find the smoother side and place it smooth side up, sideways with the skinnier side toward your non-dominant hand. Hold it there and smooth about two tablespoons of masa dough as shown, leaving the bottom ¾ inch or so without dough.
- Add about one tablespoon filling at the top.
- Fold the top over so the edges are touching then push down on the top at the open edge, push it back a little and fold over to form a tube.
- Fold over the skinnier end as shown and then set in a tray with the folded side down.
Some of your corn husks may be too big and you can easily tear them down to size. Some of them will be too small and you can set those aside or layer them to make a wider husk.
If you really want to get creative, you can tear them in tiny strips to tie around the tamales. I didn’t do the tying. It’s not necessary but it makes a pretty presentation, if you want to do that.
Steaming the Tamales
Whew! We’re almost there! You need to steam your fresh tamales. These are open little packets so you can’t put it into water and baking will dry them out. Your goal is moist tamales.
If this is your first time making tamales, you may not want to invest in a big tamale steamer. You can easily use a stock pot or other large pot or pasta pot.
Put water in the bottom of the pan then put one of these steamer baskets in the bottom. Stack up your tamales, with the opening facing up. Cover and begin cooking.
When you’re using a steamer basket, check your water level every 10 or 15 minutes and refill as necessary. Don’t pour the water directly on top. You’ll need to move the tamales out of the way and pour down the middle.
If you want, put marbles or a coin in the water. As long as they’re bouncing around in the bottom, you still have water. If they stop making noise, there’s no more water. when you remove the cover to check the tamales, try not to get any water from the lid directly on the tops of the tamales.
How About a Tamale Steamer?
If you’re going to be doing this more than once, you may want to invest in a Tamale Steamer.
It’s really not very expensive and makes it a lot easier to steam the tamales without contantly worrying about the water level.
Have a look at this 32-Quart Stainless Steel Steamer (aff link). It’s the perfect size for all my tamale recipes. It doesn’t stain like aluminum and withstands all the tamales we make during the year. A lot! Have I mentioned how much I love tamales?
Okay, yes, you’re finished after about 60-90 minutes of steaming. Now you know why people make homemade tamale making into a party with family and friends!
This recipe is going to make about 40-50 tamales. Leave them in the corn husks until you are ready to eat them. You can eat some then store the rest in the freezer. We made two batches, ate some with family for Christmas Eve dinner, gave a lot away and we still have about 20 in the freezer now. I look forward to enjoying them later. Yum!
Can you Freeze Tamales?
Yes! Tamales can be frozen either before steaming or after steaming.
Once you’ve wrapped the tamales in the corn husks, place the uncooked tamales in a freezer bag or other airtight freezer container and place them in freezer for up to six months.
Thaw them overnight in the refrigerator then steam them according to the instructions.
If you want to steam them then freeze them, follow the same instructions but wait until they are completely cool before you pack them away.
Yes, you REALLY can eat a tamale taco and it’s delicious! Let’s call it “tamaco“!
Christian Guzman
You can heat the tamales in the microwave while they’re still covered in the corn husk. Or, open them up and crisp them a little in a skillet.
The heated tamale can be eaten with scrambled eggs or put it in a tortilla with your favorite taco condiments.
More Tamales, Please!
Tamales can be made in many different flavors, savory or sweet. This is just my first homemade tamale recipe because it’s the most common.
I have a new tamale flavor for you to try! Check out my Homemade Chorizo Tamales recipe. More to come!
The biggest question of the day, though, is “What do I serve with tamales?” I’ve planned out an entire feast for you to pick and choose with this What to Serve with Tamales here.
Be sure to also check out my new Easy Chicken Mole Tacos. You’ll love them.
If you’re not quite ready to make corn husk filled tamales, try our Authentic Pork Tamale Casserole with No Corn Husks.
When you’re ready for even more Mexican food recipes, have a look at the meal plans for our Favorite Cinco de Mayo Recipes.
Recipe
Mexican Pork Tamales Recipe
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For more information, be sure to check the recipe details in the attached 24Bite® post.
Equipment
- 6 quart Crock Pot
- Stock Pot and Steamer Basket or Tamale Steamer
Ingredients
Preparing Corn Husks
- 16 ounce Corn Husks
Preparing Pork Roast
- 2 pound Pork Roast
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- 1 teaspoon Pepper
- 1 teaspoon Onion Powder
Pork Filling
- 1 quart Red Tamale Sauce, divided
Masa Dough
- 6 cups Masa Harina, like Maseca
- 2 tablespoon Baking Powder
- 1 tablespoon Onion Powder
- 1 tablespoon Salt
- 1 tablespoon Ground Cumin
- 1 pound Lard
- ¾ cup Red Tamale Sauce
- 5 cups Chicken Stock, or Broth
Instructions
Preparing Corn Husks
- Being careful not to rip the corn husks, wash with cool water and a brush to remove all debris and corn silks.
- Place in a large pan or dishpan or even in a clean sink. Fill with cool water to cover the husks. Place a large heavy dish or plate on top to ensure that the husks are all underwater. Leave them overnight.
Preparing Pork Roast
- Mix together salt, pepper and onion powder. Rub on all sides of pork roast.
- Place in Crock Pot on low and cook for 6-8 hours, or overnight, until fork tender.
- Remove and shred with a fork. Using a knife, cut the shreds a few times so that they aren't too long and stringy.
Preparing Pork Filling
- Set aside ¾ cup of Red Tamale Sauce to use later, for the masa dough.
- Place the shredded pork and the remainder of the Tamale Sauce in a sauce pan on medium-low heat. Cook until heated through, stirring occasionally to ensure that it doesn't stick and burn. If there isn't enough liquid, add a little bit of water or stock, ¼ cup at a time. You don't want to overdo it.
- Once heated, set aside.
Preparing Masa Dough
- Whisk together masa harina, baking powder and seasonings.
- Melt lard. You can melt it on the stovetop. I melted it in a glass measuring cup in the microwave for two minutes.
- Add lard and ¾ cup Tamale Sauce to masa harina mixture. Mix well. It will look like wet sand like you would use to make sand castles.
- Add one cup of stock at a time and mix well until you have FOUR CUPS stock in the masa. Let sit for about 20 minutes for the liquid to soak into the masa harina. You are looking for the consistency of hummus or cake batter. Continue adding stock about ¼ cup at a time, as necessary, to reach the right consistency for spreading easily.
Assembling the Tamales
- Separate and pat dry a few husks at a time. Inspect to ensure that you have the smooth side facing upwards. Turn it vertically and hold the skinnier end with your non-dominant hand. Spread about two tablespoons masa dough as shown in the photos above.
- Using a tamale spreader or the back of a spoon, spread about one tablespoon of the filling in a line close to the top.
- Fold the husk vertically, edge to edge. With your dominant hand, push the top back a little with the filling and curl toward you to form a tube. Fold over the skinnier end and place in a tray with seam side down. Repeat until you run out of one of the ingredients (husks, masa or filling).
Steaming the Tamales
- In a large stockpot, place a steamer basket and fill with water up to the basket. Stack the tamales straight up in the stock pot with the fold at the bottom.
- Cover and heat to boiling then reduce heat to low to keep the water steaming through the tamales. Check the water level every 10-15 minutes when using a steamer basket since the water level is already low. You don't want the water to dry up. When replenishing water, move the tamales out of the way before pouring so you don't get extra water inside the tamales. When removing the lid to check the tamales, try not to tilt it since this might add water to the inside of the tamales.
- Cook for 60 to 90 minutes. After about 60 minutes, pull out one of the tamales and remove it from the husk to check for doneness. If it comes clean from the husk, it's done. If not, keep going for 15 minutes and try again. If still not quite done, you'll need 15 minutes more.
- Remove from heat. Serve immediately. Allow to cool completely before storing in the refrigerator or freezer. When storing, leave them in the husks.
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Notes
Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet. All amounts are estimates and 24Bite® takes no responsibility for actual figures since calculations vary by packaging and supplier. Please calculate the amounts yourself based on package labeling if you have specific dietary requirements. 24Bite®, Kim Guzman or Christian Guzman shall not be liable for adverse reactions or any other outcome resulting from the use of recipes or recommendations on this website or actions you take as a result.
© 2019-2024 Kim Guzman and Christian Guzman. All rights reserved. Subscribe to 24Bite email newsletters.
Red Tamale Sauce Recipe
Red Tamale Sauce Recipe (+video)
Tap to leave a star ratingFor more information, be sure to check the recipe details in the attached 24Bite® post.
Equipment
- Stand up blender or immersion blender
Ingredients
- 8 Red Anaheim Peppers, dried (see notes)
- 2 Arbol peppers, dried
- 2 medium Tomatoes, quartered
- 4 Garlic Cloves
- 3 cups Chicken Stock, divided (or up to 6 cups for desired consistency)
- 1 tablespoon Ground Cumin*
- 1 tablespoon Salt*
- 1 tablespoon Onion Powder*
Instructions
- Carefully split the peppers and remove seeds and membranes. Cut peppers into 1-2 inch pieces. Arbol peppers are small so no need to cut those.
- Using a firm bristle brush, wash peppers.
- Place peppers, tomatoes and garlic in pan with 2 cups chicken stock (or enough to cover). Heat on medium and bring to boil, then reduce to low and simmer for 20-30 minutes until soft.
- Remove all vegetables and remaining spices to blender and blend until smooth. Note: If water has turned too dark, you may want to strain the vegetables to the blender then discard the liquid and replace with fresh chicken stock. Return all to the same pan.
- Simmer for 15 minutes to thicken slightly. Add more spices or salt to taste, if desired.
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Video
Notes
Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet. All amounts are estimates and 24Bite® takes no responsibility for actual figures since calculations vary by packaging and supplier. Please calculate the amounts yourself based on package labeling if you have specific dietary requirements. 24Bite®, Kim Guzman or Christian Guzman shall not be liable for adverse reactions or any other outcome resulting from the use of recipes or recommendations on this website or actions you take as a result.
© 2019-2024 Kim Guzman and Christian Guzman. All rights reserved. Subscribe to 24Bite email newsletters.
Post updated Aug. 29, 2023 from October 19, 2020.
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Felicia Austin says
Wow! These sound amazing but so complicated that’s why I’ve never tackled tamales lol. So if I do make this I know I will freeze a lot. How do I cook from frozen? Do I just put them in the oven or microwave to heat back up or do I have to do something else? Thank you
Christian Guzman says
It’s recommended that you freeze them before steaming and then steam them in the tamale steamer for about 2 hours on the day of serving. I’ve never done that. I cook all of them and put half in a freezer bag. When I get ready to eat the frozen half, I put it in the refrigerator to thaw. Then, I microwave them, three at a time. Be sure to microwave while still wrapped in the corn husk. I’ve never had a problem with them drying out and I eat all of them. I would eat tamales every day if I could.
Erika says
Tamales were always a favorite growing up, and I need to eat them more as an adult. Pork is my favorite too! Thanks for sharing your recipe.
Christian Guzman says
You’re welcome! I hope you enjoy them!
Kushigalu says
Love tamales but never tried it at home. Looks fantastic. Thanks for sharing
Christian Guzman says
I hope you enjoy them!
Beth says
I adore tamales but every time I have made them in the past, they tasted good, but looked terrible! Thanks for all the tips and tricks you’ve shared, they came out beautifully this tine! Thank you so much!
Christian Guzman says
I’m so glad they worked out for you!
veenaazmanov says
Thanks for sharing this unique and delicious recipe. Never tried it ever but I am in for it surely.
Christian Guzman says
I hope you enjoy them! Thank you for visiting!
Capri Lilly says
I made this a family project and started this the night before like you suggested. We had so much fun making these tamales, and had even more fun eating them! Thanks for the delicious recipe
Christian Guzman says
I’m so glad it worked out! Enjoy!
Renee | The Good Hearted Woman says
I’ve always wanted to make tamales, but I’ve always been intimidated because you always hear how labor intensive they are. Your tutorial makes the process very easy to get through. Thank you!
Katie says
Looks delicious! Can’t wait to try this one out.
Carrie Robinson says
I haven’t had good homemade tamales in forever! These look amazing. 🙂
Jessica Formicola says
I’ve always wanted to make my own tamales, and this looks like the perfect recipe to try! Thanks so much for sharing!
Priya Lakshminarayan says
WOw I have never heard of this..but it sure does look interesting..
Brenda Sandefur says
If I could give you 10 stars I would! I am so impressed with your directions and your recipe.
I lived in Arizona for 20 years and thoroughly enjoyed their Mexican food. I had Mexican neighbors who every Christmas would give us tamales & I would bake sweets for them. They taught me how to make tortillas. I have to say their tamales were not as flavorful as yours. We had 14 Mexican restaurants in our town of 10,000 population. None of their tamales were as good as yours either!
I’ve made tamales before, but struggled with the dough and seasoning. Everything about this recipe was perfection! You covered everything!
I had 2 instant pots with steam baskets and a big pan with a steam basket so could cook all my tamales at once. I used your directions on your smaller batch chicken tamales for the instant pot. They came out perfectly! I’m so excited!
We have church potluck dinner every Sunday & this Sunday I’m bringing tamales!🤗 Thank you sooooo much! I can’t wait to try your other recipes and tell everyone I know about you! Your mom must be so proud of you!
Christian Guzman says
That’s really nice. Thank you so much for writing. I love using the Instant Pot for tamales too. I just read in a facebook group that there are 10-quart pressure cookers and I’m hoping we can find one!
Bobbi says
Gave 4 stars because it’s like the one I use, I haven’t tried this recipe yet.
I’m wondering if using dried chillies de arbol and dried chapotle peppers together in this recipe or another… will this combo be too spicy hot for the average person?
Any thoughts are appreciated.
These are what I have on hand.
thanks
Christian Guzman says
If you mean to use only chiles de arbol and chipotle, then I would say that it would be much too spicy for most people. I wouldn’t be able to eat it at all. If you are mixing them with guajillo or California/Anaheim, then I would only use at most 5 chiles de arbol and 2 or 3 chipotle to start. Since this is for tamales, your sauce will be spread out among 35-50 tamales (depending on the size you make them). It means that something that is very spicy won’t seem as spicy once it’s diluted like that. What I suggest is that you make your sauce, using limited chiles then add to it with tasting as you go. It’s okay if it’s a little spicy because it will be diluted down. Even if you don’t have dried guajillo (which is slightly more spicy than California), you can always add ground chiles in a pinch. We have ground guajillo and ground ancho in the pantry for this reason. I hope that helps. Thank you for writing!
Bobbi says
Thank you for responding. I’d better run to the store 😂 I really want people to like these. I suppose I should grab some ancho…. if that’s the mildest. I have 23.3lbs of pork I’m using up. Which I may just do half of that and see how those turn out. When I went to the store originally I thought I had ancho (pablano?) so I bought arbol…. once home I realized I was wrong, I had full bag of arbol….I found dried chipotle online and those sounded like they’d be a good addition, and ordered those not realizing how much heat those & arbol chilli’s had. Thank you, I’m so glad I asked!!!! 😁
Christian Guzman says
If you’re making them for the holidays and you want to try things out before going all in, don’t forget that everything can be frozen and used later. Just so you don’t get too overwhelmed with it.