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A traditional Mexican Holiday Treat… Homemade Tamales are made with a delicious beef and salsa Verde flavored Masa and stuffed with shredded beef and steamed to perfection.

**Updated December 19th, 2019

If you’ve ever visited my “About Me” page…you’ll know the birds at this Nest do not all look the same. We’re good with that. It’s who we are! (I think it’s who we should all be!) 

Years ago… I wanted our adopted Hispanic children’s heritage and traditions honored during the Holidays. I decided one way to do that would be to have a “Mexican Fiesta” the day before Christmas Eve.

I knew Tamales are considered a special holiday dish for the people of Mexico, so I wanted to learn how to make them.

Thankfully, I had a friend who knew how. She came over one year, and taught me. It’s one of my favorite memories.

Truthfully, they are not as hard as you would think! A couple of helpful tips before we begin…

1. Have all the prep work done the night before.  (cook the meat the day before)
2. Find a friend who can help you, or put the kids to work!
3. You’ll need a big steamer, or a big pot with one of those fold-able steamer inserts. You can also do them in smaller batches in your Instant Pot on the “Steam” setting for 25 minutes with a natural release of 20 minutes, followed by quickly releasing any residual steam.

How To Make Homemade Tamales

Ready? Here we go… Remember…you are doing this part the night before.

You can use chicken, pork, or beef. We like beef.  I used 8 lbs of Costco Stew Beef or two whole chuck roasts. I prefer the Chuck roast because it contains more fat and fat equals flavor! Place your meat in a slow cooker.

Add 1 can of beef broth, 1/4 cup dried onion flakes, 1 cup finely shredded carrot (this sweetens the meat a bit), 1 cup salsa Verde. (I love the Walmart brand.) 1 teaspoon cumin, 1 teaspoon garlic salt, 1 teaspoon coarse black pepper, and 1 teaspoon Cajun or Mexican spice blend. 

Cover and cook the meat on low for 8–10 hours.

TIP: This is why I said to start the night before. If you do this during the night, then you’re ready to go in the morning.

Fill a large stock pot with hot water. Place 1 sack of corn husks into the pot. Cover and let sit 30 minutes. This will help to soften them and re-hydrate them.

In the morning, when the meat is done…drain the meat, but reserve all the liquid.

TIP: I place a large strainer inside a big bowl, then place the meat in the strainer and allow the juices to drip down into the bowl.

Using a fork, shred the beef and remove any large pieces of excess fat. Place the shredded beef in a bowl with all the leftover Salsa Verde bits from the bottom of the strainer. No sense tossing all those flavorful bits. Also, do NOT skim all the fat off the remaining beef broth. I like to leave a good portion in the broth. That’s the flavor that we want with the masa!

Let’s make the dough or “masa” for the Tamales. I do not like “dry” tamales. The type where it’s like “corn bread” wrapped around meat. NO! This recipe creates a very moist masa. They’re my favorite Tamales ever.

I’ll be honest…this is a tough recipe to write because it’s a “texture” thing more than a “measurement” thing.

You’ll need 2 sticks, or one cup of softened butter. Place in your mixer, with the paddle attachment, and beat the butter until smooth and creamy.

Add 1/2 tsp salt, add 3 – 3 1/2 cups of Corn Masa…one cup at a time, mixing on low. Alternate with the leftover beef broth, about 3 cups, until you have what resembles a very soft, sticky, corn bread dough. If you do not have enough left over beef broth, you can add warm water to get the dough to the right consistency.

Why are we using the beef broth? Because it adds a ton of flavor to the Masa! Especially with some of the leftover fat in the broth. 

You want the dough to be more moist than that pictured above. The Masa dough should be about the consistency of thick corn bread batter. 

It needs to stick to the corn husk and not fall apart.

That’s the next step!

For your “assembly line”… You’ll want your beef on the table, your Masa, and your softened corn husks. Place the husks on top of a towel to catch any excess water. 

TIP: I use a silicone mat to prepare the tamales on. It makes it easy to scrape off any excess masa that goes over the edges of the husks.

Before beginning, take two larger, thicker soaked husks and tear them into thin strips to create the “ties” for your tamales. 

How To Assemble Tamales

Grab a Husk. Lay the large end facing you. Using a spatula or knife, spread the masa from about halfway down the middle of the husk towards the large end of the husk. Go all the way to one side edge, but leave about 1–2 inches from the other side edge. If the husk is too wide…tear it down to a more reasonable size. You’ll want to leave about 3–4 inches towards the narrow edge, or back edge, to fold under.

Place a large portion of meat down the center of the masa. You can make them as full and big as you want. I used to lean towards smaller tamales…that’s all changed in this updated version. I found I like meatier tamales. I placed about 1/3 cup of shredded beef in each tamale. 

To roll the tamale, take the outer edge where you have the Masa to the edge, and roll or fold it towards the edge of the Masa on the side that has 2–3 inches of empty husk. Roll the remaining “empty” edge over, fold the back under towards the seam.

Use one of the torn husk strips and wrap it around the Tamale and tie it in a knot. This will hold the folded end in place and keep the tamale rolled during steaming. 

Just keep spreading, filling, rolling, tucking, and tying until you have used all the beef and Masa dough. You should have about 30 tamales.  I did the spreading of the Masa. My daughter filled, rolled, and tied. It really helps move it along if you can have a Tamale Buddy!

Now you just have to steam them to cook the Masa.

I used to use my Turkey Fryer/Steamer. I realize not everyone has one. That’s okay. You can use a large pot and a steamer insert. Either method will work. You can either stand them up or lay them on top of each other. Again…both ways will work.

Place about 8 cups of water in the bottom of your pot, depending on the size of your pot…it’s okay if the Tamales are sitting slightly in the water.  Cover the pot and bring water to a low boil. Steam for about 30–40 minutes.

How To Steam Tamales in the Instant Pot

Update: I now use my Instant Pot! It makes beautiful tamales! Be sure to place a steam basket inside your Instant pot, add 1 cup of water, and cook on the “steam” setting for 25 minutes. Allow natural release for 20 minutes, followed by a quick release for any residual steam. 

If cooking the traditional steam method, turn off the heat and allow them to sit for 30 minutes, so you don’t burn yourself.  Remove from the pan and lay on a paper towel.

This recipe makes about 30 tamales. That’s perfect! If you’re going to all the trouble to make them…you may as well freeze a bunch. They reheat beautifully if you re-steam them or microwave them for 2 minutes.

Can you see how moist the Masa is? The beef is packed with flavor and so tender. They are wonderful…truly wonderful.

Relish all your hard work and enjoy each and every mouthful!

I love these Tamales.

There are two reason for my deep love for them. One, they’re delicious. (kinda a no-brainer there! Lol) More than that though…they remind me how truly blessed I have been to have two wonderful women selflessly give the gift of children to me.

Learning to make Tamales and trying to honor their heritage is my small way of saying “Thank You!”

I hope you’ll incorporate them into your Holiday Traditions. I’m pretty sure the birds at your Nest will love them as much as the birds at this Nest do!

Other wonderful Mexican Dish Recipes

• Instant Pot Pork Chili Verde
• Easy Fish Taco with Amazing Fish Taco Sauce
• Island Tacos
• Carne Asada Street Tacos
• Easy Beef Barbacoa

This week I’ll be sharing a lot of holiday recipes! Be sure to stop by. Remember to follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest for all the YUM! Have a Great Week!

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