Mexican street foods are some of the most popular food in Mexico.

Street foods in Mexico - Most Popular Food in Mexico

Mexico is famous for its white-sand beaches and blue seas, for its warm climate and even warmer people, but perhaps what puts the country on the map is its intensely flavored and colorful cuisine. When it comes to Mexican food, perhaps the most thrilling and varied is street food, and it comes in all colors, shapes, and sizes. Here are five Mexican street food that you must try.

Top 5 Mexican Street Food That You Must Try

Mexico is famous for its white-sand beaches and blue seas, for its warm climate and even warmer people, but perhaps what puts the country on the map is its intensely flavored and colorful cuisine. 

            Mexican ingredients, including cacao beans, chili peppers, corn, and tomato, changed the world as we know it. In Mexico, these ingredients become an extraordinary experience every foodie must live.

            When it comes to Mexican food, perhaps the most thrilling and varied is street food, and it comes in all colors, shapes, and sizes. Here are five Mexican street food that you must try.

1. Canasta Style Tacos

In Mexico, there are dozens of different tacos. Actually, a taco is not a dish, but a catch-all term for anything served over a warm tortilla; they’re a blank canvas for creativity, and cooks make them with anything, from rib-eye to breaded shrimp.

            The tacos de canasta or basket-style tacos are a unique taco presentation, and one of Mexico’s most cherished morning breakfast street food.             

This two-bite-sized specialty starts with an array of fillings, including pressed cork rinds, potatoes, mashed beans, and adobo. The tacos are neatly prepared by hand and tucked tightly in a hand-woven basket, where the food’s own steam and heat turn them into these immensely popular soft treats. Don’t forget to add the traditional green chunky sauce that comes with these.

2. Quesadillas

You might think you know quesadillas, but you don’t until you try the ones crafted in every other corner in Mexico. It all starts with a coal-fired portable stove that heats a thin, flat griddle. The cooks then make the tortillas by hand from corn dough until they’re steamy and slightly charred. 

             It’s time to take your pick. Any quesadilla stand will have at least a dozen stews to fill your quesadilla. Some of the most popular are seasoned minced beef, chicken & tomato stew, zucchini blossoms, sautéed mushrooms, and mashed potatoes with spicy chorizo sausage. 

              Your quesadilla will then be handsomely filled with your chosen stew and a hefty addition of artisan string cheese. That’s a quesadilla right there.

3. Pastor Tacos

The king of tacos is undoubtedly the pastor or shepherd’s style tacos. You might recognize the vertical grill where the marinated pork meat is cooked to charred perfection, it’s like the one used to make Shawarma, Kebabs and Gyros. 

              Actually, it’s thanks to Lebanese immigrants to Mexico, who brought their vertical grill, that the pastor tacos were born. The red-hued meat is marinated with orange juice and spices for the heartiest midnight snack you’ll find in the continent. 

              A fistful of diced onions and chopped coriander leaves, along with your favorite spicy salsa, a drizzle of tangy lime juice, and a slice of grilled pineapple will make you order at least ten of these tacos.

4. Mexican Corn on the Cob 

Corn is the quintessential Mexican staple food, and corn is good! Street vendors with an improvised stove will heat immense pots of water to boil white corn until tender.

              Choose your corn and let the vendor stake it with a wooden skewer, spread mayonnaise generously all over it and sprinkle it with powdered chili pepper, grated cheese, and salt. A lime juice drizzle elevates the straightforward dish to perfection. This is farm to table at its fullest. Who knew corn could be so decadently delicious?

5. Plantains

Because Mexican street food is both sweet and savory, you can’t miss the opportunity of trying a steamed plantain drizzled with condensed milk for the sweetest and most tropical treat you’ve tried in a while.

              Plantain vendors are quite singular. They push a large steam oven on wheels through the crowded streets, releasing the high pressure through a chimney that could easily pass for a steam engine.                The high-pitched chimney sound makes everyone stop what they’re doing to reach over and enjoy the fantastic plantains and sweet potatoes still steaming while you eat them.

That’s Just A Drop in The Bucket

              These are only five extraordinary street foods you’ll find in Mexico, but there’s more where these came from. 

               To fully understand the depth of flavor and the diversity of Mexican street food, you must visit the country, and that’s fantastic! Because the food is only one of many reasons to visit Mexico, the friendliest country on earth.

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