The Best Mexican Cookbooks (Review) in 2020

This first cookbook on our list will have you well within reach of the best of Mexican dishes out there. The Best Mexican Recipes firstly highlights the most vital ingredients needed for an authentic Mexican dish – many of them which can be easily picked off the shelves at a local grocery store. And also contained are some novel methods that work to cut time off the conventional preparation techniques that will put you in a better position to cook with confidence.

The content in the book also serves as a guide to preparing homemade richly flavored dishes that include soups, salads, and stews as well as being suffused with traditional authentic dishes in addition to all sorts of seafood and meaty combos. Among the mouthwatering recipes are some familiar favorites such as tamales, beef enchiladas, classic Mexican rice, grilled fish tacos, stuffed jalapeno, tortilla soup, fresh margaritas, chunky guacamole, and more.

The next cookbook is from the veteran Mexican chef – Gonzalo Guzman. During the time Gonzalo spent with the famous San Francisco restaurant, Nopalito, this culinary expert quickly became a leading name in no time. His cookbook titled ‘Nopalito: A Mexican Kitchen’ bagged the prestigious ‘International’ award from the James Beard Foundation Cookbook Award in 2018. Furthermore, he also made the final list for the IACP (International Association of Culinary Professionals) Book Awards. No doubt, which such accolades under his sleeve, you can trust Gonzalo’s recipes in your kitchen.

His book is a compilation of 100 recipes focusing mostly on regional Mexican dishes from Nopalito (the renowned San Francisco restaurant). What to expect is the true spirit, roots, and flavors of regional Mexican cuisine – from Mexico City to Puebla, the authentic essence of Mexican kitchen comes alive in this cookbook. The writer further took his inspiration from foods straight from the land and sea and is noted for transforming the simplest of ingredients like chiles and masa into flavorful and bright meals.

This next Mexican cookbook emanates from the stables of Margarita Carrillo Arronte, a veritable culinary icon who has invested three decades of her life in researching, cooking and teaching Mexican dishes. Mexico: The Cookbook comes equipped with an unparalleled 700 recipes from across Mexico, displaying the wide variety and essence of Mexican meals. And that is not all; the cookbook is wonderfully illustrated with the aid of full‐color pictures (200 in number).  

Overall, this book is an embodiment of a remarkable compilation of street food, snacks, salads, starters, soups, eggs, meat, fish, accompaniments, deserts, drinks and more. Dishes on the menu include  barbacoa de pollo, Acapulco‐style ceviche, pastel tres leches, and classic salsa ranchera. Each meal comes equipped with notes on the ingredients, origins, and methods of preparation. You will also get some bonus in the form of contributions from celebrated chefs like Hugo Ortega and Enrique Olvera in this Mexican cookbook.  

Armed with her stellar cookery skills, and a powerful blender, the author of Pati’s Mexican Table, is a woman on a mission. Pati Jinich’s principal aim is to prove that home-prepared Mexican meals are easier and quicker than what the majority of Americans think. Jinich anchors Pati’s Mexican Table – a well known ‘PBS series’ and describes herself as overloaded soccer mother with three children.

Her dishes are quite surprising in their freshness and simplicity, integrating grains and produce. Notably, they perfectly blend into your daily home cooking timetable and call for a few ingredients which already exist in your pantry. She learned several of these homey specialties from her mum and grandma with many dishes not popular outside of Mexico, while a good number are novel spins on classics. Look out for tasty meals that include the likes of chicken à la trash, Mexican-style pasta, sweet and salty salmon, divorced Eggs, cheese quesadillas, and Oaxaca-style mushroom.

This next Mexican food cookbook is a manifestation of a genuine love for authentic Mexican recipes. From Alex Stupak – the superstar chef whose life was changed by his appreciation of tasty Mexican meals, motivating him to give up the sphere of fine-dining pastry, and move up to launch the top-notch Empellón Taqueria located in New York City. Now Alex is set to change the manner in which you make and think about the delicious tacos forever.

‘Tacos: Recipes and Provocations’ is described as a deep dive into the technique and art of one among the best culinary exports of Mexico. Begin by using flour and corn to make fresh tortillas, and vary that with flavor infusions and innovative grains. Next, make salsas from complex moles to simple cut condiments that cook for a long time, and retain the flavor after several days. Last, explore the available fillings both modern and traditional from pastrami with mustard seeds to pork al pastor topped with pineapple.

Celebrated chef David Sterling is a globally acknowledged authority on dishes. This culinary expert invites you to accompany him on a cookery exploration of the peninsula in this exclusive cookery publication called ’Yucatán: Recipes from a Culinary Expedition’. Furthermore, he presents the dishes in their localities where they are relished, starting in jungle settlements where the Mayas were known to concoct some ancient recipes with a handful of simple ingredients they cultivate. He undertakes a voyage of more than a thousand miles down the extensive Yucatán coast in a bid to sample a plethora of seafood, share the native dishes at bakeries, street vendors, chicharronerías, cantinas, and home restaurants.

Sterling equally highlights the culinary expertise of the three major cities on the peninsula, which includes the likes of Mérida, Campeche, and Valladolid – in addition to a selection of pueblos well-known for signature dishes. In the course of the tour, the celeb chef serves above 275 genuine meticulously tested recipes that will likely appeal to the professional and novice chefs. Also on the discussion are fundamental cooking methods and pantry staples – he equally offers substitutes for local ingredients that are difficult to find in other places. 

Emanating from the leading authority on dishes of Mexican origin, a compilation of native-packed Mexican delicacies, quite easy for daily meals. In addition to loving the bold aroma of Mexican dishes, Chef Rick Bayless appreciates the fact that, cooking several Mexican delicacies call for more time and effort than most people are willing to spend for weeknight dinners. Thus, he wrote ’Mexican Everyday’ with a good understanding of how busy people tend to be. The book is a compilation of 90 full-flavored recipes; we have the likes of shrimp ceviche salad, green chile chicken tacos, and chipotle steak with black beans. These foods meet the necessary criteria for daily food as they require less than half an hour to prepare, come with a delicious fresh taste of uncomplicated and genuine preparations, and are fully rounded dishes, nutritiously balanced with no requirement for elaborate side dishes. 

The cookery publication is suffused with recipes that have been previously featured on the author’s Public TV series popularly known as Mexico―One Plate at a Time. Overall, this book will furnish you with meals you can relish with both family and friends any day at any time.

Mexican Today comes with fascinating recipes for daily meals from the anchor of the popular PBS series known as Pati’s Mexican Table. Pati Jinich’s PBS Television series is currently running the 5th season, and also appears frequently on other shows like The Chew. A mother of three, Jinich has displayed a dedication to making Mexican culinary expertise appealingly reachable. In her cookery publication Mexican Today, the host of PBS series shares simple as well as generous meals; both her personal new spins and conventional ones. Furthermore, many are regional recipes that the veteran has recovered and updated from history.

You will see the likes of drunken rice served with chorizo and chicken, or miners’ enchiladas served with cheese and fresh vegetables, especially from the Yucatán. We also see the likes of moist tacos with cheese and red tomatoes which are so handy that even bicyclists hawk them on Mexican streets. Even her grandma’s recipe for cornflake cookies are just as up to date now as they were in those days. Jinich has mixed up some other recipes in family favorites like Mexican pizza served with grilled skirt steak and onions. Yet other meals display the progression of Mexican dishes south and north of the border, plus cal-mex fish tacos served with creamy slaw, and Mexican dreamboat hotdogs.

Prepare real Mexican meals at home with writer and top-notch chef Thomasina Miers via his easy and accessible recipes. Goble your way through the collection of appetizing Mexican market dishes with this lively assortment of delightful Mexican food recipes. Pecan bread with banana can suffice for your morning meal, alongside a quick bite of mint, broad bean, and feta quesadillas.

What’s more, you can enjoy some hearty mains such as pork pibil, and wicked puddings can come in the form of peanut caramel ice cream. In fact, Wahaca: Mexican Food at Home will furnish you with a plethora of Mexican cookbook recipes for every imaginable occasion. From dawn to dusk, and even beyond, people from Mexico love to take pleasure in their meals, and with Thomasina Miers’ cookery publication, you’ll be in a better position to do exactly the same.

With the cookery book titled ¡Salud! Vegan Mexican Cookbook, culinary expert Eddie Garza has made it known that it is possible to enjoy the full richness of Mexican dishes in a healthy manner, which in addition to nourishing the body, nourishes our souls as well. In fact, you will find a plethora of mouth-watering reasons to fall in love with meals of Mexican origin, from enchiladas to tamales and churros. Garza’s cookery publication takes both healthy and mouthwatering twist on several of these classic delicacies.

Garza also did well in combining conventional Mexican staples with his inventive culinary techniques. He is one of the leading voices in matters of nutrition and Latino health and is completely committed to the objective of discovering healthier ways of relishing appetizing Mexican meals that are devoid of animal ingredients, and he has achieved exactly that with¡Salud! Vegan Mexican Cookbook.