This post is in partnership with Kroger – all opinions are my own. My dad and I have so much in common. Apart from the fact that our minds function on entirely different operating systems – him: Early50s and me: Presentday 2.1.0 , we really are a lot alike. We love to spend our leisure time outdoors, get incredibly annoyed about the unreliability of the weather forecast, and both order tamales any and every opportunity we can. I’m not sure when my dad was very first introduced to the magic of a tamale, but I still remember my earliest experience and 20 years later I can honestly say that my love for tamales definitely began when our unofficially adopted Itsines family took us in. Wendy and her husband lived just around the corner from my childhood home and once or twice a year she would make a huge (read: HUGE) batch of tamales, stuff a few gallon ziploc bags full of them, and bring them over to our house. It didn’t matter what had been on the docket for dinner that night, when Wendy dropped by with tamales, we put it on the shelf and had a tamale feast. Whatever we couldn’t manage to fit in our bellies that night we’d freeze and savor for the coming months until Wendy came by yet again with a delivery of our beloved tamales. Even after we moved away years later, she’d call up my dad to let him know it was Tamale Time and he’d make a special trip back to our old neighborhood to get them fresh from her house. The Itsines’s treated us like family, and shared their heart-warming recipes with us countless times over the years. I’m so thrilled to be partnering up with Kroger to celebrate the rich beauty of Hispanic heritage for Hispanic Heritage Month! Kroger carries all of the fresh traditional Hispanic staples you need to celebrate right at home in your own kitchen. I’m fortunate to live just three minutes from my local Kroger grocery store and love that I can pop in for a few minutes and, even with all three of my kids in tow, know that I’ll be in and out within a few minutes with all of the fresh, quality ingredients I need for a delicious family meal. To celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, Kroger and I made tamales for you! I wish we could all sit down in my kitchen together and dig in, but due to logistics (ugh) a virtual tamale feast will have to do. The most ideal situation would be that you take a super-quick jaunt over to your local Kroger store, snag some masa, corn husks, fresh salsa, and guacamole (always guacamole) and whip up a batch of tamales so that we can all enjoy them tonight for dinner. Do it! Let’s feast.
How do you make tamales?
Tamales are much simpler to make than you might think! The first step is to make the masa dough and soak corn husks in water for about 30 minutes. Grab a corn husk, add your masa, and stuff it with any filling you like (pork, chicken, beans, cheese) then roll, fold, and tie. All that is left is to steam them on the stovetop OR in your pressure cooker!
What are the best fillings for tamales?
Anything and everything! No really, tamales are so versatile. Here are a few of my favorite tamale fillings:
shredded pork whole green chiles shredded chicken beans mozzarella or Mexican blend shredded cheese chiles
What are the best toppings for tamales?
Again, everything! I absolutely love guacamole, hot sauce or enchilada sauce, salsa or pico de gallo, fresh cilantro, or hot queso.
