Tacos de nopales
Tacos de nopales are tacos filled with the tender pads of the prickly-pear cactus, cut into strips and cooked, grilled or dressed as a salad, alone or combined with egg, cheese, chicharrón or other ingredients. Nopales are a staple vegetable of Mexican cooking and a frequent component of tacos placeros and guisados.
The nopal
Nopal is the generic name for cacti of the genus Opuntia, native to the Americas. The Larousse dictionary of Mexican gastronomy describes flat, oval, fleshy pads (pencas) armed with spines and containing a slippery mucilage known as baba; the fruit is called tuna when sweet and xoconostle when sour. Between 65 and 100 wild and domesticated species have been classified in Mexico, which has the greatest recorded diversity. México Desconocido notes that the nopal grows from the north to the center of the country and that its use dates to pre-Hispanic times, when it was also applied medicinally to burns, bruises and wounds.
In the kitchen, Larousse lists nopales in soups, salads, moles, antojitos, meat dishes and tamales, as well as in sweets such as jams and breads. Pads, fruit and flowers are all used.
Preparation
Cleaning and cooking the pads is the main task. The spines and their small bases are scraped off with a knife, the edge is trimmed and the pads are cut into strips or squares. To reduce the slime, Larousse recommends boiling them in plenty of water, steaming them, or cooking them with lime or tomatillo husks; many cooks also grill whole pads until blistered, which leaves little baba.
In tacos
Nopales appear across the taco repertoire. Uno TV, citing the Larousse encyclopedic dictionary, lists them among the standard components of the taco placero, and its regional variants from Toluca combine nopales with chorizo, chicharrón, cream cheese and pápalo. Chilango names nopales among the five essentials of a placero. At the guisado stand in the market of San Pablo Oztotepec, Time Out México found eggs with nopales among the stews, and Grupo Animal's recipe for Oaxacan grasshopper tacos layers chapulines with strips of nopal, mashed avocado and pickled onion.
The simplest version is a warm tortilla filled with grilled nopal strips, fresh cheese and salsa, a common vegetarian taco. Nopales also mix well with eggs, pork in green salsa and beans.
Recipe
Ingredients
- 6 medium nopal pads, cleaned of spines
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 1/2 white onion, sliced
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 1 Roma tomato, chopped
- 1 serrano chile, sliced
- Salt
- 12 corn tortillas
- 150 g queso fresco, crumbled
- Salsa verde and avocado slices
Steps
- Trim the edges of the pads and cut them into strips about 1 cm wide.
- Heat a heavy skillet or comal until very hot and cook the strips in batches, without crowding, until the liquid they release evaporates and they turn olive green and lightly charred, about 8 minutes.
- Push the nopales aside, add the oil, onion, garlic and chile and cook 3 minutes.
- Add the tomato and salt and stir everything together for 2 more minutes.
- Fill warm tortillas with the nopales, top with cheese, avocado and salsa.
Dry-cooking in a hot pan avoids boiling and removes most of the slime. Add two beaten eggs at the end for nopales con huevo.
Where to try it
- Los Consentidos del Barrio, Mexico City
- Tacos Zacapu, Mexico City
- Taquería Revolución, San Diego, California
Reviews
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See also
References
- "Nopal". Larousse Cocina. Retrieved 2026-10-10.
- "Nopal, beneficios y características". México Desconocido. Retrieved 2026-10-10.
- "Taco placero: cómo y cuándo surgió en México". Uno TV. Retrieved 2026-10-10.
- "Taco placero: un significado de familia". Chilango. Retrieved 2026-10-10.
- "Tacos de guisado del Mercado de San Pablo Oztotepec". Time Out México. Retrieved 2026-10-10.
- "Tacos de chapulín: el sabor oaxaqueño". Grupo Animal. Retrieved 2026-10-10.