Tacos de tuétano
Tacos de tuétano are tacos of beef bone marrow, roasted or stewed in the bone and scooped into corn tortillas with salsa, a market food that has also become a fixture of upscale Mexican menus.
Overview
Tuétano is the Spanish word for bone marrow, the soft fat inside the long bones. El Diario NY calls it one of Mexico's most popular delicacies and notes that tuétano tacos are easy to find in Mexican markets. The usual bones are from beef legs or chamberete (shank), which were long used mainly to flavor broth.
The blog Julia Eats, writing from San Miguel de Allende in 2019, points out that marrow has been an everyday, inexpensive food in Mexico for generations, both as a taco filling and as a flavor booster for other dishes, even as restaurants have turned it into a luxury item. It describes the texture as silky and the flavor as sweet and nutty.
Preparation
The simplest method is to roast split or cross-cut bones until the marrow is soft and just beginning to render, then bring them to the table with hot tortillas and salsas so diners can scoop out the marrow themselves. Julia Eats describes this style at 13 Cielos in San Miguel de Allende, where roasted marrow tacos come with pico de gallo and a spicy salsa verde, and a stewed version at La Soldadera in Mexico City, spooned into tortillas with salsas, onions, peppers and cilantro.
Marrow is also combined with other fillings. Julia Eats mentions filete con tuétano, steak tacos enriched with marrow, at a northern-style restaurant in San Miguel, and El Diario NY lists marrow sopes, esquites cooked in marrow-bone broth and chef-driven plates such as roasted marrow with chile ash.
Nutrition
Julia Eats notes that marrow is roughly 90 percent fat and recommends eating it in moderation. Because it is so rich, it is normally paired with sharp, acidic salsas and lime.
Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 beef marrow bones, split lengthwise or cut 7 cm long
- Coarse sea salt
- 8 corn tortillas
- 1 cup salsa verde (tomatillo and serrano)
- 1/2 white onion, finely chopped
- 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
- 2 limes
Steps
- Heat the oven to 230 °C (450 °F). Soak the bones in cold salted water for 30 minutes if you want to draw out blood, then pat dry.
- Set the bones marrow side up on a foil-lined tray and sprinkle with coarse salt.
- Roast for 15 to 20 minutes, until the marrow is soft and bubbling at the edges but not completely melted.
- Meanwhile heat the tortillas on a comal until lightly toasted.
- Scoop the marrow onto the tortillas, or let diners do it at the table. Top with salsa verde, onion, cilantro and a squeeze of lime.
For a taco with more substance, scoop the marrow over thin slices of griddled steak.
Where to try it
- 13 Cielos, San Miguel de Allende: Served roasted marrow tacos with pico de gallo and salsa verde (2019).
- La Soldadera, Mexico City: Served stewed tuétano spooned into tortillas (2019).
- Tuétano Taqueria, San Diego, California
Reviews
Reviews and tips open at launch. Readers will be able to share where they found the best version of this and how they make it at home.
See also
References
- "Tuétano—In Mexico, Bone Marrow Is Not Just a Luxury Food". Julia Eats. Retrieved 2026-10-10.
- "5 formas de preparar tuétano". El Diario NY. Retrieved 2026-10-10.