Tacos in the State of Mexico

The State of Mexico, which wraps around Mexico City on three sides, is a stronghold of weekend lamb barbacoa from towns such as Texcoco and Capulhuac, of Toluca's red and green chorizo, and of the guisado tacos it shares with the capital.

Overview

The State of Mexico (often shortened to Edomex) contains much of the capital's suburban sprawl, so its taco culture overlaps heavily with that of Mexico City. Time Out Mexico, for example, treats tacos de guisado, tortillas topped with home-style stews such as stuffed chiles, rajas with cream or picadillo, as a shared specialty of both entities. Beyond the metropolis, the state's highland towns preserve two distinctive traditions: pit barbacoa and the cured chorizo of the Toluca valley.

Barbacoa

As in neighboring Hidalgo and Tlaxcala, barbacoa here is usually lamb wrapped in maguey leaves and cooked overnight in a pit or brick oven heated with stones, with a pot underneath to catch the juices that become consomé. Chilango lists Texcoco, Capulhuac and Villa del Carbón among the municipalities around the capital with an established barbacoa tradition, and notes that barbacoa fairs in the region are usually held in early summer.

Capulhuac, a little over an hour from Mexico City, is one of the best-known centers. Posta reports that more than 90 local families prepare barbacoa each weekend, marinating the meat for hours, wrapping it in maguey and burying it in a clay-sealed pit for about ten hours. Besides lamb, cooks there also offer beef, pork, goat and meat cooked in avocado leaves. México Desconocido adds two Edomex specialties of the same family: montalayo, a stuffed sheep's stomach, and obispo, a stuffed intestine from the south of the state.

Toluca chorizo

The capital of the state, Toluca, is famous for its chorizo. According to México Desconocido, Spanish settlers introduced pigs and Iberian curing methods to the valley in the sixteenth century, and local cooks adapted the recipe with chiles and pumpkin seed. The railway later carried the sausage to Mexico City. Toluca produces a red chorizo seasoned with dried chiles, garlic, cumin and oregano, and a green chorizo colored with poblano and serrano chiles, cilantro, pumpkin seed and leafy greens. Toluca-style sausages travel well beyond the state: Chilango has profiled Mexico City taquerías that source their chorizo verde, cecina, obispo and other cured meats from Mexicaltzingo, near Toluca, a town the magazine called a paradise of Mexican charcuterie, and serve them in tacos with fried potatoes and avocado salsa.

Lake and insect tacos

México Desconocido lists charales, small fried lake fish served with chile cascabel salsa and lime, among the indigenous tacos of the State of Mexico, Michoacán and Jalisco, and says the best are found at the Toluca tianguis. The pulque zones of the state also share the taste for maguey worms and escamoles found in Hidalgo and Tlaxcala, and its Tierra Caliente in the south shares the jumil (stink bug) with Guerrero and Morelos.

Signature tacos

• Tacos de barbacoa
• Tacos de chorizo verde
• Tacos de guisado

Reviews

See also

• Tacos de barbacoa
• Tacos de guisado
• Tacos in Mexico City
• Tacos in Hidalgo
• Tacos in Tlaxcala

References

1. "Descubre el municipio del Edomex donde se comen los mejores tacos de barbacoa de hoyo". Posta. Retrieved 2026-10-10.
2. "Barbacoa: la historia y dónde comer el platillo dominguero". Chilango. Retrieved 2026-10-10.
3. "Chorizo toluqueño, un tradición gastronómica mexiquense". México Desconocido. Retrieved 2026-10-10.
4. "¡Para tacos, sólo México!". México Desconocido. Retrieved 2026-10-10.
5. "Dónde comer tacos de otros estados de México en la CDMX". Time Out México. Retrieved 2026-10-10.
6. "#MartesDeTacos: oda a los rifados de chorizo verde". Chilango. Retrieved 2026-10-10.