Tacos in Zacatecas

Zacatecas, a former silver-mining state in north-central Mexico, is known in taco lore for the taco envenenado, or poisoned taco, a large tortilla filled with beans, potato and chorizo and fried golden in lard, and for the lard-fried tacos de papel of the mining town of Sombrerete.

Overview

The best-known tacos of Zacatecas are fried ones. In both the capital and the highland towns, tortillas are filled with simple, filling ingredients such as beans, potatoes, chorizo and shredded meat and then cooked in rendered pork fat until golden. Their names, including poisoned tacos and paper tacos, have become part of the state's identity and a draw for visitors.

Taco envenenado

The taco envenenado is made with a corn tortilla larger than usual, spread with beans, filled with a mixture of potato and chorizo, folded and fried in lard. It is served hot with onion, green chile or salsa and sometimes cheese.

There is no official account of the name, but the most widely repeated story, reported by Mexico News Daily and Luz Noticias, credits a taquero known as Don Lauro, who ran a small stand at the busy railway station in the city of Zacatecas around 1940. A joker by temperament, he is said to have hung a sign reading, in effect, if you want to poison yourself, eat tacos, and to have told customers that his secret ingredient was poison. The tacos, of course, contain nothing of the kind. From the station they spread across the state, and today each taquero claims his own secret touches.

Sombrerete: tacos de papel and brujitas

Sombrerete, a mining town about 170 km north of the capital that joined Mexico's Pueblos Mágicos program in 2012, has two fried specialties of its own. Tacos de papel take their name from their large size and very thin profile; they are fried in lard and filled with beans, strips of cheese, potato with picadillo or shredded meat, and local reports describe a tradition going back roughly 125 years. Brujitas are made from a dough of nixtamalized corn with garlic and salt, stuffed with shredded meat, potato with cheese or beans, and likewise fried in lard until golden.

Birria

Zacatecas also belongs to the birria belt of west-central Mexico. Birria makers from Zacatecas are among the visitors to the national birria festival held each September in neighboring Aguascalientes.

Signature tacos

• Tacos envenenados
• tacos-de-papel

Reviews

See also

• Tacos envenenados
• Tacos dorados
• Tacos in Aguascalientes
• Tacos in Durango
• Tacos de birria

References

1. "What's in a name? Terrible-sounding tacos that taste great". Mexico News Daily. Retrieved 2026-10-10.
2. "State by Plate: Birria estilo Aguascalientes". Mexico News Daily. Retrieved 2026-10-10.
3. "Tacos envenenados: qué son y por qué los consideran una delicia". Luz Noticias. Retrieved 2026-10-10.
4. "El Pueblo Mágico de Zacatecas famoso por sus Brujitas y Tacos de Papel". Tus Buenas Noticias. Retrieved 2026-10-10.