Muy Bueno: Fiestas 
Mexican-Style Thanksgiving Fiesta
When it came to Thanksgiving I knew everyone ate turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and cranberry sauce, what I didn’t know is that they didn’t have tamales and menudo with their meal. However, in high school I quickly learned that my non-Latino friends and classmates had their own family history to tell on a plate.
Like most American families we had turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and cranberry sauce, but that was in addition to the tamales, menudo, chile con queso, homemade pasteles, and whatever else my grandma, mother, and tia’s made for our large family potluck.
So this year at Thanksgiving may your family’s plate be filled with all the recipes you love and treasure most. Remember to write the ones you never want to forget and hold them dear.
If you want to add a few Mexican inspired dishes to your traditional Thanksgiving meal check out these flavorful dishes for some ideas. Even if you don’t want to recreate an entire menu, putting out some pumpkin empanadas or starting the meal with some spicy acorn soup may bring some unexpected conversation to your meal.
From Our House to Yours
May your Thanksgiving be filled with the joys of home and family, warmed by the blessings of friendship, and touched with the beauty of the season.
Galletas de Suero (Buttermilk Biscuits)
Capirotada (Mexican Bread Pudding)
Avocado and Roasted Yam Fall Ensalada (Salad)
Spicy Acorn Squash and Apple Soup
Champurrado (Mexican Hot Chocolate)
We all know the star of Thanksgiving is the turkey but what else is your favorite dish on Thanksgiving?
Photography by Jeanine Thurston
8 Comments on “Mexican-Style Thanksgiving Fiesta”
I don’t see the menudo recipe here. Would love a red menudo recipe.
Dear Yvette, My name is Tita. I was born in Chihuahua, Mexico. In the town of Avalos, high up in the mountains. And grew up in El Paso, Texas. I graduated from Austin High School and graduated in 1956.
My mother and my nana Lola (a Tarumarah Indian) cooked on a cast iron wood fed stove. My mother would sit me and my sister Yvonne on a small table near the kitchen. I learned from an early age to appreciate Mexican food. How it was cooked and the ingredients.While we were still living in Mexico.
I cooked your Carne Guisada yesterday and added an ingredient not listed in your ingredients. I added 3 heaping teaspoons of ground Chiplole pepper.
It was delicious.
Thank you, Yvette. I will send another email in a couple of days
Tita
How to make a blan for desert on Thanksgiving
My gramma always makes the best New Mexico Chile and Thanksgiving just is not the same without it. Its great for pouring over turkey, mashed potatoes, and dipping roles into! Mmmmm
Yummmy Ybette, that sounds perfect for a family Thanksgiving. Making those memorable recipes makes the heart happy. Thanks for stopping by our blog and Happy Thanksgiving. We have a recipe you can try in our cookbook that we hope might be a start to helping you recreate your gramma’s recipe. Our book is available on Amazon.com .
Yummy! In Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic, instead of eating American dishes or adding Caribbean dishes for Thanksgiving, they make Caribbean-ized versions of American Thanksgiving food.
While Thanksgiving is traditionally turkey for most families, I have seen a great deal of families that are from different ethnicities that don’t do turkey. My family is American and my husband was Argentine/Italian and I don’t do turkey. When my daughter was in college, she was vegetarian and I did a whole vegetarian meals. One year it was Mexican, cheese enchiladas, black bean burritos and of course guacamole and salsa. One year it was Chinese. Stir fry, fried rice, veggie egg roll. It was great! These days I usually make a monster lasagna with a monster salad and good bread to dip in a real good olive oil with garlic and parsley. Desert is apple pie. But I have done milanese ala Argentina with chimichurri, french fries, bread of course and flan. So this year I am going to add your brie and figs to go with the veggie appetizers! That is if I can find the figs.
Happy Thanksgiving to all! Buen provecho! What ever it may be!
WOW Donna! Thanks for sharing a sneak peek into your traditions. I LOVE that’s it’s not “traditional” 😉