Stock Your Own Mexican Pantry for Everyday Cooking
Mexican foods, renowned for their vibrant flavors, are among the most beloved in the world. Although there is great legend and lore surrounding them, most recipes are actually not difficult to re-create at home. That is, as long as you have the genuine Mexican ingredients needed to make the best that this Latin American cuisine offers. A complete Mexican pantry is more than a cupboard of cans and dry ingredients. It will include fresh items stored in your freezer and refrigerator, seasonal produce to keep on your counters, a baking section, and if you're like us, many ingredients that grow in your garden.
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Your Long-Term Pantry
Here is where you'll store anything that will last for a very long time on a shelf, when properly packaged. Transfer grains and legumes into jars or bins with tight-fitting lids for longer storage.
Dried goods
Beyond cans and jars, these dried items are a must for creating your favorite Mexican-inspired recipes
Dried beans: black, pinto (the basis for our refried beans), small red, white
Dried corn husks to wrap tamales
Dried chiles such as:
Ancho
Chipotle
Guajillo
Mulato
Pasilla
Lentils
Grains
Of course you'll need rice to make tomatoey Mexican rice, but there are other grains to have on hand, too.
Dried hominy (maíz pozolero)
Assorted dried pastas (small pieces of vermicelli called fideos or angel hair pasta, spaghettini, tiny stars, elbows and shells for soups, macaroni, etc.)
Rice (long-grain and medium-grain white) for dishes such as red rice
Jason Donnelly
Canned and jar goods
The heart of any well-stocked Mexican pantry will include cans and jars of these common Mexican ingredients.
Bitter orange juice (Naranja Agria)
Canned corn
Canned fruits (mango, guava, peaches)
Canned Mexican hominy (avoid overprocessed ones that are snow white)
Canned tomatoes (whole, diced, and crushed)
Capers
Chipotles in adobo sauce
Cooked whole beans
Crabmeat
Evaporated milk
Fire-roasted tomatoes
Hot sauces (make sure to select Mexican brands)
Maggi sauce
Mole bases
Nopales (preserved cactus leaves)
Olives (green and green stuffed with pimentos)
Pickled chiles and pickled chiles in escabeche (usually serranos/jalape?os with vegetables)
Refried beans (pinto)
Roasted bell peppers
Roasted tomatillos
Salsa (or make your own)
Sardines
Soy sauce
Sweetened condensed milk
Tuna
Vinegars (apple cider, white, and pineapple)
Worcestershire Sauce
Your Short-Term Pantry:
Here is where you will keep assorted ingredients that will last only a few months or up to one year in storage and that you'll have to use and rotate more often.
Annatto/Achiote paste
Cooking oils (vegetable, olive oil) especially for frying foods such as these tacos
Dried fruits (apricots, prunes, raisins)
Dried shrimp (found in packets)
Dried spices (it is suggested you rotate these after a year)
Ground cumin and cumin seeds
Ground coriander
Stars of anise
Whole and ground anise seeds
Cloves (whole and ground)
Thyme
Mexican oregano (different from regular oregano, due to a citrusy and licorice flavor profile)
Dried chile powder (mostly Ancho, pasilla, chile pequín, and guajillo)
Allspice
Dried basil
Bay leaves
Dry avocado leaves
Dried hoja santa
Marjoram
Nutmeg
Salt and Pepper
Masa Harina
Mayonnaise
Prepared simmering sauces such as:
Red chile
Chile verde
Tomatillo
Enchilada
Tostada shells
Tortilla chips for dishes such as chilaquiles
Vegetable shortening
Cold Storage Mexican Foods
Your refrigerator and freezer are important elements of a proper pantry. Keep them stocked with key Mexican ingredients at all times; they will save you a last-minute trip to the store.
Refrigerated Foods
Here is where dairy products, fresh fruits, and the vegetables that need to keep cool will live until you're ready to use them. You'll have to rotate these as needed, so check expiration dates.
Butter
Cabbages
Cactus fruits/prickly pears (tuna)
Carrots
Celery
Chayote squash
Cheeses (such as crumbling cheese like Cotija and a?ejo; fresh cheese a.k.a. fresco; melting cheese such as asadero or panela and cream cheese)
Chiles such as
Poblanos
Jalape?os to make this delicious Pico de Gallo
Serranos
Anaheim
Habaneros
Citrus (lemons, limes, oranges, sour oranges)
Corn on the cob when in season
Crema (Mexican crème fra?che), crème fra?che, or sour cream
Cucumbers
Eggs
Fresh cactus leaves (nopales)
Fresh herbs (such as cilantro, parsley, and epazote)
Green beans
Green onions or scallions
Jícama
Lard (for up to 6 months)
Leeks
Long-stemmed onions (cebollas del país)
Mangos
Mexican beer for drinks like micheladas
Milk
Mushrooms
Pineapple
Radishes
Romaine lettuce
Strawberries
Winter squashes (calabaza)
Zucchini and summer squash
Zucchini flowers
Frozen Foods
Here is where you will store those ingredients that you purchase fresh or frozen. Some fresh ingredients will last much longer (sometimes, more than a year), when frozen. Select a drawer or section of the freezer to store your Mexican foods so they're always handy. Here are just some of what we keep in ours.
Baking flours (they will last indefinitely if frozen)
Banana leaves (sold frozen, for tamales)
Corn kernels and whole cobs
Dried yeast (it lasts indefinitely if frozen)
Huitlacoche (corn fungus)
Leaf lard (it will keep frozen for up to 2 years)
Masa harina (lasts up to 2 years if frozen)
Meats such as bacon, beef, chicken, goat (cabrito), lamb (carnero), Mexican chorizo, pork, and turkey
Nuts: (they will keep for up to 2 years when frozen)
Walnuts
Pecans
Almonds (slivered, whole, and sliced)
Peanuts (raw or unsalted and roasted)
Pine nuts
Cashews
Pomegranate seeds (for festive meals)
Seafood (mostly scallops and shrimp)
Seeds (we keep them in the freezer where they last up to 2 years)
Pepitas (hulled pumpkin seeds)
Sesame seeds
Jason Donnelly
Your Perishable Pantry Ingredients
There are always Mexican ingredients that are best bought fresh and that can keep on your counter for a few days. Fortunately, these are ingredients that you probably already use for your everyday cooking and that you will no doubt benefit from having on hand.
Avocados
Citrus (limes, lemons, oranges)
Mangoes
Onions (red and white)
Papaya
Pineapple
Potatoes
Tomatoes (plum and slicing)
Tomatillos
From Your Garden
One of the best ways to make sure you have the freshest ingredients is to grow them yourself. Here are a few Mexican ingredients that we grow in our garden.
Apricots (chabacanos)
Bananas (for the leaves too, in zones 8 and warmer)
Cilantro (only during cold months)
Epazote (best grown in containers so it doesn't invade your garden; used to flavor beans and has an umami flavor that can be described as lemony and rubbery)
Garlic
Hot chiles: chiltepines, jalape?os, poblanos, serranos
Italian parsley
Mexican sour gherkins (cucamelons)
Mint (hierbabuena)
Onions (long-green stemmed)
Purslane (verdolagas)
Quince
Tomatoes (particularly round slicers, called "de bola" and plum tomatoes or "guajito")
Tomatillos
Watercress (berros)
Your Baking Pantry
Desserts deserve their own special category in a pantry filled with Mexican pantry essentials.
All-purpose flour
Almond extract
Anise extract
Assorted alcohols such as rum, orange liqueur, coffee liqueur
Assorted gelatin flavors and unflavored gelatin powder
Assorted marmalades (such as guava, mango, orange, strawberry, pineapple, apricot)
Baking powder
Baking soda
Chocolate
Bittersweet chocolate bars
Cocoa nibs
Coconut extract
Ground raw cacao
Mexican chocolate rounds (pastillas)
Citrus extracts: orange and lemon
Cornstarch (fécula de maíz)
Granulated sugar
Guava and quince pastes (ates)
Mexican cinnamon (Ceylon cinnamon that is brittle so you can toast and blend it into powders. Don't use cassia cinnamon or you will break your appliances)
Mexican vanilla (pods and extract)
Unrefined sugars
Agave
Dark brown sugar
Honey
Piloncillo (unrefined sugar cones)
Pure cane sugar
