It is easy to understand why Mexican food is one of the most popular cuisines in the world. It is full of bold flavors and bright, fresh ingredients that even the pickiest eater can not deny. From tacos and burritos to empanadas and chile rellenos, Mexican food has something for everybody.
The Mexican cuisine we are familiar with in the U.S. is largely Tex-Mex, a flavorful blend of traditional Mexican dishes with a Texan twist. This fusion cuisine is a testament to the shared history and cultural exchange between Mexico and the southern parts of the United States. Tex-Mex cuisine celebrates locally grown ingredients like corn, beans, and chilies, while the influence of cattle ranching in the region is seen in dishes like shredded beef tostadas and spicy picadillo.
Interestingly, some of the classic Mexican dishes that are beloved on this side of the border are more Tex-Mex and not actually Mexican at all. Yes, they have some of the same ingredients, but the overall dish is something you won’t find in Mexico. In the U.S., many Mexican-American restaurant menus are filled with Mexican dishes people in Mexico don’t actually eat. Of course, these foods are available in popular tourist areas, but you won’t find them in other parts of the country.
If you love Mexican food and want to learn more about your favorite menu items, let’s dive into the guacamole and look at some delicious Mexican foods that aren’t actually from south of the border. (Here’s how to tell the difference between Tex-Mex and Mexican food.)
Chips and Salsa
One of the best parts of dining in a Mexican restaurant in the U.S. is the endless bowls of chips and salsas. Shoveling crispy tortilla chips and zesty salsa into our mouths while eagerly scouring the menu is part of the Mexican-American restaurant experience but it is not actually a thing you will find in restaurants in Mexico. Of course, salsa, in all its glorious variations, is found throughout the country, but it is generally added to your main meal and not served as an appetizer, let alone as a free, bottomless premeal snack.
In Mexico, salsa is served in a condiment dish with compartments for other items like chopped onions mixed with cilantro, sliced radishes bathed in lime and salt, and hot chilies in vinegar. Some places have both red and green salsas, and many taquerias have salsa in squeeze bottles. Every region is slightly different and uses its own local chilies and seasonings. But one thing is for sure: you won’t find a pile of crispy, salty chips in a bowl waiting to be dunked in a hearty salsa on the restaurant table.
Yellow Queso Dip
Queso dip is a quintessential Tex-Mex staple. It’s easy to make at home but also widely available in supermarkets from brands like Tostitos, La Preferida, and Herdez. This fan-favorite dip is an ooey-gooey treat made with a mix of melted cheddar cheese, diced jalapenos, minced onions, and spices and served with corn tortilla chips. Some versions even add in ground beef for a hearty chile con queso dip. This popular dip is on most Mexican-American restaurant menus right next to the guacamole and bean dip, but queso dip is not actually a Mexican food. However, it has Mexican roots in the classic northern Mexican dish queso fundido.
In Mexico, queso fundidio is made with a mix of Mexican cheese, such as queso Oaxaqueno, manchego, Chihuahua, and other regional variations of melty cheeses. It usually has diced poblano peppers, chorizo, and chipotle peppers in adobo sauce swirled into it. Most places serve it with warm tortillas in contrast to queso dip, which is always served with tortilla chips. So, while you won’t find bright yellow cheddar-style queso dip in Mexico, you can still get your melted cheese fix with queso fundido.
Nachos
Who doesn’t love a big pile of tortilla chips smothered in beans and beef with melted cheese, black olives, jalapenos, and a side of sour cream and guacamole for dipping? Nachos are on every Mexican-American restaurant menu from coast to coast across the U.S. They are a favorite among hungry diners because they are inexpensive and filling. From college campus parties to game days to movie nights, nachos make every event better. But while nachos may seem like Mexican food since they have many of the classic Mexican food ingredients, you won’t find them in Mexico outside of areas that cater to American tourists.
While nachos aren’t popular in Mexico, you will find other tortilla chip-based dishes like chilaquiles. This classic Mexican breakfast dish starts with a pile of freshly fried strips of corn tortillas that are smothered in salsa, either green or red, and topped with shredded chicken or a fried egg. It makes for a heavy breakfast that many locals refer to as the perfect hangover breakfast.
Taco Salad
Most Mexican-American restaurants, including fast-food places, serve a taco salad, which is usually a mound of shredded iceberg lettuce topped with either whole pinto or black beans, ground beef or shredded chicken, and veggies like diced tomatoes and black olives. What taco salad lacks in flavor, it makes up for in presentation as it’s often served in an edible fried flour tortilla bowl. The taco salad first made its appearance on menus in the 1960s as a healthy alternative to tacos, but you won’t find this salad outside of the U.S.
In Mexico, salad is a simple affair made with thinly shredded green cabbage that is marinated in vinegar to soften it and then mixed with lime juice and salt. It is rarely served on its own and usually as a side to a plate of carne asada or piled on top of a plate of taquitos or empanadas.
Hard-Shell Tacos
Crispy hard-shell tacos filled with ground beef, cheddar cheese, lettuce, and tomato are an American invention, and you won’t find them anywhere south of the border. Tacos in Mexico are usually served in a small corn tortilla with a meat filling, cilantro, and onions. Most taquerias will have green and red salsa in squeeze bottles or other assorted hot sauces and chilies to add. You won’t find a side of beans, rice, or any other sides.
If you are in Mexico and want something similar to the hard-shell taco experience, then taquitos are the closest you will find. These are sometimes called flautas, which are rolled-up corn tortillas with a filling and then deep-fried. They are crunchy and greasy and will satisfy that hard-shell taco craving. Another possibility is a tostada, which is a flat, round, fried corn tortilla covered with anything from meats to fish to cheese to veggies.
Ground Beef Taco Filling
Mexican-American restaurants usually offer several choices of protein to fill tacos and burritos, like ground beef or shredded chicken. But in Mexico, ground beef is not generally a taco filling. Most Mexican taquerias offer taco fillings like carnes asada, pork al pastor, which is marinated in spices, or carnitas, which are small pieces of pork. Some taquerias even offer tacos made with meats that aren’t traditionally eaten in the U.S., like cow head, cow tongue, cow cheek, or tripe. Taquerias near the sea offer fish and seafood tacos.
The only place you will find ground beef in authentic Mexican food is in a classic picadillo, which is found in Mexico and throughout Latin America, Cuba, and the Philippines. Picadillo has many variations, but in Mexico, it is a mix of ground beef, potatoes, carrots, tomatoes, spices, and seasonings. It is usually served on a toastado or with warm corn tortillas.
Chili Con Carne
There is plenty to debate when it comes to chili con carne, like whether it should be meat only or can include beans or whether veggies, like tomatoes and peppers, are even allowed. Hardcore chili enthusiasts argue that chili is just a meat sauce, while others argue it can have vegetables and beans and can even skip the meat altogether. But one thing that can’t be debated about chili con carne is that you will absolutely not find it in Mexico. While early versions of chili con carne were first created south of the border with dried beef called tasajo and a mix of beans and chilies, the chili con carne of today is a Tex-Mex staple and not Mexican.
The Tex-Mex chili con carne is so popular that it has inspired new variations, such as New Mexican chili verde with pork and Hatch chilies and Cincinnati-style chili that is served over a bed of pasta. There is even a white chili made with chicken and cannellini beans.
In Mexico, of course, you can find beans everywhere, like frijoles negros or frijoles charros, but the closest thing to a hearty stew parallel to chili con carne is pozole. Think of pozole as a cousin to chili con carne, but instead of beans, it is made with dried corn kernels called hominy and either beef, chicken, or pork. Pozole is served with sliced radishes, chopped onions, and fresh cabbage as a topping. It is a filling dish that is just as good, if not better, than chili con carne.
Burritos
Burritos might just be the perfect food because there are so many ways to make them, from breakfast burritos filled with eggs, cheese, and sausage to mission-style burritos with rice, beans, and meat to healthy California versions with tofu, fresh veggies, avocado slices, and crunchy sprouts. You can find burritos everywhere, but one place you won’t find them is in Mexico. While burritos have all of the classic Mexican flavors and could be considered a larger, more filling taco, the burritos that are popular in the States are not found in Mexico.
Flour tortillas or tortillas de harina used for burritos are not generally used in Mexico. The smaller corn tortilla is much more widely used. Some regions of Mexico have something similar to a burrito, but they are much smaller and usually just have one or two fillings. When you compare it to a Tex-Mex or California-style gigantic burrito, they don’t even seem like the same food.
Near the border regions, you may find burritos mojadas or wet burritos made with flour tortillas filled with meat and then covered in either a green or red sauce. These require a knife and fork and are quite different than the portable American-style burrito.
Chimichangas
The chimichanga is an example of taking a good thing and making it better. While not a Mexican dish, the chimichanga was created in Arizona in a Mexican-American restaurant. There is some debate about which Arizona restaurant invented it, as one restaurant owner in Tucson claimed she accidentally dropped a burrito in the deep fryer and that the creation of the chimichanga was a happy accident. Another restaurant owner in Phoenix claims he was experimenting with ways to make burritos better and tried deep frying them. Either way, the chimichanga is considered a dish from the southwest with roots in Mexican flavors but not quite Mexican.
If you find yourself in Mexico looking for a fried food fix, you won’t find chimichangas, but you can find other yummy fried foods like chile rellenos, empanadas, and tortas ahogadas. A chile relleno is a poblano pepper filled with a savory filling, then battered and deep fried. Empanadas are deep-fried turnovers made with corn flour and filled with either sweet or savory fillings. Lastly, a torta ahogada is a sandwich made with white bolillo bread, fried, then covered or drowned in salsa. All of these are just as good as a chimichanga.
Fajitas
Have you ever ordered fajitas in a Mexican-American restaurant? It is a show-stopping experience featuring a hot plate of sizzling peppers, onions, and meat and a basket of warm tortillas. Traditionally, fajitas are made with thin strips of skirt steak, onions, and peppers, but most restaurants also offer fajitas with chicken or shrimp, too. The word fajita comes from the Spanish faja, which means “strip,” and the ending itas means little, making the direct translation of fajitas “little strips.”
But this dramatic dish isn’t Mexican; it actually has a history connected to the ranches of Texas and the American Southwest, where cowboys and ranch hands were often fed with leftover trimmings like skirt steak.
In Mexico, you won’t find fajitas on the menu, but you will find arranchera, which is made with either skirt or flank steak. It is marinated with chilies, garlic, and lime to tenderize and infuse it with flavor. Arranchera is often served on its own with a side of beans and salad or sliced for a taco filling. When it’s grilled, it is called carne asada and served with charred onions and jalapenos.
Mexican Pizzas
The world has the fast food chain Taco Bell to thank for the Mexican pizza. The team at Taco Bell created a fast food item that appealed to pizza lovers and Mexican food lovers with this mishmash of the two. The original Mexican pizza featured two flour tortillas with a layer of meat and beans topped with lettuce and diced tomatoes, and it was a huge hit. One of the reasons it was so popular was that it could be made with just beans, making it one of the few vegetarian options for non-meat-eating diners. The fusion dish was later discontinued and eventually brought back by popular demand. But you won’t find Mexican pizza or Taco Bell in Mexico.
Don’t worry, pizza lovers; you can find pizza all over Mexico, from popular chains like Domino’s and Little Caesars to local pizzerias. Some have variations of pizzas with taco-style toppings, but the classic Taco Bell Mexican pizza is not available south of the border.
Baked Enchiladas
Enchiladas exist in Mexico, but not the Tex-Mex version that you may be familiar with in your local Mexican-American restaurant. In the U.S., enchiladas are made by stuffing flour tortillas with filling like chicken, beef, spinach, and other vegetables, then covering them with a layer of either red or green enchilada sauce and a sprinkle of cheese and then baking them. But this classic Tex-Mex dish is quite different in Mexico.
Mexican enchiladas are different from the Tex-Mex version because they are made with corn tortillas and are fried, not baked. The corn tortillas are presoaked in the enchilada sauce, filled, and fried on the stove. Aside from red or green sauce, there are a few other popular styles of Mexican enchiladas like enchiladas suizas, which use a white cream-based sauce and are filled with cheese; enfrijoladas, which replace the sauce with refried beans; and enmoladas, which swap the salsa for a thick dark mole sauce.
Margaritas
A trip to the local Mexican-American restaurant is not complete without an ice-cold margarita. Whether you prefer it blended or on the rocks with salt or without, the classic lime-infused tequila drink is an iconic part of the Mexican food experience. Some popular restaurants even have flavored margaritas with mango, pomegranate, grapefruit, pineapple, and other fruit combos. But while you can find these frozen cocktails just about anywhere that serves Mexican food, they aren’t popular in Mexico outside of touristy places that cater to international travelers.
Instead of margaritas, tequila in Mexico is often sipped from a shot glass or made into a popular drink called a “la Paloma,” which is tequila and fresh grapefruit juice or a citrus-based soda like Fresca. It is uncommon in Mexico to take shots of tequila; most people will sip it to savor the rich flavor. One popular way to drink it is with a little sangrita on the side.
Fried Ice Cream
Fried ice cream is a dessert that is always on the menu in Mexican-American restaurants. It may sound like an oxymoron, but it’s actually a pretty tasty way to finish a meal. Fried ice cream is made with a scoop of ice cream that is frozen solid and then coated in batter and deep fried. It is often served with a dusting of cinnamon and sugar. But only stateside will you find this cold, crunchy dessert.
In Mexico, there are so many amazing desserts that it’s hard to list all the popular ways to indulge a sweet tooth. But we will try to touch on some of the best, like paletas, flan, sopaipillas, churros, and tres leches cakes. Paletas are similar to popsicles and are made with a mix of fresh fruit and cream. They are popular all over Mexico, with the largest retailer being La Michoacana. Flan is a classic custard-style dessert that is widely available. Sopaipillos and churros are made with fried dough topped with cinnamon and sugar. These are popular at street fairs and carnivals, while tres leches cakes are made with sponge cake and three kinds of milk: evaporated, condensed, and whole.
In addition, there are lots of regional desserts made with local fruits in sugary syrups. So, just because you can’t find fried ice cream in Mexico, doesn’t mean you can’t still have dessert. (If you love reading about food and food culture, check out the 14 most popular fusion foods to try.)