10 Authentic Mexican Recipes to Make at Home
Mexican food has become a permanent fixture in our weekly rotation — and I say that as a Polish woman who grew up on pierogi and bigos. The flavours are bold, the techniques are approachable, and the ingredient overlap with Polish cooking is surprisingly deep: both cuisines love sour cream, both build meals around cheap protein and starch, both use fermented ingredients (sauerkraut ↔ pickled jalapeños), and both treat cabbage as a staple. Learning Mexican cooking felt less like exploring a foreign cuisine and more like meeting a long-lost cousin.
These 10 recipes are the Mexican dishes I make most often at home. Each one has been tested on my Polish family (including my very traditional uncle) and approved. Every recipe includes the specific techniques and ingredient notes that make the difference between “okay homemade Mexican food” and “this is better than the restaurant.”
Tacos & Proteins
Birria Tacos (Slow Cooker)
Slow-cooked beef in a rich dried chilli broth, shredded, stuffed into crispy tortillas, and dipped in consommé. The most labour-intensive recipe on this page — and the most rewarding. The dried chilli combination (guajillo + ancho + chipotle) creates a smoky, complex heat that no single chilli can achieve alone.
Sides & Sauces
Mexican Street Corn Salad (Elote)
Charred corn, mayo, cotija cheese, lime, chilli powder. The char on the corn is essential — it caramelises the sugars and adds smokiness. This is the side dish I bring to every summer gathering, and the bowl always comes home empty.
Sweets
Chicken Enchiladas (Creamy Green Chile)
Chicken rolled in tortillas, smothered in a creamy green chile sauce, baked under a mountain of cheese. The technique is identical to making savoury naleśniki: fill a wrapper, roll, arrange in a dish, cover with sauce, bake. Same architecture, different passport.
Tacos & Proteins
Carne Asada (Easy Marinade)
Marinated flank steak, grilled hard, sliced against the grain. The marinade transforms a cheap cut into something extraordinary — lime, garlic, cumin, and cilantro do the heavy lifting. My babcia’s budget philosophy meets Mexican cheap-cut mastery: both cuisines know how to make affordable meat taste expensive.
Soups & Bowls
Chicken Tortilla Soup
My “it’s cold outside and I want something that fights back” soup. Chipotle in adobo gives it smoky heat, fire-roasted tomatoes give it depth, and the toppings (avocado, sour cream, tortilla strips, cheese) transform it from soup into a complete meal. This sits alongside rosol and zupa pomidorowa in my cold-weather rotation.
Sweets
Homemade Churros
Fried dough coated in cinnamon sugar — Poland’s pączki and Mexico’s churros are fried-dough cousins, born in different kitchens with the same purpose: making people happy through sugar and hot oil. I make the fried version when I’m feeling festive and the air fryer version when I’m feeling “responsible.”
Sides & Sauces
Salsa Verde (Roasted Tomatillo)
Tart, bright, and incredibly versatile. Roasted tomatillos + jalapeños + garlic + cilantro, blended smooth. I put this on pierogi once and my babcia’s spirit left my body for a moment. Then she tasted it. She approves. Keep a jar in the fridge at all times — it goes on everything.
Soups & Bowls
Chipotle Chicken Bowl (Copycat)
Everything you’d order at Chipotle, made at home for $2 per bowl instead of $12. Cilantro-lime rice, seasoned chicken, black beans, pico de gallo, and all the toppings. The real cost savings: feeding a family of six costs $12 total versus $70+ at the restaurant. Babcia would count that as a zloty well saved.
Sides & Sauces
Mexican Rice (Restaurant-Style)
The trick nobody tells you: toast the rice in oil before adding liquid. This seals the grains and prevents the mushy, orange-coloured disappointment that plagues most homemade Mexican rice. Five failed batches taught me this lesson. Learn from my mistakes.
Tacos & Proteins
Carnitas (Crockpot)
Pork shoulder that shreds with a look, crisped under the broiler for those essential crispy edges. The broiler step is NON-NEGOTIABLE — it’s what separates carnitas from pulled pork. One batch becomes tacos on Sunday, burrito bowls on Monday, quesadillas on Tuesday, and nachos on Wednesday.