How to eat tamales (and why you never eat the husk)

Every few weeks someone at an office lunch tells me, a little embarrassed, that they did not know how to eat a tamale until a coworker stopped them from biting into the husk. It happens more than you would think, and there is no shame in it. Nobody is born knowing. So here is the whole thing, from unwrapping to the last bite, the way I would show a friend at my own table.

The short answer: Peel the corn husk off and set it aside; the husk is a wrapper, not food. Put the tamal on a plate, add salsa and a spoon of crema if you like, and eat it with a fork or in your hands like a burrito. One of our tamales is a full lunch for most people, so start with one before you reach for a second.

That covers ninety percent of it. The other ten percent is the small stuff: how to open a hot one without burning your fingers, what to put on top, how to serve them to a room full of people who have never seen one, and the one-word answer to “is it tamale or tamal.” Let me take those in order.

Step one: take the husk off

A tamal arrives wrapped in a dried corn husk that was soaked, filled with masa and meat, folded, and steamed. The husk does its job in the pot. It holds the shape, keeps the moisture in, and gives the masa a faint sweet corn smell. Once the tamal is on your plate, the husk has finished working.

To open it, hold the tamal by the folded end and peel the husk back like a banana, or lay it flat and unroll it from the seam. It should come away clean. If the masa sticks to the husk, the tamal was either underdone or has dried out, and a minute more in the steamer fixes both. Ours come off the husk in one piece; that is what a properly cooked tamal does.

Some tamales are tied with a strip of husk. Slide the tie off first. Some are folded closed at both ends; open the fold at one end and unroll from there. Then set the husk on the side of your plate. At a big meal we keep a bowl on the table just for husks, so nobody has to stack them on the tablecloth.

Why nobody eats the husk

The husk is dried corn leaf. It is fibrous, it does not soften in the steamer, and it has no flavor of its own worth chewing for. Eating it will not hurt you, but it is like eating the paper off a cupcake. The stories about people biting into a wrapped tamal are true, and I have watched it happen to a very confident man at a company party. If you take one thing from this article, take that.

Step two: dress it, or leave it alone

Our tamales are cooked in their sauce, pork in red chile and chicken in green tomatillo, so there is already salsa inside the masa. You can eat one plain and it is complete. Most people add something on top, and here is what goes well.

• More salsa. Red on the pork, green on the chicken, or mix them if you like. Which one and how much is in the best salsa for tamales.
• Crema or sour cream. A spoonful cools the chile and makes the masa taste richer. This is the easiest fix for a guest who finds the red too spicy.
• Crumbled cheese. Queso fresco or cotija, a little salty, a little dry. It melts slightly on a hot tamal.
• Something raw. Chopped white onion and cilantro, sliced radish, pickled red onion, a wedge of lime. A squeeze of lime over a pork tamal is one of my favorite bites in the world.
• A fried egg. For breakfast. Put the egg on top, break the yolk, and let it run into the masa.

What does not go on a tamal: ketchup, ranch, and anything that would embarrass my grandmother. I am joking, mostly. Eat it the way you like it. But try it plain first, at least once, so you know what the masa and the sauce taste like on their own.

Step three: fork, or hands?

Both are correct. At a table with a plate, most people use a fork, cutting the tamal into bites and pushing each one through the salsa. The masa is soft and the meat is shredded, so a knife is rarely needed. At a backyard party, a tailgate, or standing in a kitchen at midnight, people hold the tamal in the open husk like a taco and eat it from the end. The husk becomes the plate.

The one thing I would avoid is trying to eat a hot tamal in your hands right out of the steamer. Give it two or three minutes. The masa holds heat like a baked potato, and the salsa in the middle stays hotter than the outside. Open the husk, let the steam out, then decide.

A tamal is also fine to eat in pieces over the day. Half at lunch, half at three o’clock, cold, standing at the counter. I will not tell anyone.

How to eat tamales at a party or an office lunch

When you are the host and some of your guests have never eaten a tamal, a little setup saves a lot of confusion. I deliver to offices across Richardson and Plano where half the room grew up on tamales and the other half thinks they are a kind of burrito. Both halves should leave happy.

1. Put a sign on the table. One index card that says “Peel the husk off, it is not for eating” is the single most useful thing a host can do. I have seen it save a training day.
2. Set out a husk bowl. An empty bowl at the end of the line, labeled, keeps husks off the plates and the floor.
3. Label the fillings. “Pork, red salsa, medium” and “Chicken, green salsa, mild.” Under foil, the two look alike, and a spice-shy guest should not have to guess.
4. Salsa and crema at the end of the line. People sauce the plate they can see. Separate spoons for each bowl.
5. Forks, plenty of napkins, and small plates. Tamales are easier to handle on a plate than balanced on a paper towel.

The full layout, including where the rice and beans go and how to keep the pans hot, is in how to set up a buffet line for tamales. For a recurring office delivery, most teams have the routine down by the second month, and I have had an office manager tell me the new hires learn to open a tamal on their first Tamale Day.

How many to take

This is the other question hidden inside “how do I eat one,” because the answer changes how people load their plates. Our tamales are big. Reviewers use the word “huge,” and they are not exaggerating. Two is a full lunch for a hungry adult and three is a dinner. One is right when there is rice, beans and a burrito next to it. First-timers should take one, eat it, and come back, because a plate with three untouched tamales at the end of the lunch is a plate somebody could have used.

Those portions are also how I price a quote. At $5 per tamal at any quantity, two per person makes an office lunch cost $10 a head before the burritos, which is one of the reasons offices keep ordering from the menu month after month.

Tamale, tamal, and other things people worry about

You will hear both words. In Spanish, one is a tamal and several are tamales; “tamale” is the English back-formation, and it is so common in Texas that I use it in my own marketing. Nobody in my family will correct you at the table. If you want the whole story, it is in tamal or tamale, which is correct.

A few other things people ask quietly. Yes, the masa is supposed to be soft, not firm like bread; it is corn dough steamed until it sets. Yes, the red stain on the masa is the sauce cooking in, not a sign that anything is wrong. No, you do not need to reheat a tamal to enjoy it, but a warm one is better, and the right way to warm it is in how to reheat tamales. And yes, our masa is gluten-free corn, though we are not a certified gluten-free facility and we make flour-tortilla burritos in the same kitchen.

If you are still unsure about anything, the FAQ page covers ordering, delivery and dietary questions, and the phone number goes straight to us.

Ready to put tamales on your table?

Now that you know what to do with one, the next step is to get some. Maggie’s Tamales & Catering delivers hot from our Richardson kitchen to homes and offices across north Dallas: a plate of three through DoorDash for a weekday lunch, or dozens for a party, an office, or a holiday table. Tell me the date and the headcount and I will send a menu and a price the same day. Request a catering quote, and I will make sure the husk bowl and the labels come with the trays.

Frequently asked questions

How do you eat tamales?

Peel the corn husk off and set it aside, because the husk is a wrapper, not food. Put the tamal on a plate, add salsa, crema, cheese or a squeeze of lime if you like, and eat it with a fork or hold it in your hands like a burrito. Let a hot one cool for two or three minutes first, since the masa holds heat like a baked potato.

Do you eat the husk on a tamale?

No. The corn husk is dried corn leaf that holds the tamal together while it steams. It stays fibrous, has no flavor worth chewing for, and is meant to be peeled away and discarded. Eating a bit by accident will not hurt you, but it is like eating the paper cup on a muffin. At parties, I suggest a labeled bowl on the table just for husks.

What do you put on top of a tamale?

Ours are cooked in their salsa, so they are complete on their own. Popular toppings are extra salsa, red on pork and green on chicken; a spoon of crema or sour cream, which cools the chile; crumbled queso fresco or cotija; chopped onion and cilantro; sliced radish; and a wedge of lime. For breakfast, a fried egg with a runny yolk on top of a green chicken tamal is hard to beat.

Do you eat tamales with a fork or with your hands?

Either is fine. At a table, most people use a fork and cut bites through the salsa; the masa is soft and the meat is shredded, so no knife is needed. At a party or standing in a kitchen, people hold the tamal in its open husk like a taco and eat from the end. Just let it cool for a couple of minutes before picking up one straight from the steamer.

How many tamales does one person eat?

Our tamales are big. Two is a full lunch for most adults and three is a dinner. When there is rice, beans and a burrito on the plate, one or two is plenty. At a party I plan on two per guest and let first-timers start with one and come back. At $5 per tamal, two per person makes an office lunch about $10 a head before anything else.

Is it tamale or tamal?

In Spanish, one is a tamal and more than one are tamales. “Tamale” is the English version, formed by working backward from the plural, and it is so common in Texas that I use it too. Both are understood everywhere in Dallas, and nobody at my table will correct you. The full history of the two words is in our article on tamal versus tamale.