How to order tamales by the dozen for delivery in North Dallas

If you want to order tamales by the dozen for delivery in North Dallas, you have come to the right kitchen, because the dozen is the unit my whole family business runs on. Church suppers, office lunches, Christmas Eve tables, a Saturday when nobody wants to cook: it all comes down to how many dozens and where to bring them.

The short answer: A dozen of my tamales is $60 ($5 per tamal) in pork with red salsa or chicken breast with green tomatillo salsa. For one or two dozen, order through DoorDash during kitchen hours and it arrives the same day. For more dozens, a party or an office, send the date, address and headcount through the quote form and my own drivers deliver them hot in an agreed window.

That is the whole thing in a paragraph. The rest of this article walks through what a dozen is, how many you need, which way to order, what to put in the request, and what shows up at your door.

What a dozen is, and what it costs

Twelve full-size tamales, still in their husks, steamed that morning from masa I make from scratch. Two fillings: pork simmered in red chile salsa, and chicken breast in green tomatillo salsa. Order a dozen of one kind or split it six and six. All the masa is gluten-free corn masa, though I should say plainly that mine is not a certified gluten-free facility, because I make flour-tortilla burritos in the same kitchen.

The delivery menu has three sizes and the math does not change with quantity:

• Three big tamales, $15. A plate. A lunch. A test before you commit to fifteen dozen.
• Half-dozen, $30. The size that lets you order for nine people instead of twelve.
• One dozen, $60. The building block for every bulk order I make.

“Full-size” is not decoration. Reviewers call them “huge” and “packed with meat,” and I have watched grown men give up on a third. That matters when you are counting.

How many dozens do you need?

My rule from years of feeding crowds: two tamales per person is a lunch, three is a dinner, and one or two is plenty when tamales sit beside other food. Then round up to the next whole dozen, because an extra tamal is a happy problem and a missing one is not.

For a dinner with nothing else on the table, multiply the tamales column by one and a half. For a party with rice, beans and a taco tray from someone’s aunt, you can cut it by a third. The full chart with kids, teenagers and buffet situations lives in my article on how many tamales per person.

Splitting pork and chicken: for a mixed crowd I send about half and half, leaning a little toward pork when there are more men and a little toward chicken for an office. Both go quickly. If you are ordering for people who do not like heat, tell me; the red salsa has what one reviewer called “a little kick,” and the green is milder.

Two ways to order tamales by the dozen

One or two dozen, today: DoorDash

For a family dinner or a small get-together, the fastest path is the DoorDash link on the order page. The kitchen is open Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday from 9 AM to 2 PM and closed Thursday and Sunday, and DoorDash orders go out during those hours the same day. You choose the filling, DoorDash sets its own delivery fee inside the app, and a driver brings the box to your door.

Three dozen and up, or any event: the quote form

Once you are into several dozens, or the tamales are for an office, a church, a school or a party, the order goes through me directly. You fill in the quote form on the catering page or call the kitchen, I read the request myself and send a price, usually the same business day, and my own team delivers in a window we agree on. That is the route for anything with a date on it, and the bulk tamales page explains what churches, teams and fundraisers usually order.

What to put in the request

A good request gets a good quote fast. Mine takes about two minutes to fill in if you have these ready:

1. The date and the delivery window. When do people eat? I work backward from that.
2. The address, with the details a driver needs. Suite number, gate code, which door, whether there is a loading dock or a front desk.
3. The headcount or the number of dozens. Either one. If you give me people, I will do the dozen math with you.
4. The split. How many pork, how many chicken, or “you decide,” which I hear a lot and am happy to take.
5. Extras. Salsas, crema, utensils and serving spoons are available on request for buffet-style service. Burritos for the lunch crowd are priced on the quote.
6. A phone number for the day of. The driver calls when the tamales are ten minutes out.

If you have never written one of these, my article on how to write a catering request has a template you can copy into an email. Larger orders need notice, and the weeks before Thanksgiving and Christmas fill first, so for holiday dozens get on the holiday pre-order list early.

What arrives at your door

For a bulk order, the tamales come hot from the steamer in insulated carriers, boxed by the dozen and labeled by filling so nobody has to unwrap one to find out what it is. Pork is red, chicken is green, and the labels say so. Salsas and crema ride separately on ice. If you asked for buffet service, the utensils and serving spoons are in the same load.

The driver carries everything in, puts it where you want it, and stays a minute to make sure the count matches. For a church hall in Allen, that usually means the kitchen counter next to the rice. For an office in Plano, it means the break room table, and the Plano catering page lists the buildings my drivers know by heart.

Tamales in husks hold heat remarkably well. Leave them in the closed carrier until people are ready to eat and they will still be steaming an hour later. Take the lids off early and you lose that, so resist the urge to peek more than once.

Leftovers, storage and reheating

Ordering by the dozen almost always leaves a few, and that is the best part. In the refrigerator, cooked tamales keep for several days in a covered container, still in their husks. In the freezer, wrapped tightly, they keep for months and come back nearly as good as the first day.

To reheat, steam is king: ten to fifteen minutes over simmering water from the fridge, longer from frozen. A microwave works if you wrap the tamal in a damp paper towel and go in short bursts. An oven at moderate heat with a splash of water in a covered pan is fine for a crowd. My article on how to reheat tamales has times for every method, including the air fryer, which surprised me.

Ready to order a few dozen?

Two dozen for Sunday dinner or twenty for the parish festival, Maggie’s makes them the same way: from scratch, that morning, in Richardson. For one or two dozen today, use DoorDash on the order page. For anything bigger, or anything with a date, request a quote with the headcount and the address and I will price it myself the same business day. Then all you have to do is clear a spot on the counter.

Frequently asked questions

How do I order tamales by the dozen for delivery?

For one or two dozen, order through DoorDash from the order page during kitchen hours, Monday through Wednesday and Friday and Saturday, 9 AM to 2 PM, and it arrives the same day. For three dozen or more, or for any office, church or party, send the date, address, headcount and pork-to-chicken split through the quote form. I price it personally and my own drivers deliver it hot in an agreed window.

How much is a dozen tamales?

A dozen is $60 ($5 per tamal) and the price per tamal stays the same at any quantity. A half-dozen is $30 and a plate of three is $15. Every tamal is full-size, made that morning from gluten-free corn masa, filled with pork in red salsa or chicken breast in green tomatillo salsa. Salsas, crema and serving items for buffet service are arranged on the quote.

How many dozen tamales do I need for 50 people?

At two tamales per person, which is a lunch, 50 people need 100 tamales, so order nine dozen, which is 108. If tamales are the whole dinner, plan three each and order thirteen dozen. If there is plenty of other food, seven dozen covers it. Always round up to the next dozen; leftovers freeze beautifully and running out is the one mistake guests remember.

Can I mix pork and chicken in one dozen?

Yes. Six pork and six chicken is the most common dozen I send, and for bulk orders you can set any split you like, or leave it to me. Everything is boxed and labeled by filling, red for pork and green for chicken, so your guests can tell at a glance. If some guests avoid heat, lean toward chicken in green salsa, which is the milder of the two.

How far ahead should I order several dozen tamales?

For a regular weekday, a few days of notice is comfortable, and I can often do better than that; ask. Larger orders need more lead time because every tamal is made from scratch the morning it goes out. The weeks before Thanksgiving and Christmas fill first, so holiday dozens should be reserved as soon as you know you are hosting. The quote confirms the date and window.

Do you deliver dozens outside Richardson?

Yes. My drivers cover Richardson, Plano, Frisco, Allen, McKinney, Dallas and the northern suburbs, and the service area page shows the map. Bulk orders travel in insulated carriers, so a church in McKinney gets tamales as hot as an office two blocks from my kitchen. If your address is on the edge of the map, put it in the quote form and I will tell you honestly whether I can land it.