Mexican catering menu ideas for offices, parties and holidays

The Mexican catering menu ideas people find online tend to be long lists of everything a restaurant could possibly make, which is no help when you have forty people, one counter and a lunch hour. What follows is shorter and more useful: the menus I actually send out of my Richardson kitchen, sorted by the occasion, with the portions and what to put beside the tamales.

The short answer: Build a Mexican catering menu around one anchor dish that holds, then add two or three sides and a salsa station. For tamales, count two per person for a lunch, three for a dinner, and one to two when there are other mains; split pork in red and chicken in green about evenly. At $5 per tamal, a lunch is about $10 a head and a dinner about $15 a head before sides.

My kitchen makes two things extremely well, pork tamales in red salsa and chicken tamales in green tomatillo salsa, plus burritos for office lunches. So every menu below is honest about what comes from me and what a host adds from a grocery store or a favorite taqueria. A good catered meal is not twelve dishes; it is one dish people talk about and a few that make it a plate.

Start with the anchor dish

Every menu that works has one item that carries the meal and is still good ninety minutes after it arrives. On a Mexican menu that job usually goes to something braised or steamed, not grilled or fried, because braised food holds and grilled food dries. Tamales are the best-holding dish I know: sealed in the husk, still hot two hours later in a covered tray, served with tongs, gluten-free by nature of the corn masa.

Once the anchor is set, the rest of the menu is about balance, not volume.

• Something fresh and cold: pico de gallo, a cabbage slaw with lime, a green salad, sliced cucumber and jicama with chile and lime.
• Something starchy and plain: Mexican rice, charro or refried beans, or both for a dinner.
• Something to crunch: tortilla chips with guacamole and salsa.
• A salsa station: red, green, crema, lime wedges, pickled jalapeños, chopped onion and cilantro.
• A sweet finish: pan dulce, conchas, tres leches, or Mexican hot chocolate in winter.

Pick one from each line and you have a complete menu. My note on what to serve with tamales goes deeper on sides and drinks; the menus below show how it plays out by occasion.

Mexican catering menu ideas for the office

The thirty-person conference room lunch

Two tamales per person, split pork and chicken, which is five dozen. Red and green salsa, crema, a bag of chips and a bowl of guacamole, and a simple green salad if the office likes to feel virtuous. That is a full lunch on one counter with two trays and three bowls, and the line clears in ten minutes. Add a few burritos for the people who eat at their desks.

The training day

Same lunch, plus a breakfast tray in the morning: conchas and pan dulce with coffee. Keep the tamale trays covered because training lunches always run late, and the husk will hold them until the slides end.

Tamale Day, every month

Some offices make it a standing order: the same dozens on the same day each month, one invoice, nothing to re-order. One office reviewer wrote that everyone there looks forward to tamale day, which is the nicest thing anyone can say about a lunch. The office catering page explains how a recurring order is set up. For the December version, my office holiday party food ideas add the sweet side.

Mexican catering menu ideas for parties and family gatherings

The backyard birthday for fifty

Tamales as the main, two per person alongside other food, which is nine dozen. Rice and charro beans from a favorite taqueria or your own kitchen, a big slaw, chips and guacamole, and the salsa station. Agua fresca in two flavors for the kids. If there is a grill going, a small platter of grilled peppers and onions beside the tamale trays gives the party a fajita smell without the fajita mess. The parties and celebrations page has the packages for this size.

The baby shower or graduation open house

Guests come and go for three hours, so everything on the table has to hold. Tamales, covered between waves. A cold salad that does not wilt, like cucumber and jicama with lime. Chips and salsa. Skip anything with lettuce or sour cream on top. Count one to two tamales per guest since people graze, and round up to the next dozen.

The game day spread

Tamales, chips, three salsas, guacamole, a pot of charro beans, and pickled jalapeños. No plates needed beyond a napkin; a tamal in its husk is a one-handed food while the other hand holds the remote. Two per person, mostly pork, because game day crowds lean toward the red.

Mexican catering menu ideas for weddings and quinceañeras

Big family celebrations want abundance, and the trick is to make the table look generous without making it fragile. For a quinceañera dinner of one hundred and fifty, I send tamales at two per person alongside a second main, which is twenty-five dozen, and the family usually adds rice, beans, a salad and a dessert table. The tamales go out labeled by filling, with salsas and serving spoons for the buffet, and a covered tray is still hot when the last cousin gets in line. My guide to quinceañera food for a hundred and fifty guests lays out the whole table.

For weddings, the menu I love most is the late-night tamale table: after the dancing has started, trays of pork and chicken tamales with salsa and crema come out around ten o’clock and disappear. It is inexpensive next to a plated dinner, it is Texan, and guests remember it. Rehearsal dinners work the same way, only earlier. The weddings and quinceañeras page covers both, including late-night service.

Mexican catering menu ideas for the holidays

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

In Texas, tamales are Christmas. The menu at most tables is tamales by the dozen, a pot of pozole or menudo, rice and beans, a salad for the one relative who insists, and buñuelos or hot chocolate after. Count three per adult for a dinner where tamales are the main, more if you want leftovers, and order early, because the weeks before Thanksgiving and Christmas are the first to fill in my kitchen. The holiday tamales page explains how pre-orders work.

Thanksgiving

Tamales next to the turkey is a Texas tradition, not a substitution. One to two per person as a side, a bowl of red salsa on the table, and they warm up in the same oven as the rolls. Pork in red goes with turkey better than you would guess.

Día de los Muertos and Las Posadas

Tamales, pan de muerto, Mexican hot chocolate and champurrado. For Posadas, a pot of tamales that stays warm on the stove while people come in from the cold, with ponche in a second pot. These are grazing nights, so one to two tamales per person and a big pot is right.

Cinco de Mayo and Mexican Independence Day at the office

The office lunch menu above, with the flag colors on the table: green salsa, white crema, red salsa. It is a small thing and people notice it. Chips and guacamole, a pitcher of agua fresca, and a card explaining what the day actually commemorates.

How much to order for each menu

The math is simple because a tamal is a unit. Two per person is a lunch, three is a dinner, one to two when there is another main. Round up to the next dozen and split fillings evenly unless you know your crowd. If you are unsure which salsa your guests prefer, my note on red versus green for a crowd will settle it.

Sides, drinks and dessert are on top of that, from wherever you get them. The menu page has the plate, half-dozen and dozen prices, and anything beyond tamales and burritos for a large order is confirmed with the quote. Ask about other fillings for very large orders; I will tell you what is possible for that date.

Ready to build your menu?

Send me the occasion, the date and the headcount, and tell me whether tamales are the main or one dish among several. I will reply the same business day with a pork and chicken split, the dozens, and one price, and I will happily suggest which sides and sweets to add from elsewhere so the table is complete. Maggie’s Tamales delivers hot, in an agreed window, labeled by filling, with salsas, crema and serving spoons on request for buffet service. Request a menu and a quote for your office, party or holiday table.

Frequently asked questions

What are good Mexican catering menu ideas for a party?

Anchor the menu on one dish that holds, then balance it. Tamales, two per person with other food or three as the main, split pork in red salsa and chicken in green. Add rice and beans, one cold dish like slaw or cucumber with lime, chips with guacamole, a salsa station with crema and lime, and something sweet such as conchas or tres leches. Five or six items make a complete table.

What should a Mexican office lunch catering menu include?

For thirty people: five dozen tamales split pork and chicken, red and green salsa, crema, chips and guacamole, and a green salad if the office wants one. Add a few burritos for people who eat at their desks. It fits on one counter, the line clears in about ten minutes, and covered tamale trays stay hot for a meeting that runs long. At $5 per tamal that is about $10 a head before extras.

How many tamales do I order for a Mexican catering menu?

Two per person for a lunch, three for a dinner where tamales are the main, and one to two each when there is a second main or a lot of sides. Round up to the next dozen. For example, fifty guests at a backyard party with sides is nine dozen, and a hundred and fifty at a quinceañera with a second main is twenty-five dozen. Leftovers reheat well, so ordering a little extra is never wasted.

What Mexican food is best for a holiday catering menu?

Tamales are the center of the Christmas table in Texas, usually with pozole or menudo, rice and beans, and buñuelos or hot chocolate. At Thanksgiving they sit beside the turkey as a side, one to two per person. For Día de los Muertos and Las Posadas, tamales with pan de muerto and champurrado. Order holiday dozens early; the weeks before Thanksgiving and Christmas fill first.

Can a Mexican catering menu be gluten-free?

Largely, yes. Every tamal from my kitchen uses corn masa, which is naturally gluten-free, and rice, beans, salsas, guacamole and most corn tortilla chips are gluten-free too. Burritos on flour tortillas are not, and my kitchen is not a certified gluten-free facility because those burritos are made here. Label the trays, keep flour items on a separate tray, and tell me about serious allergies when you order.

What sides go with tamales on a catering menu?

Mexican rice and charro or refried beans are the classics. Add something cold and bright: pico de gallo, cabbage slaw with lime, or cucumber and jicama with chile. Chips with guacamole cover the crunch. A salsa station with red, green, crema, lime wedges, pickled jalapeños, onion and cilantro lets guests dress their own plate. For drinks, agua fresca in summer and Mexican hot chocolate or champurrado in winter.