Bean and Cheese Tamales
These plant based bean and cheese tamales are made with red masa, steamed to tender perfection, then drizzled with your favorite homemade salsa. Simple ingredients, but they disappear fast every time I make them.
Servings: 24 servings
Calories: 209kcal
Ingredients
Red Chile Sauce for Tamales Dough
- 2 whole dried guajillos chiles wiped clean, seeded and stem removed
- 1 small dried pasilla chiles wiped clean, seeded and stem removed
- 2 whole dried arbol chiles wiped clean, seeded and stem removed
- 2 whole garlic cloves
- ¼ small white onion quartered
- 1 medium-small roma tomato quartered
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon salt adjust to taste
- water for boiling
Masa Ingredients
- 1 cup vegetable shortening 7oz or 200 grams
- 1 lb. masa harina the kind for tamales (4 cups roughly)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1.5 teaspoons salt
- 1 cup red salsa
- 2 to 4 cups vegetable broth
Bean and Cheese Tamale Filling
- 4 cups refried beans homemade is ideal
- ½ lb chihuahua cheese vegan or dairy, or queso fresco
Instructions
Hydrated The Corn Husks
- Sort through the dried corn husks and removed any damaged ones. Thoroughly rinse. Place in a very large container or right in your kitchen sink. Pour enough warm water to cover by a few inches. Use a heavy pot or bowl to help push down the husks and help them hydrate.
Make The Red Chile Salsa
- Place clean and seeded chiles in a medium pot with the garlic, onion and tomatoes. Cover with enough water then simmer until everything is softened.
- Place the softened vegetables and chiles in a blender and add 1 cup of the boiling broth, the ground cumin and salt. Blend until you have a smooth salsa. Strain into a large bowl or container and set aside.
Make The Filling
- Prepare the refried beans from scratch. You can follow my recipe for refried pinto beans or refried black beans, if desired.
- Slice the cheese into 24 slices - either matchsticks or wider slices.
Make The Masa
- In a very large mixing bowl, whip the vegetable shortening until light and creamy.
- Pour in half of the masa harina, baking powder and salt and mix until you have a well combined mixture.
- Pour in 1 cup of the red chile salsa into the masa mixture and mix until well combined. Stop to scrape down the sides as needed.
- Little by little begin adding the remaining masa harina and pouring in vegetable stock or broth. Mix until you have a creamy, smooth and airy corn masa dough.
Masa Float Test
- Take a little bit of the whipped masa and drop it into a cup of water. It should float back to the top if your masa is ready. Read this article to find out what to do if your masa doesn’t float.
Assemble The Tamales
- Drain the hydrated corn husks, dry off with a clean kitchen towel or paper towels to remove any excess water.
- Grab a hydrated corn husks and inspect the side of the husk to find the smooth side. The long side of the husk should be pointed towards the bottom and the wide toward the top.
- Using the back of a spoon, or a spatula, spread a couple of Tablespoons of masa onto the corn husk and spread into a thin even layer. Then add a heaping Tablespoon of the refried beans, and a piece of cheese and place in the center of spread masa.
- Grab one side of the corn husk and fold it towards the center. Then grab the other side and fold towards the center. The long pointy end of the husk is folded up. Continue until all of the tamales filling is used up.
Steam The Tamales
- In a tamalera pot pour in enough water to the indicated line then place the steaming rack in place. (If you don’t have a tamalera you can use a large pot and steamer basket, or a pressure cooker or Instant Pot to steam tamales. Click here to learn how.)
- Place tamales in the tamalera, open end up, cover it with aluminum foil and make a small hole in the center. Place the lid on the steaming pot and steam 60 to 90 minutes or until cooked through.
- You can check tamales after one hour by carefully removing one tamale and set it it on a plate. Let it sit for 10 minutes then try to unwrap, if it's ready the masa will peel away from the corn husk easily. If not it sticks then the tamales need to steam longer. Allow to steam another 30 mintues before checking.
- Make sure to check your tamalera steamer pot for water and if needed add more so your pot doesn't burn!
Video
Notes
- You can use either vegan cheese or dairy cheese.
- This recipe will make anywhere from 24 to 28 tamales. Don't make them too big and definitely don't overstuff, otherwise the beans and cheese will ooze out and make a mess.
- Please note that the nutritional information will depend greatly on whether you used vegan or dairy cheese and what type or brand. The numbers stated here are for a general idea.
Nutrition
Serving: 24servings | Calories: 209kcal | Carbohydrates: 19g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 12g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g | Monounsaturated Fat: 5g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 8mg | Sodium: 627mg | Potassium: 64mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 239IU | Vitamin C: 0.2mg | Calcium: 121mg | Iron: 2mg
