The Ultimate Food Guide to Oaxaca: 9 Important Dishes to Try

Easily known as Mexico’s food capital, Oaxaca is the place to be if you’re looking to try traditional and cultural Mexican food. From indulging in endless amounts of tacos to trying grasshoppers for the first time, get ready to unbutton your pants after every meal.

Surely you’ve read countless Oaxaca food blogs and are overwhelmed with the number of different type of dishes to try.

As a digital nomad living in Oaxaca, I can testify that I was blown away with how rich the food scene is. From endless amounts of restaurants to try, get ready to indulge in some of the most traditional foods in Oaxaca during your visit.

Oaxaca is home to many traditional foods served all around the world. From the way food is prepared to experiencing regionally curated food, Oaxaca’s gastronomy is extremely important to the country’s identity. So to further my point, what food is Oaxaca known for?

Listed are 9 traditional dishes to try in Oaxaca:

1. Tlayudas
2. Mole
3. Oaxacan Cheese (Quesillo)
4. Chapulines
5. Memelas
6. Tamales
7. Tacos
8. Nieves (ice cream)
9. Chocolate

Oaxaca is most popularly known for Tlayudas. Tlayudas, also known as Mexican pizza, is a traditional, handmade dish consisting of a large, thin and crunchy tortilla. The tortilla can be cooked partially fried or toasted with an assortment of refried beans, meat (usually chicken, beef, chorizo, or pork), Oaxacan cheese, lettuce or cabbage, tomato, and avocado.

First, the Tlayuda plates are seared on a comal. A comal is a smooth, flat griddle to cook the tortillas.

Secondly, the refried beans are then applied along with the lettuce or cabbage. Then, top it off with added vegetables and meat and you have yourself a Tlayuda.

There isn’t a set rule of how the final product should be made, but every chef has their own way of creating Tlayudas to their own liking.

Talk about adding traditional, flavored sauce on your dishes. Mixtures of chili pepper, fruit, nuts, and spices (cinnamon, cumin or black pepper), mole is served everywhere in Oaxaca.

Oaxaca is one of the two regions where mole is originated from as they are most popularly known for their mole negro. But along from mole negro, Oaxaca has 6 other sauces that are popularly served.

Spread one of the seven traditional mole sauces on your dishes and experience rich mole taste from the 8 different regions of Oaxaca.

Whichever mole you choose, popular mole dishes consist of pollo, rice and beans, or directly topped on top of tortilla.

And while each region of Mexico produces mole unique to their liking, there will always be enough mole to go around.

Rolled into what looks like a ball of yarn, Quesillo, or Oaxacan Cheese, will have you ordering every dish with extra quesillo on top. This white, thick ribbon is produced in a particular process, widely found in quesadillas and empanadas.

Oaxacan Cheese is made out of cow’s milk, huitlacoche (corn smut), and squash flowers (Calabaza; West Indian pumpkin). So if you’re lactose, note that Oaxaca Cheese is 98% lactose-free. During the cheese-making process, lactose is naturally converted into lactic acid.

Originating from southern Mexico, the string cheese process actually originated from Italy, which was used to produce mozzarella. But if you still can’t imagine what it’s like consuming yarn sized-like cheese, think of Oaxacan Cheese as textures similar to mozzarella and tastes similar to un-aged Monterey Jack.

Before freaking out about eating bug, just one wouldn’t hurt, right? Consuming bugs, especially in the US, isn’t popular but when traveling abroad, it wouldn’t hurt eating like a local for the day.

Chapulines, also known as grasshoppers, are a popular Oaxacan snack. It’s seasoned with garlic, lime juice, salt and sometimes with Maguey worm extract. Through this process, you’ll get a sour and spicy taste. From my experience, as long as you aren’t looking at the chapulines prior to eating, you won’t be able to tell the difference between eating lime Lays chips or chapulines.

This traditional snack is served all year around but the best time to try it is between early May through late summer and early autumn.

Where to find Chapulines in Oaxaca: Restaurante Chapulin, Mercado 20 de Noviembre

Slightly thicker than to corn tortillas, Memelas are known as Oaxaca’s masa-based antojitos (snacks). Cooked on a comal, Memelas are spread with asiento (pork lard), then are topped off with refried beans, choripapa (potatoes and chorizo), and crumbled cheese.

Typically, locals eat Memelas early morning for breakfast to around late afternoon. And as as they aren’t popularly found in many areas around Mexico, you don’t want to miss out eating wood fired Memelas on your food adventures in Oaxaca.

Note that there isn’t one typical way to eat Memelas, but I like to top them off with spices and a lot of picante on top.

Where to find Memelas: Mercado de la Merced

Broadly known as a popular Mexican dish, Tamales are traditional, masa based dishes steamed in a corn husk or a banana leaf. Tamales are usually filled with meats, vegetables, fruit, chiles, and other additional food preparations.

Now, you’re probably thinking that you don’t need to try a tamale here in Oaxaca but let me tell you why it’s different.

Not only do you have your traditional ingredients filled within the corn husk, but Oaxaqueños also fill their tamales with mole negro. Tell me about another place you can find tamales with mole negro!

These steamed perfections are noted as some of the top, traditional foods to eat in Oaxaca. Popular tamales are fried pork, portobello and polenta, steamed pork, and burnt strawberry tamales to name a few.

Taco truck here, taco truck there, taco truck everywhere. While tacos can be found almost everywhere in North America, the tacos found in Oaxaca are exceptional.

I’ve tried way too many tacos in my life but there’s something special about the tacos in Oaxaca that stand out more than others.

From the tacos you find on the streets to tacos found in hole in the walls, the meat selection in Oaxaca is endless ranging from fat, tongue, ear, cartilage and even head.

Obviously, the meat selection depends per cart or restaurant, but you can’t go wrong with attempting to try every taco spot in Oaxaca. I mean, is that even possible?

Not only are the taco options endless but along with tacos, you’re usually given delicious condiments assortments.

Not deriving from your typical, thick and creamy ice cream found in tubs, Nieves (snow), or ice cream, is popularly served in Oaxaca. A blend of thick and icy, this locally made dessert is truly one of a kind.

Many of the flavors found in Oaxaca’s ice cream are extremely unique to the state, as the flavors derive from a variety of growing climates from the mountains.

Nieves is made either from burnt milk or water with 100% natural products. Artificial food coloring is used to create differing colors as you’ll still be able to taste the natural flavors.

In Oaxaca, tuna (not the fish) is known as a traditional Nieves flavor that comes from sweet fruit of the prickly pear cactus. Tuna consists of two colors, one white and creamy and the other, a bright-maroon color.

Being one of Mexico’s gastronomical gifts, Oaxacan chocolate holds significance to the state. Cacao beans are Mexico’s prized possessions as they were introduced to the Mixteca and Zapotec regions. Can you believe that back in the day, only royalty was allowed to eat chocolate? That sure blows my mind away since chocolate is eaten so casually nowadays. I mean, talk about how much chocolate goes around on holidays like Valentines Day!

The word cacao directly translates to “food of the gods”, originating from cocoa trees found in the rainforests. And from it’s unique sense of smell, it’s exclusivity only made it available for royalty to eat.

Chocolate from Oaxaca is made with so much love that you’ll be able to smell it while walking on the streets.