Perhaps you've heard of the Texas BBQ Trail? Well, when you're in San Antonio TX, you've got to do the Tamale Trot! Inspired by our friends Tony and Susie, who took their own tamale trot a few years back and now take an annual road trip from Houston to San Antonio to buy their favorite tamales for the holidays, we went on a search to find our favorite tamales in San Antonio!
This is a growing list. There are so many fantastic little tamale shops in San Antonio, that we just couldn't get to them all on one trip. So come back again in the future to see what else we've found!
Many Texans include tamales in their celebratory meals during the Holiday Season. But, in our opinion, classic tamales are good food any time of the year. So, avoid the long lines that come with the best places in the San Antonio area during the Holidays, and visit these local spots any time you're in South Texas...
Pro Tip: If you've never eaten a tamale (or tamal if you prefer the other singular version of the word), be sure to unwrap it from the corn husk before you eat it. The husk is not part of the meal.
Video: Searching for the Best Tamales in San Antonio
1130 Fresno Drive, San Antonio TX 78201 Serving the community since 1938, Adelita specializes in pork, jalapeno pork, chicken, and bean jalapeno tamales, masa and homemade tortilla chips and gorditas. They also sell meats, including barbacoa and carnitas, by the pound, as well as chicarron (fried pork skins) and menudo. This is also a good stop for fresh tacos. Their barbacoa tacos were fantastic! We bought 2 barbacoa tacos, a dozen tamales, and 2 drinks for right around $17.
1330 Culebra Road, San Antonio TX 78201 Now a 7 location chain around San Antonio, Delicious Tamales has been serving the community since the 1960s. The location we visited (on Culebra Road) is their headquarters and manufacturing facility where they now have the ability to produce 70 dozen tamales every 2 minutes! They produce 13 types of tamales including pork, jalapeno pork, bean, jalapeno bean, chicken, jalapeno chicken, cheese, vegetarian, tomatillo chicken and cheese and sweet tamales. And yes, they live up to the Delicious name! At Delicious, we bought a dozen tamales and 2 drinks for about $12.
Inside Adelita Tamales
Delicious Tamales
Ruben's Homemade Tamales
1807 Rigsby Avenue, San Antonio TX 78210 A neighborhood staple since 1952, Ruben's specializes in pork, jalapeno pork, chicken and bean tamales. This is also a small specialty grocery store, so you might just find something else that you need while you're here. And the tamales are definitely worth the stop! They also sell tacos, rice and beans. Our bill at Ruben's came to about $12 for a dozen tamales and 2 drinks.
La Victoria Tortillas and Tamales Factory
737 Division Avenue, San Antonio TX 78225 Victoria Factory serves pork, jalapeno pork, chicken and bean tamales, barbacoa, lengua, carnitas, tortillas, breakfast and lunch tacos, and menudo. You can also find masa, chicharrones and fresh salsa to go here. They have a meal deal that includes one dozen tamales, hot sauce and 2 sodas. We bought the meal deal plus masa and chicharrones for right around $13.
13527 Hausman Pass, San Antonio TX 78249 The new kid on the block in San Antonio, Delia's is definitely NOT new to the tamale business! This is their 7th location. The other six are in the RGV (Rio Grande Valley), another area of Texas that knows its way around a tamale! After selling her handmade tamales door-to-door for several years, Delia opened her first physical location in 1998 in South McAllen. Today, Delia's produces 18 different types of tamales, plus salsa and menudo. When we visited, Delia's was only open for drive-through service. We waited in line for 40 minutes and paid about $18 for a dozen tamales (a half-dozen of 2 different kinds), salsa and 2 drinks. It was worth it!
Delia's Menuboard
Fresh Tamales
Tamale History
Tamale history has been traced back to Pre-Columbian times when women would cook for the warriors in battle. Traditional tamales were created as a portable, make-ahead food that could be easily carried. For many years, tamales were cooked by wrapping them in banana leaves and burying them in hot ashes. The Spanish Conquistadors introduced the Aztecs to steaming, the cooking method still common today.
Creating a good tamale takes time and patience. These days, families often work together to make tamales as part of their holiday celebrations. While we don't make tamales, our family has eaten tamales as part of our Christmas celebration for years.
Let's Eat!
What Are Tamales?
In Texas, tamales are typically made of a stone-ground corn dough called masa wrapped around some type of meat, bean or cheese. Each one is wrapped within corn husks for steaming. Fillings include pork, chicken, beef, bean, cheese, or on occasion vegetables. Jalapeños or green chilis are sometimes added to bump up the spice.
We've bought some of the best tamales from ladies selling them from their cars, door-to-door or at the local farmers market since fresh tamales are always the best tamales! Tamales from grocery stores are typically not our favorite.
That is one thing that impressed us about each of the places we've visited on this list. Every one of them makes their tamales fresh from scratch each day. We're telling y'all... it's hard to beat a good, fresh tamale! Stop in and give some of these shops a try next time you're in San Antonio!
Types of Tamales
Today, there are a huge variety of tamales available. Traditional pork tamales are always popular and can often be found as mild or spicy tamales. Also popular besides the classic pork tamales today: chicken tamales, pinto bean tamales, jalapeño tamales, BBQ brisket tamales and even cream cheese jalapeño tamales. And of course, a good old beef tamale has been a favorite of many folks for a very long time.
Some of these San Antonio restaurants also serve carne guisada, flour tortillas, menudo, chicharrones, or breakfast tacos. You can order tamales by the half dozen, full dozen or even large orders for sharing with friends and family. And, while you're there consider buying a pound of barbacoa or picking up some green sauce or red sauce for that extra blast of flavor.
San Antonio Tamale Trot Map:
Ranking These Tamale Shops:
We enjoyed every one of the tamales we ate and would not hesitate to visit any of these shops again. If we had to rank them based on this visit and what we bought, we would go with:
1) Delia's
2) Delicious
3) Ruben's
4) Victoria Factory
5) Adelita
There are several more San Antonio locations that we want to try in the future. Many of which we've been told have provided decades of service to the community and have become a family tradition with folks we know. On our radar for future tamale trots: Tellez Tamales, Martinez Barbacoa Y Tamales, Del Rio Tortilla Factory, Morenita Barbacoa, B & B Tamales, and SA Tamale Boy. So many great options in the Alamo City... this may take us a while! Stay tuned.
Where to Stay in San Antonio TX
Over the years, our go-to RV park in San Antonio has been Admiralty RV Resort on the West side of San Antonio. Admiralty has a sister resort, Greenlake RV Resort on the Southeast side of town.
