17 Typical Dishes of Puebla – A Food Guide

No visit to Puebla is complete without savoring the typical dishes that the local cuisine offers. Known across Mexico – and even beyond – for its most iconic foods, mole poblano, and chile en nogada, Puebla offers a wide range of traditional foods that will delight your taste buds. The state’s cuisine is a beautiful fusion of Spanish and Arabic influences mixed with indigenous Mesoamerican ingredients. After having lived in Puebla and neighboring Cholula for over two years, you might think I’m biased, but the international recognition of Puebla’s gastronomy speaks for itself. So dive in and learn more about the dishes you can’t miss when you’re in Puebla.

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1. Mole Poblano: The Signature Dish of Puebla

Probably the most iconic dish of Puebla and known throughout Mexico: Mole poblano is a thick, slightly sweet, and (more or less) spicy salsa. It’s made from a rich combination of ingredients – chocolate, ground chiles, almonds, raisins, sesame, and spices like cinnamon and cloves. The result is a complex, layered flavor that’s earthy, sweet, and a bit spicy, all at once.

Mole poblano is traditionally served over chicken or turkey and comes with a side of rice and tortillas. However, you’ll also find tortas (sandwiches) with mole poblano and other dishes that use the salsa’s richness to add to the overall flavor. Poblano means coming from Puebla, by the way.

One of the things I love about “mole” is how every place in Puebla has its unique take on it. Some versions are more chocolaty, while others lean into a smokier or spicier profile. No two moles are the same, so I recommend trying it in different spots around the city.

2. Chile en Nogada: Mexico’s Flag in a Dish

Chile en nogada is not just a typical dish of Puebla – it’s a celebration of Mexico’s rich culture and history. This seasonal meal, which is typically served from late July to mid-September, consists of the less spicy, green roasted poblano pepper stuffed with a flavorful mixture of ground meat, fruits, nuts, and spices. It’s then topped with a creamy walnut sauce (the “nogada”) and decorated with red pomegranate seeds and fresh parsley, creating the perfect green, white, and red palette of the Mexican flag. It’s one of the dishes to celebrate Mexico’s Independence Day on September 16.

3. Cemitas: Sandwiches with Delicious Fillings

Cemitas are large, sesame-seed-topped crusty sandwich rolls that are soft on the inside. They’re bigger than the usual tortas (smaller sandwiches) that you can find all over Mexico, and thus cost a bit more. The traditional filling of a cemita poblana (poblana means coming from Puebla) is sliced avocado, Oaxaca cheese (a stringy white cheese known as quesillo), meat, often a crispy breaded pork cutlet known as milanesa. Some unique ingredients like chipotle peppers and pápalo, a fragrant herb, give it its special flavor. Delicious!

4. Tacos Árabes: Arab Influence on a Mexican Dish

Tacos árabes are a perfect fusion of Middle Eastern and Mexican flavors. These delicious tacos are filled with marinated pork, wrapped in pita bread (called “pan árabe”) usually made of wheat instead of corn, and served with salsa. As tacos árabes originated from the Lebanese shawarma that immigrants brought along to Puebla, Middle-Eastern spices are used to give the meat its unique flavor, and the meat is cooked on a vertical spit.

5. Chalupas: Tortillas Topped with Salsa

Chalupas are small tortillas fried in lard, topped with salsa, onions, cheese and often meat or shredded chicken. You can eat them for breakfast, as a snack, or to accompany a main dish. They’re often served as 4 chalupas, 2 topped with red salsa and 2 topped with green salsa. Don’t underestimate this dish: Due to the lard it’s fried in, it can be quite filling.

6. Pipián Verde: Chicken with Green Pumpkin Seed Sauce

Pipián Verde is a lesser-known but delicious dish from Puebla that you should definitely try. It’s made from ground pumpkin seeds, green tomatoes, and cilantro, creating a rich, nutty, and slightly tangy green sauce that’s usually served over chicken. It’s not as heavy as the thick mole poblano but still packed with flavor. Another variation is Pipián Rojo, where dried ground chiles are added to the salsa that give it a red color.

7. Enchiladas with Mole Poblano or Pipián Salsa

Enchiladas are rolled-up tortillas filled with chicken, cheese or pork and topped with a thick sauce. They’re a main dish that you can have for breakfast as well as lunch or dinner. The thickness of the salsa makes them quite filling. And as you’re in Puebla, the salsa representing this town and state can be mole poblano, pipián verde or pipián rojo. Or why not all three of them together?

8. Huitlacoche: Black Corn Fungus

This is something so specific to Mexico that you probably won’t find it anywhere else. Huitlacoche (also called cuitlacoche) is a black corn fungus that grows on the cobs after the first rains after the dry season. The fungus turns the seeds into a form of black soft mushroom. Sounds weird, but it’s considered a delicacy that’s often called “Mexican truffle” because of its earthy, mushroom-like flavor. Some restaurants offer it as a filling for quesadillas or omelets. It’s delicious and you should definitely try it out! The season for huitlacoche is usually June-August.

9. Chapulines: A Protein-Rich Snack

Let’s not stop at Huitlacoche when it’s about food that’s less known in the Western world. Chapulines are roasted grasshoppers seasoned with salt, lime, and sometimes chile. You can order them in restaurants or buy them from street vendors. I have to admit I’m not a big fan of eating insects after my experience in Zapotitlán Salinas, but it’s surely a healthier crunchy TV snack than potato chips.

10. Tortitas de Santa Clara: For the Sweet Tooth

If you’ve got a sweet tooth, you’ll love Tortitas de Santa Clara. These round, shortbread-like cookies are topped with a smooth layer of sweet pumpkin seed icing. The cookie is crumbly and buttery, while the icing has a mild nutty sweetness that’s not too sweet.

My tip is to buy them in Puebla’s Calle de Dulces, where you can find more sweets typical for Puebla and Mexico.

11. “Pasita”: Raisin Liquor

Pasita is a sweet raisin liquor typical for the city of Puebla, and it’s usually served in small glasses with a piece of cheese and a raisin on a toothpick. It’s a strong, rich drink with a deep fruity flavor, perfect for sipping after dinner or as a digestif.

12. Cider from Zacatlán: The Best of Apples in a Drink

The Magical Town of Zacatlán de las Manzanas is known for its apple orchards and even home to an endemic apple, and one of the most popular products from this region is its cider. It’s a light, refreshing, and slightly fizzy sweet drink. We were lucky to come across the Nebulosa edition when we visited Zacatlán, which had a gold glitter touch to it when you moved the bottle. A perfect present!

13. Bacalao: A Traditional Christmas Dish

If you happen to be in Puebla during the Christmas season, you’ll probably find this dish on the restaurant’s menu. Bacalao, or dried salted cod, is a traditional dish served during the Christmas season. The cod is rehydrated, cooked with tomatoes, onions, olives, and potatoes, and served as a hearty, savory stew. Bacalao has a salty, briny flavor that pairs perfectly with the sweetness of the tomatoes and the richness of the olives.

14. Romeritos: Another Christmas Dish

Romeritos are a dish typically enjoyed around Christmas and New Year’s. Romeritos is the name of the dish as well as the plant used in this dish. The romeritos are leafy greens that have a slightly spinach-like flavor. For the namesake Christmas dish, they’re cooked with mole and dried shrimp, potatoes, nopales (cactus leaves), and mole sauce, creating a dish that’s savory, slightly spicy, and full of depth. It’s a unique combination of flavors that might take some getting used to, but it’s a classic holiday dish in Puebla.

15. Cheese Bread and Apple Pastry: Greetings From Zacatlán

These sweet breads are typical for the Magical Town of Zacatlán in the state of Puebla. Cheese bread (pan de queso) is stuffed with ranchero cheese and coated with sugar. The apple pastry, manzana hojaldreada, contains a whole apple baked inside puff pastry. Delicious!

16. Mixiote de Pollo: Chicken in Chile Sauce

Mixiote is another dish that’s popular in Zacatlán de las Manzanas. Mixiote refers to both the dish and the cooking method, where meat – usually chicken (pollo) – is marinated in a rich sauce of dried chiles, spices, and herbs, then wrapped in a maguey (agave) leaf or a special parchment-like skin from the plant. The whole bundle is then steamed or baked until the chicken becomes tender and full of flavor.

The mixiote marinade typically includes ingredients like special chiles, garlic, cumin, oregano, and avocado leaves, giving the dish a smoky, earthy flavor with a bit of spice.

17. Huaxmole or Mole de Caderas: Goat Stew

Another seasonal dish, huaxmole (also spelled huazmole) also known as mole de caderas is a hearty stew made from goat meat – specifically the hip bones and spine – cooked in a broth seasoned with local herbs and chili peppers. It’s typically served from mid-October until the end of November when the traditional “Matanza” takes place, the ritual sacrificing of goats in Tehuacán. The goats are fed a specific diet of salt and herbs before they’re slaughtered, which gives the meat its unique flavor. It’s especially the hip bones and the spine that are the main ingredients for the mole de cadera.

Compared to the mole poblano, this mole is rather a stew than a thick sauce.

The other parts of the goat meat are used for a variety of dishes, for example, chilaquiles de matanza, which is a typical breakfast of fried tortillas with goat meat.

Getting Hungry?

Puebla’s gastronomy is famous for a reason, and I hope you have time to try the various dishes it has to offer. It’s certainly a good reason to stay longer than just a day in this beautiful colonial city. And maybe you want to take a bag of mole poblano home? You can buy it in supermarkets and at the local markets. This way you can bring home a piece of poblano cuisine to your loved ones.

Read Next:

• 24 Best Things to Do in Puebla, Mexico – Colonial Architecture, Culture, and Cuisine
• Best Things to Do in Zacatlán de las Manzanas
• 11 Best Things to Do in Chignahuapan
• Celebrating Day of the Dead in Puebla 2024 – 13 Things to Do
• Best 21 Dishes and Drinks from Yucatán: A Culinary Deep-Dive