Christmas tamales · 2026
Christmas tamales: 25 makers who take holiday orders, and how to make your own
In a lot of American homes, Christmas Eve means tamales: ordered by the dozen from the place your family has always used, or made together around a kitchen table. Here are 25 makers worth ordering from, from San Antonio to Clarksdale, seven that ship anywhere, and everything you need to throw your own tamalada.
Indio International Tamale Festival, December 5-6, 2026. Free, two days, the 34th year: dozens of tamale makers in one park, a short drive from Palm Springs.
Details Order a dozen
Most of these sell out the week before Christmas, so order early. Prices are what each maker or the press last listed, with the source and year; check the current price when you order.
All 25 Ships anywhere (7) Texas New Mexico and Arizona California Seattle and Denver The Midwest and the South New York
Texas
Ships anywhere A photo like it · NachtBel, CC BY-SA 4.0 San Antonio, TX · Six San Antonio shops and two in Austin
Get: A mixed dozen: pork, chicken and the bean and cheese
San Antonio's big holiday name, and one of the few that will pack a cooler of dozens and ship it anywhere in the country.
Price Last listed $25.99 a dozen online (Texas Monthly)
Order by Online orders for Christmas closed Dec 16 in the year Texas Monthly checked; this year's date goes up on their site.
Where we found it: Texas Monthly: tamales shipped from Texas · Delicious Tamales
Ships anywhere A photo like it · Sarah Stierch, CC BY 4.0 McAllen, TX · Six shops across the Rio Grande Valley
Get: Spicy pork, and a half dozen sweet cream cheese for dessert
The Valley's Christmas order. Their own site still said Christmas online orders were sold out from last season, which tells you to order early.
Price Last listed $16.09 a dozen (pork, beef, chicken); $18.89 bean and cheese (Delia's own site)
Order by Sells out: last Christmas the online orders closed before the holiday and the next delivery date was Dec 30.
Where we found it: Delia's Tamales · Texas Monthly
Call to order A photo like it · NachtBel, CC BY-SA 4.0 San Antonio, TX · 1130 Fresno St
Get: Pork tamales by the dozen, and fresh masa if you're making your own
Making tamales on Fresno Street since 1938. San Antonio Magazine sends people here first.
Price Ask when you order
Order by Call ahead for Christmas: the week before is the line.
Where we found it: San Antonio Magazine: the best tamales in San Antonio · Adelita Tamales
Call to order A photo like it · Sarah Stierch, CC BY 4.0 Houston, TX · 12139 Jones Rd, northwest Houston
Get: Pork, by the dozen or half dozen
A family factory since 1967. Their site says holiday orders are open, by phone or in person only.
Price Ask when you order
Order by Holiday orders by phone or in person. Messages left on the answering machine don't count as orders.
Where we found it: Balderas Tamale Factory · Houston Press: holiday tamales by the dozen
Pre-order for pickup A photo like it · Jorge A. Ramos Ruiz, CC BY-SA 4.0 Houston, TX · 809 Berry Rd, and the Houston Farmers Market on Airline Dr
Get: Pork and chicken, steamed or frozen to take home
Two Houston counters that keep the dozens coming through New Year's.
Price Last listed $16.95 a dozen (DiningOut Houston)
Order by Pickup runs through the new year; order a few days ahead for Christmas Eve.
Where we found it: DiningOut: where to buy tamales in Houston for the holidays · Alamo Tamales
Pre-order for pickup A photo like it · NachtBel, CC BY-SA 4.0 Dallas, TX · Deep Ellum
Get: The brisket tamales
A barbecue joint's holiday tamales: smoked brisket in the masa, sold only as pre-orders.
Price Last listed $22 a dozen pork, $26 brisket (Dallas Observer, Dec 2025)
Order by Last year's holiday pre-order deadline was Nov 23. Check their pre-order page early.
Where we found it: Dallas Observer: best tamales in Dallas · CraveDFW: Pecan Lodge holiday feast
Pre-order for pickup A photo like it · Alejandra Mendoza Santillan, CC BY-SA 4.0 Grapevine, TX · Grapevine and Coppell (it used to be Tommy Tamale)
Get: The jalapeño cheese, made without lard
Yelp's reviewers named it the best tamales in America, and every dozen is lard-free, which helps at a mixed table.
Price Ask when you order
Order by Holiday dozens go fast after Thanksgiving; order by phone or online.
Where we found it: Austin American-Statesman on Yelp's best tamales · Atomic Tamales
New Mexico and Arizona
Ships anywhere A photo like it · Alejandra Mendoza Santillan, CC BY-SA 4.0 Hatch, NM · Hatch, the green chile capital
Get: Green chile chicken
Handmade tamales with Hatch green chile since 1978, shipped frozen from the town the chile is named for.
Price Ask when you order
Order by Ships frozen; order by mid-December for Christmas.
Where we found it: The Hatch Chile Store · New Mexico Magazine: holiday tamales
Call to order A photo like it · Sarah Stierch, CC BY 4.0 Albuquerque, NM · 1715 2nd St SW
Get: Red chile pork
The Albuquerque Journal and the NM Gastronome both put it near the top: red chile pork the way New Mexico does it.
Price Ask when you order
Order by Call ahead for dozens before Christmas.
Where we found it: Albuquerque Journal: where to find the best tamales · NM Gastronome
Ships anywhere A photo like it · Usernet123u, CC BY-SA 4.0
Pre-order for pickup A photo like it · Rodante4, CC BY-SA 4.0 Phoenix, AZ · 1202 E Mohave St
Get: Red chile beef, cooked and ready
A Phoenix institution better known for tortillas, with holiday dozens frozen or cooked.
Price Last listed $27.95 a dozen frozen, $43.95 cooked (Mouth by Southwest, Dec 2025)
Order by Order a few days ahead for cooked dozens.
Where we found it: Mouth by Southwest: where to grab a dozen · Carolina's Mexican Food
California
Pre-order for pickup A photo like it · Alejandra Mendoza Santillan, CC BY-SA 4.0 Los Angeles, CA · 1142 S Indiana St, Boyle Heights
Get: Green chile and cheese
An East LA shop with an online store for holiday dozens: beef, pork, chicken, vegetable, green chile and cheese.
Price Last listed $34-$36 a dozen (La Indiana's own shop)
Order by Order on their shop for pickup; Christmas week sells out.
Where we found it: La Indiana shop · LAist: favorite places to get holiday tamales
Pre-order for pickup A photo like it · Sarah Stierch, CC BY 4.0 Los Angeles, CA · 2715 Whittier Blvd, Boyle Heights
Get: Red chile pork, plus a few sweet pineapple
A bakery since 1952 whose Christmas tamales sell out every year. Six fillings, including vegetable in banana leaf.
Price Last listed $35.49 a dozen (LAist)
Order by Pre-order online; they sell out before Christmas Eve.
Where we found it: LAist: holiday tamales, order now · The Infatuation: La Mascota
Walk in, no orders A photo like it · Jorge A. Ramos Ruiz, CC BY-SA 4.0 Los Angeles, CA · East Cesar Chavez Ave, Boyle Heights
Get: The red pork
A market and tortilleria where the red pork tamal is the one Discover Los Angeles tells you to get.
Price Last listed $24.99 a dozen (Discover Los Angeles)
Order by Walk in and expect a line Christmas week.
Where we found it: Discover Los Angeles: the best places to buy tamales for the holidays
Pre-order for pickup A photo like it · Ivette Degollado, CC0 Los Angeles, CA · Westlake, by MacArthur Park
Get: A vegan dozen
Tamales from all over Latin America, and the place LA's vegans order their Christmas dozens.
Price Last listed Holiday kits from $89 (VegOut)
Order by Order holiday kits ahead by phone or online.
Where we found it: VegOut: vegan tamales in LA · Discover Los Angeles
Call to order A photo like it · Sarah Stierch, CC BY 4.0 Los Angeles, CA · Watts (it started as a truck at Wilmington Ave and 109th St)
Get: Guerrero-style pork in red chile
The Bonilla sisters' tamales from Guerrero, on every LA list from the Infatuation to Time Out.
Price Ask when you order
Order by Call ahead for dozens before Christmas.
Where we found it: The Infatuation: the best tamales in LA · Time Out Los Angeles
Pre-order for pickup A photo like it · AlexandLeigh, CC BY-SA 3.0 San Francisco, CA · 24th St, the Mission
Get: Tamales to go, or the fresh masa for your own tamalada
Making masa every day since 1953. The line for masa on the days before Christmas is a Mission tradition, and they sell the steamer pots too.
Price Ask when you order
Order by Order tamales on their site; fresh masa needs no pre-order, just come early.
Where we found it: Mission Local: the masa line at La Palma · La Palma
Seattle and Denver
Pre-order for pickup A photo like it · Alejandra Mendoza Santillan, CC BY-SA 4.0 Seattle, WA · Green Lake, Seattle, and Bellingham
Get: The pork verde
Seattle's tamale family, with a holiday page: order ahead, pick up at a taproom or get them brought home.
Price Ask when you order
Order by Holiday pre-orders on their site. Closed Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.
Where we found it: Frelard Tamales: holidays
Walk in, no orders A photo like it · Alejandra Mendoza Santillan, CC BY-SA 4.0 The Midwest and the South
Pre-order for pickup Photo: Evie's Tamales Detroit, MI · 3454 Bagley St, Mexicantown
Get: Pork by the dozen
Mexicantown's holiday kitchen since 1981, making about 400 dozen a day before Christmas.
Price Ask when you order
Order by Fox 2 reported Christmas orders open through Dec 18; call to confirm this year.
Where we found it: CBS Detroit: Mexicantown prepares thousands of tamales · Fox 2 Detroit
Ships anywhere Photo: Goldbelly Chicago, IL · River North (ships through Goldbelly)
Get: Choose your own 12: green chile pork, red chile chicken, sweet corn
Rick Bayless's tamales, shipped. The one to send a friend who lives nowhere near a tamalería.
Price Last listed $89.95 for 12 (Goldbelly)
Order by Goldbelly lists the last day to order for Christmas delivery on the page.
Where we found it: Goldbelly: Frontera Grill tamales · Food Network: shippable tamales for Christmas
Ships anywhere Photo: Goldbelly Johnson City, TN · Johnson City, East Tennessee (ships through Goldbelly)
Get: Choose your own two dozen
An Appalachian roadhouse with a cult tamale, on Food Network's list of tamales worth shipping.
Price Last listed $129.95 for 2 dozen (Goldbelly)
Order by Goldbelly lists the Christmas delivery cutoff on the page.
Where we found it: Goldbelly: Cootie Brown's · Food Network: shippable tamales for Christmas
Ships anywhere A photo like it · Southern Foodways Alliance, CC BY 2.0 Natchez, MS · Natchez, on the Mississippi
Get: Mississippi Delta-style hot tamales
The Delta's simmered hot tamale, spicier and wetter than Texas's, shipped from Natchez.
Price Ask when you order
Order by Ships from their shop and Goldbelly; order early in December.
Where we found it: Fat Mama's Tamales · Goldbelly: Fat Mama's
Call to order A photo like it · Southern Foodways Alliance, CC BY 2.0 New York
Call to order A photo like it · Rodante4, CC BY-SA 4.0 New York, NY · Corona, Queens (the cart at Junction Blvd and Roosevelt Ave, the shop on Northern Blvd)
Get: Rajas con queso and the mole
Evelia Coyotzi went from a 4:30am cart to a shop and a High Line stand; Pete Wells reviewed her in the Times.
Price Ask when you order
Order by Ask at the shop about dozens for Christmas.
Where we found it: Epicenter NYC: from bicycle to brick · Viewing NYC: the dollar tamale queen
Throw a tamalada A tamalada is a tamale-making party: a big pot of masa, two or three fillings, a pile of soaked husks, and everyone at the table spreading and folding. Six dozen goes fast with eight people.
Start your tamalada: the date, how many people and how many dozen. Send one link. Each guest claims a job, so you don't end up with three pots of pork and no masa. Chef scales their recipe to your party and writes the shopping list. The masa Mix and beat the masa, and bring the broth
Red chile pork Make the red chile pork filling at home and bring it cooled
Chicken verde Make the chicken in salsa verde at home and bring it cooled
Rajas con queso Make the poblano rajas and bring the cheese
Husks and the steamer Bring the corn husks, a big steamer pot and the kitchen towels
Salsa and something to drink Make the salsa roja, and bring something warm to drink
Start my tamalada The recipes
Chef's own masa, three fillings and a salsa, each written for about two dozen tamales with every step and the cues to watch for. Make one at home, or let the tamalada page multiply them for your party.
How we picked
We started from the people who know their cities: Texas Monthly, San Antonio Magazine, the Dallas Observer, LAist, Discover Los Angeles, Mission Local, City Cast Denver, CBS Detroit, the Southern Foodways Alliance and others, then checked each maker's own page for how they take Christmas orders. Every maker was checked on November 6, 2026, and each card says where we found it. Nobody paid to be here. Is your family's tamale place missing? Tell us at hello@chefamazing.com .
Send this to whoever orders the tamales
More for the holidays
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Photos marked "a photo like it" are tamales from Wikimedia Commons, credited, not from that maker. Prices and order dates change every year: the ones here are as last listed, with the source. The recipes are Chef Amazing's own. Chef Amazing isn't paid by anyone on this list.
Ships anywhereA photo like it · NachtBel, CC BY-SA 4.0
