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Vegetarian Street Food GUIDE: Part 2

3/4/2025

Here’s a short list of options you can eat at food stalls in the street or markets.

** In any street food, the oil that they use could be canola oil or similar, or it could be “manteca” which is reduced pork lard; unless you go to a strictly vegetarian or vegan restaurant, there might be a slight level of cross.contamination with the meat dishes - same pan used, same oil, same knife.

◼️ QUESADILLAS: long corn tortilla with a fried or toasted, filled with the following vegetarian options:

FLOR [DE CALABAZA] (squash blossom flower)
HONGOS o SETAS (mushrooms, usually a variety of wild mushrooms)
CHAMPIÑONES (mushrooms, usually the button mushrooms)
HUITLACOCHE (corn smut, similar to mushroom flavor)
PAPA (chopped up or squashed/mashed potato)
RAJAS (strips of roasted poblano pepper); sometimes RAJAS CON PAPA, or RAJAS CON CREMA (marinated in Mexican cream)
QUELITES (technically “edible tender herbs”, the taste is across between spinach and greens)
ESPINACAS (spinach)
QUESO o QUESILLO (in Mexico City, the quesadillas don’t automatically come with cheese, so you’d order a “quesadilla con queso”)
COMBINADO (combine any fillings with each other or with cheese)

***** QUESADILLAS FRITAS: similar to a quesadilla but usually shorter in size, and deep-fried; at these stands, usually you’ll also find FLAUTAS; here are the fillings you can ask for:

QUESO (crunchy on the outside, melted cheese on the inside)
RAJAS (usually poblano pepper, but sometimes bell pepper)
Ask what else they have, as the previous list has some of the things you could select: papas, champiñones, espinacas con queso, etc.
You usually add cream, iceberg lettuce, finely sliced, salsa, and grated cheese.

◼️ TACOS DE CANASTA: tacos bathed in oil to cook, and you usually find them with someone selling them out of a woven basket, in the corner of a street, covered in cloth/plastic; the vegetarian options are FRIJOL (beans) or PAPA.

◼️ ELOTES o ESQUITES: corn on the cob or pieces of corn in a cup, with mayonnaise, lime, chili, salt, and cheese; in Mexico, these are prepared in different regional ways but in Mexico City, you’ll usually find them either boiled or boiled and roasted in spices.

◼️ TAMALES: corn masa, steamed in corn husk or banana leaf; this usually is cooked in reduced pork lard, but they have one vegetarian filling option, RAJAS CON QUESO (strips of roasted or boiled poblano pepper with Oaxaca cheese usually); for a sweet option, there is DULCE which can be raisins, guayaba, pineapple, etc.

◼️ EMPANADAS: flour-based pastries filled with ELOTE CON QUESO (corn with melted cheese), RAJAS CON CREMA O QUESO, ESPINACAS, or CHAMPIÑONES. it’s not that common to find them in the streets, but you can find them in many bakeries.

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Vegetarian Street Food GUIDE: Part 1

3/4/2025

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◼️ TLACOYOS: oval/diamond-shaped corn masa (dough) fried or toasted, yellow or blue, topped usually with NOPALES (cactus leaves), cilantro, cheese, onion, filled with one of the following proteins:

HABA (fava bean)
REQUESÓN (soft cheese)
FRIJOLES (black or pinto beans)

◼️ TACOS (DE GUISADO): circular corn tortilla, similar to quesadilla, but we don’t use the same fillings usually; order either with a beans spread or rice, with the “guisado”; here’s what you could ask for the “guisado”:

CHILE RELLENO (roasted poblano pepper stuffed with QUESO PANELA or FRESCO (fresh cheese) and fried in egg batter) – usually not spicy by itself, but you never know
RAJAS CON CREMA (strips of roasted poblano pepper marinated in Mexican cream)
HUEVOS DUROS o REVUELTOS EN SALSA VERDE (eggs, either: hard-boiled, or scrambled and bathing in green (spicy) sauce)
TORTITAS DE BROCOLI o COLIFLOR (broccoli or cauliflower patty, fried in egg batter)

***** TOSTADAS: deep-fried or toasted crunchy taco with toppings:

TINGA DE SETAS (not very common; mushrooms cooked in a tomato based-sauce, with garlic, chiles)
FRIJOLES (not very common)

◼️ FLAUTAS: a long tortilla rolled up and deep fried to be crunchy, with a filling on the inside; there are 1 or 2 vegetarian options: PAPA (potato) o QUESO (cheese), but you usually can get fried quesadillas (our next blog) at these stands as well; you can add cream, iceberg lettuce finely sliced, salsa, grated cheese.

◼️ TORTAS: sandwiches with wheat bread loaf (it’s a special kind called BOLILLO), with a combination of fillings: HUEVOS, QUESO, AGUACATE (avocado), JITOMATE (tomato).

◼️ SOPE SENCILLO: a thin-ish corn patty (thicker than a quesadilla, but thinner than a burger patty), fried or toasted, with a beans spread and grated cheese on top; this is the “plain” version of the SOPE, as there are many meat options, but in an emergency situation, the SOPE SENCILLO could carry you over; it’s very rare but sometimes you can find a SOPE CON HUEVO; near Massiosare el Hostal, there’s a place called Genesis, that has this egg sope option.

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A TASTE OF MEXICO CITY

Vegetarian Street Food GUIDE: Part 2

Vegetarian Street Food GUIDE: Part 1

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