Inside: This Authentic Mexican Menudo Recipe is as Mexican as it gets and you will be surprised how good it is when made right!
This is part of asponsored collaboration with Rumba Meats. However, all opinions expressed are my own.
While Mexico is well-known for certain things, such as tacos, tostadas, and more, it is also known for things that some people might not be as eager to try like menudo.
What Is Menudo?
Menudo is a popular “caldo”, or soup, in Mexico that includes as a main component beef tripe. If you don’t know what that is, it is the meat from a cow’s stomach.
Now it might come as a shock to you, but it can actually be very delicious if you prepare it the right way, and that is my goal with this recipe today!
Whenever you purchase any of the less common cuts of meat, like beef tripe, beef tongue, oxtails, and cheekmeat, you want to make sure that you cook it the right way, and that you purchase high-quality meat. In Mexico, you can find these types of meat all over the place, but in the United States, it can be a little bit more difficult.
Fortunately, I recently came across a brand that sells all of these cuts of meat and more and that you can have delivered directly to your door.
The company is Rumba Meats, and you can purchase the meat for this menudo and many others on Amazon.
I ordered this variety box and I was pleasantly surprised when it arrived. It came in a very secure box, with dry ice and well packed. The meat was all still frozen solid and ready to either thaw or put in the freezer.
For this menudo recipe, I used the Rumba Meats Honeycomb Beef Tripe. It came clean and trimmed, which was great.
This isn’t a recipe that I make very often, because my husband isn’t quite brave enough yet to try it, but I have to say – it turned out very good and flavorful.
My mom used to make this version of menudo when I was growing up, and I used to help her. I remember the recipe now that I am older and it definitely brought back some good memories from growing up in Mexico.
I hope that you enjoy this recipe, and that you will give it a try – even if it is a little bit outside of your comfort zone!
Let me know in the comments below how it turned out for you.
Try These Other Great Mexican Classics
- Mexican Pozole Recipe
- Authentic Mexican Chicken Tortilla Soup
- Charro Beans Authentic Mexican Recipe
- Shrimp Ceviche Mexican Style Ceviche Recipe
- Authentic Mexican Birria Recipe (3 Methods)
- Barbacoa Tacos
- How To Make Authentic Beef Tongue Tacos (Tacos de Lengua Recipe)
Products Used In this Recipe
This Authentic Mexican Menudo Recipe is as Mexican as it gets and you will be surprised how good it is!
Prep Time15 minutes mins
Cook Time1 hour hr
Total Time1 hour hr 15 minutes mins
Course: Main Course, Soup
Cuisine: Mexican
Keyword: menudo, mexico, panzita, tripe
Servings: 4 people
Calories: 281kcal
Ingredients
- 2 Pounds of Rumba Meats Honeycomb Tripe
- 1 Liter of Water
- ½ White Onion
- 1 head of garlic about 4-5 cloves
- 1 Branch of Fresh Oregano
- 1 Branch of Fresh Rosemary
- Salt
- Guajillo Sauce 2 pasilla peppers, 2 guajillo peppers, salt, pepper, cumin, clove of garlic
- 1 Can of Beef Stock
- 1 Can of Hominy
- 2 Potatoes cut into medium sized cubes
Instructions
Clean the Tripe with water and vinegar, and then rinse.
Trim the fat around the edges of the tripe.
Cut the Tripe into small chunks and add it to a pot with boiling water and cook for about 25 minutes.
Drain the water and rinse the Tripe again. Set aside.
In a large, clean pot add a liter of water, the garlic, onion, salt, fresh herbs, beef stock, potatoes, and tripe.
Bring to a boil and let cook for 20 minutes.
Make the guajillo sauce by removing the seeds and stem from the pasilla and guajillo peppers, and boiling them for 15 minutes in water. Drain the water and blend the softened peppers with one clove of garlic, salt, pepper, onion, and cumin. Strain the mixture with a strainer.
Add the guajillo sauce and the hominy to the pot with the rest of the ingredients and let cook for an additional 10 minutes.
Serve with lime, onion, and cilantro.
Nutrition
Calories: 281kcal | Carbohydrates: 19g | Protein: 29g | Fat: 9g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Sodium: 25mg | Potassium: 459mg | Fiber: 3g | Vitamin C: 13.4mg | Calcium: 47mg | Iron: 3.5mg
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FAQs
Tripe can be easily found in Mexican and Asian grocery stores, honeycomb and book or leaf tripe are the most common. These are the second and third stomachs respectively, and both may be used for menudo, but stick to just one type, as they do differ in texture and cooking time.
What are the three types of menudo? ›
Gallery
- Menudo variations.
- Spanish Menudo with garbanzo beans and chorizo sausage.
- Mexican Menudo blanco or white menudo.
- Spanish Menudo from Cadiz.
- Mondongo (menudo) soup and gordita. In southern Mexico and Gulf Coast, menudo is known as mondongo.
- Mexican Menudo rojo (Red menudo)
According to Nationaltoday.com, “Menudo is a traditional Mexican soup made with beef tripe in broth, seasoned with hominy, garlic, onions, and oregano.” In my opinion, most Hispanic people would say that our memories can be tied to the smells and tastes of the traditional foods we grew up with.
What is the difference between menudo regular and menudo blanco? ›
Menudo Rojo is the most popular one, and it uses dried chiles to add spice to it. Menudo Blanco, on the other hand, doesn't include dried chile nor pepper either, although some might add a bit of jalapeño to give it a bit of flavor. In some cases, chefs might add pig's feet or sheep stomach instead of beef tripe.
Why do you soak tripe in vinegar? ›
Cleaning and preparing tripe
In the past I've used vinegar and salt to clean the fresh tripe, or just some intense scrubbing under running water. Chris Cosentino suggests washing well and dipping in not-quite-boiling vinegar to remove any odor.
What is the difference between tripe and honeycomb tripe? ›
Beef tripe is most often obtained from the first three of the four stomachs of beef cattle (rumen, reticulum, and omasum). The most tender and mild flavored is called honeycomb because one side has a honeycomb pattern. All tripe is United States Department of Agriculture inspected.
Why is menudo gross? ›
The tripe itself can look repulsive. Yes, you read that correctly: menudo is a soup made from a cow's stomach (tripe). Some people describe the smell of cooking tripe to be akin to the odor emanating from a barnyard.
Why is menudo only served on weekends? ›
His menudo rojo (with red chile) is common in northern Mexico, while menudo blanco (white menudo, without chile) is more popular in Sinaloa and central Mexico. Menudo is often served only on the weekends because it takes a long time to prepare – and perhaps because that's when it's most needed as a hangover cure.
What is healthier, menudo or pozole? ›
Posole can be made a bit leaner than menudo thanks to the option of making it with chicken, but both dishes are full of vegetables and different groups of nutrients, so honestly, both soups are pretty healthy overall.
Why would most Spaniards not like to eat menudo? ›
The answer is - It contains offal meat Menudo is a traditional Mexican soup made fr…
Its origins remain a mystery – some people attribute its humble beginnings in Central Mexico during Mexico's pre-revolution era as a soup prepared from poverty – also known as “poor man's soup.” Usually, food waste and leftovers were given to peasant cooks, who invented menudo by using the stomach.
Is menudo good for you? ›
Health Benefits
Overall, I would classify menudo as a healthy food. Menudo provides plenty of protein from the tripe and hominy is a good source of fiber. This combination of protein and fiber, plus the water from the broth, makes menudo very filling while providing plenty of nutrients.
Do Mexicans eat menudo for breakfast? ›
When the red pepper base is left out, it's called menudo blanco. “It's the custom to eat it early in the morning, and it's known as a cure for a hangover, but people don't necessarily eat it for that,” says Claudia Zepeda, who runs the taqueria with her parents, Manuel and Delia.
What is the squishy meat in menudo? ›
Menudo is made with hominy, a type of dried maize, cow's feet and tripe, which is cow's stomach. The ingredients are cooked together for hours with deliciously spicy chilies and herbs, resulting in a thick, hearty soup eaten with bread on the side.
Why is my menudo bland? ›
If the broth's taste is too bland for your liking (this can happen due to the type of tripe and bone used), add beef broth cubes to it. If using uncooked hominy, it can be cooked separately while the tripe cooks, to avoid lengthening the time preparing this recipe will take.
What's the difference between green tripe and regular tripe? ›
Unlike bleached tripe, which is cleaned and whitened for human consumption, green tripe retains its natural state, making it a far more nutritious option for our canine companions. It's called 'green' not because of its color but because it's untouched and in its natural state.
What are the two types of tripe? ›
What Is Tripe?
- Tripe is a type of edible lining from the stomach of cows or other animals such as pigs and sheep. ...
- Blanket tripe: comes from the first stomach and resembles a solid, shaggy sheet.
- Honeycomb tripe: comes from the second stomach, and is so named because its surface has diamond-shaped raised cells across it.
Tripe from the rumen and reticulum is the most common. Rumen tripe is known as blanket tripe and reticulum tripe is known as the honeycomb. The internal surface of the rumen has densely packed papillae, while the reticulum has ridges in the shape of a honeycomb structure.
