How to Make Made from Scratch Homemade Pork Tamales

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Sometimes I like to challenge myself and try something new just to see if I can do it. This week I saw pork loins were on sale at Kroger super cheap, so I decided the challenge would be Made from Scratch Homemade Pork Tamales. This post contains affiliate links.

Updated 5/20/2022

Close up of homemade pork tamales on a colorful plate

While this is a time consuming activity that takes 2 days, it’s really not that hard. You will have enough homemade pork tamales for 2-3 dinners that you can freeze!

Close up image of homemade pork tamales freshly steamed on a white plate

What do you need to make Homemade Pork Tamales?

5 lb pork shoulder or butt roast
salt/roasted garlic seasoning
ancho peppers
ground cumin
chili powder
salt
black pepper
tbs garlic powder
paprika
Masa flour
sea salt

How do you make Made from Scratch Homemade Pork Tamales?

Making the Tamale Filling

Preheat oven to 300. Season with Garlic Seasoning.

Cook for two hours in a dutch oven dry.

Then, add 4 cups of water to finish the process. Allow it to cook for 2-3 more hours.

When you finally pull it out, the meat should just fall off the bone.

Let cool. Save the pork drippings and set aside.

Shred the pork roast with 2 forks.

Mash it a little with a potato masher or the forks. Or, it’s best to put it in the food processor with a little of the pork juice to keep moist.

Slice open and remove stems and seeds of 4 ancho peppers.

Boil then simmer for 10 minutes in 2-4 cups of water. Cover with a lid.

Let them cool for about 30 minutes. Then, scrape pulp out and discard skin. The skin will be clear as you scrap pulp.

Save the ancho pepper juice and set aside.

Sauté together 1 tablespoon of lard, shortening, or oil and 1 tablespoon of minced garlic.

Add this sautéed garlic, a bit of pork juice, the ancho pulp to the meat mixture.

Next, add ground cumin, chili powder, salt, black pepper, garlic powder, and paprika to the meat and mix well.

Allow this meat mixture to sit overnight in fridge.

Soak the corn husks overnight in water.

Place the extra pork drippings and the extra ancho pepper juice in the fridge for overnight.

The next day, pull out the meat, pork juice and ancho pepper juice.

Making the Masa

Peanut butter consistency masa harina for tamales

In the mixer add 3 cups Masa harina, paprika, garlic powder, ground cumin, and sea salt.

Mix the dough together and add 2 cups of pork broth (if you don’t have enough, use beef broth) and 1/2 cup of leftover ancho pepper juice

Add more broth and ancho pepper juice until your masa is the consistency of creamy peanut butter.

Making the Tamales

Use a silicone cutting mat or a large freezer ziplock bag.

Lay out an open corn husk, then place a meatball size of masa dough.

Cover the masa with a large freezer bag and roll it out with a rolling pin or glass. Leave 1 inch at the very top of the corn husk bare and free of masa – this is the narrowest side. Roll the masa dough as thin as possible without holes.

Add 1 tablespoon of meat mixture along the center length of the masa.

Then fold one side of the corn husk inward and the other side inward and then lastly fold the bare side down.

If you don’t feel the corn husks will stay shut, take another corn husk pull it into thin strips, and use those as ties to hold it shut.

Tying a tamale closed with a corn husk tie

You can start cooking a batch while you’re still making tamales, as they take a long time to cook. I prefer using a two-tiered electric steamer as it just takes an hour to cook, versus the stove top method where it takes up to 2 hours or so.

To cook tamales, I use an electric steamer and not the stove top method. It takes about 60 minutes in an electric steamer to cook fresh tamales.

A two tier electric steamer for steaming homemade pork tamales

You can also cook tamales in a steamer in a pot. You will need to fill the just the bottom of the pot with water, so it doesn’t touch the bottom of the steamer. Add the tamales to the steamer, cover and let reach a boil.

Turn the fire to a simmer on Medium Low.

Cook for about 2 hours, checking every 30 minutes for doneness. the masa will no longer be sticky when the tamales are cooked.

Steaming tamales on the stove top in a pot

Tamales are done when you can pull the tamale from the corn husk and the masa doesn’t stick.

Serve immediately or freeze in freezer ziplock bags for up to a month.

A pan of freshly made homemade pork tamales

We had masa leftover since we ran out of meat, so we made about a dozen refried bean tamales. I make Healthier Refried Beans in the Instant Pot and then use those for any tamales we can make with the extra masa.

And just like that, you can make about 3 dinners worth of tamales. Woohoo!!

Recipes to Pair with Homemade Pork Tamales

More Tamale Recipes

2 dozen tamales

Made from Scratch Homemade Pork Tamales

Prep Time: 45 minutes

Cook Time: 5 hours

Total Time: 5 hours 45 minutes

Ingredients

Tamale Filling

5 lb pork shoulder or butt
salt/roasted garlic seasoning
4 ancho peppers
1 tablespoon lard, shortening, or vegetable oil
1 tablespoon garlic
1 tablespoon of ground cumin
1 tablespoon chili powder
2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 1/2 tablespoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon paprika

Masa

3 cups Masa Harina
1 teaspoon paprika
2 teaspoon garlic powder
1-2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 tablespoon sea salt
2 cups pork drippings or beef broth
1/2 cup ancho pepper juice