12 Simple Sides for Tacos

In addition to sour cream, various Mexican side dishes and appetizers with simple ingredients can elevate taco recipes. Consider making the following side dishes for your next taco Tuesday party:

1. 1. Cilantro-lime rice: To make this rice recipe, cook white rice with fresh lime juice, olive oil, and chopped cilantro. You can serve cilantro-lime rice with tacos, cilantro-lime chicken, or as the base of a burrito bowl.
2. 2. Esquites: Esquites are cups of Mexican corn salad topped with fresh lime juice, mayonnaise, butter, queso fresco, and chili powder or hot sauce. In Mexico and parts of the US such as Texas, street vendors often sell these corn cups (aka elote en vaso, or “corn in a cup”) side by side with elotes, or grilled Mexican street corn on the cob. Make this Mexican street corn salad for a filling side dish to serve alongside tacos.
3. 3. Frijoles de la Olla: In Mexico—not to mention anywhere within the Mexican diaspora—perfectly cooked, expertly seasoned beans are favorite side dishes, ubiquitous in Mexican food. Make frijoles de la Olla using black beans or pinto beans, and season them with cumin, garlic, salt, and cilantro. You can serve frijoles de la Olla with Cotija cheese or queso fresco on top (or feta cheese if you can’t find Mexican cheese). Frijoles are usually cooked on the stove, but if you are using dried beans, you can prepare them using a slow cooker.
4. 4. Guacamole: Guacamole is a Mexican avocado dip you can prepare in various ways. Some cooks make a simple guacamole of avocados mashed with lime and lemon juice and a little bit of sea salt; others add spices like cumin and veggies like diced tomatoes, white onion, jalapeno, and cilantro. Guac can be eaten as a taco topper or as a dip with tortilla chips.
5. 5. Guajillo chile salsa: Guajillo chile salsa is a Mexican sauce made from dried guajillo chiles. Guajillos are large, thin red peppers, with a sweet and slightly smoky flavor. Toast the dried chiles, simmer them in water and garlic, then puree them with kosher salt, cumin, and Mexican oregano. You can use this hot chile salsa as a topping for tacos and other Mexican dishes, such as enchiladas, or as a meat marinade for tamales and burritos.
6. 6. Mango salsa: Mango salsa is a sweet take on the classic Mexican condiment, calling for cubes of fresh mango in place of tomatoes. Diced onion, jalapeño pepper, lime juice, and herbs complete this sweet salsa cruda. This fruity salsa makes a light and sweet taco topping and pairs especially well with fish tacos.
7. 7. Margarita: No taco night is complete without margarita cocktails. Follow this recipe for a classic Margarita with tequila, fresh lime juice, orange liqueur, and salt.
8. 8. Mexican rice: Mexican rice, or Spanish rice, is a type of pilaf made from long-grain white rice cooked with tomato sauce, bell peppers, chicken broth, and other seasonings. Mexican rice is an easy side dish for all your favorite Mexican and Tex-Mex main dishes, including cheesy enchiladas, tacos, chicken with mole sauce, and chiles rellenos. You can use Spanish rice as a filling for burritos and stuffed roasted bell peppers, or use leftover Mexican rice to make fried rice and top with a sunny-side-up egg and chopped green onions. You can also use quinoa in place of rice for a healthy alternative.
9. 9. Pico de gallo: Pico de gallo is a raw, fresh salsa, also known as salsa fresca (fresh sauce) and salsa cruda (raw sauce). The best pico de gallo is a balance between the cool sweetness of ripe tomatoes, the combined acidic heat from raw onion, citrus juice, and chile peppers, and an herbaceous note from fresh cilantro leaves. You can place pico de gallo on top of tacos or serve it as a side with tortilla chips.
10. 10. Refried beans: Refried beans, or frijoles refritos in Spanish, consist of cooked beans that are then re-cooked in olive oil, butter, or lard and then mashed or blended before mixing with other various seasonings and flavorings. While the most common type of bean in refried beans is pinto beans, you can also use black beans or red beans. Refried beans are a delicious side dish, or you can serve them as a bean dip for tortilla chips.
11. 11. Roasted corn salsa: Roasted corn salsa is made from charred and crispy sweet corn tossed with hot peppers, red onion, lime juice, cilantro, and seasonings. You can serve roasted corn salsa as an appetizer with chips for scooping up the crunchy corn, or as a topping for quesadillas, burrito bowls, fajitas, nachos, or fish tacos. Although some of the ingredients are cooked, roasted corn salsa is similar to pico de gallo in that much of the ingredients are fresh and they are simply tossed, rather than blended like a traditional salsa recipe.
12. 12. Salsa verde: Salsa verde—literally “green sauce” in Spanish—is the ubiquitous tomatillo salsa that adds tangy sweetness to tacos and countless other Mexican dishes. Mexican salsa verde is sometimes referred to as tomatillo salsa or green salsa stateside, to avoid confusion with the other salsa verde, a parsley-caper sauce indigenous to Italy. Mexican salsa verde is made with tomatillos, cilantro, jalapeños (or other peppers), and garlic. Cook the tomatillos until softened, and then blend them with the other veggies.

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