40+ Ideas for the best Mexican christmas food! This collection includes sides, entrees, and even drinks and desserts for an amazing Mexican Christmas Dinner.
In Mexico, and many Hispanic households, Christmas Eve, or Nochebuena, is when the largest Christmas feast is eaten.
As far back as I can remember, my Luna family would gather on Christmas Eve and enjoy a spread of our favorite Mexican dishes. And because so many people love Mexican food, especially for the holidays, I wanted to share with you some of our favorite recipes for a traditional Mexican Christmas menu.
You just need a few sides, salsas, main dishes and you’re set in enjoying all the best Mexican Christmas food!
Tips for a festive Christmas Meal
Planning your meal: Decide which dishes you want to make fresh and which dishes can be made ahead of time. See the individual recipes for more storage and reheating information.
Also, be mindful that while some people love spicy hot Mexican food, others prefer a more mild dish. I suggest labeling which dishes are spicy and which ones are more mild. A great way around this is to prepare more mild dishes, but have hot sauce set out for those who want to give their plates a bit more kick.
Sit down or buffet style: The amount of guests may determine whether or not you host a sit down or a buffet style dinner. Sit down dinners work best with a smaller gathering whereas buffet style can work with 5 guests or 50. Mexican food, especially, makes a nice buffet spread. Also, I employ the use of Chaffing dishes and crock pots in keeping the dishes warm.
Decorating for our Noche Buena celebration always includes 2 things:
First, a Nativity. Traditionally, on Christmas Eve in Mexico children lead a procession into the church and place the baby Jesus into the manger. We don’t necessarily have a procession, but we always have the Nativity displayed.
Second, Poinsettias. My mother has them everywhere. Poinsettias bloom in southern Mexico during the winter and there is a heartfelt Christmas legend associated with the beautiful plant.
mexican christmas appetizers
Some of the best Mexican Christmas food is in the form of appetizers!
We love to have appetizers laid out as people come for holiday gatherings, and any of these recipes would be great for your Mexican Christmas dinner. And don’t forget the tortilla chips – our all-time fav are Juanita’s!
AppetizerGuacamole Recipe
Spicy, chunky simple guacamole is so easy and addicting, it's sure to be a crowd pleaser! You won't be able to stop eating it.
This is such an EASY homemade salsa recipe! All you have to do is throw diced tomatoes, rotel, cilantro, lime juice, onion powder, jalapeños, and cumin into your blender, and blend! It goes perfectly with tortilla chips, tacos, enchiladas, or any other Mexican food!
7 Layer Bean Dip - our family's favorite recipe with loads of flavor and all your favorite dip ingredients including avocados, olives, tomatoes, cheese and more! It's a must-have appetizer at most family functions.
The best and easiest queso blanco recipe out there. This delicious dip is made in no time, and will be the perfect addition at your next get together, especially served with tortilla chips and veggies.
Sweet Salsa Verde - a delicious salsa recipe that is sweet and takes just minutes to make. Ingredients include tomatillos, jalapenos, sugar, & cilantro.
This Cream Cheese Bean Dip recipe is our new favorite Mexican dip! With sour cream, cream cheese, Mexican cheese, refried beans, and salsa, it is the perfect dip to eat with chips, tacos, or any other Mexican dish! SOO good!!
You can't go a summer without eating this sweet and spicy strawberry salsa! The flavors are so unique. Grab some cinnamon and sugar chips or your favorite tortilla chips and dig in!
Now that you have your appetizers, you need some sides. We like to have at least one or two sides to serve with our Mexican meals. Our go-to’s always include a rice – Mexican or Cilantro Lime rice, and beans!
AppetizerRefried Beans Recipe
Get perfectly creamy restaurant style refried beans by adding just THREE extra ingredients to your canned beans! These refried beans are perfect served as a dip, side, or filling for burritos and tacos!
Homemade Flour Tortillas made from 5 Ingredients - butter, warm water, flour, baking powder, and salt! They're so soft, easy to make, and can be used for burritos, tacos, quesadillas, however you like!!
Restaurant-Style Spanish Rice (aka Mexican Rice), that is easy to make and tastes like it came straight from the restaurant, and is the best side dish to any Mexican entree.
This Mexican Cornbread (AKA jalapeño cornbread) is light and fluffy and is filled with cheddar cheese and jalapeño. It has a bit of a nip and a lot of flavor.
This recipe tastes just like Cafe Rio and Chipotle Cilantro Lime Rice! If you've ever been to either of these restaurants, you know how delicious cilantro rice is inside a salad, burrito, or taco. Now you can make this delicious lime rice from home!
Simple and delicious Southwestern Chopped Salad filled with chicken, peppers, beans, corn, tomatoes, avocado and topped with a homemade cilantro ranch dressing.
We have so many delicious Mexican recipes we love to make, but for Christmas we always do at least 3 recipes, and it’s usually a taco of some sort, enchiladas of some sort and ALWAYS empanadas (they’re the family’s favorite!)
But all of the recipes below are winners, so give them a go and let us know what you think.
Main CourseTostada Recipe
Open face tostadas topped with all of your favorite Mexican ingredients! These tasty tostadas are a frequent meal in this house!
Our favorite Mexican dish - Beef Empanadas in Red Chili sauce. This crispy, airy taco made from dough and filled with red chile sauce, shredded beef, and olives is one of our favorite Mexican recipes!
One of our favorite Mexican dishes - Green Chile Chicken Enchiladas recipe!! Corn tortillas stuffed with chicken, cheese, las palmas green chile enchilada sauce, sour cream, and green chiles, topped with more sauce and cheese! The whole family loves these easy chicken enchiladas!
Shredded Beef Enchiladas Made with Just 6 ingredients! This easy dinner idea is a crowd pleaser and is filled with corn, beef, green chiles, cheese and covered in red sauce.
This Cilantro Lime Chicken is full of flavor and an easy weeknight meal. Fresh lime juice, cilantro, and loads of fresh garlic make a flavorful marinade!
These steak tacos are marinated to perfection and bursting with fresh flavor! Tacos are quick and easy for a perfect weeknight dinner in under 30 minutes.
Delicious, crunchy flautas filled with shredded chicken (shredded beef works too), salsa, cheese, green chiles and more! They can be fried, air fried or even baked to be a delicious and easy dinner idea or appetizer.
Curl up with a good book, blanket, and this Mexican hot chocolate. One cozy cup of this hot chocolate and you'll be hooked with its yummy spices and delicious cinnamon cocoa flavor!
Classic Arroz Con Leche - a variation of rice pudding that is sweet and cooked with milk, evaporated milk and sweetened condensed milk and topped with cinnamon.
This easy Tres Leches Cake recipe is a cool, sweet treat made from a tasty sponge cake, a creamy mixture of three different milks, and homemade whipped topping. Serve Tres Leches Cake with fresh fruit for an extra refreshing dessert!
Crunchy on the outside, and smooth and creamy on the inside—fried ice cream is the BEST dessert! It's a flavor bomb in your mouth and such a fun and unique treat idea.
This decadent dessert is inspired by the Mexican treat—sopapillas! All of the flavors of fried dough and creamy cheesecake combine to make these decadent Sopapilla Cheesecake Bars.
Pick and choose a handful of recipes from each of these categories for the perfect Mexican Christmas Dinner! We promise you will love all of these recipes and that they are the best Mexican Christmas food.
My name is Kristyn and I’m the mom of SIX stinkin’ cute kids and the wife to my smokin’ hot hubby, Lo. My mom’s maiden name is Luna, and I’m one of the many crafty “Lil’ Lunas” in the fam. On this site I like to share all things creative - from recipes to home decor to gifts and home decor ideas. Welcome!
All of your Mexican dishes our family favoritesnof ours .
Yay! Glad it is! Thank you for letting me know!
I am so looking forward to trying these recipes. Mexican is my favorite food!!
I look forward to you trying them 🙂 Hope you like them!