Costa Rican Christmas Tamales Recipe in 7 Easy Steps

In Costa Rica, one of the most time-honored and delicious holiday traditions is Christmas tamales. For generations, Tico families have marked the holiday season by preparing tamales, a dish of seasoned meat rolled in cornmeal dough and wrapped in banana leaves, to share with family members and friends.

Throughout the month of December it is typical to find tamales offered in restaurants or to be invited to a friend’s house for a meal of coffee and tamales.

At Outward Bound Costa Rica, Christmas tamales are one of the things we look forward to most about the holiday season. Here’s a Costa Rican Christmas tamales recipe you can use to bring a bit of this “pura vida” tradition to your home this holiday season.

Our Costa Rican Christmas Tamales Recipe

Ingredients (makes 20-30 tamales)

2 ¼ lbs banana leaves
3 lbs pork, chicken or beef roast
5 cups cooked rice
2 ¼ lbs potatoes
2 lbs instant corn masa mix
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground achiote
1 bag of raisins or dried plumbs
Salt
Olive oil
Garlic
Pepper
Onion

There are many varieties of Christmas tamales. For this traditional Costa Rican recipe, we also added boiled carrots, peas, chopped green olives, chickpeas, and sliced red pepper.

Directions

1. Chop the meat into medium chucks and brown. Season with garlic, peppers, onion, salt, cumin and black pepper. Cover with water and simmer for 2-3 hours. Then separate the meat from the broth and shred it. Set the broth aside.

2. Cook rice. Boil the potatoes until soft and cut into cubes.

3. Add 1 tablespoon salt, 1 teaspoon ground cumin and 1 teaspoon ground achiote to the masa and mix dry. Add vegetable oil and broth. Mix with hands to make a paste.

4. Cut banana leaves into squares. Spread 3-4 tablespoons of masa paste in the center and fill with potatoes, rice, meat, 2-3 raisins, and any other extra ingredients that you choose.