Six: Steam The Tamales
Now that you’re done with the hard part, it’s time to steam the tamales & eat. I’d encourage you to wash out the Instant Pot so you’re starting out with a clean bowl.
Once again, place the Instant Pot steamer rack trivet on the bottom of the pot. Pour in one cup of chicken broth. Place a few corn husks on top of the trivet to keep the tamales from falling through. Stand tamales upright in the Instant Pot, leaning against the side of the pot as needed.
Then, cook for 40 minutes on high pressure, and allow it to naturally vent for 10 minutes. Once the tamales come out of the Instant Pot, allow them to stand for an additional 20 minutes. You know they’ll be ready to eat once the masa has firmed up enough for you to cleanly pull off the corn husk.
Now it’s time to serve up your Instant Pot chicken tamales! Check out my favorite tamale toppings and side dishes.
How To Reheat Tamales On A Griddle Or Stovetop
Tamale recipes call for cornmeal dough wrapped around a filling such as meat, beans, cheese, or vegetables. After being cooked, tamales are traditionally served warm from the oven. However, if you prefer to serve them cold, you can reheat them on a griddle or stovetop. To reheat tamales, place them on a hot surface and let them sit until warmed through.
Can I Steam Tamales In My Instant Pot
Yes! You can steam tamales and many other delicate foods in your Instant Pot.
Your Instant Pot is an incredibly versatile little piece of technology. Youll find that you can make more dishes with a little bit of experimentation than you imagined.
Dont be one of those people who only use their Instant Pot to make soup! With a little practice, youll soon be making almost all your meals quickly and efficiently in your Instant Pot.
Tamales are a great example. If youve never tried making tamales before, dont be intimidated. These rustic little parcels of deliciousness are simple to make and quick to steam in your Instant Pot.
The assembling takes a little time and patience, but its great fun, and if you make a few extra, you can store them in the freezer. That way, youll have tamales in 20 minutes the next time around!
You can customize tamale fillings to suit your taste. They can be vegetarian or a meat mixture. Finish them with a spicy sauce, and youll have your family and friends licking their fingers.
Many people steam them on the stovetop or in a bamboo steamer, but your Instant Pot will do the job perfectly.
What are tamales?
People outside of the Americas may not know what tamales are. Heres what youve been missing! They are a traditional dish all over Central and South America, but the Mexican variety is probably the best known.
Basic tamale ingredients
Making tamales in your Instant Pot
- Soak
- Make masa
- Prepare the filling
- Assemble
- Save
- Secure
- Steam
Wrapping up
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How To Reheat Tamales In An Oven
Tamales are a traditional Mexican dish consisting of cornmeal dough stuffed with meat, vegetables, cheese, or other ingredients. Tamales are typically cooked in a wood-fired clay oven called a tintero. To reheat tamales in the oven, place the tamale in a baking dish and bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for about 20 minutes.
How To Steam Tamales In An Instant Pot
Add 1 cup of water to the bottom of the pressure cooking pot and place a steamer basket inside. Gently place the folded tamales standing up in the steamer basket.
Seal the lid and cook the tamales on High Pressure for 20 minutes. Let the pressure release naturally for 10 minutes, then finish with a quick pressure release.
To check your tamales for doneness, remove one tamale from the cooking pot and let it cool for a few minutes. Carefully unwrap to check the masaif its ready, the masa will be set and will pull away easily from the corn husk wrapping. If not, return to the Instant Pot and cook a few minutes more.
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Why This Recipe Works:
Don’t be intimidated! A lot of people never make their own tamales because they’ve heard the process is long and complicated. Yes, it’s a lot of work, but they’re actually very easy to make and taste amazing!
This might sound crazy, but much like making homemade pasta, it’s really not that complicated and tamales are so satisfying to make.
With this particular recipe, the shredded pork is infused with a ton of flavor. Then, because the liquid from the meat is added to the masa, that is also infused with all of that great flavor!
Five: Assemble The Tamales
Now for the fun part assembly time! Before you even start assembling anything, youll want to get your station set up. Have your corn husks , masa, and chicken filling surrounding you. Make sure your counter is cleaned its easiest to work straight off of the counter. Also, I like to have a putty knife or masa spreader ready .
I also like to have a 9×13 dish sitting by my station so I can prop my finished tamales up on after Im done wrapping.
2. Using a putty knife, masa spreader, or wooden spoon, spread about 2-3 tablespoons of the masa on the corn husk. Leave a two inch gap on the top, narrow part of the corn husk.
3. Spoon in 2 tablespoons of chicken onto the center of the masa. Place a matchstick of cheese next to the chicken.
4. Then, fold both sides of the masa together, so it seals the meat and cheese inside.
5. Wrap the excess corn husk around the tamale.
6. Then, flip the narrow end up so nothing will fall out of the tamale.
7. Secure the tamale by tying a thin strip of corn husk around the tamale.
Continue this process until you run out of masa/chicken. Feel free to grab a friend to help out with this, it makes things go faster!
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For The Makeshift Steamer These Are What You Need:
- 3 pieces of equal sized aluminum foil.
- Heat-proof plate.
- Large pot with lid.
- Tongs.
You can also try baking your tamales however steaming has become the cooking method of choice by many because it keeps the dough as soft and tender as possible. And since you have no steamer on hand, you are given two options for steaming tamalespan colander and plate method.
I have chosen to go for the plate method for two reasons. First of all, a plate is more readily available than a colander. Second, the plate technique is perfect for flat-laying items like asparagus, eggplants and in this case, tamales.
Reheating Tamale In An Instant Pot
Get the instant pot ready:
Firstly, to reheat in Instant Pot, ensure a stable power connection for the Instant Pot. After that:
Process the Tamales:
At last, I insist that you must have Mexican Tamales in your freezer all the time. Not only its very delicious, it is super easy. You can reheat Tamales in the instant pot without putting too much effort. The best thing is that you can have any of your favorite fillings in the Tamale like meat, beef, eggs, or even vegetables. So, you can enjoy this dish no matter what your taste buds are.
- Save
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Can You Reheat Them
Absolutely!
If they were frozen, be sure to thaw the tamales completely. A good day in the refrigerator should do the trick.
There are a couple different ways to reheat your homemade tamales.
Husks Of Corn Should Be Prepared
Fill a big pot halfway with boiling water and add your corn husks. You may alternatively boil water in a saucepan on the stove, then remove it from the heat and add the corn husks. Allow them to soak for at least 30 minutes.
After that, drain the water and hang them to dry. If the husks are damp, the masa will not adhere to them.
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Can You Make Tamales Without Lard
Yes! Ive used Safflower Oil instead of lard. Safflower oil has only 1 gram of saturated fat per tablespoon so it makes a nice healthier alternative.
You can use the oil of your choice for this recipe. Vegetable oil is a great alternative. You can also use coconut oil, which is more trendy, but remember that coconut oil contains up to 14 grams of saturated fat per tablespoon.
Making Healthy Tamales
All fat is fat, no matter what. But, you CAN make choices about the fat you use.
The more saturated fat, the more unhealthy it will be. Im not sure why coconut oil is so trendy with that much saturated fat. Lard only has about 5 grams saturated fat making even lard more heart healthy than coconut oil.
Stick with safflower oil, olive oil, vegetable oil or avocado oil for lower saturated fats.
How Do You Reheat Vacuum Sealed Tamales
Tamale recipes call for a long simmering process. This is done because tamales are traditionally cooked in a slow cooker. Tamales are usually stuffed into corn husks and wrapped around a stick. Once cooked, the tamales are removed from the stick and placed back into the corn husk. These tamales are then tied closed with twine. To reheat these tamales, you simply place them directly into a hot oven. However, if you have an Instant Pot, you can easily reheat tamales in the same way. Simply follow the instructions below. 1. Turn off the Instant Pot. 2. Remove the tamales from the Instant Pot. 3. Place them onto a baking sheet. 4. Bake them in a 350 degree F oven for about 20 minutes. 5. Serve!
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Instant Pot Pork Tamales
Description
Try one of our most requested recipes, which puts a modern Instant Pot twist on a classic Mexican dish. Round out your meal with our recipes for Chili-Lime Spiced Mangoes and Authentic Lime Margaritas.
Recipe Tags
| Add pkg. dried cornhusks | 1 pkg. dried cornhusks |
| Add Hy-Vee ground cumin | 2 tsp. Hy-Vee ground cumin |
| Add ground coriander | |
| 1 tbsp. ancho chili powder | |
| Add Hy-Vee salt | |
| Add Hy-Vee ground black pepper | 1 tsp. Hy-Vee ground black pepper |
| Add pork shoulder, trimmed | 1 ½ lbs. pork shoulder, trimmed |
| Add Gustare Vita olive oil | 2 tbsp. Gustare Vita olive oil |
| Add yellow onion, diced | |
| Add Hy-Vee 33% reduced-sodium chicken broth | 2 c. Hy-Vee 33% reduced-sodium chicken broth |
| Add water | |
| 6 c. masa corn flour | |
| Add lard, or Hy-Vee unsalted butter, melted | 1 c. lard, or Hy-Vee unsalted butter, melted |
| Add Hy-Vee 33% reduced-sodium chicken broth | 3 c. Hy-Vee 33% reduced-sodium chicken broth |
| Add Hy-Vee salt | |
| Add pkgs. dried ancho chilies, seeds and stems removed | 2 pkgs. dried ancho chilies, seeds and stems removed |
| Add garlic | |
| Add small yellow onion, chopped | 1 small yellow onion, chopped |
| Add Hy-Vee ground cumin | 2 tsp. Hy-Vee ground cumin |
| Add ground coriander | |
| 2 tbsp. Hy-Vee granulated sugar | |
| Add Hy-Vee salt, to taste | Hy-Vee salt, to taste |
- 8-quart Instant Pot with steam rack
- Paper towels
Directions
Place corn husks in a large bowl of hot water and soak for at least 1 hour.
Why Are They Wrapped In Corn Husks
Tamales are wrapped in corn husks for a couple reasons.
- First, the masa dough is very wet. The corn husk allows you to add filling, roll the masa dough around the filling, and make a tight little cylinder to hold the tamale.
- Because the corn husks can absorb water and also allow steam to pass through, they actually make a great wrap for the tamale.
- In a nutshell, the corn husks allow the tamale to cook while holding it’s shape.
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Instant Pot Chicken Tamales: Step By Step For Beginners
Make homemade Instant Pot chicken tamales with this easy step by step process
Learn how to make these pressure cooker tamales for beginners in six simple, easy steps! With a helpful step by step video and photos, you’ll be a pro at making tamales before you know it. These green chile tamales are made with anaheim and/or poblano peppers. You’ll also learn to how to store and freeze any extra tamales you might have.
This post may contain affiliate links, which means Ill receive a commission if you purchase through my link, at no extra cost to you.
If you’ve never made tamales before, you’re missing out! They are the perfect combination of indulgent, yet not too filling, and the perfect main dish/also an appetizer if you want it to be. Tamales are just so versatile and I think that’s why I love them so much. And of course, the amazing flavor.
While tamales can seem overwhelming, they are so worth it! I’m going to walk you through every single step – this is a tamale recipe for beginners – so you feel confident making tamales at home. I’ll also share some other popular filling combinations that you can try once you master the basics of tamales.
Four: Prep The Tamale Filling
Now that we have the Intant Pot chicken all cooked, its time to get the final filling put together!
First, shred the chicken. My favorite hack is shredded my chicken with a stand mixer. Just add the paddle attachment on the stand mixer, and mix on medium speed for a few seconds until everything is shredded. Once its all shredded, finely chop the chicken using a knife, so its nice and fine, then set to the side.
Next, were going to make the sauce. Be sure NOT to discard anything from the Instant Pot until after this step.
Remove anaheim peppers and or poblano peppers, onion, and garlic from the Instant Pot and add to a blender, along with ½ cup of chicken stock from the Instant Pot. Add in a pinch of salt and 1 tablespoon of chipotle sauce. Blend together until everything is smooth. Add to the finely chopped chicken and thoroughly mix together.
Now, set this aside & lets get ready to assemble our tamales!
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Can You Reheat Tamales In The Microwave
Tamale recipes call for corn husks to wrap around the tamales. These corn husks are usually soaked in hot water prior to wrapping the tamales. This process helps soften the corn husks making them easier to handle. Once the tamales are wrapped, they are placed into a steamer basket and cooked in a covered pan filled with enough water to reach about 1 inch above the bottom of the basket. The steaming process softens the corn husk and allows the tamales to absorb moisture from the water. After the tamales are steamed, they are removed from the steamer basket and placed on a plate. The corn husks are then carefully removed from the tamales.
Start With Your Protein
For this small batch of tamales, I used some leftover chicken. You need about a pound of boneless chicken which makes around 2 ½ to 3 cups or so when shredded.
If you have other leftover meat, you can use this recipe and swap out the chicken for beef or pork.
You can even use the plant-based meat crumbles if you want to make vegan tamales. Use vegetable stock instead of chicken stock to keep it vegan.
Swap out the salsa verde for a red salsa sauce, if you like.
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