Houston, TX
No local rankings yet · editorial below
Houston orders tamales by the dozen in December and eats them the rest of the year too: a Bellaire farmers market business that took a storefront, two dedicated tamale kitchens, an East End chef's retail counter, and a Northside tamale house that has been handmaking them since 1960. Sourced from the Houston Chronicle and Houstonia Magazine.
Nobody’s claimed this yet
Be the first local to put Tamales in Houston on the map. Your Top 5 anchors the City Consensus for everyone who comes next.
Start a Top 5 for TamalesEditor’s picks
Press picks, until locals rank their own Top 5s. Sourced from the local food press. As seen in Houston Chronicle and Houstonia Magazine. Updated September 2026.
Momma's Tamales · Bellaire
The Houston Chronicle traces this one from a part-time farmers market business to a full brick and mortar shop on Cedar Street in Bellaire, selling handmade tamales by the half dozen and dozen. The range covers pork in red sauce, chicken in green tomatillo sauce, spinach and cheese, jalapeño and cheese, black bean and cheese, black bean and spinach, and brisket and cheese. Houstonia notes it keeps tamales on the menu year round rather than only in December. Order the brisket and cheese.
Don Pepe · Willow Meadows
A strip mall counter near the South Loop that the Houston Chronicle calls a cute joint. The handmade varieties run chicken, pork, jalapeño and cheese, black bean and a vegetarian one with mushrooms, sold by the piece rather than the dozen. The reason to come is the other half of the menu: Oaxacan style tamales of chicken with mole, wrapped in a banana leaf. Houstonia says they are authentic enough for your abuelita. Order one of those and a jalapeño and cheese to compare the two wrappers.
The Tamale Joint · Shepherd Forest
The masa is the point at this Shepherd Forest restaurant. The Houston Chronicle says the tamales are made with stone-ground corn and hand-wrapped, and sold by the half dozen and dozen in shredded pork, chicken, bean and sweet corn, with beef, jalapeño cheese, and chicken and cheese at a slightly higher price. Order the sweet corn, which is the one that shows what stone-ground masa does, and a dozen of the shredded pork for the table.
Cochinita & co. · East End
Chef Victoria Elizondo sells tamales by the dozen from her East End retail store, at farmers markets and online, in shredded pork with red salsa, shredded chicken with roasted green salsa, roasted poblano peppers and panela cheese, and a vegan black bean with epazote. Houstonia calls the tamales phenomenal and notes the kitchen keeps them on the menu year round rather than only in December. The Houston Chronicle lists the same four fillings. Order a mixed dozen and include the black bean.
Alamo Tamales · Northside
Greg Morago calls this Berry Road counter one of Houston's favorite tamale outposts in the Houston Chronicle's guide, ready to supply the holidays. The handmade varieties run pork, beef, chicken, bean, cheese and jalapeño, sweet corn, and spinach and cheese, with a cheaper machine-made line beside them in spicy and mild pork, beef, chicken and spinach. Houstonia dates the Northside shop to 1960. Order a dozen handmade sweet corn and a dozen handmade pork.