close

Want more recipes?

Try Forks Meal Planner and get hundreds of whole-food, plant-based recipes at your fingertips.

4.7
description
START A FREE TRIAL

You can make one of your favorite Mexican restaurant specialties in your own kitchen. Pumpkin takes the place of fat in the masa dough for these tamales, making the dough light and easy to work with. 

Note: Canned jackfruit can be full of sodium. Check labels and select the brand with the lowest amount of sodium, such as Trader Joe’s brand. Rinsing and draining can also help reduce sodium.

Ingredients

  • 18 dried cornhusks
  • 10 dried New Mexico red chiles (1½ oz.)
  • ¼ cup chopped onion
  • ½ cup no-salt-added tomato sauce
  • 4 teaspoons pure maple syrup
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • ½ teaspoon dried Mexican oregano, crushed
  • ¼ teaspoon ground cumin
  • ½ teaspoon sea salt
  • 1 14-oz. can green jackfruit, rinsed, drained, and chopped (see headnote)
  • 2 cups masa harina
  • 1 teaspoon regular or sodium-free baking powder
  • 1½ cups canned pumpkin
  • 1¼ cups low-sodium vegetable broth

Instructions

  1. In a very large bowl cover cornhusks with boiling water. Let stand 30 to 45 minutes or until husks are soft. Drain well; pat dry with paper towels.
  2. Meanwhile, for chile sauce, in a dry extra-large skillet cook chiles over medium-high about 3 minutes or until toasted, turning occasionally. Let cool. Remove stems and seeds. Coarsely tear chiles.
  3. In a medium saucepan combine chiles, onion, and 1¼ cups water. Bring to boiling; reduce heat. Cover and simmer 10 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer chiles and onion to a blender or food processor; reserve cooking liquid. Add the next six ingredients (through salt). Cover and blend until smooth, adding reserved cooking liquid a little at a time as needed to reach a sauce like consistency.
  4. For filling, in a bowl combine jackfruit and ⅓ cup of the chile sauce.
  5. For masa dough, in a large bowl stir together masa harina and baking powder. Add pumpkin and broth. Beat with a mixer on medium until dough is thick but not sticky to incorporate some air into the dough.
  6. To assemble tamales, starting at the wide end of a corn husk, spoon 2 rounded tablespoons masa dough onto husk and pat into a 4×3-inch rectangle. Spoon 1 rounded tablespoon filling lengthwise down the center of dough, leaving a slight border of dough at ends. Fold a long edge of husk over filling so it brings long edges of masa together. Roll up husk. Fold bottom up; tie with a cornhusk strip or 100% cotton kitchen string. Place on a rimmed baking sheet until all tamales are assembled.
  7. To steam tamales, add a steamer basket to an 8-qt. pot. Add water to just below the basket. Stand tamales upright in steamer basket. Bring water to boiling. Reduce heat to medium-low. Cover; steam 45 minutes to 1 hour or until dough easily pulls away from corn husks and is cooked through. Uncover; let stand 10 minutes before serving. Serve tamales with remaining warmed chile sauce.

Comments (7)

(4.33 from 3 votes)
Your Rating has been added Your Comment has been added
Add a Comment and/or Rating
Leave a Reply
Recipe Rating
Please provide a rating
Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *
You need to provide a comment or rating to submit
Di4 months ago
Reply
Do you want to report this comment as inappropriate?

Can you taste the pumpkin in the masa?

Samantha6 months ago
Reply
Do you want to report this comment as inappropriate?

has any one scaled the recipe down?

Irma1 year ago
Reply
Do you want to report this comment as inappropriate?

What can be used instead of New Mexico red chiles and Mexico oregano? Not sure where I could find these ingredients.

Steven, FOK Support1 year ago
Do you want to report this comment as inappropriate?

You can use another chile pepper, Irma! (You may wish to peruse the many options and their heat scale: https://www.chilipeppermadness.com/chili-pepper-types/mexican-peppers/). Any oregano will work here! If not oregano: basil, thyme, Italian seasoning, or marjoram.

Deanna Lewis1 year ago
Reply
Do you want to report this comment as inappropriate?

I was so pleased with how these turned out! They tasted awesome; well worth the effort. Thank you!

Vicki Romanin1 year ago
Reply
Do you want to report this comment as inappropriate?

FANTASTIC! Husband is New Mexican and a carnivore, but he loved them too. Very pretty, delicious, freezes and re-steams well, so worth the work. Put them out on a New Mexican Cooking FB page. Got hundreds and hundreds of hits, questions, and a ton of interest. Crowd was Very Veg Curious and complimentary. Thank you for this fab recipe!!

Sqneal2 years ago
Reply
Do you want to report this comment as inappropriate?

We loved it and will make again. Hoping it stands up to reheating. We topped ours off with fresh avocado salad.

Healthy eatingshouldn't be a hassle

With weekly meal plans, Forks Meal Planner takes the hard work out of making nutritious meals the whole family will enjoy.

Get meal planner

Learn how to cookplant-based meals at home

Forks Over Knives’ online cooking course will help you learn new techniques, flavors, and skills to live your very best life.

Join the course
Headshot of Shelli McConnell
about the author

Shelli McConnell

Shelli McConnell graduated with a bachelor of science in consumer food science and a minor in journalism from Iowa State University. She began her career as a home economist in the Better Homes & Gardens test kitchen before moving into an editorial position within DotDash Meredith. She has since freelanced for 25 years and has served as an editorial project manager for many books and magazines, including three editions of the Better Homes & Gardens New Cook Book. She has also developed thousands of recipes for publications including Forks Over Knives magazine; Eat This, Not That!; Diabetic Living; Better Homes & Gardens; The Magnolia Journal; and more. McConnell loves to entertain and inspire, so when she’s not in her office, she’s usually in her kitchen. Find her on LinkedIn.

see more from this author
Forks Meal Planner Free Plan
Free download

Free 5-Day Meal Plan!

Get a taste for healthy, fuss-free meal planning with this free five-day meal plan from Forks Meal Planner!

More from Forks Over Knives

Join our mailing list

Get free recipes and the latest info on living a happy, healthy plant-based lifestyle.

Copy link
Powered by Social Snap