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Vaquitas de Apaseo el Grande
Created by
Guanajuato's Apaseo el Grande vaquitas are small masa pockets sealed like empanadas, fried until golden, and sold warm in brown paper for eating by hand.
Sandwiches & Wraps
Mexican
Picnic
Budget Friendly
Comfort Food
1 hr
Active Time
1 hr cook•2 hr total
Yield18 vaquitas
Guanajuato, Bajio, Apaseo el Grande. That is where these vaquitas live, in a town sitting between Celaya and Queretaro, where the road food is practical, corn-based, and made to feed people without ceremony.
These are not burritos. No flour tortilla, no yellow cheese, no lettuce pretending it belongs. A vaquita is a small corn masa empanada, filled with picadillo, frijoles refritos, or rajas con queso, sealed by hand, then fried in manteca de cerdo until the surface turns golden and firm. The paper matters too. They are handed over warm in papel de estraza, that brown market paper that carries the shine of the fat and tells you this food was made to travel from the stall to your hand.
I first ate them near the Apaseo market, standing beside women who moved faster than anyone with a printed recipe ever will. One pressed the masa, one filled, one fried, one wrapped. That rhythm is the technique. Make the filling dry enough, seal the edge cleanly, keep the fat hot but not angry. Recetas probadas y garantizadas, but only if you respect the work.
Vaquitas de Apaseo el Grande are a late 20th-century market tradition documented locally since the 1980s, tied to Guanajuato's Bajio culture of corn masa snacks filled and fried for portable meals. Their form belongs to the broader central Mexican family of empanadas de masa, but the Apaseo version is identified by its small size, everyday fillings, and the practice of wrapping them warm in papel de estraza. The dish reflects the practical food economy of the Celaya-Apaseo-Queretaro corridor, where market cooks built filling, inexpensive meals around masa, beans, chile poblano, and lard.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
fresh nixtamal masa or masa harina prepared for tortillas
Quantity
3 cups
fine sea salt
Quantity
1/2 teaspoon, plus more to taste
manteca de cerdo
Quantity
2 tablespoons
melted, for the masa
warm water
Quantity
3/4 to 1 cup
only if using masa harina
ground beef
Quantity
1 pound
Roma tomatoes
Quantity
2 medium
finely chopped
white onion
Quantity
1/2 medium
finely chopped
garlic cloves
Quantity
2
minced
carrot
Quantity
1 small
peeled and finely diced
potato
Quantity
1 small
peeled and finely diced
chile serrano
Quantity
1
finely chopped
dried Mexican oregano
Quantity
1/2 teaspoon
manteca de cerdo
Quantity
2 tablespoons
for the picadillo
frijoles bayos refritos
Quantity
1 1/2 cups
cooked thick
fresh chile poblano
Quantity
2
roasted, peeled, seeded, and sliced into rajas
white onion
Quantity
1/2 cup
sliced thin
queso ranchero or queso fresco
Quantity
1 cup
crumbled
manteca de cerdo
Quantity
1 tablespoon
for the rajas
manteca de cerdo
Quantity
2 cups or enough to fry 1 inch deep
salsa roja de chile guajillo (optional)
Quantity
for serving
chiles en escabeche (optional)
Quantity
for serving
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| fresh nixtamal masa or masa harina prepared for tortillas | 3 cups |
| fine sea salt | 1/2 teaspoon, plus more to taste |
| manteca de cerdomelted, for the masa | 2 tablespoons |
| warm wateronly if using masa harina | 3/4 to 1 cup |
| ground beef | 1 pound |
| Roma tomatoesfinely chopped | 2 medium |
| white onionfinely chopped | 1/2 medium |
| garlic clovesminced | 2 |
| carrotpeeled and finely diced | 1 small |
| potatopeeled and finely diced | 1 small |
| chile serranofinely chopped | 1 |
| dried Mexican oregano | 1/2 teaspoon |
| manteca de cerdofor the picadillo | 2 tablespoons |
| frijoles bayos refritoscooked thick | 1 1/2 cups |
| fresh chile poblanoroasted, peeled, seeded, and sliced into rajas | 2 |
| white onionsliced thin | 1/2 cup |
| queso ranchero or queso frescocrumbled | 1 cup |
| manteca de cerdofor the rajas | 1 tablespoon |
| manteca de cerdo | 2 cups or enough to fry 1 inch deep |
| salsa roja de chile guajillo (optional) | for serving |
| chiles en escabeche (optional) | for serving |
Equipment Needed
- •Tortilla press lined with plastic
- •Cast iron comal for roasting chile poblano
- •Wide deep skillet or clay cazuela suitable for frying
- •Kitchen thermometer or a small scrap of masa for testing the lard
- •Papel de estraza for wrapping
Instructions
- 1
Make the masa
Put the fresh nixtamal masa in a bowl with the salt and melted manteca. Knead until it feels smooth, soft, and no longer cracks at the edge when pressed. If using masa harina, add warm water little by little until the dough feels like soft clay. Cover with a damp towel. Masa dries fast in the Bajio air, and cracked masa leaks filling into the fat.
- 2
Cook the picadillo
Melt 2 tablespoons manteca in a skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until it turns translucent. Add the garlic, ground beef, carrot, potato, chile serrano, tomato, oregano, and salt. Cook, stirring and breaking up the meat, until the vegetables are tender and the mixture is nearly dry, 18 to 22 minutes. Nearly dry means no puddle in the pan. Wet picadillo breaks the vaquita open.
- 3
Prepare the rajas
Roast the chile poblanos directly over a flame or on a hot comal until the skins blister black in spots. Rest them in a covered bowl for 10 minutes, then peel, seed, and slice into strips. Melt 1 tablespoon manteca in a skillet, cook the sliced onion until soft, then add the rajas and a pinch of salt. Let them cool before mixing with the queso ranchero. Hot filling melts the cheese too early and makes a mess.
- 4
Set the fillings
Put the picadillo, thick frijoles refritos, and rajas con queso in separate bowls. Taste each one for salt. The masa is plain, so the filling must speak clearly. Do not make the beans loose. Refry them until a spoon dragged through the pan leaves a clean trail.
- 5
Press the pockets
Divide the masa into 18 balls, each about the size of a small lime. Line a tortilla press with plastic cut from a clean produce bag. Press one ball into a 4-inch round, not paper thin. Put 1 generous tablespoon filling on one side, fold the masa over, and press the edge closed with your fingers. The edge should look sealed, not pinched like decoration. La cocina no es decoración, es trabajo.
- 6
Fry in lard
Heat the manteca in a deep skillet to 350F, or until a small scrap of masa bubbles steadily and rises. Fry 3 or 4 vaquitas at a time, turning once, until golden and firm, about 3 minutes per side. Keep the fat steady. Too cool and they drink grease. Too hot and the outside browns before the masa cooks through. La manteca es el sabor, but it has to be handled with discipline.
- 7
Drain and wrap
Lift the vaquitas onto a rack or brown paper to drain for one minute. Wrap them while still warm in papel de estraza, three or four to a bundle, the way they are sold in Apaseo. Serve with salsa roja de chile guajillo and chiles en escabeche on the side. Eat by hand. Así se hace y punto.
Chef Tips
- •Fresh nixtamal masa from a tortilleria is best. Masa harina works, but it is a compromise, not an upgrade. Ask for masa para tortillas, not masa preparada for tamales.
- •Use frijoles bayos if you can. Guanajuato cooks with what the Bajio grows and sells. Black beans will feed you, yes, but they move the flavor south.
- •The fillings must be cool before sealing. Warm filling softens the masa and opens the seam in the lard. The señora at the stall knows this without measuring anything.
- •Do not turn these into baked empanadas. They are fried in manteca and wrapped in papel de estraza. No me vengas con atajos.
Advance Preparation
- •The picadillo can be made one day ahead and refrigerated. Reheat only enough to take off the chill, then let it cool again before filling.
- •The beans can be refried one day ahead. Make them thick, then warm slightly before assembling if they are too stiff to spoon.
- •Roast and peel the poblanos up to two days ahead. Keep them covered in the refrigerator and mix with queso just before filling.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 125g)
Calories
270 calories
Total Fat
15 g
Saturated Fat
6 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
8 g
Cholesterol
30 mg
Sodium
465 mg
Total Carbohydrates
22 g
Dietary Fiber
3 g
Sugars
2 g
Protein
9 g
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