17 Delicious Cinco de Mayo Dinners

These tacos are a perfect blend of Mexican street corn (also called elote) and quick-cooking skirt steak. If you have frozen corn, blister the kernels in a skillet over high heat first.

These Michoacan-style enchiladas are simply folded or rolled for tortillas napped in a chile sauce, not the baked casserole as in the U.S. 

Although cooked vegetables in the fajitas contribute color and flavor, they don’t add much texture, so you might want to add a mix of shredded raw red and green cabbage for a little crunch.

Everyone's favorite snack dinner just got a smoky upgrade with the addition of warm, chocolaty mole sauce. The chicken gets a rich braise in the Instant Pot, making for an extra-tender topping for chips. Serve with all the fixins—fresh avocado, salty Cotija cheese, and spicy-sweet candied jalapeños—to finish this feast-worthy favorite out. You can make the chicken mole ahead of time and add to the nachos just before serving.

This easy dinner comes together in less time than it takes to wait for a table at your favorite Mexican restaurant. Mild poblano chiles and bell peppers get a nice char under the broiler and deliver more than double a day’s worth of immunity-boosting vitamin C.

Signature flavor profiles abound in these freezer-friendly enchiladas. Skip red enchilada sauce in favor of homemade chili verde in this Mexican classic. Tangy tomatillos and roasted poblano chiles build the savory backbone, while fresh cilantro adds a wealth of bright, fresh flavor. Smothered in sauce and blanketed with gooey, melted cheese, your family will never know they’re enjoying a lightened meal. The heat level of poblanos can range from mild to spicy. Removing the seeds lessens the kick. Top your enchiladas with a dollop of Greek yogurt and fresh cilantro garnish for the ultimate cooling counterpoint.

Halibut—a tender, sweet-tasting whitefish—is a great option for fish tacos, especially when paired with crunchy slaw, zippy pico de gallo, and a salty cheese. We promise you’ll want these more often than just on Taco Tuesdays. Serve them with a side of black beans or yellow rice to round out your meal.

Look for salty crumbly fresh Mexican cheese—queso fresco—near other fresh cheeses. Swap crumbled feta or shredded Jack cheese in a pinch. Look for crunchy premade tostada shells near the taco shells. Use up the extra shells as a base for a batch of after-school nachos, or break them into pieces and use in place of tortilla chips. For even more veggie goodness and an extra punch of flavor, try adding a few slices of creamy avocado and a sprinkle of charred corn kernels.

A marinade of dark Mexican beer (like Negra Modelo), soy sauce, and fresh lime juice gives these Chicken Fajitas a fresh kick of flavor. Serve with flour tortillas, sautéed peppers and onions, and sliced jalapeño pepper.

Load up the nachos on a baking sheet, then bring straight the to the table for easy serving and a great presentation. You can use pinto beans instead of black beans and shredded rotisserie chicken instead of ground beef. While we love melty shredded cheese, we found that it makes the nachos a bit unwieldy. Instead, a creamy cheese sauce coats each chip and makes them easier to separate from the pack. The topping potential is endless: Try adding diced avocado, sliced jalapeño for the hotheads in your family, or chopped bell pepper.

We hacked this Mexican favorite to get it to the table with lightning speed. One richly spiced sauce doubles as the filling and the topper to save time. And since every element is already cooked, the dish needs just three minutes under the broiler to melt the cheese.

Pork shoulder becomes meltingly tender as it slow-cooks in the chile- and garlic-infused citrus sauce. Searing the pork in a skillet for just a minute adds a depth of flavor you don't otherwise get in a slow cooker. 

Black beans and pinto beans take the place of meat in this hearty taco salad. The beans and tomatoes cook down to make a filling taco base that’s topped with avocado and crispy tortilla strips.

Cubed potatoes make a great taco filling. They crisp up nicely and take on the smokiness and faint heat of the spices. Kale adds a little toothsome chew; you can use any hearty green you have on hand (such as Swiss chard, collard greens, or spinach). The scallion relish is a fresh, tangy condiment that brightens the earthy flavor of the mushrooms and kale. It would also be delicious with your next batch of fish tacos.

These hearty black bean tostadas prove that vegans know how to party! Creamy refried beans, crispy plantains and tortillas, and charred summer veggies add up to a fiesta of flavors and textures that will make this dish a regular in your recipe repertoire. Look for a smoky chipotle salsa at your grocery store—a dollop ties all the flavors together. If you can’t find plantain strips at your local grocery or Hispanic specialty market, you can get them online. Or use plantain chips—just use a little less, as they tend to be slightly higher in fat and sodium.

This is a Tex-Mex riff on the Korean rice dish bibimbap, in which various toppings are arranged over a bed of rice. Here, burrito bowl must-haves such as smoky black beans, fresh pico de gallo, and slaw top brown rice.

These healthy shrimp tacos come together quickly for a tasty, weeknight-friendly dinner. A hefty amount of toasty cumin adds deep flavor to quickly seared shrimp, while a wee bit of ground red pepper punches above its weight, contributing a fair amount of heat. Don’t worry, though—once the shrimp gets tossed into corn tortillas with avocado, rice, and beans, the heat is muted so the tacos are perfectly seasoned.