THANKSGIVING AT THE MEXGROCER TABLE
Bring a Taste of Mexico to Thanksgiving: Pavo Adobado & Two Shareable Sides
The best Thanksgiving tables have room for a little family history—and something delicious nobody expected. This year, bring the warmth of Mexican cooking to the celebration with chile-and-orange roasted turkey, cornbread stuffing with poblano and chorizo, and green beans finished with ancho chile, crunchy pepitas, and queso fresco.
At MexGrocer.com, we love the way food brings people together. You might be hosting the whole family, introducing your favorite Mexican flavors to friends, or carrying a dish through someone else's front door. These three recipes give you a flavorful way to share a little of Mexico while keeping the comfort and generosity of Thanksgiving at the center of the meal.
Make the complete menu, or choose one side to sit beside your family's usual turkey and mashed potatoes. The stuffing brings savory richness, the ejotes add color and crunch, and the pavo adobado gives the holiday centerpiece a beautiful new personality. A new tradition can begin with just one serving spoon.
Pavo Adobado: A Thanksgiving Centerpiece with Mexican Roots
Turkey has a story in Mexico that reaches back long before the modern Thanksgiving holiday. Known as guajolote as well as pavo, it was raised in Mesoamerica in pre-Hispanic times. Putting turkey at the center of a Mexican-inspired holiday meal connects with that deep history, even as each family makes the celebration its own.
Adobo describes a seasoned sauce or marinade; in Mexican cooking, dried chiles, vinegar, herbs, and spices often provide its foundation. This recipe brings guajillo and ancho together with orange juice for a rich, fragrant coating. It is a Thanksgiving interpretation of that cooking tradition, rather than a recipe claimed to come from one particular Mexican state.
Think of this as your familiar roast turkey dressed for a different celebration. The chile sauce goes under the skin as well as over the outside, and the overnight rest gives you a useful head start before the holiday kitchen gets busy.
Tampico Dried Guajillo Chile Peppers – Chile Guajillo Seco 2 oz
Tampico Pasilla-Ancho Dried Chile Peppers – Chile Pasilla Ancho 2 oz
Tampico Whole Mexican Oregano – Oregano Mexicano Entero 0.37 ozPavo Adobado con Chile Guajillo, Ancho y Naranja
Yield: 10–12 servings | Prep: 35 min + 8–24 hr marinate | Cook: 3–4 hr
Ingredients
- 1 whole turkey, 12–14 lb, fully thawed
- 8 guajillo chiles, stemmed/seeded
- 4 ancho chiles, stemmed/seeded
- 6 garlic cloves
- 1/2 white onion
- 1 cup fresh orange juice
- 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
- 1/4 cup neutral oil
- 2 tsp Mexican oregano
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 2 1/2 tsp kosher salt, plus more as needed
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 orange + 1 onion, quartered, for cavity (optional)
Directions
- Toast chiles briefly in a dry skillet without burning. Cover with hot water 15 minutes; drain.
- Blend softened chiles, garlic, onion, orange juice, vinegar, oil, oregano, cumin, cinnamon, pepper and salt until very smooth. Strain if desired.
- Pat turkey dry. Loosen skin over breast/thighs and rub adobo under skin and all over exterior. Refrigerate uncovered or loosely covered 8–24 hours.
- Heat oven to 325°F. Place turkey breast-side up on rack; add orange/onion to cavity if using. Tuck wings; tie legs loosely.
- Roast, tenting breast with foil if browning too fast, until thermometer reaches 165°F in thickest breast and innermost thigh/wing area.
- Rest 30–45 minutes before carving. Serve with pan juices.
Recipe note: Do not stuff the turkey with bread stuffing; bake stuffing separately for easier food-safety control.
For your shopping list: The adobo also uses ground cumin, ground cinnamon, and bay leaves. The original ingredient list includes bay leaves, but its directions do not specify when to add them.
Mexican-Inspired Stuffing: The Side Everyone Will Ask About
There is no single stuffing that represents every Mexican household. For this Thanksgiving version, cornbread meets Mexican chorizo, roasted poblano peppers, and Mexican oregano. It is a contemporary meeting of Thanksgiving comfort food and ingredients familiar in Mexican kitchens—a dish made for sharing, with crisp edges and a tender middle.
From Elote to Cornbread: Corn's Place at the Table
Corn's roots in Mexico stretch back thousands of years, to the Indigenous farmers who developed maize from its wild ancestors. Mexican cooks use it at different stages: tender corn, or elote, can be enjoyed on the cob or as kernels, while mature grain takes other forms in the kitchen. That range helps explain why corn feels at home in everything from everyday meals to celebrations.
This stuffing uses prepared cornbread, not fresh elote. Its corn base offers a natural connection to that broader story, while chorizo and roasted poblanos carry the flavor in a savory direction. Bring it to a Thanksgiving potluck in its baking dish and let guests discover a new favorite beside the classics.
Cacique Pork Chorizo - 9 oz
Fresh Chile Poblano Peppers - Chiles Poblanos Frescos - 6 ctPoblano & Chorizo Cornbread Stuffing
Yield: 10 servings | Prep: 25 min | Cook: 45 min
Ingredients
- 10 cups day-old cornbread, cut in 1-inch cubes
- 12 oz Mexican chorizo
- 2 large poblano peppers, roasted/peeled/diced
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 3 celery stalks, diced
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 3 Tbsp butter
- 2 tsp dried Mexican oregano
- 1 tsp rubbed sage
- 2 large eggs, beaten
- 2–2 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
- Salt and black pepper to taste
- 1/4 cup chopped cilantro, optional
Directions
- Heat oven to 350°F. Spread cornbread cubes on sheet pan and toast 10–15 minutes until dry around edges.
- Brown chorizo in large skillet; transfer to bowl, leaving a little fat.
- Add butter, onion and celery; cook 6–8 minutes. Add garlic, poblanos, oregano and sage; cook 1 minute.
- Combine cornbread, chorizo and vegetables. Fold in eggs and enough broth to moisten without becoming soggy.
- Transfer to buttered 9x13-inch baking dish. Cover and bake 25 minutes; uncover and bake 15–20 minutes until browned.
- Finish with cilantro if desired.
Recipe note: If cornbread is very moist, dry it longer before assembling.
Buying chorizo: The linked Cacique pork chorizo comes in a 9 oz package. This recipe calls for 12 oz, so purchase enough packages and measure the amount listed.
Additional cooking check: Bake the stuffing separately and check that its center reaches 165°F with a food thermometer. Use the stated baking time as a guide.
Ejotes with Ancho, Pepitas & Queso Fresco: A Fresh Take on the Holiday Green Bean
Green beans already have a place at many Thanksgiving dinners. Here, they get a different finish: a light ancho chile coating, toasted pepitas, lime, and crumbled queso fresco. Instead of a heavy casserole, you get a colorful platter with tender-crisp vegetables and a little crunch in every serving.
This is a Mexican-inspired Thanksgiving side built around a combination of chile, seeds, and fresh cheese. It complements the turkey and stuffing without repeating their richness. If you are bringing one dish to someone else's celebration, this is an easy way to introduce new flavors through a vegetable everyone recognizes.
(3 Pack) Los Altos Queso Fresco - 10 ozEjotes con Chile Ancho, Pepitas y Queso Fresco
Yield: 8 servings | Prep: 15 min | Cook: 20 min
Ingredients
- 2 lb fresh green beans, trimmed
- 2 dried ancho chiles, stemmed/seeded
- 2 garlic cloves
- 2 Tbsp butter or olive oil
- 1/2 cup pepitas
- 1/2 cup queso fresco, crumbled
- 1 lime
- 1/2 tsp salt, plus more to taste
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 1/3 cup hot water or bean-blanching water
Directions
- Toast ancho chiles briefly in dry skillet. Cover with hot water 10 minutes; drain.
- Blend chiles, garlic, 1/3 cup water, salt and pepper until smooth.
- Blanch green beans in salted boiling water 3–4 minutes until crisp-tender; transfer to ice water and drain well.
- Toast pepitas in dry skillet until fragrant; set aside.
- Melt butter/oil in wide skillet. Add ancho sauce and cook 2–3 minutes. Add green beans and toss until hot and lightly coated.
- Finish with lime juice. Transfer to platter; top with pepitas and queso fresco.
Recipe note: Keep the chile coating light so the beans stay bright green and fresh-looking.
Make Room for a New Thanksgiving Tradition
Hosting dinner? Marinate the turkey ahead as directed, prepare the cornbread for the stuffing, and have your serving dishes ready. The recipes use different oven temperatures, so plan your cooking order or a second oven before Thanksgiving Day. Let a thermometer, rather than the clock alone, tell you when the turkey is done.
Bringing something to share? The stuffing travels naturally in its baking dish. For the ejotes, carry the pepitas and queso fresco separately and add them when serving to preserve their texture. Keep hot dishes hot and cold ingredients chilled during transport.
Serving the whole menu? The turkey serves 10–12, the stuffing serves 10, and the green beans serve 8. Plan quantities around your guest list and the other dishes on the table.
Mexican cooking holds a wonderful variety of regional traditions; this menu is an invitation to explore those flavors together, rather than a claim to represent them all. Whether you serve one dish or all three, you are sharing more than a recipe. You are giving the people at your table something new to enjoy—and perhaps something they will request again next Thanksgiving.