Bacalao Navideño (Mexican Christmas Bacalao) 🐟🎄 is a traditional Mexican Christmas dish made with salted cod, tomatoes, olives, potatoes, and mild chiles güeros. It’s rich, savory, and one of my family’s favorite dishes for Christmas Eve.
My last name, Unzueta, often surprises people when they learn I’m Mexican. My father’s family has Basque roots in northern Spain, and this recipe is a delicious blend of our Mexican and Basque heritage.
If you are a fan of Spanish-Mexican recipes, also try my Flan.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe ❤️
- A taste of my family’s history: This recipe reflects my family’s Basque roots and the way recipes change as they become part of Mexican kitchens.
- Full of flavor: The rich tomato sauce, olives, potatoes, and mild chiles güeros create a savory combination that’s hard to resist.
- Perfect for Christmas Eve: Bacalao is a traditional dish served during the holidays in many Mexican families.
-Maggie
👩🏼🍳 How to Make It
Preparing the Salted Fish
- About 48 hours before cooking, place the salted cod in a large bowl and cover it with cold water.
- Cover and refrigerate overnight.
- The next day, drain and rinse the fish. Cover it with fresh cold water and refrigerate overnight again.
- After the second soaking, taste a small piece of the fish. If it’s still too salty, repeat the soaking process with fresh water for another night.
Important: Always soak salted cod in the refrigerator, not at room temperature.
- Drain the fish and shred it. I find it easiest to do this by hand, but you can also use two forks.
More Mexican Recipes with Spanish Influence
Making the Tomato Base
- Heat olive oil in a large pot.
- Add the onion and cook for 1-2 minutes.
- Add the garlic. Cook for 1 minute.
- Add the tomatoes and roasted red bell peppers.
- Cover slightly, leaving a small opening.
- Cook for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the mixture thickens and darkens in color.
- In a separate pot, boil the potatoes for about 10 minutes, or until fork tender.
Some people will use fresh tomatoes. That’s fine too. Whatever you have on hand.
If using fresh tomatoes, be sure to dice them into small pieces. Plus, you’ll need to add ½ cup water.
- Add the shredded cod into the pot with the tomato mixture.
- Add the vinegar, parsley, almonds, and olives.
- Stir to combine.
- Place the lid on the pot, partially covered, for 10 minutes.
- Stir occasionally. Be sure to gently scrape the bottom of the pan.
White distilled vinegar is used in this recipe. You can swap out for lime juice, and if so, add at the end.
Word to the Wise: Make sure the olives are pitted, or you will spend the entire dinner removing the pits. No bueno.
Here, we are using sliced manzanilla olives that are stuffed with pimentos.
- Drain the potatoes.
- Lower the heat and add the cooked potatoes and chiles gueros to the pot with the fish.
- Cook for 5 more minutes. The potatoes and chiles should be heated through and the sauce should be rich and thick.
🌟 Pro Tips
Don’t add salt. The salted cod and olives provide plenty of salt, so additional salt usually isn’t necessary.
Check the sauce consistency. The tomato sauce should be thick rather than watery. If it’s too thin, cook for another 5 minutes uncovered.
Know your chiles güeros. They’re generally mild and add flavor without much heat. If you’d like more spice, serve with chiles en vinagre on the side.
🙋🏻♀️ Frequently Asked Questions
Bacalao Navideño is a Mexican Christmas dish made with salted cod, tomato sauce, olives, potatoes, and chiles güeros. It’s traditionally served during the holiday season, often as part of Christmas Eve dinner.
Yes, you can use fresh cod, but the flavor and texture will be different. Salted cod is the traditional ingredient in this recipe and gives the dish its distinctive savory flavor. Fresh cod doesn’t need the same soaking process.
The recipes are related, but preparations vary by family and region. My family’s Bacalao Navideño is a Mexican Christmas version made with tomatoes, potatoes, and chiles güeros. I’ll share more about the history of Bacalao a la Vizcaína and its connection to Mexican cooking in a separate recipe.
🍴 What to Serve with It
- Arroz Blanco
- Tostones Chips
- Corn Tortillas
- Frijoles Refritos
- Totopos (tortilla chips)
Bacalao Navideño is one of those dishes that makes Christmas feel like Christmas in my family. It’s hearty enough to serve as the main dish, and the combination of tomato sauce, olives, potatoes, and chiles güeros makes every bite flavorful.
If you’re making it for Christmas Eve, give yourself enough time to soak and desalt the cod. It’s an extra step, but it’s essential for getting the right flavor.
Ingredients
- 1 lb dried salted cod
- water (for soaking)
- ½ cup olive oil
- 1 white onion diced
- 4 garlic cloves finely minced
- 1 28-ounce can of crushed tomatoes
- 2 roasted red bell peppers peeled and diced
- 1 lb small potatoes peeled and diced in 1-inch pieces
- 2 teaspoon white distilled vinegar
- ¼ cup parsley chopped
- ⅓ cup slivered almonds
- ¼ cup manzanilla olives stuffed with pimientos sliced
- 8-10 chiles güeros whole
- bread (optional – for serving)
Instructions
- 48 hours before, place the salted cod in a bowl.
- Cover with water and place in the fridge.
- The next day, drain and rinse the fish.
- Cover with water again.
- Place in the fridge overnight.
- Drain and rinse the fish.
- Make sure the fish water is not salty.
- If so, you might need to do one more overnight soak.
- Shred the fish.
- Keep in the fridge until ready to use.
- Heat olive oil in a large pot.
- Add the onion and cook for 1-2 minutes.
- Add the garlic. Cook for 1 minute.
- Add the tomatoes and roasted red bell peppers.
- Cover slightly, leaving a small opening.
- Cook for 10 minutes. Stirring occasionally.
- The mixture will have thickened, and the color will be dark.
- Meanwhile, boil the potatoes for about 10 minutes, or until fork tender.
- Drain the water and set aside until ready to use.
- Add the shredded cod into the pot with the tomato mixture.
- Add the vinegar, parsley, almonds, and olives.
- Stir to combine.
- Place the lid on the pot, partially covered, for 10 minutes.
- Stir occasionally. Be sure to gently scrape the bottom.
- The sauce will be thick, chunky, and delicious.
- Lower the heat and add the potatoes and chiles gueros.
- Cook for 5 more minutes.
- The sauce is not soupy. It should be thick. If it’s too soupy, cook it for another 5 minutes.
- Serve with more chile gueros (to decorate), toasted bread, and or rice.
I love fish and this Bacalao Navideño looks so yummilicious! The recipe is easy to follow, so I can try it someday soon 😍
So glad you enjoyed this recipe!
Hmmm…. this flavor is so addictive!
Best Kitchen Utensils
It is! Glad you enjoyed it!
For someone who is visual like me, I appreciate the video!
Hope you try this recipe!
Thank you! I am obsessed with Mexican food! This recipe is so useful and will come in handy!
I’m obsessed with Mexican food too. lol.
Thanks for sharing this I have some salted cod in my hand. I will try to make this looks yum. s
So glad you enjoyed this!
I am drooling over this dish! Sounds so inviting! Love to try new International recipes!
Hope you try it! It’s delicious
Wow this looks incredible! I would love to make this for the family.
It’s delicious! Hope you try it
This recipe looks so fresh and clean. It seems like it would be just a joy to eat this dish.
It’s soo good! Hope you try it
This looks like such a delicious recipe! I’m always searching for more fish recipes so I can’t wait to try.
So good right? We love this one too
I’ve never had this before. It looks good. I’d like to give it a try.
It’s delicious. Hope you try it!