This is my family’s menudo recipe. We are from the good State of Durango. iArriba Durango!
This post may include affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Table of Contents
🍲 What is Menudo?
Menudo is a Mexican stew made of beef tripe, or cow’s stomachs. It is cooked in a red chile broth with hominy and served in large bowls. Topped with lime juice, onion, cilantro, and oregano.
It is one of Mexico’s most traditional recipes just like Pozole Rojo, Birria de Res, Chile Verde. Dishes with organ meats can be an acquired taste.
🌶️ How to Make the Red Chile Sauce
- Remove stems from the dried chile pepper and cover with water.
- Bring to a boil and turn off heat.
- Let sit in the hot water for 5 minutes to rehydrate the chiles.
If you do not add the red sauce, this dish is called menudo blanco, or white menudo.
Other Names
- Menudo is the most common name for this dish. Depending on where you come from in Mexico, some people call it “Pancita” or “Mondongo.”
- Since this is an authentic menudo recipe from Durango in Northern Mexico, we also add hominy and a red chile sauce.
- Add all the sauce ingredients to a blender.
- Blend until smooth.
To make the red chile sauce, we needs lots of guajillo peppers and chile de árbol.
The sauce is NOT spicy because there is a lot of water in the pot. The chiles will add a robust and deep flavor to the tripe soup.
Fun Fact: Because it’s such a hearty soup, some people also refer to it as a hangover cure.
How to Get Rid of the Smell
Tripe (or pancita de res) has a distinct smell. Luckily, there are several ways to minimize the smell.
Tips to Reduce the Smell:
- Put the tripe in a large stockpot.
- Cover with water.
- Add juice of 2 limes, or 4 tablespoons of white distilled vinegar.
- Let sit in the fridge for at least 1 to 1 ½ hour. Discard water. Continue with recipe.
OR
- Put the tripe in a large pot.
- Cover with water and bring to a boil.
- Turn heat off.
- Add 4 tablespoons white distilled vinegar and 2 garlic cloves.
- Let sit for at least 30 minutes. Discard water. Continue with recipe.
🥣 How to Cook Honeycomb Tripe
For Stovetop:
- Cut tripe into small pieces. About 2 inch pieces.
- Place the tripe inside the pot.
- Add onion, garlic, and bay leaf. This is when to add the pigs feet, if using.
- Cover with water (4 inches above the meat), and let simmer for 2 ½ hours.
For Instant Pot:
- Cut tripe into small pieces.
- Place the tripe inside the pot.
- Add onion, garlic, bay leaves, and add water to max level. Also add pigs feet, if using.
- Add lid, move valve to SEALING, press High Pressure 50 minutes, full natural release.
- When done, change to a bigger pot. You also need to add 4 cups beef broth when adding the sauce and hominy.
For Slow Cooker:
- Cut tripe into small pieces.
- Place tripe inside the pot along with onion, garlic, and bay leaves. Add pig’s feet, if using.
- Cover with water.
- Set on low for 6 hours.
- When done, change to the biggest pot you own. When adding the sauce and hominy, also add 4 cups beef broth.
- Take out the whole onion, garlic, bay leaves from the pot.
- Using a strainer, strain the red sauce and add the white hominy to the pot.
- Cook for another ½ hour.
It is not hard to make this menudo recipe. It just takes a long time. Look for ways to cut your cooking time.
👩🏼🍳 Pro Tips
- The Mexican tripe soup will be ready in no time if cooked in the instant pot.
- Make the chile sauce ahead of time. You can make it days before, or use frozen sauce from months ago.
- Cook the tripe a day, two days, even three days before.
- Ask the butcher to chop the tripe for you.
Is menudo healthy or unhealthy?
Believe it or not, menudo is good for you. 1-cup of serving has 210 calories and 13 grams of lean protein.
🫙 Storing Instructions
- Store in an airtight container and keep in the fridge until ready to consume. In the fridge, Mexican Menudo will last 3-4 days. It actually tastes better when it’s reheated.
- Place in a sealable plastic bag and remove as much air as possible. Thaw before reheating. In the freezer, it lasts 3-4 months. It will have lost some of its freshness and texture, but the taste will still be there.
Ideas for Toppings
- Raw, diced white onion
- Chopped cilantro
- Lime wedges
- Dried Mexican oregano
- Crushed Chile de Arbol or New Mexico Chile. Crush it open slightly, and put it in their soup bowls for some extra heat.
🥄 What does it taste like?
Menudo tastes like a robust, red chile stew with rich flavors. The tripe itself is mild in taste but has a texture of clams or chewy calamari.
There are yummy bites of corn hominy and an earthiness from the broth.
This is truly the BEST menudo recipe, if I say so myself. It is pure Mexican comfort food meant to feed a large crowd. It’s a delicious dish that’s perfect for special occasions and family gatherings.
😋 Hungry for More?
Be sure to subscribe to my newsletter and follow along on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter, YouTube for my latest recipes and videos.
Did you make this recipe? Please rate the recipe below!
Menudo Recipe
Ingredients
For the Tripe:
- 6 lbs Beef Honeycomb Tripe chopped into 2-inch pieces
- Water (enough for 6 inches above meat)
- 1 onion cut in half
- 5 garlic cloves
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 cow's feet (optional)
For the Red Chile Sauce:
- 8 chile guajillo stem removed, deveined, and seeded
- 3 chile de árbol stem removed, deveined, and seeded
- Pinch whole cumin
- 2 garlic cloves
- ¼ onion
- Salt (to taste)
- 2 cups water
You'll Also Need:
- 6 cups Hominy rinsed
Toppings:
- Diced raw onion
- Chopped Cilantro
- Lime
- chile de árbol
Instructions
- Rinse the beef honeycomb tripe well.
- Add honeycomb tripe, 1 whole onion, 5 garlic cloves, 2 bay leaves, and pigs feet (if using) to a large stockpot.
- Add water. About 6 inches above the honeycomb.
- Cover and bring to a boil for 2 ½ hours.
- In the meantime, make the red chile sauce.
- In a smaller stockpot add the chile guajillo and the chile de árbol.
- Add water. Enough to cover all the chiles.
- Bring to a boil.
- Turn heat off and let sit for 5 minutes until soft.
- Add all the chiles, ¼ onion, 2 garlic cloves, pinch of cumin, and salt to the blender.
- Using the water from which the chiles cooked in, add it to the blender.
- Blend until smooth.
- Before adding the chile sauce, remove and discard the onion and bay leaves from the pot.
- Add the red sauce and 2 tablespoons salt to the honeycomb tripe pot.
- Add 1 cup of water to the blender to get any remaining red sauce and pour into the pot.
- Rinse the hominy.
- Add the hominy to the pot.
- Stir to combine.
- Cover and let simmer for an additional 30 minutes.
- Serve with toppings and enjoy!
Video
Notes
For a slow cooker: Set on low for 6 hours. HOW LONG WILL MENUDO LAST? In the fridge, menudo will last 3-4 days. It actually tastes better when it’s reheated. In the freezer, menudo will last 3-4 months. It will have lost some of its freshness and texture, but the taste will still be there. TIP TO REDUCE THE SMELL:
- Put the tripe in a large stockpot.
- Cover with water.
- Add juice of 2 limes, or 4 tablespoons of white distilled vinegar.
- Let sit in the fridge for at least 1 to 1 ½ hour. Discard water. Continue with recipe.
i need to try the recipe first
I hope you do! You’re going to love it.
Hi, our whole family loves menudo. My question is how do I get the Patas to cook right? Do I cook apart 1st, or towards the last 2 hours? My mom cooks them apart. How u do it yourself? Thank u.love your site. N have made couple of your recipes
I know a lot of people who don’t like patas, but I love them! They are hard to find in the US. I usually have to go to a Mexican grocery store. How to cook them is easy. When you are cooking the tripe, add the patas to the pot. Not sure why your mom made them apart. The only thing I can think of is – patas are fatty and she didn’t want to add that fat to the soup. If you ask her, come back and let me know. Thanks for trying my recipes!
Hi! I appreciate that you incorporate instant pot instructions. Please continue to do so and thank you for the delicious recipe.
I love using my instant pot! It makes like a lot easier especially with recipes that can take hours like this menudo recipe.
Thank you so much for share your recipe.
I made this dish for the first time, and it turned out amazing and so tasty.
This is one of my favorite dishes. So glad you liked it!
I cooked the tripe in the instant pot, everything came out fantastic!
I love this recipe so much! It always makes me happy to hear people enjoying it.
Delicious!!
Thank you! So glad you enjoyed it.
Always great recipes 😋
So glad you enjoyed it. Such a great recipe!
I pretty much followed this recipe from start to finish in an instapot except that I skipped the beef foot and made the tripe pieces a little smaller than 2” (too big for my personal preference) and I also added one chipotle pepper in adobo sauce (embasa brand) and some Mama’s Secret Goodness (aka MSG) and it came out way better than any of the restaurant-bought Menudo that I’ve had around town at several locations in Santa Fe, NM.
P.S. I trimmed off all the fat from the tripe by scraping it with a sharp knife and then placed it in a pot (whole), covered it with cold water, added a cup of vinegar and lots of salt and gave it a good hard boil for 10 minutes. Rinse thoroughly with cold water before slicing into desired bite-sized pieces. This practically removed all the “funky” smell you usually get when cooking tripe.
Sounds delicious! So happy you enjoyed it.
This is a very good recipe. My Menudo never tasted better than making it with this recipe!!
Fantastic! So glad to hear your Menudo turned out amazing with this recipe!
I like!!@
Glad you liked this recipe! Thank you.
This is the to go to Menudo recipe. Each Christmas eve day (and as I write this our Menudo is cooking) we make Menudo. For the past 5 year we have been using Mama Maggie’s recipe. My kids and my nine grandkids spend Christmas day at our house and everyone looks forward to having Menudo. It does taste better the next day 🙂 Thank you for posting this wonderful recipe!
Glad to hear that your family loved it. Made my day!!
Hola Maggie I have a tradition in my house where I make red menudo every New Year’s Eve and my family looks forward to this every year. I seen your recipe and always try new recipes to make it better. I’m grateful to you for this recipe and will definitely be using your recipe this year. Can’t wait!!!
Your New Year’s Eve tradition sounds amazing! So honored you’re adding my Menudo recipe to the mix. Wishing you a fantastic New Year’s feast—can’t wait for you to try it out!
TRADITIONALLY IT’S BEEF`S FEET FOR MENUDO. PIG’S FEET FOR POZOLE.
Yes! Traditions vary across Mexico, and you’ll find unique twists in each region. That’s the beauty of our diverse cuisine; it’s a flavorful journey from state to state. So, wherever you are, hope you enjoy this recipe!
Oh my, this Menudo recipe looks amazingly delicious! An authentic Mexican Beef Stew that everyone will love and enjoy! Perfect soup for this cold weather too!
Thank you so much for your words. For me, this is the best Menudo recipe, but then again, I am slightly biased. lol. Hope you give it a try!
This is the best Menudo recipe ever. We came across it several years ago and we have been really happy we’ve found it. You can’t go wrong, I promise.
Thank you so much for your message!!
When cooking in the instant pot, do you use the same amount of water or can you use less?
Thank you for the recipe!
The instant has a maximum fill line. Use the amount of water to fill up to that line. The problem with an instant pot is that you aren’t able to make as much as a regular pot. If you want to make more, do two batches in the instant pot.
Make this for my daughter and husband when weather is cold warms them up
Great! Hope they enjoy this Menudo recipe! 🙂
This sounds so interesting! If I can’t get beef tripe can I use other types of meat?
It’s hard to substitute tripe. The texture is very unique. I’ve seen vegan version of menudo that include oyster mushrooms, but it’s just not the same. I’d add just use regular beef.
You could chop up a pork shoulder into stew sized squares but then you’d be making pozole and not menudo but it tastes just as delicious. I’m not entirely sure how well it’d taste beef though because I’ve never had it that way. Also, the toppings change too, you top it with sliced cabbage, radishes and diced up jalapeños.
This recipe is absolutely amazing! I omit the hominy because I’m just not a fan of it. I love menudo for the tripe and flavor.
The tripe is the real star! So happy you made it your own.
My 7 year old grandson is visiting for summer and has asked if I can make him some, perfect time for me to find this recipe I’ll be trying it this weekend.
Sounds great. I hope you and your grandson liked it!
Love your recipe so similar to our family recipe. Differences is the tripe, I use a mixture of regular tripe and honeycomb tripe. I rinse mine with Lemons then rinse, rinse, rinse with water. Another Difference is I use a mix of chili powders instead of the pods you use. But I am going to try using the pods to see if there’s a big enough taste difference to warrant the extra work! :))
Glad to hear that you loved this Menudo recipe! It’s always interesting to see the variations in family recipes, and your use of a mixture of regular tripe and honeycomb tripe sounds delicious. Thanks for sharing!
This recipe looks delicious! I’ve never cooked with tripe before though, can you explain what is the difference between regular and honeycomb tripe? When I look for it in the store, do you think it will be labeled as either honeycomb or regular tripe? Thanks in advance!
Hi. There are 4 different types of tripe – blank (or flat) tripe, honeycomb tripe, book tripe, and reed tripe – depending on what part of the stomach it comes from. It’s called honeycomb tripe because of the way it looks. This is the kind of tripe that is used to make menudo. It comes from the second stomach chamber and is easily found at Mexican markets or online.
Need recipe with pigs feet menudo mu husband loves it
Use this recipe for menudo. Rinse the pigs feet and add to the pot with the tripe. Provecho!
Love this dish
Me too. Thank you for commenting!
This dish looks so good and tasty!
A new recipe for me to try!
You’re going to love it. Enjoy!
A new recipe for me too! We eat a lot of tripe here in Italy but prepared differently. I’d like to try this but finding hominy would be difficult. Do you have any suggestions to substitute it? I read it’s similar to chickpeas.
Instead of hominy, you can use chickpeas or regular corn. Even though hominy is technically corn, the texture of it resembles chickpeas more.