Time to eat Mexican and get healthy!
Mexican food isn’t traditionally known for being very healthy, but there are a few recipes that you can eat in order to get fit and boost overall health. You’ll have to avoid most of the greasy and deep fried foods, but with the right meal, you’ll find you can be VERY healthy!
Here are the 10 healthiest Mexican dishes around:
- Pollo en Mole — Mole is a traditional Mexican dish made with chicken, red rice, refried beans, and a thick sauce comprised of over 60 different ingredients–including dark chocolate, chili peppers, onions, garlic, and more. Mole poblano (the dark brown type) is one of the healthiest Mexican dishes around, thanks its high vitamin, mineral, and antioxidant content!
- Pozole — Pozole is a simple soup made with meat (pork, chicken, or beef), onions, and hominy. The dried maize kernels known as hominy are a high-fiber carbohydrate, and you can eat a good deal of this soup without adding too many calories to your diet. Just make sure to avoid the heavy cream, and stick with lemon and fresh salsas!
- Fresh Salsas — Mexican restaurants are world-famous for their salsas, made with fresh ingredients like onions, tomatoes, green tomatillos, garlic, and chili peppers (dried and fresh). You’ll find that these salsas are wonderfully low in calories, but they are amazingly healthy! Best of all, they’re fairly filling, and adding a lot of salsa to your meals can help you avoid overeating.
- Frijoles Charros — This Mexican bean soup is absolutely delicious, and surprisingly filling at the same time. You have a simple soup made with onions, beans, chilies, and a bit of meat for flavor, usually served as a complement to your meal. Eat a bowl or two of this soup, however, and you’ll have no need to order an entrée!
- Frijoles Refritos — Refried beans are loaded with fiber and protein, and yet they’re surprisingly low in calories. As long as there’s not too much cream in the beans, you can eat as much as you want!
READ MORE: Root Vegetable Tacos
- Tacos — Who doesn’t love a good taco? Made with steak, pork, or chicken, tacos are the most commonly eaten food in Mexico. It’s easy to overdo it on the tortillas, but stuff each corn tortilla with plenty of meat and you can fill up on just two or three of the amazingly delicious treats.
- Guacamole — The classic guac is made with avocado, lime, tomato, chili peppers, and onions, and is a healthy addition to any Mexican meal. If you’re going to eat it with chips, make sure to get the oven-baked chips rather than deep fried. Better yet, spread it over a hearty salad to add some flavor!
- Grilled Fish Tacos — While fish tacos in Baja California are traditionally battered and deep fried, you can always find grilled fish tacos if you know where to look. Grilled fish is softer than grilled chicken or steak, and the tacos are much healthier–not to mention tastier–than their deep fried counterparts!
- Quesadillas — There’s nothing like corn tortillas with cheese melted inside! Flour tortillas aren’t the healthy choice, but adding cheese to your corn tortillas will help to fill you up quickly. While it’s not the lowest-calorie dish on this menu, it’s still much healthier than burritos, gorditas, and anything made with flour tortillas.
- Chile en Nogada — The traditional chile relleno is battered and deep fried, but you’ll love this non-fried version. An almond sauce is poured over the top, and the chili pepper is stuffed with a sort of mincemeat that tastes absolutely divine!
