How to dehydrate chile peppers and grind them into chili powder and custom spice blends. Preserve an abundance of homegrown chiles or buy and dry store-bought fresh chiles when they show up at the market. You can save jars of single-variety powder or mix them into custom chili powders and spice blends. Some varieties of chiles can be expensive and/or hard to find, so don’t let a treasure trove of chiles go to waste.

Homemade Dried Chile Powder

How to dehydrate and grind chile peppers, with recipes for chili powder and custom spice blends using fresh homegrown and/or exotic store bought chiles. Preserve expensive and/or hard to find chiles.

Arizona Cheese Crisp with Green Chile Ranch Salsa

Tucson’s Sonoran style Mexican Arizona cheese crisp made with flour tortillas, roasted Hatch green chile strips and a creamy green chile Ranch salsa. Thank you Fry’s Foods for sponsoring this recipe.

Cold gazpacho recipe with chunky fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, and onions and peppers. The colors in the photo are a bit of an homage to Pedro Almodovar’s wonderful film, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988), which was the inspiration for me making gazpacho for the very first time, years ago. (Minus the pills and drama.)

Chipotle Lime Mexican Grilled Corn

Recipe for a lighter version of Sonoran – Mexican style grilled corn on the cob, with chipotle, crema and lime.

Arizona Cowboy Caviar

My Arizona Cowboy Caviar is made with is made with lentils, chile peppers and red onion in a spicy citrus vinaigrette. It’s similar to Texas Caviar made with black eyed peas and the lentils do resemble fish eggs.

Spicy Sonoran-Style Mexican Green Rice

Spicy, Sonoran-style Mexican green rice (arroz verde) recipe made with tomatillo salsa verde, peas and cilantro from the Taste of Tucson cookbook.

Thai-Mexican Coleslaw in Serrano Vinaigrette

This crunchy, salty, and spicy no-mayo Thai/Mexican coleslaw is an excellent companion to Sonoran style dishes. It’s inspired by Som Tum (green papaya salad).

Sonoran Salsa Chicken Lettuce Tacos

Chicken slow-simmered in salsa, then shredded for serving in as a filling for tacos, tostadas, enchiladas, and is keto when served in lettuce cups.

Sonoran-Style Spicy Salsa Verde

This Sonoran-style spicy green rice is like summer in Tucson – dependably hot, greener than you might expect, and full of complexities that must be experienced to be appreciate

Chipotle Chicken Salad Wraps

Southwestern chipotle chicken salad recipe utilizing all of the elements of a great chicken salad: something oniony, something crunchy, something pickled, and something a little bit spicy. This recipe is Paleo, low-carb and gluten free.

Charro Cowboy Beans

Vegan recipe for the saucy, whole Sonoran-style pinto beans that you see cowboys (charros) eating in old Western movies, from the Taste of Tucson cookbook by Jackie Alpers.

Tucson’s Famous Topopo Salad

The topopo, Tucson’s most iconic salad is visually stunning. It’s made to look like volcano with lettuce piled on a bean tostada and surrounded with grilled shrimp, Tajin dipped vegetables and cheese. It’s crowned with a green olive and a slice of tomato.

Sonoran-Style Red Pozole

This pork and hominy Pozole is a traditional “low-and-slow” braising recipe. It takes about 3 ½ hours to cook from start to finish because pork shoulder is a fatty cut of meat that takes a while to break down. But the pork fat is what gives this soup its richness. My Sonoran-style version of this dish is topped with lots of fresh vegetables and citrus.

Bison Nachos

Bison are a seminal component of Western American history. The massive bison hunts of the 19th century resulted in their near extinction. With conservation efforts in place, the Yellowstone bison are considered the last truly wild herd of American plains bison in existence. Regenerative bison farms have reintroduced this healthy beef alternative into American food systems.

Sonoran Enchiladas

Recipe for Enchiladas Sonorenses: Flat Sonoran-style enchiladas are unique to the desert Southwestern region surrounding the Tucson/Sonora, Mexico border are small corn masa pancakes covered in red enchilada sauce.

Creamed Corn Chowder with Popped Amaranth

This rich and creamy, charred corn chowder is made with lowfat buttermilk and topped with popped Amaranth which is a gluten-free, ancient grain native to the Western and Southwestern United States that can be popped like popcorn which a nice crunch.

Texas-Style Chile con Carne

Chile Colorado con Carne recipe from The Unofficial Yellowstone Cookbook. In the season 4 finale of Yellowstone, the bunkhouse gets into a heated debate over whether or not chili has beans. The Unofficial Yellowstone cookbook shares a recipe for both chili with and without beans because Texas where the character “Jimmy” had recently visited, is famous for their Chile Colorado which is made without beans – it’s mainly beef and red chiles, and it is fabulous. Get the chili with beans recipe… and more in The Unofficial Yellowstone Cookbook.

Beanie Weenie Tacos

Is it a hot dog? Is it a taco? Is it Beans & Franks? Yes, it is! My hot dog tacos are made with charro beans and topped with pickled red onion and a special sauce. This recipe is an excerpt from Taste of Tucson: Sonoran Style Recipes Inspired by the Rich Culture of Southern Arizona by Jackie

Sonoran Hot Dogs

Sonoran Hot Dogs are a Tucson, Arizona tradition. This recipe comes from Daniel Contreras whose restaurant, El Guero Canelo was presented with a James Beard America’s Classics Award. This is his version of the Sonoran style hot dog which I am honored to include in my cookbook, Taste of Tucson.

Grilled Sonoran-Style Carne Asada Quesadillas

Grilled flour tortillas stuffed with carne asada, green onions, cheese, & crispy corn tortilla chips for extra crunch! It’s everything you always wanted in a quesadilla but with more crunch!

How to Make Papel Picado Tortilla Snowflakes

Sweet and sparkly tortilla snowflakes – an edible version of the popular Mexican folk art, papel picado which will brighten any winter holiday table.

Sonoran Mexican Street Corn Cups

Recipe for Elote en Vaso. Roasted corn kernels in a creamy, cheesy sauce seasoned with chile, lime and chives.

Arroz Con Pollo Recipe – Tucson Sonoran Style

This Tucson Sonoran style Arroz con Pollo recipe is made with Salsa de chile fresco for medium spicy kick of heat.

Sonoran Shrimp Ceviche Tostadas

When life gives you lemons, make spicy shrimp ceviche tostadas. A bright and light Sonoran style Mexican treat.

Mexican Shrimp Cocktail, Sonoran Style: Coctel De Camaron

This easy Sonoran style Mexican shrimp cocktail with crisp cucumber, creamy avocado, red onion and hot sauce is ready in about 5 minutes.

Sonoran-Style Chicken Tortilla Soup

Make this Sonoran-Style Mexican chicken tortilla soup from the Taste of Tucson cookbook in 30 minutes or less!

Chile Colorado Tostadas with Crispy Tofu

Crispy tofu adds just the right amount of heft and bite to Chile Colorado served on crunchy baked tostada shells.

Taste of Tucson: Sonoran Shopping Guide

Sonoran cooking resource and shopping guide for the Taste of Tucson cookbook by Jackie Alpers, with lists of ingredients, pantry staples and photography equipment recommendations.

Molletes for Breakfast Anytime

These open-faced breakfast sandwiches are made by slathering refried beans onto toasted bolillo rolls and then heaping avocado slices, a fried egg, hot sauce, and lots of cheese on top.

Nachos Supreme Stuffed Bell Peppers

Sweet bell peppers stuffed with creamy nacho cheese, avocado, pickled jalapeños, black beans and crunchy tortilla chips.

Strawberry Habanero Infused Tequila

This infused tequila makes a mean margarita or straight-up sipper.

Tequila Vs Mezcal: What’s the difference?

Wondering what the difference is between different types of tequila and mezcal? Includes recipes for Tequila Citrus Sipper and Paloma cocktails.

Chiltepin Hot Salsa Recipe From the Taste of Tucson Cookbook

Chiltepin salsa is an all-purpose salsa that can be used for dipping, for seasoning, and as a taco sauce. A little goes a long way, so if you prefer a milder salsa, cut the amount of chiles down by a half or a third. This recipe is from the Taste of Tucson cookbook by Jackie Alpers.

Chorizo, Egg and Cheese Breakfast Taco

I ate this for breakfast every day for weeks while writing my Taste of Tucson cookbook. The fat from the chorizo makes the egg really crispy and adds a lot of flavor without too many extra calories.

Matzoh Molletes Rancheros

This crispy matzo based breakfast is a cross between molletes and huevos rancheros. I used beans from a can and my homemade chiltepin salsa.

Beef Patty Tacos

Teresa Matias told me that to help satisfy her children’s cries for burgers when buns weren’t handy, she would fold a hamburger patty into a tortilla and fry it. Topped with cheese, lettuce, and tomato, it later became a regular menu item at her restaurant, Teresa’s Mosaic Cafe. Apparently, a lot of moms had the same experience, because the beef patty taco has been standard restaurant fare around southern Arizona since at least the mid-1970s.

Chicken Molé Amarillo Recipe from the Taste of Tucson Cookbook

Nuttier and less sweet than its chocolate based cousin, this version of Molé Amarillo is the personal creation of Chef Suzana Davila of Tucson’s Cafe Poca Cosa. She specializes in these complex sauces, and her recipes are longtime local favorites which is one reason why I wanted to feature the recipe in my upcoming cookbook Taste of Tucson: Sonoran Style Recipes Inspired by the Rich Culture of Southern Arizona. Serve this dish with tortillas and a pretty, salad, as Suzana would.

Sonoran Style Grilled Chicken Drumsticks

There are Southwestern regional influences that vary from New Mexico to Arizona, Texas, and Southern California. Here in Tucson, our regional cuisine is defined by fresh veggies, grilled meats and all of the delicacies that a mid-sized, sunshine filled desert city/college town, 60 miles from Mexico, has to offer. It’s summertime eating all year round.

Chelada Beer Cocktail

This super-refreshing citrus beer cocktail is served in a chile and salt rimmed glass over ice. It’s kinda like a beer margarita. I love it because it’s a big drink that lasts a long time and it has considerably less sugar and calories than a margarita.

Hibiscus Agua Fresca Cooler

This hibiscus agua fresca isn’t too sweet, so you can drink it all day long and even into the night (perhaps with vodka!) It’s healthy too.

Pomegranate and Earl Grey Whisky Smash Cocktail

A Tucson Sonoran craft cocktail made with Earl Grey tea and whisky muddled with pomegranate seeds, finished with bitters and fresh ground pepper.

Mexican Street Corn Hot Dogs

How to make The Elote Hot Dog. A whole beef jumbo hot dog is topped with roasted corn, mayo, lime and spices and served in a top-cut, whole grain bolillo roll. Food photo and recipe by Jackie Alpers.

Cheesiest Cheese Crisp with Chipotle Ranch Drizzle

The cheese crisp is the perfect comfort food. A cross between a Mexican pizza an an open-faced quesadilla, Southern Arizona restaurants started selling the dish more than 50 years ago and it’s become a staple of our local Sonoran style cuisine.

Sonoran Quinoa Burrito Bowl

Healthy burrito bowl recipe with quinoa, black beans and avocado tossed in a chipotle lime vinaigrette dressing.

Sweet Corn & Cinnamon Paletas

Why isn’t corn used in more desserts? It’s naturally sweet, and the kernels add a nice pop. These paletas are made with sweet corn, cinnamon and Tajin.

Three Sisters Pizza With Corn Masa Crust

Corn, beans and squash are three of the earliest domesticated crops grown by Native Americans in the Sonoran region. For this recipe, prepared corn masa, which is usually used to make tortillas or gorditas, is pressed into a cast iron skillet for the crust. If you’ve never tried tepary beans, this recipe is an excellent way to experiment with them, but you can substitute black beans instead if you want.

Mexican Recipes | Tucson Sonoran Style