Old West Style Vegan Chili Recipe

Old West style spicy vegan chili recipe made with plant-based meat, black beans and mushrooms. Served with vegan shredded cheddar cheese and sour cream.

One Pot Arroz Con Pollo: Sonoran Style

Arroz con pollo is one of the recipes most requested by locals from my Taste of Tucson cookbook and I’ve always found chicken and rice to be a comforting combo. This is a great make ahead recipe for workday lunches. At first glance El Pato salsa de chile fresco may look like pureed tomato sauce, but it’s got a medium spicy kick of heat that will convince you otherwise.

Sonoran-Style Mexican Shrimp Ceviche Tostadas

Sonoran-style Mexican shrimp ceviche tostadas with avocado and hot sauce on crunchy baked tostada shells.

Coctel de Camaron: Sonoran Mexican Shrimp Cocktail Recipe

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

Easy Chicken Tortilla Soup Recipe: Sonoran Style

Flavorful Sonoran-style tortilla soup with rotisserie chicken, diced tomatoes, green chiles, crushed tortilla chips, diced avocado and crumbled Mexican cheese in a clear broth.

Vegan Tostadas with Crispy Tofu in Chile Colorado Sauce

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

Sonoran Ingredients and 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 Recipe: Open Faced Mexican Breakfast Sandwiches

Molletes are open-faced breakfast sandwiches 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.

Stuffed Bell Peppers Recipe: Nachos Supreme Style

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

Taste of Tucson Cookbook: Meet the Chefs

Meet the chefs that contributed to the Taste of Tucson Cookbook.

Beef Patty Tacos Recipe

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.

Strawberry Habanero Infused Tequila

This infused Strawberry-Habanero 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

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.

Easy Chorizo, Egg & Cheese Breakfast Taco Recipe

Sonoran-style breakfast taco with a crispy egg fried in chorizo and folded with cheese into a tortilla.

Matzoh Molletes Rancheros

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

Chicken Molé Amarillo

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 with Molé Marinade

Sonoran-style grilled chicken made with sweet Hungarian smoked paprika mixed with hot New Mexico chili pepper, unsweetened chocolate (inspired by molés), and red wine.

Chelada Recipe and How It Differs from a Michelada

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 Recipe

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.

The Whisky Smash: Sonoran Mexican Cocktail Recipe

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

How to Grill The Perfect Cowboy Steak

Making authentic cowboy steaks is really easy. When I asked Bryan Keith, the Grill Master from Pinnacle Peak Steak House if he had any additional tips he said, “Put some love in it!”

Sonoran Marinated Flank Steak

I marinated myself a flank steak using my mom’s recipe from the 80s, adding in some Mexican oregano and extra citrus to #sonoranize it a bit so now it’s an Ohio meets Tucson recipe.

Sonoran Street Corn Hot Dogs (Elote Hot Dogs)

I’m pretty sure I invented the Elote Dog when I first developed this recipe for The Food Network in 2018. Since then Elote Hot Dogs, inspired by Sonoran-Mexican Street Corn have become a sensation with hot dog enthusiasts all over the word coming up with their own version. Here’s my recipe for hot dogs topped with elote, mayo, lime and spices and served in a bolillo roll.

Spicy French Onion Ranch Dip

Spicy Ranch French Onion Dip. Two Dips That Live As One, Together At Last!

Arizona Cheese Crisp: No Tortilla Recipe

Keto recipe for Arizona cheese crisp that’s 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.

Quinoa Burrito Bowl with Chipotle Lime Vinaigrette

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

Sweet Corn Paletas Recipe: Sonoran Atole-Inspired Ice Pops

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.

Masa Crust Pizza Recipe Featuring the Three Sisters

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.