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Mexican menudo of beef tripe and hominy in a red chile broth, served with onion, lime and oregano
Prep1 hr
Cook3 hr
Serves4 servings
CuisineMexican
North America

Menudo Rojo: Mexican Red Chile Tripe and Hominy Soup

Menudo rojo is a Mexican soup of beef tripe and hominy simmered in a dried-chile broth. Covers parboiling honeycomb tripe, red and white styles.

Total: 4 hrLevel: Intermediate

Cooking flow

Cooking steps

STEP 11 / 8

Parboil the tripe

15 min

Parboiling honeycomb tripe in a pot and discarding the water with white foam
Parboil the honeycomb tripe briefly first, discard the water, then move on to the main simmer

Cook over medium-high heat.

Cut 1 lb (500 g) honeycomb tripe into large pieces, about 2 inches (5 cm) square at the thick parts, and rinse briefly in a bowl. Drain off the surface water. Put the tripe in a pot, add plenty of water and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Once boiling, keep it going for 5 minutes, until white foam gathers on the surface. Discard the water, tip the tripe into a colander and wash the pot.

If the drained tripe is white to pale gray and the surface isn't strongly slimy, move on. If the smell is strong, repeat the same parboil just once more. Avoid soaking it repeatedly or trying to remove the smell with vinegar or cleaning agents; that makes it harder to judge the state of the tripe.

STEP 22 / 8

Simmer the tripe and beef shank

2 hr to 2 hr 20 min

Simmering honeycomb tripe and beef shank over low heat with onion, garlic and oregano
Simmer the tripe gently with the aromatics, taking your time until a chopstick slides in

Start over medium heat, then lower to low once it boils.

Put the tripe, beef shank, onion, crushed garlic, bay leaf, dried oregano and 2 quarts (2 L) water in the clean pot. Bring to a boil over medium heat, and for 15 minutes after it boils leave the lid off and skim the foam that gathers on the surface with a ladle. When the foam subsides, turn the heat to low, set the lid slightly ajar and keep the surface just trembling. At this stage the broth is thin and light, concentrated enough to ladle the solids from.

After 1 hour 30 minutes, test the thickest part of the tripe with a chopstick or skewer. If the skewer goes in easily and the tripe holds together when lifted, you're on track. If it's still tough, add 100 ml (about 1/2 cup) boiling water, replace the lid and extend in 10-minute increments. A hard boil reduces the liquid but tightens the surface of the tripe, so never let the whole pot churn.

STEP 33 / 8

Toast and soak the dried chiles

30 min

Lightly toasting stemmed and seeded dried guajillo and ancho chiles in a skillet
Pull the dried chiles before they blacken, then soak them in hot water until the skins soften

Medium-low heat while toasting; no heat while soaking.

Remove the stems, seeds and thick veins from the guajillo, ancho and chile de árbol. Spread the guajillos and anchos in a dry skillet and warm over medium-low heat for 20 to 30 seconds per side. Chile de árbol is thin, so about 10 seconds is enough. As soon as they smell sweet, like dried fruit, and the skins turn slightly brighter, take them out.

If black spots spread, the chile is burned; don't put that one in the sauce. Move the toasted chiles to a bowl, pour over 400 ml water at about 80°C (176°F), weigh down with a plate and leave for 20 minutes. They're done when the skins are soft enough to bend with your fingers. Taste a little of the soaking liquid; if it's bitter, don't use it in the sauce and use water or simmering broth instead.

STEP 44 / 8

Blend and strain the red sauce

10 min

Blending soaked dried chiles, garlic and cumin into a red sauce and straining it
Blend the chile sauce smooth, then strain so no gritty skin ends up in the pot

No heat.

Drain the soaked chiles and put them in a blender. Add 1 clove garlic, the cumin, black pepper and 1 cup (250 ml) broth or water, and blend for 60 to 90 seconds, until you can barely see any flecks of skin. Press a little with the back of a spoon; if the red liquid isn't gritty, it's ready.

Set a fine-mesh strainer over a bowl and pour in the sauce. Press with the back of a ladle and strain out the bits of skin. If the sauce won't move, add broth 1 tbsp at a time and blend again. When you have 200 to 250 ml of strained sauce that's an even reddish brown, it's ready for the pot.

STEP 55 / 8

Fry the chile sauce

8 min

Frying strained red chile sauce in oil until red oil rises to the surface
Fry the chile sauce briefly in oil to layer its red color and aroma into the broth

Cook over medium-low heat.

Heat 1 tbsp vegetable oil in a skillet or small saucepan over medium-low heat. Add the strained chile sauce a little at a time, stirring from the bottom so the oil doesn't spatter. For the first 2 minutes fine bubbles rise; after 3 minutes red oil floats to the surface. Cook about 5 minutes in total, until a line drawn with a spoon leaves a trail for just a moment. It's done when red oil floats on top and the reduced trail doesn't close right away.

If the sauce looks like it's about to stick, lower the heat and add 1 tbsp of the simmering broth. If the bottom turns brown, don't scrape it; transfer only the sauce above it to another pan. The bitterness of burned chile is hard to mask with sugar, so the best fix is to keep the black bits out of the pot.

STEP 66 / 8

Add the hominy and red sauce

30 min

Combining red chile sauce, honeycomb tripe, beef shank and hominy in the pot
Add the hominy to the red broth for the last 30 minutes so the kernels keep their texture

Simmer gently over low heat.

Lift the tripe and beef shank out of the broth. If there's a lot of fat on the surface, skim some off with a ladle, but there's no need to remove it all. Add the fried chile sauce to the pot and stir until the broth turns deep red.

Add the drained, lightly rinsed hominy and return the tripe and beef shank. Simmer over low heat for 25 to 30 minutes with the lid slightly ajar. When the hominy kernels have plumped and a thin layer of red broth clings to the surface, it's cooked. Finally taste for salt, adding 1/4 tsp at a time if needed.

If the broth is watery, remove the lid and extend by 10 minutes, taking care not to break up the solids. If it's too salty or hot, add boiling water ½ cup (100 ml) at a time and heat for 3 minutes. Diluting with plain water again and again also weakens the aroma, so don't add much at once.

STEP 77 / 8

Cut the tripe and return it to the pot

10 min

Cutting simmered honeycomb tripe into 1.5 to 2 cm squares and returning it to the red soup
Cut the tripe into bite-size pieces before returning it to the pot, then let the flavors settle

Off the heat at first, then low heat only at the end.

Take the tripe out onto a cutting board and cut into about 3/4 to 1 inch (1.5 to 2 cm) squares. Pull the beef shank apart along the grain into bite-size pieces. Return the cut tripe and shank to the pot and warm over low heat for 5 minutes.

It's done when the tripe holds together on a spoon and gives way with a soft spring when you bite it. If it's so soft the surface is falling apart, it's still fine to eat, but the honeycomb texture will be weaker. If it's still tough, return just the tripe to the broth, cover and extend in 10-minute increments.

STEP 88 / 8

Set out the garnishes

5 min

A bowl of red menudo with white onion, cilantro, lime, oregano and chile on the side
Each person finishes their red menudo with onion, herbs, lime and heat

Keep the soup hot over low heat.

Finely chop the white onion to 2–3 mm, cut the limes into 4–6 wedges each, and tear the cilantro into small pieces. Ladle the menudo into bowls and top the center with a little onion, cilantro and dried oregano. Put the limes and ground chile de árbol on a separate plate so everyone can add tartness and heat.

When red broth, white hominy, green herbs and tart lime come through one after another in a single bite, the bowl is ready. Serve the corn tortillas or tostadas as a contrast in texture rather than soaking them through. Squeezing lime into the pot from the start makes the whole thing sour, so add it a little at a time at the table.

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Ingredients

Ingredients

1 / 3

Tripe and simmering broth

Ingredient Amount Substitutes & notes
Cleaned honeycomb tripe 500 g Beef reticulum (honeycomb stomach). Choose tripe sold for cooking over uncleaned (about 1.1 lb)
Beef shank 250 g Bone-in shank or beef tendon also works. Gives the broth more body than tripe alone (about 9 oz)
Onion 1/2 (about 100 g) Cut into wedges. The rest is used for serving
Garlic 3 cloves Crush before adding
Water 2 L Enough to keep the tripe submerged. Top up with boiling water if it drops (about 8 1/2 cups)
Bay leaf 1 Can be omitted
Dried oregano 1 tsp (about 1 g) Mexican oregano is ideal. Start with less if yours is strongly aromatic
Salt 1 tsp, to start Adjust separately in the chile sauce and at the end
2 / 3

Red chile sauce and hominy

Ingredient Amount Substitutes & notes
Dried guajillo chiles 4 (about 20 g) Remove stems, seeds and thick veins. The base for red color and gentle tartness
Dried ancho chiles 2 (about 20 g) Add sweetness and deep color. If unavailable, use 2 more guajillos
Dried chile de árbol 1 For heat. Omit for a milder pot
Ground cumin 1 tsp Too much pushes it toward curry, so start with this amount
Black pepper 1/2 tsp Coarsely ground is fine
Garlic 1 clove For the chile sauce
Hot water for soaking 400 ml Enough to fully cover the chiles (about 1 2/3 cups)
Broth or water 250 ml Liquid for blending (about 1 cup)
Vegetable oil 1 tbsp For frying the strained sauce
Canned white hominy 1 can (425 g net) Drain and rinse lightly. If using dried, soak and precook it separately (a standard 15 oz can)
3 / 3

For the table

Ingredient Amount Substitutes & notes
White onion 1/2 Finely chopped. If sharp, soak in water for 5 minutes and drain
Limes 2 Lemon works, but the aroma and tartness change
Cilantro 1/2 bunch Scallions give a milder green note
Dried oregano 1/2 tsp Rub between your fingers over the bowl to release the aroma
Ground chile de árbol A little Serve on the side; not everyone wants it hot
Corn tortillas or tostadas For 4 Add heft. Check the ingredient label of each product
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Menudo isn't a dish whose flavor is locked in the moment you ladle it from the pot. Into the red broth, with its tripe and hominy, each person adds chopped onion, lime, oregano and as much heat as they like, a little at a time, and shapes their own bowl.

Menudo is a Mexican soup of beef stomach cooked slowly in an aromatic broth. The classic version is a red broth colored with guajillo, with chopped onion, oregano, lime and chile de árbol. The tripe doesn't shred like thin slices of meat; the broth settles into its honeycomb surface, and a bit of spring remains inside the tenderness.

In Mexico, the names menudo, pancita and mondongo are used depending on the region and the style of the dish. Red menudo is best known as a dish of the north; white menudo is a clear broth made without dried chiles; pancita in central Mexico often leaves out the hominy and puts the tripe first; and mondongo in the south adds vegetables such as potatoes and carrots. This recipe is a home version of menudo rojo, so you get the aroma of dried chiles and big kernels of corn in the same bowl.

Because it contains hominy, it looks a lot like pozole rojo (in Japanese). But where pozole is built around the cooked corn, in this pot it's the tripe you make tender first. Keep the bite of the honeycomb tripe, and use prepared large-kernel hominy rather than sweet canned corn, and you won't blur the two dishes.

What this recipe makes

Serves 4. Allow about 1 hour to parboil the tripe and prepare the chile sauce, about 3 hours of simmering, roughly 4 hours in total. The finished tripe is tender enough to cut with a chopstick, yet still has a light spring in each bite. Don't put all the heat in the pot; everyone adjusts it at the table with chile de árbol.

What to keep, and what you can reasonably swap

Red, white and the regional styles are each their own right answer

What turns menudo red is a sauce of rehydrated dried guajillo and ancho chiles. Guajillo brings red color and a dried-fruit aroma, ancho adds a rounded sweetness, and chile de árbol adds heat in small amounts. The key to getting aroma before heat is not to scorch the dried chiles, and to blend the sauce smooth and then strain it rather than using all the soaking liquid as is. Building dried chiles into layers of sweetness and bitterness is also the idea behind the sauce of mole poblano (in Japanese), but menudo holds back on spices and lets the tripe and broth lead.

In the northwestern states of Sonora and Sinaloa, white menudo made without red chiles is well known. In central Mexico some versions of pancita leave out the hominy, and in the south and on the Yucatán Peninsula mondongo can include potatoes, carrots, herbs, achiote or sour orange. If you want a sense of the Yucatán direction of tartness and achiote, read it alongside cochinita pibil (in Japanese), a braise from the same region, and the difference from a dried-chile red menudo becomes clear. Not having hominy isn't a failure. Think of it as moving to another region's style depending on what you make the star, and substitutes become easier to choose.

How what you can buy changes the texture

What to keep Traditional ingredient or method Practical choice What changes
Springy tripe Honeycomb tripe simmered for hours Cleaned, ready-to-cook honeycomb tripe Beef tendon alone gives a delicious broth, but the texture is no longer menudo
Large-kernel corn Hominy, omitted in some regions Canned white hominy Sweet corn is a different thing in sweetness and kernel size
Red aroma Guajillo and ancho Look for dried chiles at Latin grocers or online Paprika alone has too little fruity aroma, and adding only heat won't make a red sauce
Green herbal note Mexican oregano Dried oregano Mediterranean oregano works, but its aroma is a little flatter
Tartness and crunch Lime, white onion, herbs Lemon, onion, scallions or cilantro Lemon is sharper, and the green fragrance of lime fades

Honeycomb tripe is easier to find at butchers that handle offal, or at Latin and Asian markets, than in the regular beef case. If you can, choose tripe labeled as cleaned, for cooking, honeycomb, and never treat raw, uncleaned stomach on your own with cleaning agents or lime (calcium hydroxide). If you can't find honeycomb tripe, make it as a red stew of beef tendon and hominy; there's no need to hide the change in texture just to call it menudo.

When Mexican oregano isn't available, a small amount of ordinary dried oregano still gives the dish its herbal backbone. Its aroma differs a little from Mexican oregano, but it is an easy substitute to keep on hand. Whole-leaf dried oregano releases more fragrance when you rub it between your fingers. If you'll make it only once, the dried oregano you have on hand is plenty.

Ingredients (serves 4)

Even cleaned tripe varies in thickness and moisture. Start with a little extra water for simmering, and at the end, after the red sauce and hominy go in, adjust the broth so it's concentrated enough while still covering everything.

Ingredients for menudo: honeycomb tripe, beef shank, hominy, dried guajillo and ancho chiles, onion and lime
Prepare menudo in groups: tripe, hominy, dried chiles, aromatics and the tart finishing garnishes

You don't need to buy everything in one trip. Get the beef, onion, garlic and limes from your usual store first, then look only for the dried chiles and hominy at a Latin grocer or online; that keeps your substitution decisions steady.

Check tripe and packaged-food labels

Honeycomb tripe is offal, so prioritize a for-cooking label and proper storage. Canned hominy, tortillas, tostadas and dried spices can contain wheat, soy, dairy and other allergens depending on the product. If you have allergies, rely on the ingredient labels of what you buy rather than this list, and wash any tools that touched raw tripe before using them for the onion or limes you'll serve.

Method: tenderize the tripe, then layer in the red sauce

Parboiling and simmering the tripe aren't only about getting rid of odor. The first water removes surface scum and excess fat; the next pot infuses it with aromatics while you cook it until the honeycomb is tender but still springy.

Tip

Parboil the tripe first to remove the scum and excess fat, then simmer it with the aromatics. Splitting it into two stages keeps odors from lingering and keeps the broth from turning cloudy.

Common problems and how to fix them

Menudo looks like a dish with many ingredients, but what really decides the result is the tenderness of the tripe, the bitterness of the chiles and the concentration of the broth. Don't try to fix everything at once; find the stage where it went off.

Problem What's happening How to fix it
The tripe still smells The parboil was too short, or the tripe was uncleaned and strong-smelling Parboil once more, discard the water and simmer in fresh broth. Don't cover it up with more spices
The tripe is tough Not enough time at low heat, or the liquid reduced Add ½ cup (100 ml) boiling water, cover and extend in 10-minute increments. Don't rush it over high heat
The sauce is bitter The dried chiles were toasted black, or burned bits were scraped from the pan Transfer only the unburned sauce to another pan. If the bitterness has spread through, make the chile sauce again
The broth is thin Too much broth, or liquid from the hominy Uncover and reduce over low heat in 10-minute increments; adjust salt at the end
It's too spicy The chile de árbol went into the pot too Add boiling water or unsalted broth ½ cup (100 ml) at a time, and switch the finishing heat to the side
The hominy is sweet Canned sweet corn was used Sweetness can't be undone; choose white hominy next time. This time, enjoy it as a stew of tripe in red broth
It's greasy The beef shank or tripe was fatty Skim the surface while simmering. You can also chill it overnight and remove the solidified fat

A blender is essential for the red sauce, but you don't need to buy a new tool just to crush a small amount of chile or cumin. A stone mortar does make it easy to mash soaked chiles in small batches or crumble the finishing oregano separately, but for a single pot of menudo a blender is enough. If you'll keep cooking with dried chiles, whole peppercorns and cumin, a granite mortar is handy; if you already have a sturdy mortar, that's all you need.

A Mexican weekend pot at your own table

Menudo is less a quick weeknight dish than one where you spend time watching the pot. It's served on weekends at small eateries and specialty restaurants, as well as at homes and street stalls, and it's tied to celebrations. In the border region, relatives gather to eat it after a wedding.

It's known as a morning-after dish, but it doesn't cure a hangover. Letting everyone add hot broth, lime, onion and heat for themselves suits a table of different numbers and tastes, whatever happened the night before.

Each part of the beef stomach has its own name and texture, and some places add cow's feet. Rather than hunting for cow's feet, use cleaned honeycomb tripe and beef shank; it's easier to shop and control the heat, and it keeps the springy element separate from the broth. If you want to add cow's feet, replace 3.5 oz (100 g) of the 9 oz (250 g) beef shank with cow's feet and skim off the extra fat as it simmers.

Leave out the hominy and you get a red tripe soup close to central Mexico's pancita. Leave out the dried chiles and you move toward white menudo. Add potatoes, carrots and achiote and the mondongo elements grow stronger, so rather than trying to reproduce everything in one pot, it's natural to decide first which style you're making today.

If you're eating it the next day

As menudo cools, fat solidifies on the surface and the broth's flavor settles. Divide what you won't finish into shallow airtight containers and refrigerate once it has cooled slightly. It keeps 3–4 days in the refrigerator and can also be frozen. Don't leave anything left at room temperature for long, and reheat only the portion you'll eat in a pot until hot all the way through. Keep the onion, herbs, lime and tostadas separate so nothing turns soggy in the broth the next day.

Nutrition (per serving, 1 of 4)

Estimated by dividing the ingredients above into 4 portions. The fat on the tripe, the cut of beef shank, the drained weight of the canned hominy and how much broth you drink all change the numbers, so for exact values, use the labels on what you bought.

Nutrient Approx.
Energy about 510 kcal
Protein about 1.5 oz (39 g)
Fat about 22 g
Carbohydrates about 1.25 oz (35 g)
Dietary fiber about 6 g
Salt equivalent about 3.8 g

FAQ

If I can't find honeycomb tripe, can I use beef tendon?

You can, but beef tendon is rich in gelatin and has a different texture from the fine spring of honeycomb tripe. Enjoy it as a dish of beef tendon and hominy in red chile broth, and next time look for cleaned honeycomb tripe if you want the texture of menudo. Other stomach cuts such as rumen or omasum also differ in thickness and texture, so for your first pot, choose honeycomb.

If I don't have hominy, can I use canned sweet corn?

You can, but it's sweeter and the kernels are smaller, so the result differs from the northern menudo with hominy. If you can't find white hominy, it's better to leave it out and move closer to central Mexico's pancita; that keeps the flavor of tripe and red broth intact. You can also use chickpeas, but you lose the texture of corn.

Can I make a menudo that isn't spicy?

Leave out the chile de árbol and carefully remove the seeds and veins from the guajillo and ancho, and you keep the red aroma while reducing the heat. If it's still too spicy, dilute with unsalted broth ½ cup (100 ml) at a time, and serve lime and extra chile on the side for each bowl. Coloring it red with paprika alone won't make it spicy, but it won't have the aroma of dried chiles either.

Can I shorten the time with a pressure cooker?

Yes, but pressure times vary with the size and model of the cooker, so this recipe is based on a standard pot. If you use a pressure cooker, pressure-cook only the tripe first, release the pressure, then add the red sauce and hominy and finish uncovered over low heat to let the flavors meld. Follow your pressure cooker manual's guidance on offal and maximum fill, and don't exceed the limit once the hominy and sauce are in.

Does menudo cure a hangover?

It's known as a morning-after dish, and sources record that some people believe it eases a hangover. But that is no basis for treating menudo as a remedy or a means of recovery. If you eat it after drinking, drink water too; if you feel unwell, don't force yourself to eat, and see a doctor if necessary.

How long does leftover menudo keep?

Divide it into shallow airtight containers, refrigerate, and finish it within 3–4 days. Don't store it with the onion or herbs in it; heat only what you'll eat thoroughly in a pot and add fresh garnishes. Don't eat anything left at room temperature for a long time, or anything that smells or looks off, regardless of how many days it's been.

Sources