Food to Try in Oaxaca City

Oaxacan cuisine is one of the most complex and regionally distinct in Mexico. The raw ingredients — dried chillies, chocolate, mole pastes, wild herbs, aged cheeses — define the cooking. Here’s what to prioritise.

The seven moles

Oaxaca is known as the “Land of Seven Moles”. The most important:

Mole negro — the most complex: 30+ ingredients including multiple dried chillies, chocolate, charred tortilla, and spices. Deep, dark, bitter-sweet. Usually served over turkey or chicken with rice.

Mole coloradito — reddish, slightly sweeter, often with chicken.

Mole verde — green, herb-forward, made with fresh chillies and tomatillos.

Mole amarillo — yellow, lighter, served with vegetables or pork.

The best moles are at market fondas and traditional family restaurants (rather than tourist-facing places). The market at Tlocolula on Sundays has exceptional examples.

Tlayuda

A large, slightly crisp corn tortilla brushed with black bean paste, spread with asiento (unrefined pork fat), topped with tasajo or other meats, and quesillo (Oaxacan string cheese). Served open-face. Available throughout the day; the street vendors near the Zócalo sell them cheaply in the evenings.

Tasajo and other meats

Tasajo — thin-cut, air-dried beef, slightly salty. Grilled to order at the 20 de Noviembre market and eaten in tacos or with tlayuda. Cecina — thin pork, seasoned with chilli. Chorizo negro — black-coloured pork sausage, heavier with spice.

Chapulines

Toasted grasshoppers, typically small or medium size, seasoned with lime, chilli, and salt. Sold by volume at the markets. Strong and earthy in flavour; commonly eaten as a snack or as a taco topping. They’re a real food, not a tourist spectacle — Zapotec communities have eaten them for thousands of years.

Oaxacan cheese (quesillo / queso Oaxaqueño)

String cheese that melts well — used on tlayudas, in quesadillas, and melted over meats. The best is handmade in the valleys. The markets sell it wound into balls; street vendors carry small samples.

Mezcal

Matatlán, 30 minutes southeast of the city, is the “world capital of mezcal”. Small-scale producers (palenques) there use traditional clay pots and stone mills. The city’s mezcal bars serve single-village, single-agave-species bottles from producers rarely exported. Try joven (unaged) espadín as a baseline, then work toward tobalá, tepeztate, or arroqueño if you want to explore the range.

Where to eat

• Market fondas (Mercado 20 de Noviembre, Mercado Benito Juárez): cheapest and most authentic
• Tlayuda stands near the Zócalo: evening, inexpensive
• Expendio de Maíz (Roma Norte, Mexico City): if you want modern Oaxacan cooking in CDMX rather than the city itself
• Boulenc (Oaxaca City, near Santo Domingo): excellent bakery-café for breakfast