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Home » Mexican » Pastel Azteca

Pastel Azteca

By Hank Shaw on April 4, 2022 - 10 Comments

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5 from 9 votes
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Literally, pastel azteca means “Aztec cake,” but it’s really more of a Mexican lasagna, and like lasagna, every cook has his or her own rendition, and you can mix and match ingredients to fit what you happen to have lying around.

A plate of pastel azteca, with the casserole behind it.
Photo by Holly A. Heyser

Before I get too far into my recipe for pastel azteca, you should know that this is one of those dishes, like chili or goulash, where everyone’s family recipe is the original and best. Well, sorry, but no one knows who made the first pastel azteca, or where, or even if it is a derivative of Italian lasagna, which is in itself a derivative of Greek moussaka.

Depending on where in Mexico you are from, this dish can be called budin azteca, pastel de tortillas, torta azteca, pastel indio, or torta Moctezuma. In Baja California and Chihuahua, whose recipes are my inspiration for this version, it’s called pastel azteca.

This is a family-style recipe, not something you’d see in restaurants. A homey, easy-to-make casserole you can either feed a crowd with, or eat off of the whole week.

At its core, pastel azteca consists of layers of a tomato, or tomato-chile sauce, corn tortillas, vegetables of some sort — always roasted, peeled, seeded and sliced green chiles — usually meat, which is usually ground meat or shredded chicken (sometimes ham), and lots and lots of cheese.

A casserole of pastel azteca with one portion taken out.
Photo by Holly A. Heyser

To fry or not to fry is the question.

The texture of the tortillas will be better if you fry them kinda-sorta half crispy. Not tostadas, but not super limp either. But this adds a step, as well as fat. You can of course simply layer in the tortillas cold, and it works, but they will be very soft and lack the bite that pasta would in lasagna. Your call.

I make homemade corn tortillas for this, but I am a masochist; I just like how much better they are than store-bought. Store-bought are fine, but they need to be 100 percent corn.

The general rule with pastel azteca is to grease a casserole with butter, lay down a little tomato sauce, then tortillas, then whatever meat you are using, then vegetables, then cheese. Then do it again, making sure you have lots of melty cheese for the top.

Bake, let it set 10 minutes, then eat. Easy peasy.

I’ll give you a simple sauce recipe below, but using the sauce from my red enchiladas recipe works well, as does my fire-roasted salsa if you then puree it in a blender. An excellent twist is to use tomatillo salsa verde.

Once made, pastel azteca (or budin azteca or whatever you want to call it) will keep in the fridge for a week. Reheat portions in the toaster oven covered in foil at 350F for about 20 minutes. You can also freeze it baked or unbaked.

Closeup of budin azteca on a plate.
Print Recipe
5 from 9 votes

Pastel Azteca

Think of this as Mexican lasagna, where the sauce is a smooth salsa, corn tortillas instead of pasta, meat (or not), roasted green peppers, and both crumbly and melty cheese.
Prep Time1 hr
Cook Time20 mins
Total Time1 hr 20 mins
Course: lunch, Main Course
Cuisine: Mexican
Servings: 8 servings
Calories: 637kcal
Author: Hank Shaw

Ingredients

SAUCE

  • 4 dried guajillo, colorado or ancho chiles, stemmed and seeded
  • 1 white onion, quartered
  • 3 cloves garlic, unpeeled
  • 1 cup tomato puree
  • 1 teaspoon Mexican oregano
  • 1 sprig fresh epazote (optional)
  • Salt
  • 3 tablespoons lard or oil

CASSEROLE

  • 18 corn tortillas
  • Oil for frying (optional)
  • Butter or oil for greasing the pan
  • 1 pound shredded chicken or cooked ground meat
  • 6 poblanos, Hatch or Anaheim peppers, roasted, peeled, seeded and cut into strips
  • 1 cup corn kernels
  • 4 ounces cotija, anejo or feta cheese, crumbled
  • 1 pound Chihuahua, Oaxaca or mozzarella cheese, grated
  • 1/2 cup Mexican crema, or sour cream

Instructions

SAUCE

  • Put the dried chiles in a bowl and pour boiling water over them. Cover the bowl to let them rehydrate.
  • Get a comal, griddle, flat top or cast iron pan very hot, and char the quartered onion and the garlic cloves. You want them nicely blackened. When they are, chop roughly and put them in a blender.
  • Add the rehydrated chiles to the blender, along with all the rest of the sauce ingredients, except for the lard. Puree well. If your blender is only so-so, you might want to push this through a sieve to remove any stray seeds or bits of skin. That's optional.
  • Get the lard hot in a saucepan and then fry the sauce, stirring constantly to incorporate the fat. Drop the heat to a bare simmer and let this cook 10 minutes or so, then turn off the heat.

OPTIONAL TORTILLA STEP

  • Heat about 1/4 inch of oil in a pan until it hits about 350°F. Fry the tortillas for about 30 seconds or so — enough to stiffen them up a bit, but not enough so they are actually stiff like tostadas. I start checking them at about 15 seconds. You want semi limp. Set the tortillas on a cooling rack.

BUILD THE PASTEL AZTECA

  • Preheat the oven to 400°F.
  • Butter or oil a standard casserole pan, about 9×13 inches or thereabouts. lay down a thin layer of the sauce. Line the casserole with 6 tortillas. Spread some meat evenly over the top. Then add the corn and strips of roasted green pepper.
  • Sprinkle a layer of cotija cheese, then crema, then shredded Chihuahua or Oaxaca cheese. Top with another layer of tortillas, then sauce, then repeat with the meat, vegetables and cheese. Finish with the remaining tortillas.
  • Spread the remaining cotija cheese, drizzle some more crema, and sprinkle the last of the grated Chihuahua cheese over the top. You can add some black pepper here if you'd like. Bake for 20 minutes, until the cheese starts to brown. Let the pastel azteca sit for 10 minutes before serving.

Notes

Keep in mind this is the full-on, Sunday supper version of pastel azteca. See below for time-saving hacks. 

Time Saving Hacks

  • You can use canned green chiles. Or frozen. 
  • If you don’t know how to roast green chiles, here’s a great tutorial. 
  • You can use canned enchilada sauce, or even canned tomato sauce. 
  • Literally any cooked meat will work. I used ground venison. Just make sure to chop or shred it small. 
  • I use frozen corn when fresh is not in season. 
  • Thin regular sour cream with a little buttermilk, milk or cream to get you closer to the real thing. 

Nutrition

Calories: 637kcal | Carbohydrates: 52g | Protein: 35g | Fat: 34g | Saturated Fat: 16g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 4g | Monounsaturated Fat: 6g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 83mg | Sodium: 1006mg | Potassium: 774mg | Fiber: 11g | Sugar: 13g | Vitamin A: 4979IU | Vitamin C: 16mg | Calcium: 202mg | Iron: 3mg
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Filed Under: Featured, Mexican, Recipe

Avatar for Hank Shaw

Hank Shaw

Hey there. Welcome to Hunter Angler Gardener Cook, the internet's largest source of recipes and know-how for wild foods. I am a chef, author, and yes, hunter, angler, gardener, forager and cook. Follow me on Instagram and on Facebook.

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Comments

  1. Avatar for Villy AngelicoVilly Angelico says

    April 29, 2022 at 11:31 am

    This was easy to make and very tasty. Thanks Hank!

    Reply
  2. Avatar for Nancy LagunowitschNancy Lagunowitsch says

    April 25, 2022 at 8:34 pm

    Absolutely fantastic! Made it with ground venison — wow! Will become a new staple. Thanks for sharing this.

    Reply
  3. Avatar for ColleenColleen says

    April 8, 2022 at 6:26 pm

    This is a great recipe. Husband proclaimed it ‘a keeper’!
    Broiled the tortillas instead of frying them and it worked perfect.
    Wondering if it will freeze well as it makes a LOT.

    Reply
  4. Avatar for rustyrusty says

    April 4, 2022 at 6:56 am

    Like you said, “…this is one of those dishes, like chili or goulash, where everyone’s family recipe is the original and best.”
    I learned a variation of this dish nearly 40yrs ago when we lived way down in deeeep South Texas. Pert near in McAllen. The version we learned had been heavily Texmexed to satisfy the tastes of the local inhabitants thereof. It became the only ‘casserole’ I personally have ever been able to build that the family thought was worth eating. Fact is, not only did the boys turn their noses up at my fixins, but at times my old hound dog wouldn’t even eat some of the others I’ve tried to put together…
    I never thought of there being a genuine historical origin for this recipe but by golly fella, this one comes darn close to what I was taught. The ingredients and volumes just look ‘right’ to me. Thanks for sharin this Hank. I’ve already sent it on our three sons. I’m bettin they’ll give it a try. I know I certainly will!
    Based upon your recipes I’ve tried in the past, I’m gonna gamble and rate this one 5 stars even before I give it a whirl.

    Reply
  5. Avatar for Teresa RodriguezTeresa Rodriguez says

    April 4, 2022 at 6:49 am

    Sounds good. I make my own ‘crema’ by adding a couple tablespoons of buttermilk to heavy cream in a very clean half pint mason jar, then letting it culture for 24-48 hours at room temp. It keeps well for a couple weeks in the fridge.

    Reply
  6. Avatar for ConorConor says

    April 4, 2022 at 6:43 am

    Ha! I have been making this for years, but didn’t know it. I just did it as a lazy enchiladas. The only difference to mine (other than it usually includes beans) is that each layer of tortillas gets a coating in fat before more layers go on. Like a half-a frying step. I feel it helps the integrity/ texture, but I’ve never tried it without.

    Reply
    • Avatar for MikeWMikeW says

      April 4, 2022 at 7:47 am

      Reminds me of stacked enchiladas in New Mexico.

      Reply
      • Avatar for VickieVickie says

        April 4, 2022 at 8:09 am

        I’ve always heard them described as “enchiladas torte”.

      • Avatar for Hank ShawHank Shaw says

        April 12, 2022 at 8:21 am

        Vickie: Ha! Yet another name for it!

  7. Avatar for ATAT says

    April 4, 2022 at 6:10 am

    Hoping that in the queue somewhere is the garden to table book. Going to try epazote in our high desert mountain climate, alongside my costeno Amarillo peppers. If we want exotics here, we have to grow it.

    Reply

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Hi, my name is Hank Shaw. I am a James Beard Award-winning author and chef and I focus my energies on wild foods: Foraging, fishing, hunting. I write cookbooks as well as this website, have a website dedicated to the intersection of food and nature, and do a podcast, too. If it’s wild game, fish, or edible wild plants and mushrooms, you’ll find it here. Hope you enjoy the site!

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