Picking the Best Masa Harina for Champurrado: What Matters

Champurrado is hot chocolate that has been turned into something closer to a meal. It belongs to the atole family, the warm corn drinks of Mexico, and what makes it champurrado rather than a cup of cocoa is masa: a few spoonfuls of corn dough or masa harina whisked into water or milk with Mexican chocolate, piloncillo and cinnamon, then simmered until it is thick and silky. It is the drink of cold mornings, Christmas posadas and Day of the Dead, usually with tamales or pan dulce alongside.

The masa does two jobs. It thickens the drink, and it gives it a gentle toasted-corn flavor under the chocolate. That means the bag you choose matters, but not in the way it does for tortillas or tamales: you need a smooth, properly nixtamalized flour that dissolves without grit, and you only need a few tablespoons per pot. This guide explains what to look for and names the bags worth buying.

Julia’s earns a commission on purchases made through links on this page, at no cost to you. Recommendations are based on what a working Mexican kitchen looks for in masa harina, the makers’ own specifications and the sources we cite.

Quick verdict: which masa harina to buy for champurrado

Below: the five standout bags side by side, then all seven picks in full and a method that keeps the pot free of lumps.

Five masa harinas for champurrado, compared

Our five standout picks, one for each kind of champurrado maker, with the details each maker, listing or the retailer named states. All seven picks are reviewed in full below.

Product images from Amazon. Ingredients and claims are as stated by each maker, listing or the retailer named; recipes change, so read the bag before you cook.

What masa harina does in champurrado

Masa harina is corn that has been nixtamalized, cooked and soaked with lime, then dried and ground to a flour. Add liquid and it becomes masa again. In a tortilla, that masa is the whole dough; in champurrado, a small amount of it is stirred into a large pot of liquid and cooked until the starch thickens everything around it. Our guide to nixtamalization explains why that treated corn behaves so differently from plain cornmeal.

That is also why there is no real substitute. King Arthur Baking, in its champurrado recipe by Arturo Enciso, notes that because of the corn’s special treatment, neither cornmeal nor corn flour is a good substitute for masa harina. Cornmeal stays gritty; plain corn flour lacks the flavor that lime-treated corn gives the drink.

The quantity is small. King Arthur’s recipe thickens about 3½ cups of liquid with 6 tablespoons (36 grams) of masa harina, for a generous 3 cups of champurrado. The Mexican Food Journal makes a larger pot, 8 cups of water and two tablets of Mexican chocolate, thickened with 1⅓ cups of fresh masa, or ¾ cup of corn flour if you have no fresh masa. Either way, a single 24-ounce bag of masa harina is enough for well over a dozen pots.

Atole grind vs tortilla grind: does it matter?

No maker we found sells a masa harina labeled specifically for champurrado or atole in the United States. What makers do sell is all-purpose masa harina, which is milled fine for tortillas, and tamal masa harina, which is milled coarser. Rick Bayless notes that Maseca makes a coarser flour for tamales, and grocery retailers describe Maseca Tamal as a coarse grind.

For a drink, fine is what you want: it disperses evenly and cooks to a silky texture, where a coarse tamal grind can leave the champurrado slightly sandy. Home cook and blogger Confessions of a Foodie gives the same advice for Maseca, saying to make sure the package says it is for tortillas, not tamales. Bob’s Red Mill and Masienda both describe their masa harinas as fine-ground, and Minsa’s listing names atole among the uses of its ordinary instant corn flour, alongside tortillas and tamales.

If you have fresh masa from a tortillería, it works too, and many traditional recipes use it; the Mexican Food Journal calls for fresh masa first and masa harina as the alternative. Fresh masa needs more by volume and should be dissolved completely in warm water before it goes into the pot.

Our picks for the best masa harina for champurrado

Seven bags: two fine-ground flours from makers who say so, the Maseca you can find on Amazon, a certified gluten-free option, a bulk flour that names atole on its listing, a small bag of organic white corn flour and a blue corn flour for blue corn atole. Each pick says what is in the bag and one honest reason to skip it.

How to choose masa harina for champurrado

Four checks on the bag cover almost everything.

1. Is it nixtamalized?

Look for lime or calcium hydroxide in the ingredients, or the words “masa harina”, “nixtamalizado” or “instant corn masa flour”. Cornmeal and pre-cooked arepa flour are not nixtamalized and will not give the right flavor or texture. Our guide to the best masa harina for tortillas goes through the labels in more detail, and our masa harina vs Maseca comparison explains how Maseca relates to the rest.

2. Tortilla grind, not tamal grind

Choose an all-purpose or tortilla masa harina. Tamal flours are milled coarser on purpose; they are right for tamales and less right for a smooth drink. If you are making tamales for the same night, our guide to the best masa harina for tamales covers that bag.

3. What else is in it?

The simplest flours are corn and lime. Some add folic acid, which the FDA permits; at least one reseller’s copy of a bag lists oil, salt and gums. None of these spoil champurrado, but know what you have, especially if anyone at the table avoids gluten or additives.

4. How much will you really use?

A pot of champurrado takes a few tablespoons to about ¾ cup of masa harina. Unless you also make tortillas or tamales, a single bag of 2 pounds or less will last a season. Choose bulk only if you cook masa often.

How to keep champurrado smooth

Lumps are the only real way to go wrong. Masa harina clumps when it meets hot liquid all at once, so add it gradually, one of two ways.

• Slurry first. The Mexican Food Journal dissolves the masa in 2 cups of warm water before it goes into the pot, whisking by hand for about 10 minutes or blending for about 30 seconds, until the liquid is smooth rather than grainy.
• Whisk it straight in. King Arthur’s recipe lowers the heat and whisks the masa harina into the chocolate base a little at a time, stirring constantly until smooth. Confessions of a Foodie adds it one tablespoon at a time and works out the lumps before each addition.

Then give it time. King Arthur keeps the pot over low heat, whisking regularly, for 12 to 15 minutes, until the champurrado is silky and thickened. The masa needs that time to reach full thickness. The Mexican Food Journal warns that the drink thickens as it cools, and suggests adding more masa mixture if you like it thicker. King Arthur keeps leftovers up to three days in the refrigerator and loosens them with a splash of water or milk when reheating.

For the rest of the pot, King Arthur uses one 1.35-ounce disk of stone-ground Mexican chocolate, about 60 grams of piloncillo and a stick of Ceylon cinnamon to 3½ cups of liquid, and suggests dark brown sugar if you cannot find piloncillo. Our guides to the best Mexican hot chocolate and the best piloncillo brand cover both, and molinillo vs whisk explains the traditional wooden frother.

How we chose these flours

We started with what champurrado asks of masa harina: properly nixtamalized corn, a fine enough grind to dissolve smoothly, a plain ingredient list and a bag size that suits a drink made a few tablespoons at a time. We narrowed the field to masa harinas sold on Amazon in the United States and in stock when we checked, and took ingredients, grind and claims from each maker or listing; where a listing was thin, we used grocery retailers’ published panels and say so. For technique we relied on King Arthur Baking’s champurrado recipe, the Mexican Food Journal’s chocolate atole, Confessions of a Foodie’s champurrado, Rick Bayless’s masa harina notes and America’s Test Kitchen’s masa harina comparison; for folic acid, the US Food and Drug Administration. We left out ready-made champurrado mixes and Mexican chocolate tablets whose Amazon listings give no ingredient list, because chocolate products commonly contain milk and soy; Maseca Tamal, because a coarse grind suits tamales better than a drink; and Maseca’s white flour, which was not reliably in stock. We have not made champurrado with every flour listed here; where we describe how a flour behaves, we say whose description that is.

Champurrado questions, answered

What is the difference between atole and champurrado?

Atole is the family of hot drinks thickened with corn masa. Champurrado is atole made with chocolate, usually sweetened with piloncillo and spiced with cinnamon.

Can I use cornstarch instead of masa harina?

It will thicken the drink, but it will not taste like champurrado. The corn flavor comes from nixtamalized masa, and King Arthur Baking notes that neither cornmeal nor corn flour is a good substitute.

Can I use tamal masa harina?

You can, but a tortilla or all-purpose masa harina is the better choice; tamal flour is milled coarser and can leave the drink slightly sandy.

How much masa harina do I need for champurrado?

About 6 tablespoons (36 grams) for 3½ cups of liquid, in King Arthur Baking’s recipe. Add more for a thicker drink, a little at a time.

Why is my champurrado lumpy?

The masa harina went in too fast or into liquid that was too hot. Make a smooth slurry in warm water first, or whisk it in a spoonful at a time over low heat. A quick pass through a blender or sieve rescues a lumpy pot.

Is champurrado gluten-free?

Masa harina is made from corn, but only some bags are certified gluten-free, and Mexican chocolate varies. Check every label if it matters.

The bag for your next pot of champurrado

Buy Bob’s Red Mill Organic for a fine, plain flour in a sensible size, Masienda when the corn should taste like corn, Maseca yellow if your recipe was written for Maseca, Chef Mex for a gluten-free table, Minsa for a crowd, Just About Foods if you only want a small bag, and Maseca Blue for blue corn atole. Whichever you choose, add it slowly, give it a full simmer, and remember that it thickens as it cools.

Champurrado is a holiday drink in much of Mexico; our guides to Mexican Christmas food and Day of the Dead food cover what goes on the table with it. For other ways to use the same bag, see our guides to the best masa harina for pupusas and the best corn for masa harina if you want to start from whole kernels.

And when you would rather someone else did the cooking, see the menu or call to order.