Coarse, Organic or Bulk? The Best Masa Harina for Tamales

A tamal is mostly masa. The filling gets the attention, but what you taste in every bite is the corn dough around it: beaten with fat until it is light, seasoned with broth and salt, then steamed inside a husk until it sets. If the masa is heavy, gritty or bland, no filling will rescue the batch.

Most home cooks in the United States make that dough from masa harina, the dried and ground flour of nixtamalized corn. Some bags are milled coarse especially for tamales, some are fine table-tortilla flours that work for tamales too, and a few are heirloom corn with nothing added but lime. This guide explains the difference, names the bags worth buying, and shows how to turn one into a tamal masa that passes the float test.

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Quick verdict: which masa harina to buy for tamales

Below: the five standout bags side by side, then all seven picks in full, including the husks you will need to wrap them.

Five tamal flours side by side

Our five standout picks, one for each kind of tamal 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 mix.

Tamal masa, masa harina and masa preparada

Three things get called “masa” when tamales come up, and they are not interchangeable.

• Masa harina is nixtamalized corn, dried and ground to a flour. Add warm water or broth and it becomes dough again. Our guide to nixtamalization explains how cooking corn with lime makes that possible.
• Tamal masa harina, sold as “para tamales” or “tamal”, is the same idea milled coarser. Rick Bayless notes that Maseca makes a coarser masa harina for tamales, and grocery retailers describe Maseca Tamal as a coarse grind designed for the texture tamales need.
• Masa preparada is fresh masa that a tortillería or Mexican market has already beaten with fat and salt for tamales. It saves the mixing but is perishable, and you get the fat and seasoning the shop chose.

The grind matters more for tamales than for tortillas. America’s Test Kitchen, developing a tamal recipe with ordinary masa harina, found that on its own it was too fine-textured and the corn flavor bland, and added quick grits to the dough for body. A coarse tamal flour does that job in the bag. A fine flour still makes good tamales; Masienda says tamales from its fine-ground masa harina come out especially delicate.

If you are new to the dish itself, start with our guide to what tamales are, from the regional styles to the wrappers.

Our picks for the best masa harina for tamales

Six flours and one bag of husks: two flours sold specifically for tamales, an organic one, a certified gluten-free one, two familiar commercial flours in bulk, and the wrappers. Each pick says what is in the bag and one honest reason to skip it.

How to choose a masa harina for tamales

Five questions decide the bag. Most of them are answered on the back of it.

1. Tamal grind or all-purpose?

A flour labeled “tamal” or “para tamales” is milled coarser for a lighter, more open crumb. An all-purpose masa harina makes a smoother, denser, more delicate tamal. Both are correct; regional styles differ, and a fine flour can be roughened with a little coarser corn, as Masienda and America’s Test Kitchen both suggest.

2. Is it really nixtamalized?

Look for lime or calcium hydroxide in the ingredients, or the words “masa harina” or “nixtamalizado”. Cornmeal and pre-cooked arepa flour are not nixtamalized and will not make tamal masa. Our guide to the best masa harina for tortillas goes through the labels in more detail.

3. Heirloom or commercial?

Heirloom flours such as Masienda’s taste more of a particular corn and suit tamales where the masa is the star, though Masienda’s white flour was out of stock on Amazon when we rechecked, so it is not among our picks. Commercial flours such as Maseca, Minsa and Goya are consistent, inexpensive per pound and sold in sizes that make sense for a tamalada.

4. What else is in the bag?

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. Know which you have before you season the dough.

5. How much do you need?

As a guide from published recipes: Pati Jinich’s Jalisco-style chicken tamales use about 3½ cups of masa harina for 16 tamales, and Masienda’s recipe uses about 8 cups for roughly 50 smaller ones. A 4-pound bag holds several times that.

Lard, shortening or oil, and the float test

Tamal masa is masa harina, fat, liquid, salt and usually baking powder. The fat does most of the work. Lard is traditional; Masienda whips it until it is light and airy, almost like cake frosting, before adding the masa harina and baking powder. Pati Jinich lists lard or vegetable shortening interchangeably in her chicken tamales. For vegan tamales Masienda suggests vegan butter or refined coconut oil, and it has confirmed that beef tallow works too. Liquid oil is used in some regional recipes: a vegetable tamal recipe published by Leona’s Restaurante de Chimayó in New Mexico uses canola oil with masa harina.

The float test is how many cooks decide the dough is ready. Food Network Kitchen’s instruction is to drop a half-teaspoon of dough into a cup of cold water: it should float. If it sinks, that recipe adds the remaining broth and mixes for another couple of minutes, and Pati Jinich’s advice is to keep beating to work in more air. Masienda goes by texture instead, aiming for a well-hydrated, creamy dough that spreads like hummus. Either way, the goal is the same: a masa light enough to steam tender rather than dense.

1. Whip the fat in a stand mixer or with a hand mixer until pale and fluffy.
2. Add the dry ingredients: masa harina, baking powder and salt. Masienda suggests about a teaspoon of salt per cup of masa harina if your broth is unsalted.
3. Add warm broth gradually, beating until the dough is soft and spreadable. Hold some broth back and add it only if needed.
4. Test a spoonful in cold water, and taste for salt; the steamed tamal will taste a little milder than the raw dough.
5. Spread and steam. Food Network Kitchen steams for 45 to 50 minutes; Masienda allows 75 to 90 minutes and checks that the husk pulls away cleanly. Rest the tamales, covered, before serving.

A tall pot with a rack keeps the tamales upright above the water; our guide to the best tamale steamer compares the options.

How we chose these tamal flours

We started from what a Mexican kitchen asks of tamal masa: properly nixtamalized corn, a grind that gives the texture you want, a plain ingredient list you can season yourself, and enough flour in the bag for the batch. We narrowed the field to products sold on Amazon in the United States and in stock when we checked, confirmed what each maker or brand listing states, and, where listings were thin, used grocery retailers’ published ingredient panels and say so. For technique we relied on Masienda’s tamal recipe, Pati Jinich’s and Food Network Kitchen’s published recipes, America’s Test Kitchen’s tamal notes and Rick Bayless’s masa harina notes; for folic acid, on the US Food and Drug Administration. We left out Maseca’s two-bag “Corn Masa for Tamales” listing and Maseca’s yellow flour because they were nearly or fully out of stock, H-E-B’s tamale mix for the same reason, and flours whose nixtamalization we could not confirm. We have not made tamales with every flour listed here; where we describe how a flour behaves, we say whose description that is.

Tamal masa questions, answered

Can I use regular masa harina for tamales?

Yes. Any nixtamalized masa harina makes tamales. A tamal-specific flour gives a coarser, lighter crumb; a fine all-purpose flour gives a smoother, more delicate one.

What is the difference between masa harina and masa preparada?

Masa harina is dry flour you mix yourself. Masa preparada is fresh masa a market has already mixed with fat and salt for tamales; it is ready to spread but perishable.

Do I have to use lard?

No. Lard is traditional, but vegetable shortening, butter, coconut oil, beef tallow and even canola oil all appear in published tamal recipes. Solid fats whipped first give the lightest masa.

Why won’t my masa float?

Usually it needs more air or a little more liquid. Beat longer, add a spoonful of broth, and test again. Check that your baking powder is fresh.

How long do I soak corn husks?

Masienda soaks them in hot water for at least 10 minutes; Food Network Kitchen allows about an hour. They are ready when they bend without cracking.

Can I make blue corn tamales?

Yes, with a blue corn masa harina. See our guide to the best blue corn masa harina for what is available and what is really cornmeal.

The bag to buy for your next tamalada

Buy Maseca Tamal for the classic coarse tamal, Masa Brosa as a second tamal-labeled flour, Bob’s Red Mill if you want organic, Minsa or Goya Masarica when you need pounds of it, and Chef Mex for a gluten-free table. Whichever you choose, whip the fat well, add the broth slowly, and let a half-teaspoon in a glass of water tell you when the masa is ready.

Masa harina, the press and the comal all live in our guide to tortilla making tools, which covers the rest of the corn kitchen.

And if tamal season catches you short of time, see the menu or call to order.