Exploring 14 Varieties of Mexican Tortas

When people think of Mexican street food, tacos are usually the first thing that comes to mind. But there’s another staple that’s just as beloved and deeply ingrained in Mexico’s culinary culture: the torta. While tacos are wrapped in tortillas, tortas (aka sandwiches) are built on soft or crusty rolls and packed with combinations of meats, cheeses, and toppings that vary from region to region.

Tortas are one example of how international influences have contributed to Mexican cuisine. Their history dates back to the Spanish conquest, when foreign missionaries introduced wheat to make bread for Catholic communion wafers. After the French occupation in the 19th century, bread really took off and became a popular vessel for hearty fillings. Since then, tortas have evolved into uniquely Mexican creations.

My love affair with tortas began shortly after I moved to Mexico roughly four years ago. It started with a torta ahogada from a humble street stall in Guadalajara. One bite of the salty roll, tender pork, and spicy tomato sauce and I was hooked. From that point on, I realized just how creative and delicious tortas could be. From saucy torta ahogadas to crunchy guacamayas and super-stacked torta cubanas, these are 14 Mexican tortas that I believe everyone should try at least once.

The city of Guadalajara is famous for being the epicenter of mariachi and the gateway to the agave fields of Tequila. It’s also the birthplace of torta ahogadas, arguably Mexico’s most famous tortas and my personal favorite. A classic torta ahogada consists of pork carnitas piled into an oblong birote salado sourdough roll that’s crusty on the outside and fluffy on the inside. Then, the sandwich is doused in tomato and chile arbol sauce, hence the name, which translates to “drowned sandwich.” Popular toppings include thinly sliced onions and a squeeze of lime juice.

Like many iconic dishes, the torta ahogada was created by accident. Legend has it that sometime in the early 20th century, a tortas vendor in Guadalajara mistakenly dropped a carnitas torta into a vat of spicy salsa. The customer who ordered it ate it anyway and was enamored. Word spread about the delicious creation, and before long, tortas ahogadas stands were popping up all over the city. It’s easy to see why people love this hearty dish. The rich carnitas and salty bread soak up the tangy sauce, which in turn adds brightness and a touch of mouth-tingling heat. 

Stroll through the streets of Mexico City in the morning and you’ll likely find a plethora of street vendors selling guajolotas. Also called a torta de tamal, the guajolota features a tamal stuffed inside a bolillo (an oval-shaped roll with a crusty exterior and fluffy interior). Tamales consist of masa (corn dough) mixed with various ingredients like meat, cheese, beans, and sauce. The mixture is wrapped up in corn husks and steamed until soft. Combine the tamal with bread and you have a pretty carb-heavy concoction. But guajolotas are also packed with flavor and ultra-convenient on the go.

No one knows exactly when and where guajolotas were created, but we do know they became wildly popular with workers and students craving calorie-rich meals they could easily transport and eat. Today, you can find guajolotas filled with all types of tamales, including chicken with tomatillo sauce, pork in red chile sauce, and even sweet versions with fruit and raisins. Many people pair their guajolota with a cup of atole, a hot drink made with corn flour and spices.

If you like your sandwiches slightly crunchy, the torta de milanesa is a good bet. The main ingredient is a meat cutlet like pork, chicken, or beef, that’s been pounded flat, breaded, and fried in oil until golden brown and crispy. It’s served in a bolillo or telera roll (a round, oval, or rectangular roll with tender insides and a chewy crust). Toppings can include lettuce, tomatoes, pickled jalapeños, and avocado. Some people also like to add refried beans, queso fresco, and red or green salsa.

The milanesa style of cooking is popular across Latin America and was likely introduced to the region during the 19th century by way of Italian and Austrian immigrants. The breaded and fried cutlet is similar to the Italian cotoletta alla milanese and the Austrian schnitzel, both of which are traditionally made with veal. It’s unclear where the idea came to serve the crispy meat in a bun with toppings, but today you can find this tasty handheld treat at street food stands, markets, and restaurants across Mexico.

Mexico is a haven for carnivores, with many traditional dishes featuring grilled, roasted, or stewed meats. It’s not surprising then that the pepito torta is a Mexico City favorite. It consists of grilled steak (usually flank or skirt steak) piled into a bolillo with refried beans and avocado. Sometimes the meat is marinated in soy sauce or Worcestershire sauce and spices before being grilled. Other times, it’s just lightly seasoned and grilled in the style of carne asada. Fancier versions of the pepito could include toppings like grilled onions, jalapeños, cheese, or chipotle crema.

Legend has it the pepito originated at a spot called Café de Fornos in Madrid, Spain. The story goes that a customer named Pepito was tired of the usual cold cut sandwiches, so he requested a hot sandwich and got one filled with hot steak (or possibly veal). Word spread about the creation and soon people began requesting sandwiches “like Pepito’s.” The sandwich eventually made its way to Latin America where it took on various regional forms utilizing local ingredients.

With a name like torta cubana, you might think this sandwich is pretty much the same as the Cuban sandwiches that are wildly popular in the United States. However, the torta cubana is well and truly a Mexican creation. There are a few different stories floating around about where the sandwich was created and why it was named the cubana. One is that it was created by a torta vendor on a street in Mexico City called República de Cuba. Another is that Fidel Castro created it at a Mexico City restaurant he frequented when he was living there. All we know for sure is that it was concocted in the capital city sometime in the 1950s.

The torta cubana is one of the biggest and most indulgent Mexican tortas. Like the Cuban sandwich, it features roast pork, ham, and cheese. But that’s where the similarities end. The Mexican version also includes chorizo, bacon, refried beans, and avocado. It’s all served on a telera roll that’s sometimes toasted. Some tortas joints go seriously over-the-top by adding extra ingredients like milanesa cutlets, sausages, eggs, head cheese, and jalapeños.

Spicy, crunchy, and bursting with vibrant Mexican flavors, the guacamaya is a unique torta from the city of León in Guanajuato state. It starts with a layer of guacamole or sliced avocado smeared on a bolillo. On top of that goes a layer of crushed chicharrones (similar to pork rinds), a smattering of pico de gallo, and a decent amount of fiery red salsa. It’s finished off with a squeeze of lime juice. Each bite gives you richness and saltiness from the crunchy pork, freshness from the avocado and tomatoes, acidity from the citrus, chewiness from the bun, and a hit of heat from the salsa.

The name guacamaya means “macaw” in Spanish, which might make you wonder why the sandwich was named after a bird. The story goes that a customer at a food stall in León asked the vendor to make him a sandwich with chicharrónes slathered in salsa. When the customer bit into the sandwich, the salsa was so spicy that it caused them to squawk like a bird. Apparently, the vendor made a comment about how the customer sounded like a macaw, and the name stuck.

The city of Puebla is renowned for being the birthplace of some pretty distinctive tortas, one of which is the cemita. There are several ways cemitas differ from other Mexican tortas. For one, the bread is usually a soft roll dotted with sesame seeds. The roll is called a cemita, which is where the torta gets its name. The sandwich also includes meat, like a milanesa-style fried steak or pork cutlet, and sometimes ham slices. In addition, a cemita almost always has shredded, mild Oaxacan cheese and a pungent herb called papalo that some people liken to cilantro.

Like many of Puebla’s famous dishes, cemitas are an amalgamation of international influences and local ingredients. The sesame seed-topped bread has its roots in Jewish bread-making traditions from the Iberian peninsula. As mentioned before, the milanesa-style cutlet can also be traced back to Europe. Then you have Mexican ingredients, like the queso Oaxaca, avocado, and papalo. In addition, the toppings can be incredibly versatile, but often unmistakably Mexican. Common add-ons include jalapeños, chipotles, and salsa roja.

One of the great things about Mexican cuisine is how creative and versatile it can be. Ingredients and flavors from one dish are often reimagined in entirely new ways. A perfect example is the torta de pastor, which takes everything people love about tacos al pastor and transforms it into a flavor-packed sandwich. Instead of being wrapped in a corn tortilla, the marinated, spit-roasted pork is piled onto a soft bolillo or telera roll. It often includes the same classic toppings of pineapple, onion, and cilantro. 

The origins of al pastor trace back to Lebanese immigrants who arrived in Mexico in the early 20th century. They introduced shawarmas, which typically consist of spit-roasted lamb served in pitas. Over time, Mexican cooks adapted this technique, swapping lamb for pork and seasoning it with a vibrant blend of citrus juice, dried chilies, and spices like achiote. They also swapped out the pita bread for tortillas. While the taco remains the most iconic way to enjoy pastor-style meat, the torta de pastor offers the same irresistible flavors in a heartier format.

At first glance, the pambazo may look like a hot mess. A jumble of ingredients like crispy chorizo, soft potatoes, cheese, and crema spill out the sides of a puffy bun that’s been drenched in spicy salsa and fried on a griddle. If you can get past the sloppy nature of the sandwich though, you’ll find that all the elements come together to create something that’s truly delicious. The roll is softened by the salsa, which creates a nice contrast between the crispy exterior and tender, saucy interior. Plus, every messy bite gives you a mix of smoky, spicy, and creamy flavors.

The pambazo gets its name from the roll it comes on. This type of bread was once called pan basso or “low bread” because it was made with lower quality flour. It was typically eaten by the lower classes, and they found a genius way to soften up the tough bun by dipping it in salsa. In its birthplace of Veracruz, the pambazo evolved into a moreish sandwich stuffed with meats, vegetables, and cheese. Chorizo and potatoes are common fillings, but you can also find variations with ingredients like beans, shredded meat, and chipotle chiles.

The torta de jamón has a special place in many Mexican people’s hearts because it was the favorite sandwich of El Chavo, a character from a wildly popular television show called “El Chavo del Ocho.” El Chavo was an orphaned boy living in a low-income neighborhood and he was obsessed with tortas de jamón (ham sandwiches). In one episode, he even wrote to Santa Claus asking him to bring him a torta de jamón for Christmas. To this day, many Mexicans equate the humble ham sandwich to the character, even going so far as to call it the “torta del Chavo.”

There’s nothing fancy about the torta de jamón, although some people do dress it up a bit. At its most basic it features sliced ham and maybe a smear of crema or mayonnaise on telera or bolillo bread. Additional fillings could include lettuce, tomato, cheese, avocado, and jalapeños. They are a staple of lonches stands and restaurants, which specialize in sandwiches called lonches. In some parts of Mexico, the torta de jamón is called a lonche de jamón.  Fun fact: The word “lonche” actually comes from the English word for lunch.

Fans of saucy sandwiches will love the chancla poblana, a tasty torta from the city of Puebla. This is another sandwich that was named after the bread, which some say is shaped like a chancla (sandal). The bread is oblong, somewhat flat, and dusted with flour. It’s typically packed with chorizo and avocado, then slathered in a vibrant red salsa made with tomatoes and guajillo chiles and topped with sliced onions. In keeping with the chanclas theme, the sandwiches are often served in pairs. 

It’s unclear when chanclas poblanas were created, but we know the sandwiches date back at least to the turn of the 20th century. Traditionally they were filled with pork leg and avocado, although today you can find numerous variations in the markets and street stalls of Puebla. Some people add hearty ingredients, like ground beef, and veggies, such as lettuce and shredded cabbage. You can also find versions with queso fresco and crema. A few things they all have in common though is the distinctive bread, spicy sauce, and the fact that they’re a messy knife-and-fork food.

If you’re looking for a tasty lunch in the city of Tampico, most folks will point you in the direction of a long brick wall separating the train tracks and marine terminal from the city. There you’ll find several torta stands selling the city’s famous torta de la barda. The word barda means “fence” in Spanish and it refers to the place where the sandwich was invented. In the late 1920s, a man named José María Bracamontes decided to put a fresh twist on the sardine sandwiches that were popular with dockworkers. Over the decades, his family tweaked the recipe into what it is today.

The torta de la barda is packed with intriguing ingredients that you don’t often see in other Mexican tortas. It consists of a bolillo bun smeared with refried beans, then topped with ham, American cheese, shredded beef, pork head cheese, avocado, and chorizo. It gets a sprinkling of diced tomatoes, onions, and queso fresco. The final touch is a splash of spicy green salsa featuring chicharrones. The sandwich bursts with bright colors and flavors, as well as a variety of textures that keep every bite interesting.

The pelona is a sandwich from Puebla that often gets overshadowed by its more famous sister sandwich, the cemita. However, some people (myself included) actually prefer the pelona for its crunchy bun and straightforward fillings, which are substantial enough to be satiating, but not too over the top. A traditional pelona features refried beans, shredded beef or chicken meat, crisp lettuce, creamy crema, and a splash of salsa in a soft bun that’s deep-fried until crispy and golden.

Pelona means “bald” in Spanish, which may be a nod to the fact that the roll doesn’t have sesame seeds like the cemita does. It could also allude to the fact that the bun takes on a slight shininess after it’s been deep-fried, making it look like a bald head covered in a sheen of sweat. While cemitas can vary considerably in terms of fillings and toppings, the pelona often sticks to the same formula, meaning you have a good idea of what you’re going to get every time you order one. Plus, it’s not so difficult to make at home, making it easy to sample a taste of Puebla without hopping on a plane.

Travel to Mexico’s Yucatán state and you’ll find yourself in cochinita pibil territory. This incredibly delicious pork dish is typically made with pork butt that’s marinated in orange juice, garlic, bright red achiote paste, and other spices. Traditionally, the meat is wrapped in banana leaves and slow-roasted in a fire pit called a pib. The end result is tender, juicy, and flavorful meat that shreds at the touch of a fork. It can be eaten on its own, in tacos, or in tortas.

The origins of cochinita pibil can be traced back to the ancient Mayans, who used to cook game meat in fire pits. When the Spanish introduced pigs to the region, Mexican people used the Mayan cooking technique to create cochinita pibil. When bread entered the picture, it wasn’t a far leap to use the pork to make a delicious torta. Tortas de cochinita are often served in a soft bolillo bun with pickled red onions that help cut through the fattiness of the pork. Some people also add a splash of habanero sauce or a squeeze of lime juice.