12 Mexican Foods To Buy At Walmart, And 4 To Skip

Wish you were on vacation south of the border, squeezing a lime over mouthwatering food? That's where I want to be. But when time and money prevent that, I instead snack on Mexican foods in my kitchen — many of which I discovered at my local Walmart.

Of course, not Mexican item sold by the chain passes muster. With that in mind, I untangled which Mexican foods sold by Walmart are worth buying so you don't have to do the work. I tried 16 Mexican foods regularly stocked on Walmart shelves, evaluating each on flavor and texture.

The more novel the taste, the more I liked it (anything too salty didn't get my approval). Ingredients and dishes with the expected texture did better than those that were too soupy, gooey, or chewy. Without further ado, here are Mexican foods from Walmart you should consider purchasing, and those you should avoid.

The Fiesta Pack of Jarritos is fantastic. All 12 flavors taste amazing, and some — like passion fruit, guava, and tamarind — are relatively novel for the U.S. Drinking from the glass bottle transports you back in time, and everyone should buy this product at once.

When my kids saw the box, they begged for some (it was hard to wait to take photos). When we finally did pop the lids off, I enjoyed the grapefruit, while they preferred strawberry and passion fruit. We didn't like Mexican cola as much as regular Coke, though.Generally, these sodas had a softer flavor than U.S. fruit-flavored soft drinks — they weren't as sickeningly sweet as Fanta. That made them more enjoyable.

Additional flavors include mandarin, pineapple, and watermelon (among others). Plus, when you buy this you know it's authentic because Jarritos is made and bottled in Mexico.

If you want a topping that elevates taco night, consider buying La Morenita queso fresco cheese. The salty flavor and creamy, crumbly texture go with most fillings, so grab some the next time you're at Walmart.

I taste-tested this Mexican-style, Wisconsin-made cheese alone, in a quesadilla, with re-fried beans, and over a spoonful of strawberry jam. The flavor is milky, and slightly tangy. It has a moist, crumbly texture, similar to Feta. In the quesadilla, its flavor contrasted with the sweet corn tortilla. Since it softens instead of melting, it didn't ooze onto the pan or plate, meaning less clean-up. It added texture and flavor to the beans.

My favorite pairing was with strawberry jam; the sugary smoothness of the spread juxtaposed nicely with the cheese. You can also use this to add flavor and texture to salads, tacos, or refried beans. It's also fantastic as a topping or filling in a number of enchilada recipes.

Chaparro's tamales are win-win. The corn flour masa dough is light and fluffy while the beef filling has the perfect level of spice. Anyone who loves Mexican food should buy a box the next time they're at Walmart.

These tamales are fast and easy to prepare, and make an ideal meal for one. The box holds six individually wrapped, easy to cook units. The instructions say to steam or microwave them when frozen or thawed. I used the microwave to prepare my tamales, and there was a huge difference when prepared thawed versus frozen. From thawed, it was delightful with light, fluffy masa dough. The masa had a gluier, denser texture when I cooked it when frozen, so I highly suggest defrosting before cooking.

The abundant filling had noticeable pieces of shredded beef and was spicy, but balanced with other flavors. The sweetness of the masa curbed the burn. Utah-based Chaparro's is owned by a Mexican expat who uses a special family recipe to make these which explains the delightful flavors and texture.

Mama Julia sells sachets of refried beans in Walmart's refrigerated section. The package says they're the perfect addition to burritos, tostadas, and more, but that wasn't my experience. These beans were too salty and too soupy, so I suggest skipping them when you visit the chain.

My first problem with these refried beans was getting them out of the bag. It was hard to do without getting my hands messy. Once I had them in the bowl, the texture seemed thick enough, but then I put them in the microwave, and it became much thinner after being heated. I prefer thicker refried beans because I usually add them to burritos, but these would have just dribbled out, so I didn't even try. The taste was overwhelmingly salty, too, and I had to drink water after every bite.

Before buying these, I'd rather purchase a can of highly-rated refried beans. On the other hand, it's also simple and delicious to make them from scratch in an instant pot. Either way, they'd be better than Mama Julia's.

De la Rosa Mazapán candies taste like thickened peanut butter frosting. They can accompany a cup of coffee nicely, and peanut butter lovers shopping at Walmart will likely adore this food item. These Mexican-made treats are one of the tastiest sweets I've ever tried. When I popped one of the discs in my mouth, peanut was the first taste, before creaminess took over, and sweetness washed over my tongue.

Eating this candy is intensely pleasant. I think eating one bit by bit and alternating with bites of milk chocolate produces a similar experience to eating a Reese's peanut butter cup, but with more flavor and superior texture. I'd like to crumble these sweets and mix them with chocolate mouse filling for a cake, since they would add peanut flavor and a surprising texture.

If you like new flavors, buy some Doña Maria mole. This sauce combines spice and savory cacao deliciously. Although this sauce might not be everyone's favorite, anyone shopping at Walmart should consider giving it a try at least once.

The flavor combination in this Mexican-made mole is novel for U.S. palates — the ingredients include hot peppers, sesame, peanuts, and fermented cacao. It is ketchup thick when squeezed out of the carton. I microwaved a bit and tasted the sauce. It was spicy, earthy, nutty, and slightly bitter. Adding pinch of salt made the flavors shine.

Next, I pan fried chicken breast, shredded it, and mixed in mole. The sauce coated the poultry and the combination was scrumptious. Then, I heated a corn tortilla and added a scoop of the chicken mole — delicious and filling! I would also like to use this mole as a taco sauce or add it to enchilada filling.

Doña Maria nopalitos are a new vegetable to add to scrambled eggs and salads. These mildy-flavored cactus slices will upgrade either dish. So, grab a jar of this Mexican-made product next time you're at the super store.

This product looks quite different from most canned veggies you can get in the U.S. A 30-ounce glass jar contains cactus strips about two inches long and half an inch wide. My first thought after shoveling a spoonful into my mouth was that they're like green beans, but tangy. The brine in the jar and coating the cactus strips was slimy like okra, but not unpleasant.

I also fried an egg and mixed in some nopalitos, but rinsed them under cold water first to remove the brine. The combination was tasty, but next time I will add garlic and spicy peppers. There are other ways to incorporate nopalitos in your cooking, as well, including adding them to tacos, lentil stew, or bean salads.

California-based Tapatío sells TV dinner beef enchiladas. You can find Tapatío these in Walmart's frozen meals section, with a tray that contains two enchiladas smothered in a cheese and sauce. However, I don't recommend buying them because they have sparse filling, the corn tortillas are too thick, and the sauce is overpowering.

My first bite of these enchiladas was just tortilla without any filling. It took me a couple of forkfuls to get to the ground beef. Even then, I couldn't figure out what it tasted like because the sauce was so spicy and strongly flavoref I opened up the second enchilada to try the filling on it's own before it got mixed in with sauce. It was slightly sweet and tasted beefy. My final complaint about these is that the tortillas got hard on the outer edges from microwaving them, so skip them at the store.

Fud queso Oaxaca is the cheese to buy for melty, gooey quesadillas. It has a soft, salty flavor, and perfect melting texture. Next time you're near Walmart's refrigerated dairy section, pick up a a soft-ball-sized package of this Mexican-made cheese instead of pre-shredded mixes.

The cheese looks like knot tied out of a thick, smooth white rope. Before taste-testing, I tried unraveling the cheese knot and could. Next, I cut and ate a slice. The flavor was smooth, nutty, and salty. I kept serving myself more slices. Then, I shredded a bit to make a quesadilla. It worked perfectly and melted quickly.

There are so many ways to use this cheese. It would look beautiful on a charcuterie board. You could prepare it with sliced tomatoes, a dash of pepper, and a splash of olive oil. Another option is putting it in enchiladas or quesadillas. The applications are endless.

Garcia Foods chicken Veracruz features tender chicken and fresh, vibrant the flavors. This refrigerated, ready-made dish is a worthwhile purchase if you need a fast, and delicious dish. So next time you're in a rush for dinner, grab this product from Walmart's refrigerated section.

Preparing this three-serving meal is simple. It comes in two packets: one with chicken, and the other the tomato-based sauce. The instructions recommended massaging the chicken pack to break up the large chunks and then heating it for two minutes in a fry pan. After that, the sauce should be added and heated for an additional minute, meaning the meal can be prepared in under five minutes.

The flavor was fresh. It tasted like tomatoes mixed with green olives and capers — salty and tangy. This dish isn't spicy, and was delicious overall. I ate some of it plain to start, then prepared a corn tortilla with melted cheese and used the chicken Veracruz as filling. I would also serve this dish over plain long grain white rice.

La Abuelita is warm, milky, cinnamon, chocolate comfort in a mug. There are few things in life as soothing as drinking an evening cup of hot chocolate accompanied by a couple of churros. I wholeheartedly recommend anyone buying powdered hot chocolate give the Mexican-made La Abuelita a try — they won't go back.

A box of La Abuelita can make 24 cups of hot chocolate. It comes in six discs that can be cut into quarters and melted into warm milk on the stove top. Standing at the stove, stirring the milk, and breathing in the aroma of this hot chocolate felt so much more intimate and mindful than microwaving a mug of milk. I used larger pot than I needed so that I could use an immersion blender without splashing. Blending isn't strictly necessary, but it makes the texture super smooth and the warm milk gets wonderfully frothy.

The scent was the first thing I noticed. It includes cinnamon and chocolate, and taking a drink warmed up my whole body. It felt like the cinnamon and chocolate shot straight from my tastebuds to my heart and then into my fingers and toes. My son loved drinking this with me for breakfast, too, so I highly suggest this.

The next time you're in Walmart's refrigerated section, walk right past this product and don't put it in your cart. After all, Mama Julia Spanish rice isn't worth buying. It's far too salty and ends up rubbery when microwaved, so consider a different option from the chain.

I followed the instructions on this bag to prepare the rice. This involved microwaving it in a bowl for about three minutes. When I prepared it, I noticed the rice was a reddish color with bits of peppers as well as carrots mixed in. The grains were separated and weren't sticky or mushy, but the did tend towards rubber. The package recommends microwaving with 2 tablespoons of water if a softer texture is desired, but I didn't notice a difference, so skip this Mexican food item instead.

La Banderita makes reliable corn tortillas. They're easy to toast and convert into quesadillas, enchiladas, or simply to mop up sauce from a plate. If you don't have a local, authentic tortilleria, it's worthwhile to pick up a bag of these at Walmart.

I used these tortillas in a variety of ways, including as a base for quesadillas. I ate them with scrambled eggs mixed with nopalitos and chorizo, and also tried them with chicken Veracruz. They were easy to toast in a fry pan, and the texture was dry rather than gooey (but not so dry that they broke apart).

The flavor was sweet and neutral, and they adequately performed the tasks that tortillas are meant to. I think they'd work very well for most Mexican dishes, and would be fantastic in layered Mexican-flavored casseroles.

If you buy Señor Rico Flan, it will disappear quickly from your kitchen. After all, its vanilla flavor and creamy texture are irresistible, making it a must-buy product every time you're at Walmart.

A package of this flan comes with six individual portions. When I tried it, I savored the flavors, while the texture was delectably smooth. It had a thickness somewhere between pudding and Jell-o, and my kids also loved this product. They ate it when I offered them a cup, then both begged for a second cup immediately after.

You can eat this dessert straight from the cup, but you'll impress your dinner guests if you plate it. Invert the cup and the flan will slip out and hold its shape. Then, garnish it with whipped cream, a spoonful of dulce de leche, a sprinkle of cinnamon, or shaved chocolate.

Supremo brand makes a chorizo that will spice up breakfast. This sausage adds porky, paprika flavor and crisp texture to scrambled eggs, fried potatoes, burritos, and quesadillas. Bacon and sausage enthusiasts need to pick up this alternative breakfast protein on their next Walmart run.

This bright red sausage comes in two plastic tubes. You simply cut one end open and squeeze some into a pan. Cooks can crumble it with a spatula while frying, and it releases quite a bit of fat, which can be used to fry other ingredients like onions, peppers, potatoes, or eggs.

This sausage tastes earthy, spicy, and like paprika, and it gets wonderfully crispy. It added depth of flavor, spice, and a crunchy bits when I mixed it with some Spanish style rice. I fried some chorizo and cracked an egg over it, as well, then covered the pan to cook the egg sunny side up. The chorizo was crisp and spicy while the runny yolk added a smooth texture and counteracted the spice. The sweetness of the tortilla brought all the flavors together.

Tapatío makes chicken quesadillas, but to be perfectly honest? The texture of these was quite unsatisfactory, so I'd suggest skipping them when you're at Walmart. In fact, preparing homemade quesadillas is just as convenient as heating up these frozen ones.

The instructions recommend an air fryer, but also include options for ovens and microwaves. I baked mine in the oven, and cooked it five minutes longer than the recommended 15 minutes because I wanted a crispy tortilla. In that amount of time, I could have easily grilled a piece of chicken breast and fried up a tortilla with melted cheese, and seasoned it to my liking.

Even after the extra time, the quesadillas weren't crispy. Plus, the filling was disappointingly gooey and pasty. There was chicken in it, but I couldn't tell where. It was ground up very finely and mixed in with the cheese, and I would have preferred larger chunks. Generally, these quesadillas let me down, so don't buy them.

For this article, I focused on Mexican-made items first — for example, Jarritos and Doña Maria. I then selected products made by companies owned by Mexican expats, like Chaparro's, followed by those founded by Mexican individuals but sold to larger corporations. I also included a few products, such as Señor Rico and La Morenita, that seemed to closely imitate traditional Mexican products.

My criteria for recommendation was based on taste. If foods were too salty or didn't have a balanced flavor, I didn't recommend them. Products with new and interesting flavors tended to earn a recommendation. I also evaluated texture, and suggested skipping these. I also preferred products that appealed to my children, and these were often recommended.