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dieTTaste
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This Instant Pot Ground Beef Burrito Bowl is the ultimate weeknight dinner—quick, flavorful, and packed with protein! Tender ground beef is seasoned with bold spices, then cooked to perfection with rice and black beans all in just 10 minutes!
Top it off with fresh toppings like shredded cheese, sour cream, and avocado for a meal that’s satisfying, customizable, and ready in no time. It’s a regular on our dinner menu for busy nights when you want a delicious, one-pot dinner!
Family dinner ideas that are quick and easy are something that I am always on the hunt for! The flavor of this is fantastic but my very favorite part, aside from the fact that you can add in or substitute anything you want, it’s done in 10 minutes! Do you hear that?! DINNER IN TEN MINUTES!
Life is so busy especially with three kids who are all in completely different stages of life. We are constantly on the go. We need meals that are healthy, quick, and kid friendly. Some of our favorites are 20 Minute Cheesy Pesto Pasta, 20 Minute Cherry Tomato Basil Angel Hair Pasta, 15 Minute Chicken Stir Fry, 15 Minute Pesto Pasta, and 15 Minute Beef Stir Fry.
These Instant Pot Quick and Easy Ground Beef Burrito Bowls are being added to that list. They are so flavorful and my kids love them! They can put whatever toppings they want on their own bowl. It not only allows them to be creative in the kitchen, but they are also more likely to eat something they have helped cook.
I always like to include a quick list of ingredients so our readers can get a glimpse of everything they will need ahead of time. For all the details and measurements needed, keep scrolling down to the recipe card at the end of the post.
Now, I know that no one wants to think about getting meat out to defrost, but it really is best to use thawed meat. And just in case you don’t, I tried partially thawed ground beef and it totally worked. NOT frozen, but frozen in the center. Hope my efforts to test help a stressed out mom. If it does, please send gift cards for hot french fries to, Carrian… oh just kidding, fresh baked bread will do as well. 😉
We have been dialing up our instant pot game and creating more recipes for you all, and for us too. I mean, we create recipes for ourselves, but we always have you all in mind too! You can find all of our Instant Pot Recipes here. We have everything from BBQ ribs to peanut butter cup cheesecake.
If you are new to the instant pot or you want a concise list of the cook times for all your basic foods, check out our Instant Pot Cheat Sheet!
When the instant pot has done its thing, you will want to do a quick pressure release. When the pressure has gone down, you can open the lid and give the rice a good fluff. Add the cheese to the top and put the lid back on for a minute or two until the cheese has melted.
We have had a lot of questions about what instant pot is the best. We still love our 6 Qt 9 Function Instant Pot. It is the perfect size for our family of 5. If you’re feeding more people, you might want to look into the 8qt size. If you’re cooking for one or two people, then the 3qt will be just fine.
Like most instant pot recipes that include meat, we start by cooking the meat first. Put your instant pot in “saute” mode and brown your ground beef. We don’t know how we ever lived before getting our ground beef meat chopper (see link below). It is so awesome!
After you have browned the ground beef, you can add the taco seasoning and diced onions with some olive oil and sauté them until the onions start to soften and the ground beef is cooked. Then add some olive oil and the uncooked rice. We have found that sauteing the rice for a minute or two gives it such a great flavor.
Add the last four ingredients (black beans, canned tomatoes, corn and beef broth) and give everything a good stir with a wooden spoon. You can totally swap these four ingredients for other things you love…pinto beans instead of black perhaps! Put the lid on your instant pot, lock it and set it to “manual” high pressure for 7 minutes.
read more: Looking for ground beef dinner ideas? Try our Cheesy Ground Beef Casserole, too!
Then you can dish up bowls for everyone and let everyone put the toppings on that they want. It’s like choose your own burrito bowl adventure! We like to sort of make a burrito bowl bar with all the toppings out so everyone can personalize their bowl. The kids go crazy for this! Here are some of our favorite toppings:
You can clean an instant pot same the way you would any other nice pan. We like to clean it by hand in the sink rather than putting it in the dishwasher. We share all our tips for cleaning an instant pot in our post for Instant Pot Turkey Chili.
If you get a burn error on your instant pot, you’re fired! Haha! Just kidding, it can totally happen. Head over to our post for our Award Winning Healthy Turkey Instant Pot Chili where we go into details about what can cause the burn error, how to avoid it, and how to fix it.
Leftovers should be stored in an airtight container in the fridge. They will keep for up to 5 days. We don’t usually end up with many leftovers of this recipe, but I tend to reheat individual servings in the microwave. They make a great lunch the next day!
You are going to love this fast and easy family dinner! Dinner on the table in 10 minutes?! Are you out of your mind?! Instant Pot Quick and Easy Ground Beef Burrito Bowls should be next on your dinner menu!
We recommend topping it with some of our Restaurant Style Salsa too!
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Press the Sauté button on the Instant Pot.
Once hot, add ground beef to the pot, using a ground beef chopper to break up the meat.
1 Pound Ground Beef
Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil and the onions and taco seasoning and cook until onions start to soften.
3 Tablespoons Olive Oil, ½ Onion, 2 Tablespoons Taco Seasoning
Add an additional tablespoon of olive oil and uncooked rice and toast uncooked rice for a minute.
3 Tablespoons Olive Oil, 1 Cup Rice
Stir in black beans, canned tomatoes, corn, and broth.
15 oz Black Beans, 14.5 oz Tomatoes, 1 Cup Corn, 2 ¼ Cups Beef Broth
Lock the Instant Pot lid in place and set to Manual, High Pressure for 7 minutes.
Use Quick Pressure Release, and once pressure drops, open Instant Pot and fluff the rice.
Sprinkle with the cheese, recover and let set for 1-2 minutes to melt cheese.
1 Cup Colby Jack Cheese
Garnish with fresh tomatoes, sour cream etc.
Cheese, Tomatoes, Avocado, Sour Cream, Jalapeno
Refrigerate left overs for up to 5 days.
Serving: 1cup, Calories: 601kcal, Carbohydrates: 52g, Protein: 30g, Fat: 31g, Saturated Fat: 12g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g, Monounsaturated Fat: 14g, Trans Fat: 1g, Cholesterol: 75mg, Sodium: 731mg, Potassium: 836mg, Fiber: 9g, Sugar: 4g, Vitamin A: 1149IU, Vitamin C: 12mg, Calcium: 218mg, Iron: 4mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Carrian Cheney
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There’s nothing quite like a big pot of Charro Bean Soup simmering away on the stove. It smells divine! It’s one of those recipes that feels rustic and homey, but it’s also packed with so much flavor that it always surprises people.
With tender pinto beans, smoky bacon, spicy chorizo, and fresh veggies, this soup is hearty enough to be a main dish yet cozy enough to serve as a side dish to your favorite Mexican meals.
In Mexico, charro beans are known as frijoles charros or cowboy beans, a traditional cowboy-style dish that’s been loved for generations. It consists of pinto beans slowly cooked with different meats (ham, chorizo and bacon) in a rich flavorful broth with peppers, onions and tomatoes.
Last year when I was figuring out the best charro beans recipe, I had the thought that if I added a little more broth and a few more ingredients, charro beans could be made into a bold, hearty soup. AND Charro Bean Soup was born! We are obsessed! It’s total Mexican comfort food!
Many people have questions about the difference between charro beans and borracho beans because they are so similar. The short answer is beer. Ha! “Borracho beans” “drunken beans” included beer in the liquid that the beans get simmered in. That’s really the only difference. The beer gives the beans a deeper, more malty flavor, but both are made with smoky meats, pinto beans, vegetables and seasonings.
Yes, Mexican charro beans soup is a great slow cooker recipe! You can skip cooking the beans first because they will cook in the crockpot. Still rinse them though! Cook the bacon, chorizo, onion, jalapeno and garlic in a pan on the stovetop first. Then add everything to the slow cooker including 5-6 cups of water to the slow cooker.
Cook on low for 8-10 hours or on high for 4-5 hours. Season to taste with salt and pepper before serving.
Mexican bean soup also works well in the Instant Pot! First, set the IP to “Sauté” and add the bacon and chorizo. Once they are both cooked through, remove from the pot and leave the grease in the pot. Add the onions, jalapenos and garlic and cook until the onions are tender. Add the bacon and chorizo as well as all the rest of the ingredients to the pot along with 7 cups of water.
Secure the lid with the vent sealed and cook on high pressure for 30 minutes. Allow a natural release of the valve before you remove the lid. From start to finish, it will probably take a little over an hour to be completed. Season to taste with salt and pepper as needed.
Yes! You’ll need four 15-ounce cans of drained and rinsed pinto beans and 4 cups of chicken broth. Skip to the bacon step to begin the recipe.
This is a great make ahead recipe because the flavors just get deeper and richer as time passes. You can make this recipe completely and let it cool and store it in the refrigerator. Reheat it when ready in a large pot on the stove-top.
Store: Leftovers should be stored in an airtight container in the fridge. They will keep for up to 5 days.
Freeze: This soup also freezes extremely well. Let it cool completely and then place in a freezer-safe container. It will keep in the freezer for up to 3 months. Let them thaw in the fridge overnight and then reheat on the stovetop.
Reheat: If I’m reheating a whole pot of soup, I’ll reheat it on the stovetop. If I’m just going to reheat a bowl for myself, I’ll just zap it in the microwave for a minute or so.
This easy Charro Bean Soup (frijoles charros) is the ultimate one-pot recipe—hearty beans, smoky meats, and a flavorful broth make it perfect for busy weeknights or Sunday dinners.
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Rinse the beans under running water to remove any dirt, then drain.
1 Pound Dried Pinto Beans
Add the beans, onion, garlic, bay leaves, salt, Mexican oregano, and water to cover the ingredients, plus a few inches, to a large pot or Dutch oven.
½ Yellow Onion, 3 Cloves Garlic, 2 Bay Leaves, 1 ½ teaspoons Kosher Salt, ½ teaspoon Dried Mexican Oregano, 6 Cups Water
Bring the beans to a boil over medium-high heat, reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 1 ½ to 2 hours, until soft and tender.
Check the beans at the 1-hour mark and add more water as needed if it begins to dry out. Twice I needed an hour and a few times I needed almost 2 ½ hours so be a little flexible on time. You will be reserving the cooking liquid!
Drain the beans into a large bowl to reserve the cooking liquid. Discard the bay leaves. Measure out 3 cups of the bean liquid. If you don’t have 3 cups, add additional water. Set aside.
Using the same large pot or Dutch oven, add the bacon and cook over medium heat for about 8 minutes until the edges begin to crisp and the fat is rendered.
8 Ounces Bacon
Stir in the ham, chorizo, onions, and jalapeño and chipotle pepper and cook for 5 minutes until the onions are translucent, and the peppers are tender.
1 Cup Ham, 2 ½ Ounces Chorizo, ½ Yellow Onion, 1 Jalapeño, ½-1 Chipotle Pepper in Adobo Sauce
Stir in the garlic,1 bouillon cube or 1 teaspoon better than bouillon, tomatoes, corn, smoked paprika and ground cumin, stirring to combine. Cook for 10 minutes until the tomatoes release their juices and begin to break down.
2 Cloves Garlic, 1 teaspoon Better Than Bouillon, 1 Can Fire Roasted Tomatoes, ½ teaspoon Smoked Paprika, ¾ teaspoon Ground Cumin, 1 ½ Cups Corn
Add in the cooked beans and the 3 cups of cooking liquid. Bring to a boil and simmer for 15 minutes.
Taste and season with salt as needed. Stir in cilantro and serve.
Kosher Salt, Cilantro
Serving: 2cups, Calories: 531kcal, Carbohydrates: 52g, Protein: 29g, Fat: 23g, Saturated Fat: 8g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g, Monounsaturated Fat: 9g, Trans Fat: 0.05g, Cholesterol: 47mg, Sodium: 1213mg, Potassium: 1322mg, Fiber: 13g, Sugar: 3g, Vitamin A: 430IU, Vitamin C: 14mg, Calcium: 115mg, Iron: 5mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Sweet Basil
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Fort Worth restaurant veteran Adrian Burciaga has taken over South Main Village anchor Tinie’s and will reopen it about Jan. 13 with an ambitious new menu by a celebrity chef from TV’s “Top Chef Mexico.”
Tinie’s, 115 S. Main St., opened in 2020 as a Mexican cuisine restaurant and mezcal bar under Sarah Castillo, founder of La Pulga Spirits and the now-closed Taco Heads restaurants.
Burciaga, a co-founder of James Beard Award finalist Don Artemio, said he and wine expert Martin Quirarte have joined Castillo to upgrade the menu.
The restaurant is now promoted as Tinie’s Interior Mexican Cuisine.
Guest chef Ix-Chel Ornelas Hernández, known for her heritage mole sauces at El Patio Restaurant in Tlaxiaco, Oaxaca, wrote the new menu. It features dishes such as a pork chop with roasted pineapple, baked chicken with green pipian mole, steak in yellow mole, octopus and fish stew.
“I see this as an opportunity,” Burciaga said. He met Ornelas at the TV show finals, he said, and hosted her for wine dinners when he was the manager at Cafe Modern in the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth.
He left Don Artemio in October. It continues under chef and co-founder Juan Ramón Cárdenas and his son, Rodrigo, who also opened the adjacent Dos Mares seafood restaurant.
He and Castillo talked about her original plans for Taco Heads, which had evolved into more of a patio restaurant and margarita bar with a popular Sunday brunch.
The brunch will expand to both Saturdays and Sundays, Burciaga said.
The restaurant is named for Castillo’s mother, Cristina (the name ”Tinie” sounds like the last syllables in “martini”).
Burciaga said he remembers meeting Sarah Castillo in 2011 when she was working the window at Taco Heads, then a popular food truck in the West Seventh Street neighborhood.
“Tinie’s is a tribute to her mother, and I think that’s in the new menu,” he said.
Tinie’s bar menu is changing, too.
An upstairs balcony dining area will be converted to a lounge, and the patio will be enclosed for more dining and group events, he said.
Tinie’s will be open for dinner nightly except Sundays and for brunch Saturdays and Sundays; 682-255-5425, tiniesfw.com.
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Bud Kennedy
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We choose this year’s winner of the Best Rice Village Brunch.
Best Brunch – Rice Village: Maximo
Buzzy Rice Village hotspot turns weekend brunch into a celebration of nixtamalized corn masa. Think masa cornbread with chorizo gravy, masa pancakes topped with peach jam and brown sugar whip, and confit brisket tacos on hot corn tortillas. Tack on roasted oysters dripping in green garlic butter, fat housemade bacon with salsa ranchera and an agave-smooched sangria or some bubbly to wash it all down.
713-878-7774
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2025.
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Houston Press
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I’ve always loved pasta — although we rarely had it when I was growing up. In our house, Mexican food was what was on the table. Which is why espagueti verde was the best of both worlds, and it quickly became a family favorite (my dad is a big fan). It’s inspired by the flavors of rajas poblanas con crema (roasted poblanos with cream), and it’s one of my all-time favorite dinners.
Rajas poblanas are strips of roasted poblano peppers cooked in a rich cream sauce and garnished with queso fresco (a soft, mild, slightly salty cheese commonly used in Latin America), and are often served with tortillas and rice. Rajas poblanas have been around much longer than espagueti verde, which makes them the true inspiration for this dish. They originate from Puebla and are popular across central and southern Mexico, including Mexico City and Oaxaca. This pasta captures all those flavors and blends them into a vibrant, creamy sauce that is as flavorful and tangy as it is beautiful.
Poblano peppers are perfect here because they give the sauce a smoky depth without making it too spicy. It’s an easy, velvety pasta dish that even kids will love (my daughter Charlie can’t get enough), and the addition of cream cheese makes it irresistibly creamy. It’s a recent Mexican staple (within the last century or so) that is ideal for weeknight dinners, as it brings bold flavor and comfort to your table with minimal effort. Pair it with steak or chicken, or enjoy it on its own. Trust me — once you try this, you’ll never look at any other pasta sauce the same way.
If Mexican crema is hard to find, sour cream makes a great substitute. When you combine it with the cream cheese, it gives the pasta its signature creamy, tangy flavor.
Peppers can be broiled and peeled ahead of time and stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
Reserve leftovers and any remaining pasta water in separate airtight containers for up to 4 days. Use the pasta water to loosen up the sauce when reheating over low heat.
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Janette Zepeda
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Taco Pie is an easy weeknight win with picky eaters and families across the globe. Made with simple ingredients like ground beef, tomatoes, beans and cheese this Mexican Ground Beef Dish will be praised as the dinner winner for years to come.
Our Homemade Taco Pie recipe is made with simple ingredients, a flaky pie crust and is full of easy, kid-friendly flavors that even picky eaters will love! It’s not only perfect for those busy weeknights and picky eaters, it’s also a make-ahead recipe!
I have been making different versions of taco pie since 2008, but this one is the last I’ll ever make, it’s perfection in a pie crust! I recently threw it together for my hungry family and it became an instant hit.
It’s one of those recipes that I can make and everyone is happy. Not a single picky-eater complaint. And it’s the perfect meal to take to a new mom who just had a baby, sick neighbor or just to have friends over for dinner one night.
Add this Savory Pie to your list of kid-approved, easy dinner ideas! It’s warm and flaky, cheesy and comforting. Full of hearty and healthy ingredients, it’s a whole meal-in-one!
This is a perfect recipe to adapt to use whatever ingredients you have in the fridge and pantry, to fit your family and budget needs!
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Preheat the oven to 425℉ degrees and roll out the pie crust.
Gently press it into an 8 or 9″ pie pan then trim off the excess around the edges.
9 inch Pie Crust
Poke the bottom of the pie crust with a fork then place a sheet of parchment paper inside of the crust and add some baking beans then bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until the crust is light and golden around the edges.
While the pie crust is baking add the onion to a large skillet over medium heat with a drizzle of oil. Cook until tender, about 4 minutes.
1 Cup White Onion
Add the ground beef. Cook and crumble the ground beef until it is no longer pink. Drain excess grease and place back in the pan.
1 Pound Ground Beef
Next, add in the taco seasoning and garlic and stir while cooking until the garlic becomes fragrant, about one minute.
1 Taco Seasoning Packet, 2 Cloves Garlic
Add the beans and stir to combine.
1 Can Black Beans
Add half of the shredded cheese, 1/4 cup of the sour cream and salsa and stir to combine.
3 Cups Colby Jack Cheese, 1/2 Cup Sour Cream, 3/4 Cup Salsa
Once the pie crust has cooked, add the ground beef mixture to the crust and evenly spread it out. Add the remaining shredded cheese on top and bake for 15-20 minutes or until the cheese is fully melted and starts to bubble around the edges.
Let the pie cool for about 10 minutes before adding the remaining sour cream, lettuce, tomatoes and olives. Slice and serve with lime wedges, if desired.
2 Cups Shredded Lettuce, 2 Roma Tomatoes, 1 Cup Sliced Black Olives
Serving: 1slice, Calories: 438kcal, Carbohydrates: 9g, Protein: 23g, Fat: 35g, Saturated Fat: 16g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g, Monounsaturated Fat: 14g, Trans Fat: 1g, Cholesterol: 96mg, Sodium: 977mg, Potassium: 486mg, Fiber: 3g, Sugar: 4g, Vitamin A: 5327IU, Vitamin C: 15mg, Calcium: 414mg, Iron: 2mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Sweet Basil
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This One Pan Mexican Chicken Skillet with Zucchini is an easy dinner ready in under 30 minutes! It’s made with simple ingredients: chicken, seasonings from the pantry, beans, zucchini, yellow squash, cheese and all the Mexican toppings! Easy weeknight chicken dinner, here I come!
If you’re looking for more tried and true Mexican recipes with chicken you’ll love this 10 Minute Sticky Mexican Chicken, Mexican Chicken Burrito Bowl, or this Cheesy Chicken Tortilla Soup.
Even though this recipe is super simple, Mexican chicken skillet with zucchini is still a recipe you’ll be throwing into your regular dinner rotation because it’s:
Basically, if you want a simple, healthy, delicious meal that’s ready ASAP, Mexican chicken skillet is for you!
I have “skeeter syndrome”. I know, it 100% sounds made up. Basically everyone gets mosquito bites and hates the itch, but I have the blessing of being extra, EXTRA allergic.
We sat outside talking to some friends for a quick 15 minutes and I came in with 9 mosquito bites that by the next day were each the size of a tennis ball.
We love Taco Tuesday as a family, so the last time I sprung this chicken recipe on my family for a new Taco Tuesday idea you’d think I broke hearts across the table! Even with baseball arms I needed to get something quick and easy and Mexican inspired on the table.
And guess what, even without the tortillas, they loved it!! Like, asked-for-seconds, loved it! And we’ve been making it again, and again, and again ever since. Hello, one pot meals are pretty much gold am I right?. Mexican side dish recipes to go with the meal are even better.
Dark and light meat both work there. Another great option is this Mexican Street Corn Chicken dish with chicken thighs (or breasts as you prefer).
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In a pan over medium high heat, add a drizzle of oil and add in the chicken and seasonings, stirring to combine. Turn heat down to medium and cook until cooked through about five minutes. Remove to a plate.
Olive Oil, 2 Chicken Breasts, 1 teaspoon Cornstarch, 1 ½ teaspoons Cumin, 1 teaspoon Chili Powder, ½ teaspoon Smoked Paprika, 1 ½ teaspoons Kosher Salt, ¼ teaspoon Pepper, ½ teaspoon Oregano
Turn up to medium high. Add another drizzle of olive oil and add the zucchini and onions, stirring every 2 minutes until browned.
Olive Oil, 1 Zucchini, 1 Yellow Squash, ½ Red, Yellow or White Onion
Add the garlic and season with salt and pepper to taste.
3 Cloves Garlic, Salt and Black Pepper
Add back in the chicken along with the pinto beans and chicken broth and stir to combine.
1 Can Pinto Beans, ⅓ Cup Chicken Broth
Bring to a simmer for three minutes.
Sprinkle the top with cheese and place under a broiler or add a lid on top to melt the cheese.
1 Package Tillamook Spicy Mexican Cheese Blend
Serve with tomatoes, avocados, and cilantro as garnish with a squeeze of lime juice eat in bowls or using chips to scoop.
½ Cup Tomatoes, 1 Avocado, Cilantro, ½ Lime
Serving: 1cup, Calories: 167kcal, Carbohydrates: 8g, Protein: 18g, Fat: 7g, Saturated Fat: 1g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g, Monounsaturated Fat: 4g, Trans Fat: 0.01g, Cholesterol: 49mg, Sodium: 732mg, Potassium: 692mg, Fiber: 4g, Sugar: 3g, Vitamin A: 501IU, Vitamin C: 20mg, Calcium: 37mg, Iron: 1mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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By Ally LeMaster & Luke Feeney | HARTFORD, Conn. – When LGBTQ+ activists, lawmakers and students gathered at the Capitol on Feb. 28 to honor the life of Nex Benedict, a nonbinary teenager from Oklahoma, their loss felt a lot closer to home than the nearly 1,500-mile distance.
“We gathered together today as a community to grieve the loss of Nex Benedict, a beautiful 16-year-old child, and to try and make sense of what is absolutely senseless,” said Rev. Aaron Miller of Metropolitan Community Church in Hartford.
Benedict, who used both he/him and they/them pronouns, died by suicide a day after getting into an altercation with three girls in an Owasso High School bathroom, according to the Oklahoma Chief Medical Examiner. Their death has sent shockwaves across the country, causing LGBTQ+ activists to renew scrutiny of Oklahoma’s anti-transgender school policies.
Gov. Ned Lamont, one of more than 100 attendees at the Hartford vigil, vowed: “We’re not going to let that happen in Connecticut. That’s not who we are.”
But many advocates say state leaders could be doing much more to support Connecticut’s LGBTQ+ students.
Among state lawmakers, the debate is far from settled. Connecticut has some of the most comprehensive legal protections in the country for transgender individuals, yet for the past two years, Republican lawmakers have supported legislation the LGBTQ+ community takes issue with — for example, banning trans athletes from competing in school sports and mandating schools to notify parents when a child starts using different pronouns.
For a state often labeled as a “safe haven” for trans children, many LGBTQ+ students say they still face hatred in school based on their identity.
Ace Ricker, an LGBTQ+ advocate and educator, says “navigating” life as a queer person in Connecticut was far from easy.
Ricker grew up in Shelton. He came out as queer at 14 years old to his family but only told a few friends about his identity as a transgender man.
Everyday in high school, he would show up with his hair in a slicked back ponytail, wearing baggy T-shirts and jeans.
No bathroom felt safe to Ricker in high school. At the time, he only used the women’s bathroom, where he says he experienced verbal, physical and sexual abuse.
“The few friends I had, I was telling them, ‘Hey, if I go to the bathroom and I don’t come back in 10 minutes, come and check on me,’” said Ricker.
One year in high school, he opened up to his civics class, sharing that he was a part of the LGBTQ+ community. He said he thinks that led school administrators to assign him to what he called “problem student” classes.
“I was seen in school as a rebel or a problem,” said Ricker. “I barely got through graduating because through school, it was about surviving— it wasn’t necessarily learning.”
Ricker graduated in 2008, but stories like his are common among LGBTQ+ students in Connecticut.
Leah Juliett, a nonbinary activist who uses they/them pronouns, graduated from Wolcott High School in 2015. Like many trans and nonbinary students, Juliett originally identified as queer and later came out as nonbinary at 19 — the year they found out what “nonbinary” meant.
“I came out in high school. I was relentlessly bullied,” said Juliett, “My school binders were thrown in the trash and had milk poured over them. My school locker was vandalized on my birthday. I would get harassing messages and things like that on social media.”
Juliett says they were one of the few openly gay kids in school who not only had to deal with bullying but watched as local lawmakers proposed legislation to limit their rights.
“It becomes deeply hard to exist,” Juliett said. “I was engaging in self harm, suicidal ideation. All of this is a result of not being supported by my town, by my community, by my peers, by my family— all of it.”
In recent years, parents of LGBTQ+ students in Connecticut have brought their concerns to the federal Department of Education.
In 2022, Melissa Combs and other concerned parents reported Irving A. Robbins Middle School in Farmington to the Education Department’s Office of Civil Rights after school administrators declined to investigate an incident where students ripped a Pride flag from the wall and stomped on it.
Combs is the parent of a transgender son. During her son’s time at the middle school, she said he faced relentless bullying, where he dealt with students telling him to kill himself, getting called slurs and was assaulted by a student.
Two years later, the OCR investigation is still ongoing.
“We entered into this knowing that it was going to take a lot of time,” said Combs. “We entered into it with the hope that we could make some positive changes to the school climate in Farmington.”
Since opening the investigation, Combs tried to reenroll her son in Farmington public schools, only to pull him back out again. She says not much has changed in the school culture.
“There’s still a lot of work to be done,” said Combs. “It was, again, a horrible experience.”
Events like this pushed Combs to take the issue up with the state legislature. Combs founded the Out Accountability Project that has the goal of “understanding” local issues affecting LGBTQ+ youth. She says she’s been having these conversations with lawmakers.
“I’ve spent a great deal of time in the LOB [Legislative Office Building] so far this session,” Combs said. “What I’m sensing is not only support, but a sense of urgency in terms of supporting families — families like mine across the state.”
Republican lawmakers in state houses across the country have introduced a variety of legislation targeted at LGBTQ+ students. In 2023, more than 500 of these bills were introduced around the country, with 48 passing. Since the beginning of this legislative session, Benedict’s home state of Oklahoma has considered over 50 different pieces of legislation regarding LGBTQ+ children.
In Connecticut, the “Let Kids be Kids” coalition, a group of elected officials — including legislators Mark Anderson, R-Granby, and Anne Dauphinais, R-Killingly — and religious leaders and parents advocated for two bills for the Education Committee to consider.
The first piece of legislation would have forced teachers to disclose to parents if their child started using different pronouns at school. The other would have required student athletes to participate in sports with members of the gender they were assigned at birth.
“Kids are best protected when parents are involved,” said Peter Wolfgang, the president of the Family Institute of Connecticut, during a February Let Kids be Kids press conference at the Capitol. “The state should not come between parents and their children.”
The Education Committee declined to raise the bills, and neither concept got public hearings. This hasn’t thwarted future plans by the coalition.
“I am actually very encouraged, because we grew awareness at the General Assembly this year,” Leslie Wolfgang, director of public policy at the Family Institute, wrote in a statement to the Connecticut Mirror. “This session was just the first step in a multi-year process to grow awareness and look for ways to balance the needs of all children and their families in Connecticut.”
Debates during the current legislative session have revealed nuanced views among lawmakers on transgender rights. General Assembly Democrats sparred over gender neutral language in House Bill 5454, which seeks to direct more state and federal funding toward mental health services for children, caregivers and parents. Members of the Appropriations Committee debated whether to use the term “pregnant persons” or “expectant mothers,” with two Democrats calling for an amendment to include both terms, saying they felt the bill was more inclusive that way.
Still, the legislature has advanced several bills this session that propose to expand rights and protections for LGBTQ+ individuals in Connecticut, and they heard testimony from the public on an effort to extend Shield Laws — laws meant to protect individuals who seek abortions from other states — to include gender-affirming care.
On April 10, the Senate passed Senate Bill 327, a bill aimed at creating a task force that would study the effects on hate speech against children.
The legislation calls for the group of educators, social workers, religious leaders and civil rights experts to file a report by the beginning of next year with their research and recommendations. The group would also study the environments students where face the most hateful rhetoric and examine if hate speech is primarily conducted by children or adults.
“We’ve seen undeniable research that trans students face an inordinate amount of bullying and stressors in their lives,” Rep. Sarah Keitt, D-Fairfield, said in an interview with the CT Mirror. “A lot of that comes at schools and we need to do much more to protect them.”
The bill is currently on its way to the House.
In February, Senate Bill 380, An Act Concerning School Discipline, passed out of the Education Committee. The bill includes proposals that would require services for the youngest children who receive out-of-school suspensions and continues work initiated last year to collect survey data from schools on the “climate” facing their more vulnerable student populations. This year’s bill would also require school administrators to clarify the motivations for any bullying incidents — if they’re due to a student’s race, gender or sexual orientation, for example.
Another proposal comes as an amendment to the state constitution that would prohibit the discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity under the Equal Protection Clause. While Keitt expressed support for the amendment, she was doubtful on the likelihood of it passing.
“It is such a short session, we have very little time, and if we were to take up the constitutional amendment, it would mean that we wouldn’t be able to get other more pressing needs — not to say that those protections aren’t important.” Keitt also pointed to the statutory protections already in place statewide.
Another piece of legislation, House Bill 5417, would require local and regional boards of education to state a reason for removing or restricting access to public school library materials and prohibits such boards from removing or restricting access to such materials for reasons based on race, political disagreements or personal discomfort.
Book bans, primarily targeting novels about people of color and LGBTQ+ community, have increased over the past few years in towns like Suffiled, Newtown and Brookfield.
“I think that it really protects gay and transgender authors of color,” Keitt said. “It allows our children to have a broader educational experience and protects our libraries from political attacks.”
While state lawmakers have been considering new legislation, many LGBTQ+ advocates say they’d like to see more enforcement of existing legal protections for queer people.
Public Act 11-55 was enacted in 2011, prohibiting discrimination based on gender identity or expression. This, among other protections, is why Connecticut is often heralded as a “safe haven” for transgender and nonbinary individuals.
But many advocates say the LGBTQ+ community, and those designated to protect them, are often uninformed of those legal protections.
“You can pass all the laws you want, but if you don’t provide communities with resources to implement those laws, they aren’t as useful as they should be,” Matt Blinstrubas, the executive director of Equality CT, said. “We haven’t invested enough into educating people.”
According to Mel Cordner of the LGBTQ+ advocacy group Q Plus, one of the most concerning trends they see in schools is when educators are unaware of the protections students have.
“I’ve had teachers [say] you can’t do any kind of hormone therapy or puberty blockers or anything until you’re 18. Or require kids to get parental permission to change their name in the school system, which you don’t need to do,” said Cordner. “Staff are either fooled by their administrators, or they just assume that kids don’t have certain rights.”
While the Department of Education must keep a list of instances of bullying, advocates say many queer students do not report their harassment because they are not comfortable coming out to their families.
“I’ve grown up with many trans kids who only felt safe being openly themselves at school,” said Juliett. “And even then they were subjected to bullying and harassment, but they couldn’t be themselves at home.”
“When the Nex Benedict news hit, that rocked our whole network of career kids really, really hard because every single one of them went, ‘Oh God, that could have been me,’” said Cordner. “There were a couple kids I was worried about enough to reach out to personally, because that was them — that exact situation of being cornered and assaulted in a bathroom physically has happened in Connecticut schools more than once.”
Bullying, isolation and lack of support from family members are few of many reasons why gay, bisexual and transgender youth have a disproportionately high suicide rate.
According to The Trevor Project, a nonprofit suicide prevention organization for the LGBTQ+ community, queer young people are “more than four times as likely” to attempt suicide compared to their straight, cisgender peers. In a 2023 study, the nonprofit found that 41% of LGBTQ+ youth have “seriously considered attempting suicide” within the past year. Youth of color who identify as trans, nonbinary and queer experience even higher rates.
Concerning statistics like these are why many LGBTQ+ advocates have taken it upon themselves to create a community-based support system for queer youth.
Miller, a Christian pastor from Metropolitan Community Church in Hartford, works with community members across the state to provide services like “Trans Voice & Visibility 365,” a ministry dedicated to helping transgender individuals get their basic needs, and at the Yale Pediatric Gender Program, a support center for people children exploring their gender identity.
Miller creates a place at his church where he can “celebrate” transgender and nonbinary people and coordinates with other LGBTQ+ groups like Q Plus to throw events where kids can explore their identity by exchanging clothes and trying on different outfits.
“Kids want to be themselves. We’re encouraging them to be themselves,” said Miller.
While Miller helps build community for many transgender individuals, he finds himself on the front lines of many near-crisis moments. Miller said he once stayed up through the night talking a child out of killing themself after their family abandoned them.
Miller’s church is part of a support network for families he calls “medical refugees” — transplants from places like Oklahoma and Texas, where they faced death threats and allegations of child abuse. The church community helps these families find housing, medical services and other support.
“The two greatest commands that we were given in a Christian understanding is to love God and to love each other as we love ourselves,” said Miller. “And yet, we’ve been telling people that they can’t love themselves or they’re not lovable, and that other people aren’t going to love us either.”
Cordner founded Q Plus in 2019 “with the goal of filling gaps” for LGBTQ+ youth programs. Q Plus operates in nine towns and cities across the state while providing a variety of resources for students from support groups to game night.
The organization also provides services aimed at adults that include programs that help parents better engage with their LGBTQ+ children as well as professional development trainings for school staff on the best ways to interact with queer students.
“It’ll never stop surprising me how many people work with teens and think they don’t work with queer teens,” said Cordner.
Q Plus also has a program where the organization is contracted by schools to “review and revise policies” to support LGBTQ+ students.
“[The] bottom line is always listen to your kids,” said Cordner. “They will tell you what they need.”
Connecticut Mirror is a content partner of States Newsroom. Read the original version here.
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The preceding article was previously published by The Rhode Island Current and is republished with permission.
The Rhode Island Current is an independent, nonprofit news outlet focused on state government and the impact of public policy decisions in the Ocean State. Readers can expect relentless reporting with the context needed to understand key issues affecting the lives of Rhode Islanders.
We’re part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.
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Gisselle Palomera
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CHICAGO — “The Sriracha Muchacha is me, turned up to eleven!”
Paloma Vargas is a Lucha Libre wrestler who goes by the stage name “The Sriracha Muchacha”! Wrestling professionally for more than 15 years now, Vargas tried to become a ring girl as a young adult but instead was offered a chance to get into the ring herself.
As a young girl, Vargas reminisced how her mother and grandmother would load the car with family and take everyone to see local Lucha Libre matches. This instilled her love for the sport, and she would often fantasize about becoming a pro wrestler.
Today, she wows audiences from local street festivals all the way to the stages of the Goodman Theater with her trusty bottle of sriracha sauce! For Vargas, Lucha Libre wrestling not only allows her to feel like her full self, but also lets her be a positive influence to other women looking for belonging within the world of professional wrestling.
You can follow The Sriracha Muchacha on Instagram.
READ MORE | Chicago Lucha Libre star ‘Sriracha Muchacha’ sees popularity of Mexican wrestling grow for women
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CCG
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Indulge in a delicious Mexican dish with this recipe for easy bean and cheese enchiladas. Perfect for a weeknight dinner or a gathering with friends and family.
My dear friend informed me the other day that her family loooooves bean and cheese burritos. We were talking about a few Pinterest recipes we wanted to try. She said that their absolute favorite has to be the Honey Lime Chicken Enchiladas, but next up is the classic bean and cheese burrito. Really? Doesn’t that just seem so bland and boring?
I couldn’t get that out of my head for the entire day. What could possibly be so delicious about something so simple? Mr. Handsome got home he found me working on Refried Beans. Yup. It happened. I took the plunge.
So, we generally are black bean people, but I decided that if I was truly going to try a bean and cheese filling I needed to stick with what’s normal, pinto beans, but do a little something to kick things up a notch. Hence the chili powder and cumin.
These started as burritos as I wasn’t in the mood for enchiladas per say, but by the time I was rolling them up, I just couldn’t resist making them all saucy on top.
I don’t know that this is a meal I could have once a week, as it truly is not the healthiest, but the kiddos devoured them and I actually really enjoyed them as well. It’s that saucy top. Saucy gets me every. darn. time.
You only need a total of 7 ingredients to make this family-friendly recipe. You can also make as much or as little of this recipe from scratch as you want. Here is everything you’ll need if you’re doing it as quick and easy as possible:
The measurement for each ingredient is listed in the recipe card at the end of the post.
The first thing you’ll do is make the bean and cheese mixture, and then the sauce. Then it’s just a matter of assembling the enchiladas and baking them. Here are the steps:
All of these instructions can be found in the recipe card down below so keep scrolling for all the details.
It’s not a secret that I love Mexican cuisine, so the possible side dishes to go with these enchiladas are endless. Here are a few of our favorites…
Check the label on your refried beans and as long as they are vegetarian, then this recipe is vegetarian. I actually love having a meatless meal or two every week. You still get all the good protein from the beans!
Yes, absolutely! Corn tortillas tend to be a little more fragile, so warm them up for a few seconds in the microwave before filling and rolling them.
Enchiladas will last up to 5 days in the refrigerator. They should be stored in an airtight container, or wrapped well in foil.
Yes, enchiladas can easily be frozen prior to baking, or after they have been baked.
To freeze enchiladas for up to 3 months, tightly wrap the entire pan with plastic wrap and then foil, crimping to seal around the edges to prevent freezer burn.
The best method for reheating enchiladas is in the oven. Preheat the oven to 350˚F. Remove the plastic wrap, and keep the foil on the dish and reheat for 20-30 minutes (refrigerated) or 45 minutes (frozen), until the enchiladas are warmed through.
Spice up your dinner with these delicious crazy easy bean and cheese enchiladas. With layers of flavor and gooey cheese, this dish is sure to become a family favorite.
These bean and cheese enchiladas have a little spice to kick it up a notch!
In a medium bowl, combine the beans, seasonings and cheese until smooth.
1 Can Refried Beans, 1 teaspoon Cumin, 1/2 teaspoon Chili Powder, 2/3 Cup Cheddar Cheese
Add a dollop or two to each tortilla and roll closed.
6 Flour Tortillas
Whisk together the enchilada sauce, seasonings and sour cream.
1 Can Red Enchilada Sauce, 1/4 Cup Sour Cream, 1/2 teaspoon Cumin, 1/4 teaspoon Chili Powder
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Spoon 1/3 cup of the enchilada sauce in the bottom of an 9×13 inch baking dish.
Place the enchiladas seam side down and top with the remaining sauce and cheese.
1 ½ Cup Cheddar Cheese
Bake for 30 minutes and enjoy.
Enchiladas can be stored in the refrigerator for 3-5 days.
Calories: 308kcal
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Carrian Cheney
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An agave lounge with a six-course small bites menu paired with cocktails should debut later this month in Wicker Park. Botánero is from chef and partner Yanitzin “Yani” Sanchez and partner Richard Vallejo. It’s replacing Caspian, a casual Mediterranean restaurant at 1413 N. Ashland Avenue, according to a news release.
Botánero’s special tasting menu will be offered on Wednesdays, kicking off on October 23. There will be two seatings daily and reservations will be taken via Tock. Besides the tasting menu look for tamales, quesadillas, and tlayudas made with tortillas derived from heirloom corn from Mexico.
Typically served at bars with drinks, botanas are small plates, kind of a Mexican counterpart to Spanish tapas. Ownership hopes the taco de negro asada with prime beef ribeye, queso asadero, mojo negro, onion-cilantro gremolata, and roasted marrow bone becomes a signature.
Weekend brunch should include a bottomless option for unlimited house margaritas, micheladas, mimosas, and spritzers.
Chef Yani and Vallejo are frequent collaborators. They teamed on Taquizo, a casual taqueria that opened in 2022 and has since closed in Wicker Park. Taquizo was a reboot of Las Palmas. There are also two shuttered suburban Mexican spots: Mercado Cocina in suburban Glenview and Cine in Hinsdale.
Sanchez’s credits also include Sabor Saveur in Wicker Park. That space would become Takito, and she continued as a consultant for the burgeoning group that expanded into West Loop and Lincoln Park.
While not the sole focus of Botánero, Mexican tasting menus are still a rarity in Chicago, with Topolobampo and Tzuco in River North being the most prominent. In recent years, taco-tasting menus at places like Cariño and Taqueria Chingon have soared.
Botánero, 1413 W. Ashland Avenue, planned for an October opening; Wednesday tasting menu launches on October 23, brunch launches on November 9.
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Ashok Selvam
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Mexican music is normally categorized as lively, jovial, and loud, with brass horns and drums that practically force you to dance. But beyond the cumbias and rancheras that we adore, there will always be ballads that bring us down to Earth. Songs about love, lust, and heartbreak uplift our spirits when we are in love, and console us when that love has been shattered into a million little pieces.
The absolute masters of the romantic ballad are Los Temerarios, a band from Zacatecas, Mexico that was formed in the late 1970s, and enjoyed four decades of heart-wrenching hits. They are in the middle of their farewell tour across the US, Mexico, and Latin America at the moment, and will finalize this long goodbye in Mexico City later this year.
The music of Los Temerarios was never at the top of my list of records I purchased or music that I played around the house, but somehow it has always been part of my life. This was music that my tias listened to while they were cooking, and it would be blasting from the radio when my tios were on the grill. I remember my mother singing along to their songs as she listened to Spanish language radio station La Tremenda 1010AM as she cleaned the house and got ready for work.
Brothers Adolfo Angel and Gustavo Angel are masters of the romantic ballad, pulling on heart strings and providing the soundtrack of love for their adoring fans.
Photo by Marco Torres
Thursday evening was the band’s first for three sold-out concerts at Toyota Center, which is really impressive for any performer, let alone a Mexican act. As the audience filled into the arena, you could feel the anticipation in the air. Once the Angel brothers took to the stage, they were met with a grand applause, leading into the first song of the night, “Enamorado De Ti.”
Most of the band’s tracks are slow to medium in tempo, full of melodic notes from the keyboards, soft guitar chords, and driven drum breaks between the verses. I must admit, I haven’t listened to a Temerarios song for a very long time, but somehow those lyrics and melodies that were buried deep in my memory found their way to my mouth. I caught myself singing songs that I haven’t heard in 20-plus years, and enjoying every moment.
The audience was equally mesmerized, also singing along loudly to each track while they held their dates close and danced in their seats. The opening set continued with “Tu Infame Engaño,” “Una Tarde Fue” and “Como Te Recuerdo.”
The word “temerario” translates as “a reckless person” as well as “fearless” and “daredevil.” Their band logo and some of their album covers prominently feature a wolf, which is a symbol of both masculinity and beauty. Machismo will always be part of the Latin American male ego, but there’s no shame in being in love and sharing your feelings. Los Temerarios have provided the soundtrack of love for their adoring fans for as long as I can remember.
Gustavo Angel’s distinct voice and guitar has accompanied generations of fans through love and heartbreak.
Photo by Marco Torres
The brothers explained to the audience that this show was particularly special because their mother, wives, and other close friends and family were in attendance near the front row. They each blew kisses towards their mom, and took turns serenading her and mouthing the words “Te Quiero Mucho” throughout the evening (I love you!).
The set list included 30 songs and the show went on until around 11pm. One of my favorite moments of the evening was when they sang a cover of “Qué De Raro Tiene” by Vicente Fernandez. The crowd sang most of the night fairly loudly, but they pushed those vocal chords to the max during this song.
Adolfo Angel is the force behind the melodies and lyrics for the innumerable hits by Mexican band Los Temerarios.
Photo by Marco Torres
The encore included the hits “Te Quiero,” “Mi Vida Eres Tú,” and “La Mujer De Los Dos.” A sea of cell phone lights illuminated the arena during this time, and everyone swayed back and forth, shining their light brightly as a “Thank You” to this amazing band for the litany of hits and years of love and support through our highs and lows.
¡Hasta Siempre, Temerarios!
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Marco Torres
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Vice President Kamala Harris — the daughter of an Indian woman and Jamaican man — took the podium on Thursday night at the Democratic National Convention at the United Center, three weeks after former President Donald Trump lied about her identity during an interview in Chicago. This may resurface those silly concerns about whether something can be two things at once.
Mirra, a unique restaurant that mixes South Asian and Mexican flavors, is out to prove that duality can exist. The restaurant debuted on Thursday in Bucktown adding another notable recent opening to the area surrounding Damen and Armitage avenues. Neither of the restaurant’s two chefs have Mexican roots. Zubair Mohajir is a James Beard Award nominee for his work at Coach House, his fine-dining Indian restaurant in Wicker Park. Rishi Manoj Kumar is ethnically Indian and from Singapore. He learned to love Mexican food as he worked with Rick Bayless at Bar Sotano in River North.
Their restaurant aims to highlight the tales of South Asian migration in America, stories like how Harris’ mother arrived when she was 19 to go to college. It’s how Northern Indians from Punjab settled in California to build railroads and mingled with Mexicans in the late 19th century. That produced the ubiquitous roti quesadilla which ditched the traditional Mexican tortilla for Indian flatbread. Mirra’s version features roasted mushroom and Amul (a processed cheese from India; the chefs at Logan Square’s Superkhana International use it in their famed butter chicken calzone). The opening menu also features a dum biryani with braised lamb barbacoa. This isn’t a typical biryani diners would buy from a street vendor. Dum biryani is fancy and sealed with a pastry shell over the rice and meat to preserve the aromatics.
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Mohajir enjoys chatting with customers at the chef’s table at Coach House. It was there where Mirra took shape as the Southern Indian chef, who grew up in Qatar, found a story of an Indian girl, Mirra, kidnapped and taken to Mexico. He used Mirra’s history as inspiration. A popular Mexico City restaurant, Masala y Maiz, also played a role. In 2022, chefs Norma Listman and Saqib Keval traveled to Chicago and popped up at Bar Sotano after befriending Kumar. Listman is a native of Texcoco, a city about 15 miles northeast of Mexico City. Keval’s parents are from Ethiopia and Kenya; their families were from India, arriving in Africa two centuries prior. They met while working in San Francisco’s Bay Area.
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As the idea for Mirra matured, Mohajir and Kumar realized they needed to be more honest. Instead of aping Listman and Keval’s template, they needed to tell their own stories; neither one of them is Mexican. So they shifted and changed the restaurant’s design and changed the menu to better reflect their ideals.
While a tasting menu will eventually arrive on Wednesday, September 4, the opening a la carte menu is accessible with crispy tacos filled with Mexican green curry and scallops, a tandoori and adobo Cornish hen, and a carne asada made with a 40-day dry-aged ribeye and salsa macha. It’s served with mashed roasted eggplant, known as bagan bharta to South Asians. A happy hour menu includes birria samosas, oysters, and drinks from partner David Mor. Mor made the drinks for Mohajir’s Lilac Tiger — the bar in front of Coach House — and has his own establishment. Truce, just up the street from Mirra, was one of the bigger bar openings of 2024. Tony Perez, who also works a Lilac Tiger, curates the wines.
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Desserts at traditional South Asian restaurants are sometimes lacking. At Mirra, they’ve combined rasmalai, a Northern Indian sweet made with cheese, with tres leches cake serving it with saffron-cardamom-infused milk. There’s also a rice pudding which should remind diners of flan with nods to kheer, an Indian sweet made with sugar and milk.
Chef Oliver Poilevey, whose family’s French restaurant, Le Bouchon, is down the street from Mirra, says his father, Jean-Claude Poilevey, would not approve of his son using Vietnamese fish sauce in French food. Fusion is a term that’s used sparingly, with chefs fearful that cultures are mashed together without respect for tradition. That’s not what’s happening at Mirra, Kumar and Mohajir say. Their dishes are created thoughtfully. It’s not just about combining cultures by hastily stuffing tandoori chicken into a tortilla and celebrating. Mirra shows how Mexican and South Asian spices and food can complement each other without worry if this is ridiculous cosplay.
Walk through the space below.
Mirra, 1954 W. Armitage Avenue, open 4:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday; tasting menu starts Wednesday, September 4. Reservations via OpenTable.
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Ashok Selvam
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I wasn’t expecting to cry at a concert, but last night my emotions got the best of me and the tears rolled down my face. On stage was Eden Muñoz, formally of the Norteño-Banda group Calibre 50, and the song that caused me to shed a tear was “Corrido De Juanito.” It tells a story of a Mexican man who crossed over to work in the United States to obtain a better life, working long, hard hours in constant fear of deportation, all the while longing to revisit his home and family back in Mexico. His mother dies and he isn’t able to pay his last respects, and all he wants to do is hug his father once again.
And yet, through all of this, he’s still supremely proud to be “Mexicano hasta al tope!” After a quick scan through the crowd, I wasn’t the only one feeling sentimental while listening to this song. It just hits so hard, especially hearing it live in a room full of your fellow Mexican community, knowing that we have all experienced some form of these hardships at least a few times in our life.
But like true Mexicans, with good music playing we are able to transition from sadness to joy in an instant. And out of all the Regional Mexican concerts I’ve seen this year, Eden Muñoz has probably been my favorite so far. He began the show with “A La Antigüita” which provided a jolt of energy into the crowd, causing yelps of joy and dancing through 713 Music Hall.
Eden Muñoz exudes a love for life and country that resounds loudly in his music.
Photo by Marco Torres
I remember being introduced to the music of Muñoz’s former band Calibre 50 while I was visiting Monterrey, Nuevo Leon over 10 years ago. There was something magical about his attitude and songwriting, a love for life and country that resounded loudly in his music.
Muñoz was surrounded on stage by a large banda orchestra, with an entire brass section of trumpets, tuba, and trombones joining in harmony with the saxophones, clarinets, and accordion. He wore an oversized button up shirt, jeans, boots, and a dark black cowboy hat, which he often tilted down and at an angle to cover his gaze, providing a mysterious aura around him.
Do you ever see somebody and say “that guy really loves his job!” That’s exactly what I felt as I watched Muñoz dance across the stage, playing his accordion and laughing with the crowd. “I get emotional when I drink” he said en Español, holding his glass of tequila (or maybe whiskey) high as he toasted the crowd with a “salud, raza!”
Eden Muñoz provided an energetic and lively set during his performace at 713 Music Hall.
Photo by Marco Torres
He took a seat and traded his accordion for a guitar, strumming the opening notes to “Simplemente Gracias” along with the piano player and saxophone. A fan near the front row took this opportunity to propose to his girlfriend at his very moment. They caught the attention of Muñoz, who stumbled over his lyrics as he congratulated the couple.
“I wrote that song six years ago for my soon-to-be wife, specifically to sing at our wedding” said Muñoz as the crowd clapped for the happy couple. He asked their names, which were Luis and Riley, and toasted his best wishes once again.
“Les gustan los corridos, Houston?!” he asked before playing “Javier El De Los Llanos” and “Consejos Gratis.” I swear, the list of hits that Eden has written is so extensive, and all are crazy good.
One of the highlights of the evening was the “Ruleta de Homenajes” that picked a seemingly random Mexican music legend for the band to cover. Last night, this included tributes to Selena, Valentin Elizalde, Vicente Fernandez, Joan Sebastian, Chalino Sanchez, Ramon Ayala, and Marco Antonio Solis. My favorite though was probably the cover of “Como Estás Tú” by the cumbia group Liberacion. If I had a date to this show, I definitely would have danced to this one!
This show really felt like a celebration, as if the banda was playing en la feria or at a jaripeo. I’m sure Muñoz and his banda could easily play another two or three more hours, but alas… all good things come to an end.
Gracias Eden. Simplemente, gracias!
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Marco Torres
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Chicagoans have hit the culinary jackpot with a dazzling array of regional Mexican dishes available at their fingertips including strong local representation from states like Guerrero, Jalisco, and Michoacán. Dive deeper, and you’ll find more specific offerings, hailing from narrow regions and even small towns.
Uptown’s Kie-Gol-Lanee has ignited interest in Oaxacan cuisine as siblings María and Reynel Mendoza and their spouses, Léonides Ramos and Sandra Sotz, have dished out flavors from Santa María Quiegolani since 2016. Meaning “old stone” in the Zapotec dialect, the restaurant’s name is a phonetic nod to the small village in Oaxaca’s southern Sierra where María, Reynel, and Léonides grew up. The menu is inspired by recipes passed down through generations and Michelin has listed it for four years as a Bib Gourmand, which recognizes quality and value.
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Later this month, the family will open its second location in Logan Square at the former Mezcala Agave Bar and Kitchen at 2901 W. Diversey. The new location will continue to sell its celebrated Oaxacan-style tamales steamed in banana leaves, and garnachas (a corn patty resembling a sope topped with pork, radish, cilantro, cheese, and cabbage). María Mendoza began making the Oaxacan delicacy at home after an injury kept her from going to work. A friend sent a sample to chef Enrique Cortéz, who was impressed by her culinary skills and began serving the tamales at his restaurant. Soon after, Cortéz moved on and decided to sell his eatery to the family, helping them through the transition from restaurant workers to restaurant owners.
The Logan Square restaurant will offer the beloved plates that delight patrons at its Uptown location, featuring weekly specials and breakfast plates on weekends. The dinner menu features well-known regional staples including a fall-off-the-bone lamb shank, and the traditional tlayudas — a giant corn tostada-like base decked out with options that include thinly sliced, salt-cured cecina, steak, chorizo, or zucchini and mushrooms. Additionally, the menu offers interesting dishes that showcase ingredients from the Oaxacan Sierra, such as quail, rabbit, and grasshoppers.
Ahead of the opening, the team is working on new cocktails such as a tres leches martini, an old-fashioned Oaxacan style, and a drink featuring the fermented, sweet, and slightly tart, cider-like tepache with grasshoppers. Wishing to support their community back home, Kie-Go-Lanee has two mezcal brands on its beverage menu, Huésped and Clan 55. Both are produced in Santa María Quiegolani and aim to offer youth in their hometown an opportunity to flourish and a reason to stay.
When it comes to desserts, until very recently, Kie-Go-Lanee was one of the few, if not the only spot in the city that regularly offered Nicuatole, a corn-based dessert similar to gelatin but with a silkier texture and, depending on the fruit added, sometimes a bit of a gritty texture.
The new location will continue to capture the warmth of an Oaxacan home, says Fernanda Guardado, the restaurant’s designer and head of marketing. A mural depicting alebrijes, sculptures of creatures — amalgamations of different animals that burst with vibrant colors and cultural motifs — will also be found at the second location, showcasing the restaurant’s blue and bright pink. “They remind me of home,” says María Mendoza.
Check out the food photos below and stay tuned for updates on an opening date.
Kie-Gol-Lanee Logan Square, 2901 W. Diversey Avenue, opening in August.
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Brenda Storch
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According to Billboard Magazine, the fastest growing music genre in the U.S. is Latin music. And although much of that can be attributed to reggaeton artists such as Bad Bunny and Karol G, the driving forces behind this growth are Regional Mexican and corrido artists such as Peso Pluma and Fuerza Regida. So it was no surprise that Peso’s concert at Toyota Center on Friday night hosted a capacity crowd, all eager to see one of music’s hottest young stars in action.
Classical music filled the arena as the house lights dimmed. It was a scene that would be recreated several times before the night ended, creating a dark and moody environment as the concert was divided into four acts plus a finale. The familiar strings and vocals of “O Fortuna” sounded over the stage, along with a voiceover proclaiming that “an antihero is among us.”
The tracks “La Patrulla” and “La Durango” kicked off the setlist, with Peso elevated from beneath the stage on a black and gold throne, surrounded by his banda. He hurt his foot at a show last month, and has continued to tour wearing a boot, walking with crutches, and dancing while hopping on one leg. His throne would serve as his main supporting act all night, never far from his side.
Billboard Magazine claims that the fastest growing music genre in the U.S. is Latin, driven by Regional Mexican artists such as Peso Pluma.
Photo by Sean Thomas
It didn’t take long before hearing one of Peso’s most viral hits, as the horn section for “AMG” caused a loud cheer throughout the Toyota Center. Accompanied by the requinto of the bajo sexto, Peso spit out his lyrics with staccato brevity and confidence. His voice is not that of a crooner or smooth balladeer, but rather a sharp vocal wordsmith that resonates above the bold musical compositions.
Black was the tone for the outfits of everyone on stage, from Peso to his band and dancers. The fist few songs were performed as he wore a black, sparkled ski mask. When he finally removed it, Peso smiled wide and made sure the audience felt seen. It is a handsome, somewhat devious smile, fitting for the tall, lanky güerito from Zapopan, Jalisco. “Rubicon” marked the end of Act 1.
Act 2 was more relaxed than the intro, with tracks such as “Luna,” Reloj” and “Bye” fully pulling Peso into his sad boy era. Singing about running the streets of Jalisco and Sinaloa in a Jeep or Mercedes then shifting into a song of heartbreak is part of Peso’s mystique, and is definitely one of the reasons his fans love him. The stage was illuminated from below and flickered as Peso and his crew moved in unison with the mood of the tracks. The audience showed appreciation with chants of “Peso! Peso! Peso!” The popular track “Ella Baila Sola” marked the end of this section of the show.
Singing about running the streets of Jalisco and Sinaloa then shifting into a song of heartbreak is part of Peso Pluma’s mystique, one that was on full display at Toyota Center.
Photo by Sean Thomas
Act 3 was for the club, with “QLONA” and “La Bebe – Remix” leaning more onto the dembo and reggaeton Peso Pluma, which was just fine for his fans who were busy dancing in the aisles across the arena. Peso was surrounded by a troupe of talented dancers, both female and male, who worked hard to keep the energy up even as Peso hobbled along on one leg. If the show was this good with Peso in a boot, imagine how crazy his act must be when he is back at 100 percent?!
Act 4 included a few crowd favorites, with “Hollywood” showcasing Peso’s acoustic guitar capabilities, followed by “PRC,” “La People 1 & 2,” “El Gavilan 1 & 2,” and “Rosa Pastel.” It was during this section that Peso made it clear that he is the evolution of the Mexican corridos heritage, showcasing artists such as Chalino Sanchez, Ramon Ayala, Los Cadetes de Linares, Joan Sebastian, Jenni Rivera, Los Tucanes de Tijuana, and Valentin Elizalde on the video board before showing the new generation of Gerardo Ortiz, Natanael Cano, Eslabon Armado, Luis R. Conriquez, Junior H, and himself.
The final act included a few of my personal favorites, with “El Azul” and “Lady Gaga” sounding out before the night came to a close. “Muchas gracias, Houston!” yelled Peso as he requested everyone to turn on their cell phone lights. The dancers surrounded peso with bright red flares in their hands, and two dancers waved flame throwers back and forth with the music. “Vino Tinto” and “TEKA” ended the evening, and I left the arena feeling excited for the future of Latin music.
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Marco Torres
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In this Slow Cooker Pork Carnitas recipe, a well seasoned pork shoulder is rubbed with an oregano and cumin spiced oil mixture, then is cooked low and slow with onions, garlic, jalapeño and fresh citrus juice until fall apart tender. Once cooked and shredded, fry up the shredded pork in a skillet until golden and crispy. Yields approximately 6 (4-ounce) servings.
And I’ve found the best way to make them at home is in the slow cooker.
This is far from traditional carnitas… but in this day and age, unless you’re in a kitchen in Mexico, standing over a copper pot with someone who’s been turning out carnitas since they could hold a spoon, then how could any carnitas be called authentic? But what I can call this recipe is amazing.
In this recipe, a seasoned pork shoulder cooks low and slow with onions, garlic and citrus juice until it’s fall apart tender. The hardest part? Figuring out what you want to use it in… tacos? nachos? burritos? Decisions – decisions.
Pat-dry a 4 pound boneless pork shoulder roast. Season it heavily with 1 tablespoon kosher salt and lots of freshly ground black pepper. Set this off to the side for a moment.
Then in a small bowl add three tablespoons of avocado oil, 2 teaspoons of dried oregano (Mexican oregano if possible), 1 teaspoon cumin and 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander.
Whisk to combine.
Pour this over the pork shoulder.
Use your impeccably clean hands to rub the oil mixture over the pork, massaging it into the meat.
Next roughly chop up 1 large white onion, 1 jalapeño and smash and peel 6 cloves of garlic.
Add the onions, garlic and jalapeño to the bottom of your slow cooker.
Then place the pork on top.
Squeeze juice from both the orange and lime halves over the pork.
Throw the squeezed orange and lime halves into the slow cooker as well.
Cover and allow the slow cooker to do its thing. I prefer to cook my pork on low for 10 to 12 hours, however you can cook it on high for 6 to 8 hours.
By now your home should be smelling amazing.
Use tongs to carefully remove the pork and transfer it to a large carving board. Use a couple of forks to shred the meat.
Discard any pieces of fat.
Heat a large 12-inch skillet on medium-high heat and adding the shredded pork shoulder.
Cook until a deep golden crust form, then toss and continue to crisp the pork.
It’s nearly impossible to NOT snack as you go. My girls where all up in my face trying to steal more pieces.
Enjoy! And if you give this Slow Cooker Pork Carnitas recipe a try, let me know! Snap a photo and tag me on twitter or instagram!
Yield: 6 servings
In this Slow Cooker Pork Carnitas recipe, a well seasoned pork shoulder is rubbed with an oregano and cumin spiced oil mixture, then is cooked low and slow with onions, garlic, jalapeño and fresh citrus juice until fall apart tender. Once cooked and shredded, fry up the shredded pork in a skillet until golden and crispy.
Use paper towel to pat the pork shoulder dry before generously seasoning with salt and pepper.
In a small bowl combine the oil with the oregano, cumin and coriander. Pour the oil mixture all over the pork shoulder and massage it into the mean until evenly coated.
To your slow cooker, add the onions, garlic and jalapeño and then place the pork shoulder on top. Squeeze the juice from both the lemon and lime and add the citrus halves to the slow cooker as well.
Cover and cook on low for 10 to 12 hours (recommended) or on high for 6 to 8.
Use tongs to carefully remove the pork and transfer it to a large carving board. Use a couple of forks to shred the meat. Discarding any pieces of fat.
Heat a large 12-inch skillet on medium-high heat and adding the shredded pork shoulder. Cook until a deep golden crust form, then toss and continue to crisp the pork.
Once golden, serve in tacos, burritos or on nachos etc.
Serving: 4ounces, Calories: 473kcal, Carbohydrates: 7g, Protein: 69g, Fat: 17g, Saturated Fat: 4g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g, Monounsaturated Fat: 9g, Trans Fat: 0.05g, Cholesterol: 181mg, Sodium: 1328mg, Potassium: 1250mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 3g, Vitamin A: 93IU, Vitamin C: 18mg, Calcium: 56mg, Iron: 3mg
This recipe was originally posted on April 18, 2013 and has been updated with clear and concise instructions, new photography and helpful information.
This post may contain affiliate links.
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Laurie McNamara
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This Easy Instant Pot Shredded Mexican Chicken recipe is epic! It’s super easy and quick to make with simple ingredients, full of flavor, and feeds a crowd. Pressure cooker and slow cooker instructions were added, as well as step-by-step photos.
If you love Mexican food as much as I do, I am sure you are going to flip out with this Easy Instant Pot Shredded Mexican Chicken recipe.
Trust me, it’s epic! I love how it’s packed with bold flavors, yet it’s so easy to make with ingredients you probably already have in your pantry.
You know how chaotic our weeknights can be, right? Between soccer practice, homework, and everything else, there’s hardly any time to cook. But this recipe is a lifesaver! Just toss everything in the Instant Pot, and in no time, you’ve got a flavorful, crowd-pleasing dish that makes everyone happy.
And let’s talk about versatility! This shredded chicken is perfect for tacos, burritos, salads, or even just on its own. I always make a big batch because it keeps so well in the fridge and freezer, making meal prep a breeze. You’ll definitely want to add this to your regular rotation!
Please check the recipe card at the bottom of the post for exact quantities and instructions (scroll down).
This recipe calls for just a few simple ingredients! You will need:
Please check the recipe card at the bottom of the post for exact quantities and instructions (scroll down).
Mexican Shredded Chicken is fabulous as is, but here are some tasty add-ins you can try!
To make this recipe in the slow cooker, place all the ingredients in the slow cooker and cook on high for 3 hours or low for 6 hours. Use two forks to shred the chicken and serve.
My family loves eating these shredded chicken tacos with green rice or Mexican rice, and black beans. A green salad, baked beans, or Instant Pot Drunken Beans would also be a great idea. Here are some delicious and versatile uses for the Easy Instant Pot Mexican Shredded Chicken recipe:
Pro Tip: Double Batch! This Mexican Shredded Chicken is a fabulous recipe to double or triple! Freeze leftovers in portion-size bags for a quick thaw and heat dinner.
Store leftovers refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
Freeze: Let it cool completely. Add chicken to a freezer plastic bag or container. Press the bag flat and squeeze out excess air to prevent freezer burn. Seal, label, and freeze for up to 3 months.
Reheat: Thaw it and reheat the chicken gently in a covered saucepan over medium heat until warmed through.
Yes, chicken thighs work well and tend to be juicier.
The Easy Instant Pot Mexican Shredded Chicken recipe has a moderate level of spiciness due to the use of chili powder and chipotle pepper in adobo sauce. However, the heat level can be adjusted to suit your preference. Reduce or omit the chipotle pepper in adobo sauce and half the quantity of chili powder for less spicy.
Reduce the amount of chili powder and chipotle pepper in adobo.
Absolutely! It’s great for meal prep and can be made a day or two ahead of time.
This Easy Instant Pot Shredded Mexican Chicken recipe is epic! It’s super easy and quick to make with simple ingredients, full of flavor and feeds a crowd. Pressure cooker and slow cooker instruction added.
Add chicken broth, chicken breasts, chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, cumin, oregano, chipotle pepper, salt, and black pepper to the instant pot. Mix to combine.
On top of the chicken add diced tomatoes and tomato paste. Do NOT mix.
Secure the lid to the pot, select "manual" or "high pressure", and cook for 15 minutes.
When the time is over, carefully turn the valve to "Venting" to release the pressure. Then remove the lid.
Use 2 forks to shred the chicken. Mix well to coat all the chicken with the sauce.
Serve. Use it to make tacos, quesadillas, sandwiches, or arepas. Add it to a baked potato with some sharp cheddar cheese or add it to a salad (cold).
Place all the ingredients into the slow cooker and cook on high for 3 hours or on low for 6 hours.
Use 2 forks to shred the chicken.
Serve. Use it to make tacos, quesadillas, sandwiches, or arepas. Add it to a baked potato with some sharp cheddar cheese or add it to a salad (cold).
If you have the time, you can caramelize the chicken under the broiler. To do this, preheat the oven to broil and position an oven rack in the center. Line a baking pan with foil for easy cleanup. Spread the shredded chicken evenly in the pan and add ½ cup of the cooking liquid to keep it moist. Broil for 5 minutes, or until the chicken reaches your preferred level of caramelization.
Calories: 210kcalCarbohydrates: 7gProtein: 34gFat: 4gSaturated Fat: 1gCholesterol: 97mgSodium: 1297mgPotassium: 711mgFiber: 2gSugar: 3gVitamin A: 1249IUVitamin C: 7mgCalcium: 48mgIron: 2mg
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
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If you know me, then you’d know that I love cooking and rolling up my sleeves for a big culinary project. I particularly love making sauces and stocks with tons of flavor that comes from slowly (keyword: slowly) simmering meat, bones, veggies, and herbs in a big pot, then reducing it for hours until I’m left with a delicious vat of savory goodness. However, I’m not exactly able to embark on an hours-long culinary tour de force every night of the week — especially when I’m working in the office and have to commute to and from my apartment. By the time I change, go to the gym, come back, and shower, it’s usually around 8 p.m., and only then can I start working on dinner. That’s why I keep my pantry stocked with quick and easy items that let me eat delicious, high-quality food without the hassle. Lately, I had the opportunity to test out the SOMOS Simmer Sauces, and when SOMOS says it brings the quality of a Mexican restaurant into your kitchen, it’s not kidding.
SOMOS Simmer Sauces are incredibly versatile pantry staples you can keep on hand to spice up your weeknight meals without the hassle. Available in a slew of flavors — Taco, Fajita, Green Enchilada, and Red Enchilada — the simmer sauces can fit every occasion. (There’s also Al Pastor, but it’s currently sold out.) And at just $10 for a two-pack of six-serving jars, it’s an incredibly affordable way to add flavor to your dishes. SOMOS uses fresh ingredients to bring the savory and delicious flavors of a Mexican restaurant directly to your kitchen at home.
Personally, the idea of jarred sauces always felt a bit like cheating to me, but after a long day of work, the last thing I want to do is put more energy into a complicated sauce. That’s when these SOMOS Simmer Sauces come in clutch. They store easily, taste delicious, and are made with high-quality ingredients, which makes me feel better about slathering my meats and veggies in this stuff. The various flavors are great for keeping some diversity in the dishes, and they’re some of the most affordable sauces of their kind I’ve come across. We’ve used them for taco bowls, fajitas, enchiladas made ahead of time, and even as a topping for some salads. They’re also super versatile, and I’m planning on trying them out with marinating meats to pop on the grill come this year’s Independence Day. And if you’re running out of ideas, check out the company’s website for a ton of recipes that coincide with each jar of sauce, with everything from Chicken Enchilada Soup and Al Pastor Chicken Tacos to Cauliflower Tinga Tostadas and more.
So if you’re looking for a way to add some high-quality flavor to your low-effort weeknight meals, you can’t go wrong with the SOMOS simmer sauces. They’re super versatile, easy to store, and affordable. Plus, you’ll be able to save all your culinary energy for the weekend!
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Ian Burke
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