How To Cook Nopales (No Sticky Texture!)
Nopales (cactus paddles), in Mexican cuisine, are used for endless recipes: prepared cold, sautéed, fried and even roasted. Today you’ll learn all about nopales plus how to prep and cook them without the sticky texture.
- Prep time
- 15 min
- Cook time
- 15 min
- Yield
- 2 servings
- Difficulty
- MEDIUM
Ingredients
Quantities are shown as originally provided.
- 5 to 6 small to medium nopales paddles
- ¼ onion
- 1 garlic clove (peeled)
- a handful of cilantro with stems
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt (or ¼ tsp table salt)
Instructions
- 1
Clean the cactus paddles
- 2
Using a sharp knife, carefully hold the nopales by its stem with kitchen tongs or a kitchen towel and trim the edges off.
- 3
With the tip of the knife, scrape off its thorns. Then turn it to the other side and scrape down its stem until you get to the soft part.
- 4
Rinse under cold water.
- 5
Sliced nopales into strips or squares depending on how you’re going to prepare them.
- 6
Tip: make sure you leave as much flesh as possible. That will make the nopales less slimy when cooking them.
- 7
To cook the cactus
- 8
In a medium pot, add the cut nopales with the onion, garlic, salt and cilantro. Heat over medium and cook until the slimy juice has disappeared. About 13 to 15 minutes.
- 9
Cool and store in an airtight container or use in your planned recipe.