Chileajo: what it is, what's in it and how to make it

What is it?

Chileajo is a traditional stew of the Mixtec cuisine of Oaxaca and the coast of Guerrero, whose name comes from its two defining ingredients: chilli (mainly guajillo and ancho) and garlic, present in especially abundant quantities. It is a traditionally vegetarian dish, although it is also prepared with pork or chicken in some regions. It combines seasonal vegetables —green beans, carrots, potatoes, courgettes, chayote, nopales, cooked chickpeas and, sometimes, chepiche or epazote leaves— with a thick sauce made of rehydrated dried chillies, plenty of roasted garlic, toasted sesame seeds, cumin, clove, pepper and oregano. Its consistency is thick and velvety, with an intense red-orange colour. It is an emblematic dish of Lent, Holy Week and religious festivities in Mixtec and Zapotec towns of the upper and lower Mixteca of Oaxaca, as well as in the Montaña of Guerrero. Its vegetarian character and its capacity to feed many people have kept it as a fundamental communal dish at ancestral peasant celebrations.

Origin and history

Chileajo has pre-Hispanic Mixtec and Zapotec roots, with a presence documented from before the conquest. The Mesoamerican cultures of the Mixtec region grew a wide variety of vegetables (chayote, green beans, courgettes, nopal) in their milpa systems, which they combined with dried chillies and wild garlic. Although common garlic (Allium sativum) arrived with the Spanish in the sixteenth century, the Mixtecs used native wild garlic (Allium kunthii) in similar earlier preparations. During the colonial period, chileajo adapted by incorporating European garlic and became established as a Lenten dish —a Catholic tradition that prescribes abstinence from meat on certain religious days. The dish appears described in the gastronomic inventories of the nineteenth century and in modern publications such as those of México Desconocido and Larousse Cocina. The magazine Gourmet de México and the INAH have documented its ritual importance in Mixtec and Zapotec communities. It forms part of Traditional Mexican Cuisine, recognised as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO in 2010. SECTUR promotes it as a gastronomic product of identity.

Characteristic ingredients

The traditional recipe for chileajo combines guajillo and ancho chillies (sometimes red costeño chilli is added in Oaxaca), toasted without burning and then rehydrated. They are ground with garlic roasted on the comal in very generous quantities (8–12 cloves per portion), toasted sesame seeds, cumin, clove, pepper and Oaxacan oregano. The resulting sauce is fried in vegetable oil or lard and thinned with vegetable or chicken broth. The distinctive feature: the vegetables are pre-cooked by steaming or boiling (green beans, carrots, potatoes, courgettes, chayote, nopales and chickpeas), and are added to the sauce to finish cooking. Some versions include fresh herbs such as chepiche, epazote or hierba santa for fragrance. It is served with handmade Oaxacan tortillas. Regional variants: in the upper Mixteca it is made thicker; on the Guerrero coast it carries more costeño chilli; some families add pork or chicken for non-Lenten versions. It is a technically simple dish but one that requires patience to toast the chillies and garlic well without burning them.

Cultural significance

Chileajo is one of the most representative ritual dishes of Mixtec cuisine and of Mexican Lenten cuisine. Its vegetarian character —traditionally without meat in order to respect the Catholic abstinence of Lent and Holy Week— made it an indispensable dish during those religious festivities in Mixtec and Zapotec towns. The indigenous communities of the upper and lower Oaxacan Mixteca (Huajuapan de León, Tlaxiaco, Pinotepa Nacional) and of the Montaña of Guerrero (Tlapa, Olinalá) prepare it collectively in communal pots to feed whole families during mayordomías and festivities. SECTUR and the government of Oaxaca promote it as a cultural tourism product, and traditional cooks such as Celia Florián and Olga Cabrera have brought it to contemporary fine Mexican cuisine. It forms part of Traditional Mexican Cuisine, Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO in 2010. It economically supports peasant producers of vegetables from the Bajío and Oaxaca, producers of guajillo chilli and garlic, and traditional cooks in Oaxacan markets such as Tlacolula, Etla and the Central de Abastos each week.

Frequently asked questions

What is chileajo?

It is a traditional Mixtec-Oaxacan stew, also found on the coast of Guerrero, made with seasonal vegetables (green beans, carrots, potatoes, courgettes, chayote, nopales, chickpeas) and a thick sauce of dried chillies (guajillo and ancho), abundant garlic, sesame seeds and spices. Its name comes from 'chile' and 'ajo', its two defining ingredients. It is a Lenten dish, traditionally vegetarian, although it is also prepared with pork or chicken in regional variants.

What is the difference between chileajo and mole?

Chileajo is simpler than a baroque mole: it has fewer ingredients (8–12 compared with the 25–35 of mole), contains no nuts, fruit, chocolate or bread, and is dominated by the abundant garlic (from which it takes its name) and the guajillo and ancho dried chillies. It is traditionally vegetarian, whereas moles are usually prepared with meat. Its texture is similar but its flavour profile is very different.

When is chileajo prepared?

It is an emblematic dish of Lent and Holy Week in Mixtec and Zapotec towns of Oaxaca and the Montaña of Guerrero, owing to its vegetarian character that respects the Catholic abstinence from meat. It is also made at mayordomías, patron saint feasts and community peasant celebrations throughout the year. In some communities it is a dish for Sunday family meals, especially in towns with a vegetarian tradition or modest means.

Where does chileajo come from?

It originates in the Mixtec region (Oaxaca and Guerrero), with its main presence in the upper and lower Oaxacan Mixteca (Huajuapan de León, Tlaxiaco, Pinotepa Nacional) and in the Montaña of Guerrero (Tlapa, Olinalá). It is also found on the Costa Chica of Guerrero and parts of the Mazatec sierra. Its origin is pre-Hispanic Mixtec-Zapotec, adapted during the colonial period to include European garlic and become established as a mestizo Lenten dish.