Traditional

Tripas

Name: Tripas
Prep time: 31 min
Cook time: 59 min
Total time: 1 h 30 min
Yield: 10 tacos
Cuisine: Mexican
Ingredients: 2 lb Beef small intestine (tripas), cleaned; 1 White onion, halved; 4 Garlic cloves; 2 Bay leaves; 2 Limes, halved; 1 1/2 tbsp Salt; 3 tbsp Lard; 6 Chiles de árbol; 2 Roma tomatoes; 1 Garlic clove; to taste Salt; 1/2 White onion, finely diced; 1/2 cup Cilantro, chopped; to serve Lime wedges; 10 Corn tortillas

Beef tripas simmered with aromatics until tender, then fried in lard until shatteringly crisp outside and creamy within — the two-stage technique every Jalisco taquero swears by. A fiery árbol salsa and plenty of lime cut the richness.

Time: 1 hr 30 min
Heat
Yield: 10 tacos
Region: Jalisco

Ingredients

Tripas

Salsa roja de árbol

To build

Per-100g nutrition (9 ingredients verified)

Ingredient	kcal	Protein	Fat	Carbs
Garlic cloves	100	0 g	0 g	20 g
Bay leaves	0	0 g	0 g	0 g
Salt	0	0 g	0 g	1330 g
Lard	902	0 g	100 g	0 g
Roma tomatoes	24	0.7 g	0.3 g	4.7 g
Salt	0	0 g	0 g	1330 g
White onion, finely diced	29	1.2 g	0 g	7.1 g
Cilantro, chopped	23	2.1 g	0.5 g	3.7 g
Corn tortillas	188	3.1 g	1.6 g	40.6 g

Values are per 100 g of the listed ingredient. Nutrition data: USDA FoodData Central (snapshot 2026-09-11). Ingredients without a verified match are omitted.

Method

Rinse the tripas thoroughly under cold water, rubbing them with the halved limes, then cut into 3-inch lengths.
Cover with water, add the onion, garlic, bay, and salt, and simmer until tender but not falling apart.
While they simmer, toast the árbol chiles and char the tomatoes on a comal, then blend with garlic and salt into a hot, rusty salsa.
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Drain the tripas well — dry tripas crisp, wet tripas steam.
Fry them in lard over medium-high heat, turning occasionally, until deeply golden and crackling at the edges.
Chop the crisped tripas, warm the tortillas, and build each taco with salsa de árbol, onion, cilantro, and a hard squeeze of lime.