Del Real Chicken & Cheese Tamales Review

So easy, even a gullible person can cook these.

This was an impulse buy. I saw these Del Real tamales at Costco, and I catapulted them into my cart without knowing a dang thing about how they would taste. Fortunately, this story has a happy ending.

This review is not going to discuss how authentic these tamales are — because I really wouldn’t know. I will only be discussing how tasty they are, how to prepare them, and what’s in ‘em.

Buckle up.

The tamales come in a big 3.75 pound plastic bag of 12 tamales. They’re fresh, not frozen, although you can opt to freeze them after purchase to prolong the lifespan.

I dig that these come in 3 sealed pouches of 4 tamales each. That allows me to eat these over a longer period of time before they spoil. The sell-by date on mine provided approximately 2.5 months to consume. It’s also easy to toss one or two of the pouches in the freezer for later, and eat the rest fresh.

Each tamale is wrapped in a fake cornhusk wrapping. The wrappers are textured and damp, to keep the tamales moist. I thought they were real cornhusks when I bought ‘em. But, no. Fake.

My sister once convinced me that the word “gullible” wasn’t in the Dictionary.

So, yeah.

Here is what they look like unwrapped and raw. Or maybe that’s cooked. Sorry, I took the pictures and forgot. Use your imagination.

The heating instructions offered two methods: microwave or steamer basket.

I used my microwave. I followed the directions to wrap the tamales in a damp paper towel and microwave for 60-75 seconds. 60 seconds was perfect for mine. 75 seconds was also perfect. How can they both be perfect? Nobody knows.

I was fairly skeptical that microwaving in a damp paper towel would yield quality results, but I was wrong. As usual.

It was perfect.

They also have instructions for microwaving or steaming frozen tamales, which is convenient, because I have frozen some of mine. Check back and I will update with those results.

(Maybe. Honestly, who knows.)

Here is a finished, cooked tamale. It’s moist, tender, and evenly heated. Amazing. They are easy to unwrap — even a clumsy, accident-prone idjit such as myself was able to do with without burning my fingers or breaking the tamale. They slide right off the fake corn husk wrapper and onto your plate. Everything in life should be this easy.

Something I would NOT recommend is re-heating these after you’ve microwaved them. I tried that and the tamale was dry and tough. Do not attempt.

The cheese is a blend of mozzarella, monterey jack, and cheddar. It’s verrrry soft and liquid — oozy, in fact. But it stays inside the shell. Frankly, there is not that much of it to ooze out in the first place.

Likewise, there is very little chicken inside the tamale. It’s finely shredded, and moist, but just not a lot of it. The sauce is merely a thin coating around the chicken and shell. These tamales are uber mild. There’s really no “heat” or spiciness. So if you like spicy, I would add your own sauce or salsa to kick this up.

Mostly there is tamale shell. That’s the bulk of what you’re getting. These tamales don’t look anything like the picture on the front of the bag, which shows lots of meaty filling. You’re getting thick corn tamale shell with a thin, flat layer of sparse chicken flakes in a small amount of oozy cheese.

Here’s a reminder, in case you forgot what the picture on the label looked like:

Fortunately, the corn shell tasted excellent. I was not at all disappointed. It’s tender and moist, but holds its shape well. It has a pleasant — but mild — savory flavor. It’s tasty enough that I’m not angry about the meager filling. I do like my carbs, though.

Ingredients and Shelf-life

Here are the ingredients:

• Masa (whole cooked corn [corn treated with lime water], canola oil, rice flour, chicken bouillon [salt, sugar, corn starch, chicken fat, dried chicken powder, beef fat, water, onion powder, natural chicken flavor, garlic powder, natural flavor, caramel color], salt)
• Filling (chicken in red sauce [chicken leg meat, tomato, tomato sauce [tomato concentrate, salt, citric acid, red bell pepper powder, natural flavoring, spice], water, onion, mirepoix powder, modified corn starch, canola oil, salt, jalapeno peppers [jalapeno peppers, water, vinegar, salt], garlic powder, spices], mozzarella cheese [pasteurized part skim milk, cheese culture, salt, enzyme] monterey jack cheese [pasteurized milk, cheese culture, salt, enzymes] cheddar cheese [pasteurized milk, cheese cultures, salt, enzymes, and annatto]

Mine expire ~2.5 months from the date of purchase, and can be frozen for longer storage. As mentioned above, these are packed in three separate sealed pouches of four tamales each.

Nutrition

A serving size is one tamale, which is 5 ounces and quite filling! There’s only 10 grams of protein per tamale, unfortunately. And 21 grams of fat. But you get 2 grams of fiber, so that’s a nice little token?

Price and Servings

The whole 3.75 pound bag of tamales cost $16.99 at Costco, although these are available at many other retailers in smaller packages for similar price per ounce. Since there are 12 tamales in the bag, that works out to $1.42 per tamale. Despite my best efforts, I was not able to eat more than 1 tamale at a time, so I would say you are truly getting 12 meals from this bag. I did serve mine with rice and beans and sauce.

Dramatic Conclusion

In conclusion, I would buy these again. I liked them a lot, and they were much more convenient and fool-proof than I expected. Plus, the long shelf-life is a boon. I might plan my meals with some added protein, like beans and a cheese garnish to round out the nutrition and make me feel better about myself. Everyone needs to feel better about themselves. Even my sister, who lied about the Dictionary.

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Author’s note: I wasn’t paid or compensated in any way for this review and I have no affiliation with Del Real or Costco. Also, I still love my sister.