How many corn husks for tamales
Count one husk per tamale, up to one and a half if yours are small or tear, and soak about 10% more than that. For a dozen that is 14 to 20 husks. Recipes rarely print a husk count, so the numbers below come from the few that do plus my own allowance.
| Dozens | Tamales | Husks to soak, spares included | Pounds of husks at Hola Jalapeno's ratio |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 12 | 14 to 20 | 0.6 lb |
| 2 | 24 | 27 to 40 | 1.2 lb |
| 3 | 36 | 40 to 60 | 1.8 lb |
| 4 | 48 | 53 to 80 | 2.4 lb |
| 5 | 60 | 66 to 99 | 3 lb |
| 6 | 72 | 80 to 119 | 3.6 lb |
| 8 | 96 | 106 to 159 | 4.8 lb |
| 10 | 120 | 132 to 198 | 6 lb |
Low end: 1 husk per tamale plus 10%. High end: 1.5 per tamale plus 10%. Both ends are rounded up to whole husks.
Where the numbers come from
The Food Network Kitchen pork tamales list 24 corn husks for a yield of 24 tamales. That is the 1 per tamale at the low end.
Hola Jalapeno prints weight instead of a count: 1 pound of corn husks for a 20-tamale recipe, or 4 pounds of banana leaves. That works out to 0.05 lb per tamale, the last column above. The page does not say how many husks a pound holds.
The 10% spares follow the MissVickie tamale calculator, which suggests soaking 10% to 15% more wrappers because some tear or have thick spots. I used 10%.
The 1.5 per tamale high end is mine. Use it if your husks are narrow, if you are new to spreading, or if you tie the ends with strips torn from extra husks.
What I could not confirm
I did not find a count per pound on any page I opened, and bags vary by brand and husk size. Count one bag at home before you buy the rest. If a 1 lb bag holds fewer husks than your table row, buy a second one early.
Example: 15 guests at 4 each
That is 5 dozen, 60 tamales, so soak 66 to 99 husks. At Hola Jalapeno's ratio it is about 3 lb. Run it with your own numbers to get husks along with masa, lard, filling and steamer loads.
Back to the tamalada planner, or see how much masa per dozen tamales and how many tamales per person. Planning the pot? See how long to steam tamales.