How much masa per dozen tamales
Plan on about 1 lb of fresh masa per dozen standard tamales, or about 2 cups of masa harina. I opened six recipe amounts and divided each by its yield. The table shows what each page prints and what that comes to per dozen.
| Recipe | Tamales | Fresh masa, lb per dozen | Masa harina, cups per dozen | Lard, cups per dozen |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sur La Table, Basic Fresh Masa Preparada | 36 | 1 | - | 0.44 |
| 5280, how to host your own tamale making party | 60 | 1 | - | - |
| Food Network, Trevino Family chicken tamales | 36 | 1 | - | - |
| Hola Jalapeno, how many tamales per person | 20 | 1.2 | 4.8 | 0.6 |
| Food Network Kitchen, pork tamales | 24 | - | 2 | 0.67 |
| Mama Maggie's Kitchen, how to make masa for tamales (12 tamales) | 12 | - | 2 | 0.67 |
| Mama Maggie's Kitchen (50 tamales) | 50 | - | 1.92 | 0.6 |
A dash means the page gives no figure. The 5280 lard is printed in pounds (2 lb for 5 dozen), so it has no cups entry here.
What each page prints
- Sur La Table, Basic Fresh Masa Preparada: 3 pounds fresh masa, 1 1/3 cups lard or butter, 2 cups broth plus more as needed. Makes about 3 dozen.
- 5280, how to host your own tamale making party: 5 pounds fresh masa, 2 pounds lard, 2 to 3 cups broth. Yield 5 dozen. 7 to 8 pounds pork butt, 6 1/2 cups red chile sauce.
- Food Network, Trevino Family chicken tamales: Yield line: "3 pounds of masa equals 3 dozen". The ingredient list says 6 pounds masa and 2 1/2 pounds lard or shortening.
- Hola Jalapeno, how many tamales per person: For 20 tamales: 8 cups masa harina or 2 pounds fresh masa, 1 cup lard or oil, 1 pound corn husks.
- Food Network Kitchen, pork tamales: 4 cups masa harina, 1 1/3 cups lard, 2 1/2 pounds boneless pork shoulder, 24 corn husks. Yield 24. Steam 45 to 50 minutes.
- Mama Maggie's Kitchen, how to make masa for tamales (12 tamales): 2 cups masa harina, 2/3 cup lard, 1 3/4 cups hot water or broth.
- Mama Maggie's Kitchen (50 tamales): 8 cups masa harina, 2 1/2 cups lard or shortening, 7 cups broth or water.
Where they disagree
Fresh masa is the tightest: Sur La Table and 5280 both come to exactly 1.0 lb per dozen, Hola Jalapeno to 1.2. The Trevino chicken tamales on Food Network print a yield of 3 lb for 3 dozen, but the ingredient list calls for 6 lb. I can't tell which is right, so the table uses the yield line and I would not plan from that page alone.
Masa harina lands at 1.9 to 2.0 cups per dozen in the two Mama Maggie's batches and the Food Network Kitchen pork recipe. Hola Jalapeno's 8 cups for 20 tamales is 4.8 per dozen, well above the rest. I treated it as an outlier and left it out of the planner. Its page gives no size note that would explain the gap.
Lard varies the most. With masa harina it is 0.6 to 0.67 cup per dozen. With fresh masa it runs from 0.44 cup (Sur La Table) to about 0.8 (5280, if you count 2 lb of lard as 4 cups, which is my conversion). The Sur La Table ingredient note says to use plain fresh masa, not masa preparada that already has lard and flavorings (the page title and one step still say preparada).
Example: 15 guests at 4 each
That is 5 dozen, 60 tamales. At the planner's ranges you buy 5 to 7.5 lb of fresh masa, or 10 to 12.5 cups of masa harina. For red chile pork that is 6.3 to 8 lb of raw pork. Run it with your own numbers to get the full list.
What I added myself
The planner's upper ends (1.5 lb fresh masa, 2.5 cups masa harina) are my allowance for a generous spread and a few extras. None of these pages prints them. Per-dozen values are my own division of each printed amount by its printed yield. Recipes round and cooks measure differently, so treat the table as a range to buy into.
Back to the tamalada planner or see how many tamales per person and how many corn husks for tamales.