If you live outside the Southwest, chances are you’ve never seen a bag of corn chicos in your local grocery store. While they may look just like any other kernel, dried chicos are a true New Mexican specialty.
At Loma Vista Products, we’re proud to share this lesser-known heritage ingredient with a wider audience. New Mexico chicos aren’t just dried corn. They carry the smoky flavor of wood-fired horno ovens, the history of preservation, and the distinct taste of authentic New Mexico.
In this post, we’ll explain what chicos are, why they matter, and the many ways you can cook with them at home.
What Are Chicos Corn: A Southwest Delicacy
At first glance, chicos might look like small, wrinkled kernels of dried corn, but their unique flavor and history set them apart.
Chicos are made by steaming fresh ears of corn in their husks, then slow-roasting them in traditional outdoor horno ovens—adobe ovens still used across New Mexico. Once dried and shelled, the kernels take on a smoky, slightly sweet taste that’s unlike any other corn product.
They’re often compared to hominy or pozole, but chicos are different.
While hominy is puffed from being nixtamalized (treated with lime), chicos keep their natural shape and develop a chewy texture with deep roasted flavor. That makes them perfect for stews, soups, and side dishes where you want both substance and flavor.
How to recognize quality chicos:
- Color: golden yellow to deep brown, with natural variation from roasting
- Smell: a smoky, wood-fired aroma that lingers
- Texture: dry and wrinkled when raw, plump and chewy once cooked
Because they’re labor-intensive to make, hornos chicos aren’t mass-produced. That’s why you rarely see them outside New Mexico.
For those who know them, though, they’re a cherished ingredient used in many recipes that carries both comfort and tradition.
Let’s explore the culture and history that surround them.
History, Culture & Regional Significance of Chicos Del Horno
Chicos have been part of Southwestern cooking for centuries, especially in Northern parts of New Mexico. Pueblo and Hispanic communities developed the process as a way to preserve corn harvests long before refrigeration.
Roasting ears in horno ovens not only extended their shelf life but also gave chicos their distinct smoky-sweet flavor.
For many families, chicos are tied to seasonal traditions.
Some remember making them during harvest, while others recall simmering pots of chicos with red chile for Christmas Eve dinners or Sunday meals. These dishes carried stories, memories, and the passing down of cultural knowledge.
Over time, mass food production nearly pushed dried corn chicos out of everyday kitchens. But in recent years, they’ve seen a quiet revival. More people are rediscovering chicos for their heritage value, their one-of-a-kind taste, and their ability to connect a meal today with centuries of tradition.
Understanding why chicos matter also means appreciating how they’re made. The traditional process is time-intensive, but it’s what gives corn chicos their one-of-a-kind flavor.
How To Cook Chicos the Traditional Way
Making chicos is labor-intensive but worth it.
This is a method developed to preserve corn and a ritual tied to community harvests. The steps have changed little over the centuries:
- Harvesting – ears of corn are picked young and left in their husks.
- Steaming and Roasting – corn is roasted in outdoor horno ovens, often fueled by wood.
- Drying – after roasting, the corn is left to dry completely, sometimes hung in bundles or spread out
- Removing Kernels – once dry, kernels are rubbed from the cobs and stored for cooking
Because every step requires patience and care, chicos are made in small batches and rarely mass-produced.
Each kernel is a product of time, effort, and tradition which is why they remain so special in New Mexican cooking. Neither fresh corn nor masa can recreate the unique smoky-sweet flavor of chicos.
Once chicos are made and stored, the real magic happens in the kitchen. Cooking with them takes a little time, but the flavor and texture make it well worth the effort.
How To Cook Chicos for Modern Kitchens & Recipes
Chicos may be a heritage food, but they’re easy to bring into your own kitchen.
Because they’re dried, they need soaking and slow simmering, much like beans. Once softened, they add smoky-sweet flavor and a chewy texture to a wide variety of dishes.
Here’s a basic method to rehydrate them:
- Rinse chicos thoroughly.
- Soak in water overnight (8–12 hours).
- Drain and simmer in fresh water or broth for 2–3 hours, until tender.
Let’s look at some recipe ideas for how to use this unique ingredient.
Classic Ways To Use Chicos
Chicos with red chile is perhaps the most iconic dish.
The sweet smokiness of chicos balances perfectly with the heat of red chile sauce, creating a deeply satisfying bowl that feels like smoky, comfort food. To make it, simmer soaked chicos in broth until tender, then stir in prepared red chile sauce and season to taste.
Pork stew with chicos is another traditional favorite.
Slow-cooked pork shoulder simmered with chicos makes for a hearty meal that’s especially popular in colder months, similar to posole stew. Start by browning pork, then add chicos, broth, and seasonings, and let it all cook low and slow.
For something simpler, chicos and beans is as easy as it gets.
A pot of beans takes on extra depth when a handful of chicos is added to the simmer. The result is a dish that’s both filling and full of flavor. Just add pre-soaked chicos to your beans as they cook, letting them blend into the broth.
And for lighter meals, vegetable soups with chicos showcase their versatility.
Toss chicos into brothy soups with green chile, squash, or zucchini, and you get a vegetarian-friendly dish with texture and smokiness that makes it stand out. Add them at the start of cooking so they soften and release their flavor into the broth.
In essence, chicos can be added anywhere you’d like a smoky-sweet corn flavor to enhance everyday cooking.
Cooking chicos takes a little planning, but once you taste them, you’ll see why they’ve been preserved and celebrated for generations.
Discover Authentic Corn Chicos for Sale With Loma
At Loma Vista Products, we believe cooking with traditional foods like chicos are well worth the effort. They’re part of the cultural fabric of New Mexico and sharing them helps keep these heritage flavors alive for future generations.
Cooking with chicos isn’t difficult, but it does require patience and it’s difficult to find this heritage ingredient anywhere but the Southwest. But with a soak, a simmer, and the right recipe, dishes made with chicos are smoky, comforting, and very much worth it.
Order our chicos corn for sale today and try out this heritage ingredient for yourself!