Mixtas: Guatemalan Hot Dogs (Street Food Style)

At first glance, mixtas look like the invention of some drunk college kid who is out of groceries and really hungry. A tortilla with a hot dog? That can’t work right?

Honestly, this was one of the best hot dogs I’ve ever had. The freshness of the guac, crunchyness from the cabbage, it’s spicy, so many delicious flavor profiles happening here.

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Mixtas Ingredients

The most common ingredients for mixtas are a hot dog, guacamole, cabbage, onion, hot sauce, mayonnaise, ketchup, and mustard. However, most street vendors will put their own twist on it, so I’ll take some liberties too.

For the hot dog purists out there, I only used mustard for a condiment (normally I like ketchup too, crucify me in the comments). There is so much flavor here, I think that’s all you really need.

I’ve made tortillas for my baleadas recipe, this time I went with store bought to save some time. For mixtas, you should use soft corn tortillas. I also added some cheese to counteract the spiciness. Queso fresco is available at most grocery stores, and is easy to crumble over the top. For the brand of hot dog, I don’t have a strong opinion (unless somebody wants to pay me, let’s make it happen Nathan’s or Oscar Meyer).

Guacamole

Guacamole is the star of the mixtas, so you want to go all out for it. This was my first time making guac, and I’m super happy with how it turned out. I used: 3 avocados, 1 serrano pepper, 1/2 a red onion, 2 garlic cloves, 2 key limes (1 regular lime works too), salt, and a metric ton of cilantro.

Cilantro is a key flavor component of guacamole, but for some people it can taste like soap, so leave it out if you happen to be one of the unlucky few.

The process for making guac is really simple. Cut your avocados in half, scoop out the seeds, and separate the juicy flesh from the skin. Add them to a mixing bowl, and pound it into a paste.

First, I would add your lime juice to prevent the avocado from oxidizing. Now, mince 1 serrano pepper, 2 garlic cloves, and 1/2 a red onion. Add them to the bowl. Finally, the cilantro. I’ll say add 3 tablespoons, but nobody is going to measure that, and I didn’t either. So, just chop to your heart’s content. Then, add salt to taste.

You could add tomatoes to the guac as well, but I omitted them since they are the star of the spicy chirmol salsa, which will go on top of the mixtas. If you want the guac a little spicier, feel free to add some cayenne pepper.

Chirmol Salsa

Chirmol is a traditional Guatemalan condiment, so I figured why not try it out on these mixtas. It is a hot salsa made with: roma tomatoes, white onion, mint, peppers, lemon juice, vinegar, and salt.

I found that using a full lemon’s worth of juice made the salsa a little watery, so I would suggest only half if you intend on adding the vinegar as well. The salsa is easy to make. All ingredients are chopped, except for the tomatoes, which are charred.

To char the tomatoes, heat up a skillet on medium heat with no liquid in it. If you add oil or butter, it will sauté instead of charring the tomato. This is a crucial step in making chirmol. It will add a little smokiness, as well as cooking the tomatoes and making them sweeter. Then, dice them or mash them into a paste. You could cook the onions as well, depends on if you want it a little sweeter or fresh and bitter.

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Assemble the Mixtas

Once you have the guacamole and chirmol made, keep it out while you finish the final preparations. These are normally served at room temperature. Slice your cabbage, then you can start on the hot dogs.

Normally, Guatemalan street vendors grill the hot dogs. If you want to be lazy, and I do, you can just add it to a hot skillet and turn it every minute or so. This will give the black char you want on the outside, and make it look more Instagram worthy. If you don’t care about that, you could just boil them.

Before assembling the mixtas, I like to toast the tortillas. Heat up a skillet and add them, with no liquid. Let it char on one side for about 10 seconds, flip it, and remove it after another 10 seconds.

You can either spread guacamole on the whole tortilla, or keep it on one side. I think one side looks a little prettier. Put the hot dog in the middle, red cabbage on the other side. Add a spoonful of chirmol on top, sprinkle cheese over that, and a healthy amount of mustard.

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If you’re interested in more delicious Latin American recipes, try some of these below!

• Bandeja paisa (Colombian meat platter)
• Lomo saltado (Peruvian stir fry)
• Chapalele (Chilean dumplings)
• Pan de bono (Colombian cheesy bread)

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