The holiday season is upon us, and as any real El Pasoan will tell you, it wouldn’t be Christmas if you didn't stuff your face with a plateful of steaming hot tamales at least once.

The delicious mixture of masa filled with chicken or pork, wrapped in a corn husk, and steamed to perfection is a requirement this time of the year.

And while a tamalada, or tamal-making party, is the only way to go for many, I personally prefer to take the easy way out and just buy a dozen or three. Fortunately for me and my kind, El Paso is a big tamal town and there are plenty of restaurants and bakeries that make them as good as any lady selling them out of a cooler at a Lower Valley Walmart parking lot.

But where can the best Christmas tamales in El Paso be found? We recently posed that question on Mike and Tricia Facebook and Mike & Tricia Mornings, and we have a winner.

Congratulations La Tapatia! La Tapatia is a Mexican restaurant in Ysleta right off of Alameda, at 8941 Old County Dr. But, if you’re not up for a drive to the Lower Valley, their tamales are also available for purchase at Albertsons, Food City, Vista stores, and Vista Quality Market.

La Tapatia Inc. has proudly served the El Paso community for 70 years. La Tapatia specializes in a variety of Mexican food products but it is renowned for its tamales, which continue to be made with its traditional award-winning recipe – La Tapatia Facebook

As previously noted at the beginning of this ode to the tamal, El Pasoans gotta have their tamales so chances are there’s a place known and loved for theirs near you. Below are 9 other places to get your Christmas tamales.

The List was compiled using Mike & Tricia’s own voodoo science consisting of a mix of our listener’s input, Yelp and Foursquare ratings, opinions of trusted tamal-loving friends and family, and our own taste buds. Now, as far as the red or green debate, well, that’s easy; a dozen of both, of course!

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