How to Make Tamales in Bulk, With a Scaling Calculator

Tamales scale in two parts: the masa and filling, which scale by weight like any recipe, and the spreading and folding, which stay hand work however big the run gets. Write both as percentages of the whole, weigh the masa onto every husk, and fill steamers by weight. A masa spreader cuts the spreading time; nothing much cuts the folding. Done this way, a tamale maker that made 4 dozen at a time makes about 145 dozen for the holidays, and the cost of a dozen falls from $16.67 to $10.63. Below is the recipe at three sizes, the steps, the loss, what a dozen costs at each size, and a free scaling calculator.

The short version

• Write the masa and the filling as percentages of the whole.
• Weigh the masa for each tamale: same weight, same steam.
• A masa spreader saves time; folding stays hand work.
• Fill steamers by weight and steam full loads.
• Cool fast before freezing; the pork filling is the reason.
• Labor is still the biggest cost of a dozen at scale.
• TaroStack keeps the recipe by weight, takes each batch's ingredients off stock and checks its yield. More below.

The recipe, by percentage

Paint Branch Tamale Co., the made-up tamale maker in Hyattsville, Maryland, I use in these examples, made about 4 dozen pork tamales at a time, 4 ounces each, until holiday orders reached 150 dozen a week. Masa and filling, weighed together:

The 450 pounds cost $810.00 in ingredients; the pork is a quarter of the weight and half the cost. Writing masa and filling as one recipe keeps them matched, so a run never ends with masa left over and no pork. Pricing a dozen is in how to price tamales.

The steps, at 450 pounds

1. Cook the filling the day before. Pork shoulder braised, shredded and mixed with the chile sauce, cooled fast and kept cold.
2. Beat the masa by the mix. Lard whipped, then masa, broth, salt and baking powder, about 50 pounds of masa a mix.
3. Spread by weight. About 2.5 ounces of masa a husk, by spreader or by hand, checked on a scale every few dozen.
4. Fill and fold. About an ounce and a half of filling each, folded and stood in steamer racks.
5. Steam by the load. 50 pounds a load, about 200 tamales, until the masa pulls clean from the husk.
6. Cool, then bag or freeze. Cooled on racks before bagging by the dozen; frozen dozens go into the freezer cold, not warm.
7. Label with a lot code. Every dozen carries the run's lot, the date and how to reheat.

The run takes about 32 hours of labor over three days, with four people folding on the big day.

What a dozen costs at each size

Fresh masa from a tortillería and pork shoulder by the case cut the ingredients by two-fifths, and the husks by the bale cut the packaging by half. The labor falls only by a quarter, from 18 minutes a dozen to 13.2, because the folding is the same for every tamale. That's why the holiday price stays where it is. The bags are in how to package tamales for sale.

Cooling and freezing

Pork filling is a cooked meat that has to be cooled fast and kept cold, and so are the steamed tamales before they're frozen: warm dozens stacked in a freezer cool slowly in the middle. Cool on racks, bag, and freeze flat. A cooling log for the filling is in cooling log template.

Get the calculator

Download the tamale scaling calculator. Two sheets: scale the recipe, where you type each ingredient's percentage and cost a pound and the raw mix you want, and each ingredient's weight for the run fills in, with the steamer loads, what comes out after the steaming loss, the dozens it fills and the cost of each dozen; and weigh the loss, where what went in and came out over a few batches gives your average steaming loss. It's an ordinary Excel file with no macros, and it works in Google Sheets, LibreOffice and Numbers.

Where this stops working

Pork, chicken, rajas and sweet, a run every day in December, masa from two tortillerías, and a freezer full of dozens from different days. A sheet can say how much masa a run needs, but not which pork went into which dozen, or which dozens in the freezer are the oldest.

How TaroStack does it

TaroStack keeps the recipe by weight, takes each batch's ingredients off stock and checks its yield.

The recipe in the units you use. A recipe holds each ingredient by weight, with masa bought by the 50-pound bag and used by the pound, and the cost of every dozen comes from what you paid. "What could I make right now" says how many runs the masa, pork and husks on the shelf allow.

Each run a batch. A run takes its ingredients off stock, records the lots of masa and pork it used, and gets a lot of its own for the dozens, with how much came out good, how much was rejected and the labor minutes.

Yield checked from history. From your own batch history, TaroStack says whether a recipe yields what it claims and which ingredient's quantity is off, so a steaming loss that creeps up shows in the numbers. A bag of masa that soured is an adjustment with its reason, spoiled, and shows in the waste report.

Recipes, batches, lots and yield are on every plan, from $49 a month. The first 30 days are free, with no credit card. If you'd like a hand setting up, ask, and we'll do it with you.

Questions people also ask

How many tamales does 10 pounds of masa make?

In the example, at about 2.5 ounces of masa a tamale, roughly 64 tamales, a little over 5 dozen.

How do you make tamales for a large group?

Make the filling the day before, beat the masa in a mixer, spread it by weight, and steam full loads; folding is the slow part, so line up helpers.

How long do you steam a big batch of tamales?

Until the masa pulls clean from the husk; a full steamer takes longer than a pot, so test one from the middle.

How much does it cost to make tamales in bulk?

In the example, $10.63 a dozen in a 450-pound run, against $16.67 in a kitchen batch.