7 Arizona Delights You Must Taste

Arizona has a lot to offer, including breathtaking views of the desert, diverse cultures, excellent food, shopping, restaurants, national parks, and towering mountains. To be honest, dining out is one of my favourite things to do, and Arizona cuisine offers a wide variety of well-known and excellent dishes. Mexican food is the best because it is so near to the border with Mexico, but there are other culinary styles that are exclusive to Arizona or the Southwest. Arizona has a few distinct delicacies and delights that we are well-known for across the nation, much like New York is famous for its pizza and bagels, New Orleans for its cajun cuisine, and Texas for its barbecue.

1. Sonoran Hot Dog

The Sonoran Dog, named for the Sonoran Desert, which spans most of southern Arizona, is our counterpart to the well-known hot dog varieties found in Chicago or New York City. The Sonoran Dog is unique in that it is grilled till crispy and wrapped in bacon before being stuffed inside a thick bun or hoagie with tomatoes, onions, and pinto beans. The Sonoran Dog may occasionally include extra toppings from various restaurants, such as mustard, green chillis, jalapeño salsa, and barbecue sauce. You can be certain that you’re consuming one of Arizona’s most well-known cuisines, no matter how you choose to top your Sonoran Dog.

Originally from Hermosillo in the Mexican state of Sonora, this variation on hot dogs soon became well-known in Tucson and other regions of Arizona. Approximately 200 eateries or food trucks in Arizona presumably serve this popular dish nowadays.

2. Street Tacos

My favourite dish is street tacos, which consist of a tiny corn or flour tortilla topped with chopped avocado, shredded cabbage, lime juice and pico de gallo. The carne asada is grilled over an open flame grill. Street tacos are sold on practically every corner in Mexico. Although the laws are a little different in Arizona, there are still several restaurants across the state that serve excellent street tacos. My particular favourite is Backyard Tacos in the East Valley; the name comes from the food cart-style restaurant that used to frequently host events in people’s backyards. It is a family-owned business. After their popularity increased to the point where they could create a physical restaurant, Backyard Taco now has five locations around Mesa, Chandler, and Gilbert.

You will find hundreds of alternatives across the Phoenix Valley and beyond if you search for “best street tacos in Arizona.” The nicest thing about street tacos is that they are reasonably priced, and you can easily eat several of these little but delectable tacos in one sitting. Locals always have their favourites! Most eateries will have specials on Tuesdays in honour of Taco Tuesday, which is practically a state holiday.

3. Navajo Taco – Fry Bread

These flat pieces of fried dough are known as either fry bread or Navajo Tacos, depending on where you grew up or how long you’ve lived in Arizona. They resemble open-faced tostadas rather than tacos.

I call them Navajo Tacos, and the finest one I’ve ever had is kind of hard to get to—the best fried bread I’ve ever eaten can be found in Supai Village, which is located at the base of Havasupai Canyon. The only ways to get to this stunning canyon and village near the Grand Canyon are by foot or helicopter!

4. Chimichangas

Deep-frying food enhances its flavour significantly, and burritos are no exception. A chimichanga is a deep-fried burrito, the origins of which are debatable. The “chimi” is said to have been inadvertently created in 1922 by a Tucson chef who, to her amazement, discovered that her burrito tasted great after dropping it into a deep fried at the El Charro restaurant. Another widely accepted origin story has it that this delectable deep-fried dish was created in 1946 in the kitchen of the neighbourhood eatery Macayo’s.

We can all agree that chimichangas are excellent, regardless of when or how they were created. Chimichangas can be made with any type of burrito, but my personal favourite is just a plain bean and cheese one. A green chilli pork chimichanga is another staple; made into little chimis, they’re even delicious!

5. Cheese Crisp

The staples of Mexican cuisine are often tortilla, cheese, meat, and beans in various forms. Though I adore both, the cheese crisp is the most straightforward of these. It should not be confused with a quesadilla. Tortillas stuffed with cheese, meat, and occasionally beans or even mango salsa are wrapped over quesadillas. On the other hand, the cheese crisp consists of a single tortilla that is open-faced and heavily topped with cheese, usually cheddar. The cheese has melted completely and is mushy inside the crisp tortilla. A simple tortilla and cheese will be served most of the time, though occasionally there will be some mild toppings like pico de gallo or green chilies on top of the cheese.

Every time my parents took us to a Mexican restaurant when I was a child in Arizona, I would always order a cheese crisp and a side order of refried beans to dip it into. My favourite at-home meal or snack is still a cheese crisp or quesadilla!

6. Prickly Pear

The prickly pear cactus is a common plant in the Sonoran Desert and other areas of Arizona. It grows in the form of paddles that are stacked on top of one another, and a number of animals depend on it for food. The fruit that grows and blooms from the top of the paddle-shaped plant in the springtime gives rise to the cactus’s name.

The fruit has a luscious, soft centre, and is brilliant red with some spines on the outside. These fruits, as well as the cactus itself, provide food for javelina, a kind of wild pig that lives in the desert. With good cause, they adore the fruit in particular! Delicious fruit that adds a unique flavour to drinks, ice cream, jellies, and other foods is utilised across Arizona.

7. Scorpion Sucker

While you wouldn’t normally consider eating a scorpion, if you go to any souvenir shop or tourist attraction, you’ll typically see a sucker (the candy) with a (hopefully deceased) scorpion in the centre. This is more of a unique memento from Arizona or a practical gift you may give to a friend after your stay there than it is a delicacy or a favourite go-to pleasure for Arizonans.

Even though I’ve lived here my entire life, I don’t know of a single person who has eaten the scorpion in the middle of these suckers. However, I do know of folks who purchase them as a practical joke gift or a straightforward memento to keep in mind the desert animals that you might come across in the Grand Canyon State.

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