This sweet little hut in Vancouver serves stellar tamales out of a walk-up window, absolutely smothering them in either tomato or tomatillo salsa, avocado salsa, and sour cream. The tamales themselves are both soft and tender but also light, sopping up the flavor of their various sauces with aplomb. They’re available with fillings like pork, chicken, and rajas.

Likely the most famous spot in Portland for tamales, Tamale Boy’s wide range of both Oaxacan and Northern Mexican variations make it a local favorite. In the former, custardy, banana-leaf-steamed masa arrives filled with mole negro or citrusy cochinita pibil, while the fluffy, plump, corn-husk-steamed cousin comes with options like chile verde or chicken tinga. Another fun route at Tamale Boy: Ordering a tamale frito, a fried Northern Mexican tamale with avocado salsa and two fried eggs. You can pre-order Christmas tamales online.

Going to La Bonita and not ordering a burrito may feel like sacrilege, but the tamales on this Alberta Street Mexican restaurant’s menu are a sleeper hit. Corn-husk-steamed tamales arrive plump with things like chicken in salsa roja or pork in chile verde, and La Bonita isn’t skimpy with the filling — these guys are stuffed. Vegans will find something here as well: a tamale teeming with fajita vegetables, namely peppers and onions.

This Yucatecan spot near Rocky Butte serves the region’s style of tamales, akin to Oaxacan with a banana-leaf wrap. Mestiza’s tamales do hew a little smaller, but the texture of the masa and generous portion of filling make them stand out. They come stuffed with a tender chicken; order them alongside some of Mestiza’s fantastic panuchos.

This Southeast 82nd Mexican restaurant specializes in the foods of Oaxaca, originally starting as a farmers market mole and tamale vendor. Now, Mixteca serves around seven different varieties of Oaxacan banana-leaf tamales, dense and creamy with fillings like mole and shredded chicken. Mixteca is also one of the few spots in town with vegan tamales — many tamales use lard in their masa mix — which arrive with zucchini, green beans, and carrots.

Farmers Market aficionados will likely recognize Sara’s Tamales from days at the Gresham or Oregon City markets, but people will often find her tamales available for purchase at the People’s Food Co-Op — if she isn’t stationed there herself. Sara’s tamales use stone-ground corn as a foundation, with cool, hard-to-find options like maitake mushroom and spinach-cheese. Buy them hot at the People’s Co-Op on Wednesdays from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m.

Parked within the FoPo Food Carts pod, Los Tamales Locos serves its namesake with fillings like mole-braised pork, chicken in chile verde, and rajas. Tamales here strike the right balance of moist and fluffy, though the mole with the pork may even outshine the masa. The cart’s take on a Oaxacan tamale comes with shredded chicken and tomatillo.

This new food cart in Sellwood is making some of the most inventive tamales in the city right now, a culinary cross-section of Eastern Europe and Mexico. Tamales here arrive stuffed with things like chile-bolstered lamb, drenched in mushroom stroganoff, or filled with beets and beef with a borscht-esque sauce. Vegan options are abundant here, and the cart uses Three Sisters Nixtamal for its masa.