What is the name of the taco filled with roasted cactus pads?

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The taco filled with roasted cactus pads is called tacos de nopales.

Nopales are the young, edible pads of prickly pear cacti in the genus Opuntia. The name comes from nohpalli, a Nahuatl word for cactus pads. In Mexican cooking, the pads are cleaned of spines, sliced or diced, and grilled, sautéed, or boiled before being used as a filling.

Tacos de nopales often include onion, cilantro, salsa, cheese, or scrambled egg, and the cactus has a mildly tart flavor with a texture sometimes compared with green beans. A common mix-up is confusing nopales with tuna: tuna is the Spanish name for the cactus’s prickly pear fruit, not its pad. Nopalitos refers to cut or prepared pieces of nopal, so the terms overlap in recipes but do not name a different cactus.

Source: Wikipedia · fact-checked Aug. 2026

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