Howdy! Welcome to Homesick Texan!
Are you hungry for Texas home cooking? From enchiladas to queso, and from a pot of chili to a slice of sheet cake, this collection of recipes holds plenty of wonderful dishes for you to cook and share. Enjoy a warm bowl of chicken tortilla soup, our featured recipe! A cold weather favorite!

Frito pie with one-hour Texas chili
When my grandparents were in graduate school at the University of Kentucky, they were—of course—homesick Texans. But they soon figured out that they could feel a lot closer to home…

Texas pork green chili
Was October a strange month for y’all? It sure was for me. Every time I turned around, it seemed something had gone awry. Whether it was the computer meltdown we…

Chili Queens chili
The first time I heard about the San Antonio Chili Queens, I was on a plane. A friend wanted to make a documentary about Tex-Mex, and she showed me her…
Homesick Texan subscriptions
There are hundreds of free recipes on this site, but would you like access to even more? Consider a paid subscription! Each paid subscription not only shares new and exclusive recipes, but the subscriber program also helps keep the site up and running. Thank you for your consideration!
Latest posts

Bran muffins
My grandma’s last meal was a bran muffin. This was apt, since eating a warm one was her favorite way to begin the day. She liked to share, and she’d…

Crawfish queso
On a coastal road trip, I spotted a place outside Corpus Christi with a sign out front that read, “Crawfish queso.” I decided to stop and have a bite. It…

Sour cream enchiladas, East Dallas style
If your family is like mine, you have a favorite Tex-Mex restaurant. This is the place where you know you can get a large table that will hold everyone, and…

Salted butterscotch oatmeal cookies
There is one cookie that reminds me of Dallas in the 1970s—a chewy oatmeal cookie laced with caramelized butterscotch chips. When I was young, a plate of these was seen…

New Year’s Day grits and greens
A few years ago, I woke up on New Year’s Day with a craving for collard greens. While I ordinarily prefer coffee and banana smoothies for breakfast, I went with my urge and prepared a pot….

Rosemary bacon spiced pecans
In a novel I was recently reading, a character had friends over for dinner. While she cooked she offered her guests bacon rosemary spiced pecans. Her guests loved the smoky,…
Citrus

Ruby red grapefruit and pecan sheet cake
March 2 is Texas Independence Day. On this day 176 years ago, a group convened at Washington-on-the-Brazos (back then simply known as Washington) to craft a declaration of independence from…

Pepita-lime crescent cookies
I had a design meeting with my book editors recently. My contribution? I brought cookies. They enjoyed the cookies but then I felt guilty. See, I made them cookies but…

An epiphany about grapefruit
I have a confession to make: I don’t really like grapefruit. And this makes me sad. Don’t get me wrong—grapefruit is pleasing on many levels. It’s pleasing to the eye…

Sopa de lima (Mexican lime soup) recipe
Whenever I get together with my Texan friends in New York, we’ll usually cook our favorite dishes from back home. Enchiladas, chicken-fried steak, brisket and chile con queso all make…

Pork shoulder roast with garlic, citrus, and herbs
When reading a Texas community cookbook from the late 1950s, I came across an herbed pork roast studded with garlic, rosemary, and citrus. Often when I go through mid-century cookbooks,…

Ancho chile shrimp quesadillas
For me, driving through Texas is therapeutic. Seeing the big sky, the wide-open spaces, the cattle, the trees, and the cacti out my window is always a pleasure—coming from New…
Meet Lisa Fain
Lisa Fain is the cook, writer, and photographer behind Homesick Texan. A James Beard award-winning writer and seventh-generation Texan, she is also the author of three books—The Homesick Texan Cookbook, The Homesick Texan’s Family Table, and Queso: Regional Recipes for the World’s Favorite Chile-Cheese Dip.