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These Mexican bakeries in Chicago offer the special item for Day of the Dead
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My family visits my grandmother Julia’s home every year in a small village outside of Puebla, a few hours from Mexico City. For days we dedicate ourselves to preparing her favorite dishes and hosting several relatives, friends, and neighbors.
We delight in sharing stories about my grandma’s mole and tamales. As one of her town’s most celebrated cooks, we make sure the food we serve is up to her standards. Like many Mexican parties, this goes well into the night. But, unlike most others, its observance is simultaneously private and collective; it bridges spirit and body; it happens in this life and in the next one, as my grandma and many other guests at this party are no longer with us.
My family’s party is merely a snapshot of Día de Muertos, an elaborate and mystical celebration shared with the souls of our departed share and those still alive. Ofrendas, or offerings, are carefully and lovingly curated with food, drink, and other symbols believed to guide, welcome, and feed the souls of those who have crossed over.
An essential ofrenda, one that’s usually easy to spot well ahead of time, is pan de muerto, or “bread made from dead.” This ceremonial item is a result of the convergence of peoples, cosmogonies, and ingredients from five centuries ago in pre-Hispanic Mexico.
The recipe for pan de muerto generally calls for flour, salt, sugar, water, butter, eggs, and yeast, though the final product varies from state to state — and even from community to community. Variations include lard, pulque, milk, anise seeds, cinnamon, orange peel, or orange blossom essence, which give the bread different textures and flavors.
The most well-known presentation is a round bread decorated with a skull, tears, or bones and pointing to the four cardinal directions. Other variations include animals, ribbons, hearts, flowers, or human figures.
Pan de muerto comes in different shapes, decorations, and sizes. For example, the shape of the pan de muerto alludes to the funeral mound created during burial, and some speak about its circular shape as a nod to life’s cycle. Different shades of red are often seen on it, as the color is associated with the ceremonial dust used to distinguish important figures in pre-Hispanic funerals.
And while the round or slightly oval shapes with either sugar or sesame seeds are the most commonly found in the city, we also spotted quite a few places that carry it in the form of human figures.
In Chicago, home to the second largest Mexican-born immigrant community in the U.S., including a robust representation from standout bread-focused states like Guanajuato and Michoacán, there is no shortage of traditional-style Mexican bakeries. The increasing demand for pan de muerto has made the bread so easily accessible that some establishments sell it all year.
Here is a list of some of the bakeries where you can find it. Note that most businesses will carry pan de muerto through Wednesday, November 2 — Dia de Los Muertos.
Biting into Acapulco’s fresh pan de muerto might remind you of eating a concha with a light cinnamon flavor. Find it in three sizes, small, medium, and large. The pastries are covered with sesame seeds or white/pink sugar.
Sisters Lizzete and Marisol Espinoza offer a variety of Mexican regional specialties at their Hermosa bakery. Their pan de muerto includes the traditional Oaxacan pan de yema, a sweet, dense, and drier egg breakfast staple, complete with a face made of bread dough.
In Oaxaca, pan de yema is served year-round, and during Día de Muertos, the round pieces are decorated with faces made of porcelain or sugar (alfeñiques) to represent the deceased.
Pan Artesanal also puts its personal touch and offers versions of the pastry with a brioche-like texture and different fillings like Nutella, sugar, and orange, as well as vanilla with red fruits. The store features an ofrenda with a larger-than-life handmade Catrina.
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A Little Village staple with a long history and well-known for its heart-shaped cookies called hojarascas, El Nopal offers individual pieces of pan de muerto flavored with anise and sprinkled with sugar.
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This bakery brings Guanajuato’s baking tradition to West Lawn, offering a solid assortment of Mexican pan dulce favorites. Bambinos’ pan de muerto comes in either large or individual sizes and is covered with a choice of sugar or sesame seeds. You might want to call ahead, as pan de muerto is only available on the weekends.
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A mildly sweet and orange-flavored pan de muerto comes out of the ovens of this Logan Square bakery. The light and airy pan de muerto is available as human shapes and individual round pastries sprinkled with orange sugar.
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Jalisco-based Mexican coffee shop La Borra del Café features a choice of plain, sesame seed, or sugar-covered individually-sized pan de muerto within its pan dulce assortment. La Borra del Café has a handful of stores in the Chicago area. The cafe in Wicker Park has set up a small ofrenda.
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Located in the central Mexican state of Guanajuato, the town of Acámbaro is known for its bread. Erika Beltrán and her family, who hail from Acámbaro, have been in the bread business for more than a decade. The bakery is not offering the animal or human shapes typical of Día de Muertos in Guanajuato. Still, they are capturing the local cinnamon flavor for their pan de muerto, which is large enough to serve four and is soft and chewy.
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A popular destination for pan dulce for nearly 50 years, Panadería Nuevo León sells hundreds of pieces of pan de muerto each day. The bakery creates dense, butter-and-anise-flavored round loaves with or without pink sugar. Human shapes are also available. Call ahead. They sell out quickly.
Hailing from the bread-conscious state of Guanajuato and with a baker lineup representing a few Mexican states, Artemio’s owner Artemio Cancino caters to hyper-local requests from his bakeries’ Mexican clients. At the same time, he is constantly adapting to the ever-changing face of the two neighborhoods (Lakeview, Wicker Park) he serves. At Artemio’s, pan de muerto is available year-round, with the only difference being that the version with sprinkled sugar is only made for Día de Muertos season. Call ahead. Pan de muerto sells out early.
To celebrate the season, Frontera pastry chef Jennifer Melendrez has added a warm bread pudding made with pan de muerto. The dessert is served with a scoop of Mexican cinnamon ice cream, pomegranate seeds, and calabaza en tacha, a traditional seasonal dessert made with pumpkin and raw sugar. For Melendrez, Día de Muertos provides an opportunity to share some of her many dishes she wishes her late father could try.
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Biting into Acapulco’s fresh pan de muerto might remind you of eating a concha with a light cinnamon flavor. Find it in three sizes, small, medium, and large. The pastries are covered with sesame seeds or white/pink sugar.
Sisters Lizzete and Marisol Espinoza offer a variety of Mexican regional specialties at their Hermosa bakery. Their pan de muerto includes the traditional Oaxacan pan de yema, a sweet, dense, and drier egg breakfast staple, complete with a face made of bread dough.
In Oaxaca, pan de yema is served year-round, and during Día de Muertos, the round pieces are decorated with faces made of porcelain or sugar (alfeñiques) to represent the deceased.
Pan Artesanal also puts its personal touch and offers versions of the pastry with a brioche-like texture and different fillings like Nutella, sugar, and orange, as well as vanilla with red fruits. The store features an ofrenda with a larger-than-life handmade Catrina.
A Little Village staple with a long history and well-known for its heart-shaped cookies called hojarascas, El Nopal offers individual pieces of pan de muerto flavored with anise and sprinkled with sugar.
This bakery brings Guanajuato’s baking tradition to West Lawn, offering a solid assortment of Mexican pan dulce favorites. Bambinos’ pan de muerto comes in either large or individual sizes and is covered with a choice of sugar or sesame seeds. You might want to call ahead, as pan de muerto is only available on the weekends.
A mildly sweet and orange-flavored pan de muerto comes out of the ovens of this Logan Square bakery. The light and airy pan de muerto is available as human shapes and individual round pastries sprinkled with orange sugar.
Jalisco-based Mexican coffee shop La Borra del Café features a choice of plain, sesame seed, or sugar-covered individually-sized pan de muerto within its pan dulce assortment. La Borra del Café has a handful of stores in the Chicago area. The cafe in Wicker Park has set up a small ofrenda.
Located in the central Mexican state of Guanajuato, the town of Acámbaro is known for its bread. Erika Beltrán and her family, who hail from Acámbaro, have been in the bread business for more than a decade. The bakery is not offering the animal or human shapes typical of Día de Muertos in Guanajuato. Still, they are capturing the local cinnamon flavor for their pan de muerto, which is large enough to serve four and is soft and chewy.
A popular destination for pan dulce for nearly 50 years, Panadería Nuevo León sells hundreds of pieces of pan de muerto each day. The bakery creates dense, butter-and-anise-flavored round loaves with or without pink sugar. Human shapes are also available. Call ahead. They sell out quickly.
Hailing from the bread-conscious state of Guanajuato and with a baker lineup representing a few Mexican states, Artemio’s owner Artemio Cancino caters to hyper-local requests from his bakeries’ Mexican clients. At the same time, he is constantly adapting to the ever-changing face of the two neighborhoods (Lakeview, Wicker Park) he serves. At Artemio’s, pan de muerto is available year-round, with the only difference being that the version with sprinkled sugar is only made for Día de Muertos season. Call ahead. Pan de muerto sells out early.
To celebrate the season, Frontera pastry chef Jennifer Melendrez has added a warm bread pudding made with pan de muerto. The dessert is served with a scoop of Mexican cinnamon ice cream, pomegranate seeds, and calabaza en tacha, a traditional seasonal dessert made with pumpkin and raw sugar. For Melendrez, Día de Muertos provides an opportunity to share some of her many dishes she wishes her late father could try.