Guide · Mexico City
Where do you find the best pan de muerto in Mexico City this season? My Pan de Muerto 2026 series, from a hand-painted Talavera bread with mezcal to Elena Reygadas' sourdough classic, every one tasted and filmed on my own visit.
Updated October 23, 2026 · By Jane Novikova
The short answer · pick your night
Most of these reinvent the tradition: painted, dyed with fruit, coated in black or filled with cream. One bakes the classic so well it earns its place.
For the Talavera with mezcal
A small laminated-dough bakery near the centre of Coyoacán, known for its croissants. Its 2026 collection runs to four breads at 65 to 90 pesos each, led by the Talavera: cobalt blue painted by hand, piece by piece, flavoured with vanilla, orange blossom and mezcal. There is also a pink Pitahaya-Tuna coloured only with fruit, a guava with diplomat cream and a traditional version.
Order the Talavera a day ahead. Gift boxes are 20 to 30 pesos extra.
For the viral pink
Chef Ricardo González Foyo's small Roma Norte bakery, which grew out of a catering service. The guava pan de muerto went viral because it is pink on the outside and pink inside too, at around 55 to 60 pesos a piece, next to a traditional one with cempasúchil and a cardamom version.
In October Cardín runs pan de muerto workshops, Thursday to Sunday at 10:00 and 15:00, 900 pesos a person, booked on WhatsApp. Only a couple of tables, so plan on takeaway.
For the black pumpkin
A from-scratch bakery in Garden Santa Fe whose filled pan de muerto comes coated in black: pumpkin and lemon, generously filled with cream, plus cajeta and chocolate-coated hazelnut. It arrives in a gift box, which is the reason it photographs the way it does.
Seasonal breads are rarely on the delivery apps. Message them on WhatsApp to pre-order.
For the Sicilian
The bakery of María Ciento38, a Sicilian restaurant in a nineteenth-century casona in Santa María la Ribera. Every recipe comes from the Nonna, Antonietta Di Pasquale, who moved from Sicily in 1979. This season brings an original, a black one made with totomoxtle ash and a beetroot dough with guava, filled with a cream made with her limoncello.
The oven is lit at two in the morning and the doors open at seven. Message them to order, since the seasonal breads are rarely on the apps.
For the widest choice
The bakery and restaurant of Catalan pastry chef Xano Saguer in Roma Norte, with six pan de muerto this season: a plain one plus five filled. The new one is the Mandarina, with mascarpone and mandarin marmalade, next to chocolate-covered, hazelnut, pumpkin and Catalan cream. Freshly baked and generously filled, at 90 to 100 pesos, 75 for the plain.
Skip the breakfast queue: the bakery case runs until seven in the evening and is separate from the restaurant. Tabasco 46, on the corner of Morelia.
For the classic, done right
Panadería Rosetta, the bakery of Elena Reygadas, whose restaurant Rosetta holds a Michelin star, has baked pan de muerto since 2012 on a sourdough starter scented with orange blossom and rosemary. Just two versions: the classic sugar-coated loaf and a black one coated in sugar mixed with charred corn-husk ash.
The black one sells out early, so go in the morning.
For the competition winner
A small neighbourhood bakery in Del Valle whose passion fruit pan de muerto won the signature category at El Mero-Mero Pan de Muerto 2026, a blind tasting of ten Mexico City bakeries organised by the Sheraton María Isabel. Strained passion fruit cream with some of the seeds added back, mascarpone on top. The lineup also runs to traditional, mascarpone, pumpkin spice, chai and a Dubai chocolate with pistachio cream.
Order well ahead: the seasonal bread is not on the delivery apps, and my own order took three weeks. 50 pesos the traditional, 80 the filled ones, 95 the Dubai.
How I picked
This is my Pan de Muerto 2026 series: every bakery here is one I visited, tasted and filmed this October. I went looking for the breads worth crossing the city for, which mostly means the ones that do something new with the tradition, plus one classic baked better than anywhere else.
This guide holds every bakery in the series. My final ranking of the season, with Pan Ajeno in first place, is a separate top 5 guide.
Questions
For something you will not find anywhere else, Croque Voyage in Coyoacán and its hand-painted Talavera with vanilla, orange blossom and mezcal. For the one everyone is posting, Cardín's pink guava in Roma Norte. For a filled one, Pan Ajeno's black pumpkin, El Pan de María's limoncello cream or Çuina's new mandarin and mascarpone. For the classic, done better than anywhere, Panadería Rosetta. For the one that won a blind tasting, Artisan Bakehouse's passion fruit. My final ranking, with Pan Ajeno first, is in my top 5 guide.
On this list, from about 55 to 60 pesos a piece at Cardín to 90 to 100 pesos for Çuina's filled breads, with Croque Voyage at 65 to 90. Gift boxes cost extra. Prices were current when I filmed in October 2026.
Pan Ajeno fills its black-coated breads with cream in pumpkin, lemon, cajeta and hazelnut. El Pan de María fills its breads with a cream made with the Nonna's limoncello. Çuina has the widest choice, five filled versions including mandarin with mascarpone and Catalan cream. Croque Voyage has a guava with diplomat cream.
Pan de muerto is baked for Día de Muertos on the first and second of November, and bakeries sell it through October into early November. The unusual versions on this list are seasonal, so they disappear once the season ends.
Pan Ajeno and El Pan de María both take orders by message and deliver, but their seasonal breads are rarely listed on the delivery apps. Croque Voyage asks for the Talavera to be ordered a day ahead.
Yes. Cardín Pastelería in Roma Norte runs pan de muerto workshops in October, Thursday to Sunday at 10:00 and 15:00, for 900 pesos a person. Book on WhatsApp.
Pan Ajeno's, which comes in a gift box, and Croque Voyage's Talavera, hand painted and sold with optional gift boxes. Both look as good as they taste, which matters for a gift.
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