Living in Singapore · Groceries & shopping · 6 min
Where to buy Mexican ingredients in Singapore
Masa harina, dried chillies and tomatillos are not at the corner supermarket, but you can find them. Where to look.
Updated Sep 24, 2026
Cooking Mexican food in Singapore is possible, just not at FairPrice. Mainstream supermarkets cover the basics (lime, cilantro, bird's eye chillies), but anything more specific means looking elsewhere.
Masa harina: the first mistake almost everyone makes
"Corn flour" at a Singapore supermarket is almost never nixtamalised masa harina. It is plain cornmeal, and it will not work for tortillas or tamales. Look specifically for "masa harina" or "nixtamalized corn flour"; brands like Maseca show up at specialty stores and some online platforms, not in the regular flour aisle.
La Mexicana: the dedicated store
La Mexicana is one of the retail stores in Singapore focused on Mexican products: masa harina, a tortilla press, dried chillies, tomatillos, habanero sauce and Mexican beers, among others. It has a physical shop and an online catalogue with same-day delivery.
Other specialty stores online
These are options known to the Mexican community in Singapore. Availability and stock change, so check each site before ordering:
Where else to look
- Belmonte Latin Foods: a Mexican food specialist with home delivery.
- Casa Emilia: an online store with tortillas, salsas and Mexican pantry basics, local shipping.
- The Mexican Grocer: an online catalogue with chipotles, mole and queso fresco.
- The Little Market: general gourmet specialty foods, including Mexican sauces and ingredients, free delivery over a certain amount.
For single items: Shopee and Amazon
For one specific ingredient (a particular chilli, cumin, smoked paprika) Shopee often has sellers with imported spices at a good price. Amazon Singapore occasionally carries masa harina and cotija cheese from international brands, though price and delivery time vary more than with a local specialty store.
If you cannot find the exact ingredient
Dried chillies (guajillo, ancho, pasilla) almost never have a real substitute. It is worth ordering them online rather than improvising. For tomatillo, some recipes work with Asian green tomato plus lime, but the flavour changes.
Use your regular supermarket for fresh and generic items, and save a monthly order from a specialty store for what has no substitute.
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