The whole process can be a couple of hours, so it is best to make a lot in one go. Fortunately, tamales can keep for a long time, which is one of the reasons they are so popular. You can batch-make a lot of these and keep them in the fridge. The steaming process takes about 1 hour 15 minutes, but can be slightly less or slightly longer depending on how many tamales you are steaming. It isn’t the quickest method of cooking but the delicious food produced is one of the reasons people still cook tamales all the time.