What Nopalitos means
Nopalitos is a Mexican main dish name of Nahuatl origin meaning "little cactus paddles". It is built from nohpalli (prickly pear cactus) and Spanish -itos (diminutive plural). It is pronounced noh-pah-LEE-tos, and it is most associated with central Mexico.
The diminutive marks the young tender paddles. The plant itself is the nopal that the eagle stands on in the national coat of arms.
Nopalitos is one of the many Mexican food words formed in Nahuatl. Spanish borrowed it, and in several cases English borrowed it again from Spanish. See how Nahuatl builds words and the full list of Mexican food names.
This is a site about what Mexican words mean, so there is no recipe here. For the name itself: The plated dishes, most named for a cooking method or a place. Cochinita pibil is pork cooked in a píib, the Maya earth oven. Barbacoa gave English the word barbecue. Chiles en nogada is named for the walnut sauce that covers it.
