34 Authentic Colombian Recipes You Must Try Today!

In this article, we have gathered 34 authentic Colombian recipes you must try today.

Classic, traditional recipes of snacks, desserts, and savory dishes, everything you need is here!

1. Arroz Con Coco

If you heat some coconut milk it will release its oils which you can then cook the rice to give it a crispy and nutty feel.

Then you can add some water, raisins, and a bit of sugar to make this creamy rice dish that can be enjoyed as it is with some lime juice poured over for some acidity or with some cinnamon if you want to make this a sweet and healthy treat!

2. Enyucado

Cassava is a staple ingredient in Colombian cuisine and this cassava cake, called Enyucado, is made with cassava flour, queso fresco, sugar, butter, grated coconut, coconut milk, vanilla extract, and star anise.

A simple cake like this one needs little things on your part. In fact, all you need to do is mix all the ingredients together and put them in a baking dish to bake for 45-50 minutes.

3. Pan De Coco

If you know even a little bit of the Latin-originated languages, then it won’t take you long to realize that a Pan De Coco is coconut bread.

To be more precise, pan de coco are small and soft bread rolls with a coconut meat filling, but since desiccated coconut is easier to find, you can always go with that.

The coconut meat is mixed with brown sugar, milk, and butter, while the bread rolls are then brushed with egg wash for a golden look.

4. Almojabanas

Almojabanas is another one of the famous Colombian bread rolls, but unlike Pan De Coco, they do not have any stuffing.

However, they are made with lots of mozzarella cheese, and masarepa, which is precooked cornmeal, queso fresco, milk, butter, and eggs. Savory, soft, and fluffy, they go great with a cup of tea or coffee.

5. Pan De Bono

To make the best Pan De Bono you need to use masa harina, a special corn flour that gives these bread rolls their unique taste.

Masa harina is then combined with cassava flour, cotija cheese, Mexican cow’s milk, and milk, and each bread roll is then brushed with egg wash and served with coffee, tea, or as a side to main courses.

6. Caldo De Costilla

This Colombian beef rib soup can be said to be the equivalent of a Hungarian Goulash soup.

Made with potatoes, beef ribs, scallions, cloves, ginger, and carrot, it is a heartwarming soup that you will enjoy from the first to the last bite.

7. Cazuela De Mariscos

This traditional Colombian dish is a creamy soup made with heavy cream and coconut milk, vegetables like green and red bell peppers and carrots, and seafood like shrimp, clams, and swordfish.

Herby, milky, and flavorful, it is the perfect soup for a cold winter night or that you can make with other kinds of seafood too, depending on their availability.

8. Changua

If you always fancied the idea of having soup for breakfast but thought it was too weird to do it, then hear this: in Colombia Changua is enjoyed as a breakfast soup.

Made with milk and eggs, this soup needs some scallions, cilantro, salt, and pepper for extra taste and some toasted bread on the side.

9. Frijoles Colombianos

To cook your bean the Colombian way you need to first choose the right ones, which are usually pinto beans.

Then, you need to cook them in water with pork hocks for a couple of hours until the beans are tender.

In the meantime, you can cook the Guiso sauce, a tomatoey one, and cook the beans and sauce with some plantains and carrots for an extra hour. Serve warm and enjoy!

10. Bandeja Paisa

With Andean origins, this Colombian dish is so rich in color and taste, and that is because it is a platter with different ingredients on it.

Beans, rice, arepa, chorizo, plantain, chicharrones, avocado, and beef are all on this plate, and if you’re wondering about chicharrones, they are juicy fried pork rinds.

High in fat, taste, and calories, rest assured that this dish can keep you full for hours!

11. Papa Salada

A simple yet delicious side dish for any meat or poultry course, Papa Salada are salted red potatoes that are cooked in a pot whole and unpeeled and then covered with salt.

Ideally made with small potatoes, Papa Salada can also be served with some eggs, fried, boiled, or scrambled on the side if you are looking for a lighter dinner or lunch idea.

12. Papas Rellenas

Papas Rellenas are as much Puerto Rican as they are Colombian and Latin American since they are a very famous dish across the continent.

Papas Rellenas are croquettes of mashed potatoes filled with mouthwatering picadillo, which in case you are hearing this for the first time, is a ground beef hash.

To make these croquettes you need to fry them until golden on the outside and creamy on the inside.

13. Papas Chorreadas

Papas Chorreadas is another potato dish but this time the potatoes are boiled and fried whole before being topped with cream, cilantro, and mozzarella cheese.

When cooked, the potatoes are boiled in water with chicken bouillon and then fried together with onion and tomatoes in butter and oil.

14. Patacones

Fried green plantains are one of the easiest and still most delicious things you can serve before the main course or as a side dish for it.

You can top them with guacamole, tomato sauce, or salsa, but to enjoy them perfectly you need to make sure to cook the plantain slices evenly, so don’t overcrowd the pan when frying.

15. Perros Calientes

American hot dogs meet their Colombian siblings that have their own uniqueness thanks to the variety of toppings you can add to them.

What are those? From potato chips and quail eggs to pineapple or pink sauce; anything goes, and you can even choose one sauce and add the chips and egg with it to make it an extra filling hot dog!

16. Pasteles De Pollo

Pasteles de Pollo is Colombian pies filled with chicken, white potatoes, peas, carrots, onions, and tomatoes.

They are fried and served with lime and aji or dipped in tomato sauce.

Similar to empanadas and filled with veggies you see in a shepherd’s pie, they can become an easy snack to enjoy on the go or at the office any time of the year.

17. Empanadas

This article wouldn’t be representative of Colombian cuisine if it didn’t have empanadas on this list.

This classic Latin American pastry dessert is famous around the world, with people buying ready-made empanadas from supermarkets or even making them at home from scratch.

With a dough made with cornmeal, sazon Goya, salt, water, and vegetable oil, these little crispy-fried pastries can be found with veggie or meat fillings.

From chicken empanadas and potato ones to avocado-filled empanadas, plantain empanadas, or even sweet ones filled with s’mores and rice pudding, the options are endless.

So, you can either go with the classics or even come up with your own ideal combinations of things to add to your empanadas!

18. Calentado Paisa

Another Colombian breakfast recipe from the Paisa region, this dish can be made with leftover beans and meat, combined with white rice and tomatoes.

Served with arepas and fried or scrambled eggs if you want to add some protein and healthy fats, this is an easy skillet dish you can have as a late breakfast or brunch.

19. Arepas

Don’t have a recipe for arepas? No worries because we’ve got you!

Arepas are Colombian tortillas you can add to dishes like the Calentado Paisa or any other meal you can dip them in or simply have them on the side.

You can make them with only 3 ingredients – water, salt, and masarepa – and cook them in any kind of oil, with avocado and coconut oil being some good alternatives that will add more taste to them.

20. Arroz Con Pollo

Translated as “rice with chicken,” Arroz con Pollo is a dish combining batter-fried chicken pieces and aromatic, herby rice cooked in chicken stock and mixed with a tomato sauce.

Once cooked, you can cover the arroz con pollo with some cheese or a queso crema, while you can use either bone-in or boneless chicken pieces. It’s up to you!

21. Chocolate Con Queso

Warm, gooey, and delicious, Chocolate con queso is a hot chocolate mug made with the two ingredients its name has: chocolate and queso.

With milk and sugar, make this dessert drink with a bar of high-quality dark chocolate, or look for Colombian ones as they can guarantee that quality.

22. Chipi Chipi Con Arroz

By now, you must have understood that arroz means “rice,” but what about chipi chipi?

Chipi chipi are small clams that you can cook until open and then use the water you’ve cooked them to cook the rice in.

Add the clams to the cooked rice and serve it with some sauteed bell peppers, onion, and garlic.

23. Sancocho Trifásico

A Sancocho Trifásico is a soupy meal with 3 different types of meat in it. While each area and cook makes their own different type of Trifásico, this recipe here is a great example of how to make a traditional one.

The three types of meat used here are chicken, pork meat or ribs, and beef, which are cooked with plantains, potatoes, and yuca.

With the onions, red bell pepper, garlic, and cumin blended and then added to the pot where the meat and veggies are cooked, it is evident that this dish oozes with flavor!

24. Fiambre

A FIambre salad is also known for its Guatemalan origins, but it is a classic Colombian dish too. It is made with vegetables cooked in boiling water.

Beetroot, carrots, green beans, cauliflower, cabbage, onions, Brussel sprouts, peas, fava beans, garbanzos, corn, picayas, and red and white beans are all cooked in batches.

The dressing is made with plenty of ingredients like oil, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, bay leaves, boiled eggs, and a variety of herbs and spices that are all simmered until their aromas are well-blended.

The sauce is then refrigerated, and chorizo and chicken that’s been cooked with parsley and yerba Buena are tossed together with some other charcuterie meats or even seafood like shrimp and salmon.

What’s left is to combine the veggies with the meat and pour over the dressing.

After that, it’s best to let the salad stand so that all the flavors are combined well before enjoying this filling, colorful, and almost impossible salad made with 50 ingredients!

25. Fritanga O Picada Colombiana

Fried food lovers will be so excited when they taste this 100% fried food platter that includes things like pork ribs, chorizo, patacones, yuca fries, papa criolla, tomato, and lots of dips and sauces to serve them with.

All the ingredients – meats and root veggies – are fried, but you can add as many or as little as you want of each one of them, or even go veg-only if you are a vegetarian.

26. Lechona Tolimense

A Lechona Tolimense is another traditional Colombian dish made with pork, rice, peas, and lots of spices.

The scallions and garlic – staple ingredients in most recipes – are both sauteed in pork fat and then all the ingredients are rolled up inside a pork fat skin.

27. Crema De Mazorca

Back to the soups with Crema de Mazorca, a creamy corn soup made with simple ingredients and no effort at all.

Corn ears are cooked in water with vegetable bouillon, garlic, cilantro, potatoes, and scallions, as well as some salt and pepper until the corn has softened.

All the ingredients are then pureed before you add the heavy cream and serve with some extra cilantro on top.

28. Mondongo Colombiano

For meat lovers, this soup is another fantastic option if you want to try your personal, homemade take on Colombian cuisine.

Small pieces of beef tripe are combined with small pieces of pork, Chorizo slices, yuca, potatoes, tomato, scallions, and onions.

The soup is also enriched with the flavors and aromas of lime, cumin, achiote, cilantro, and garlic.

29. Crema De Aguacate

A Crema de Aguacate is a soup that has avocado as its main ingredient, and that means that it is extremely high in fat, especially in contrast to other vegetable soups.

The addition of heavy cream to it makes it even fattier, but its unique taste and simplicity are worth giving a shot!

30. Crema De Alcachofas

A great example of those low-fat vegetable soups on the antipode of the Cream De Aguacate is this one.

Crema de Alcachofas is made with artichokes and potatoes cooked in a chicken broth and it has only ¼ cup of heavy cream.

You can always add more when serving the soup, add some arepas on the side or top the soup with potato sticks.

31. Sopa De Moneditas De Plátano

A sopa de moneditas de plátano is made with beef and potatoes cooked in a beef broth together with some chopped onion and cloves.

The highlight of this soup, however, is the addition of plantain chips on top, which bring their crispness into a hearty bowl of soup and make it way more interesting.

32. Ají Picante

A recipe with many variations depending on where in Colombia one lives, Ají Picante is a sauce that every Colombian household keeps in their kitchen.

A must-have with empanadas, this sauce is made with hot pepper, vinegar, salt, sugar, lime juice, oil, scallions, tomato, and herbs like cilantro and parsley all of which create a perfect balance together and bring some freshness to a, nonetheless, spicy sauce.

33. Natilla Colombiana

Christmas is the season when puddings become a standard dessert in most households, and Colombians have their national traditional pudding recipe.

Natilla Colombiana is a pudding made with whole milk, coconut milk, condensed milk, grated coconut, cornstarch, cinnamon, sugar, butter, and vanilla extract.

Creamy, sweet, and custardy, it is so delightful and light to taste that you won’t need any chocolate puddings at all!

34. Hojuelas

Of course, a Christmas pudding is not the only treat Colombia has for Christmas, and Hojuelas is another great idea to bring something sweet to the table.

These light and crispy pastry sticks are coated in sugar and are made of the simplest of ingredients like butter, flour, sugar, orange zest, and juice.

Are There Any Cardamom Recipes in the Authentic Colombian Recipe Collection?

Looking to explore some Colombian cuisine? You’re in luck! The Authentic Colombian Recipe Collection features a variety of flavorsome dishes. If you’re specifically interested in cardamom, look no further. Here, you’ll find a handful of delicious cardamom recipes to try, adding a unique twist to traditional Colombian cooking.

The Bottom Line

All these recipes bring an authentic taste of Colombia to your table, so try the ones you liked the most today!

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