South America Recipes
Andes, Amazon, and Atlantic all on one plate. Below are 35 authentic South America recipes, each tied to a real country and region — with the cultural story, ingredients, and step-by-step method, adaptable to six dietary needs.
35 recipes
🇵🇪 Lomo Saltado
Lima, Peru · easy · 35 min
Beef flash-fried in a smoking wok with soy, vinegar, tomatoes, and fries — Lima's Chinese-Peruvian icon.
🇧🇷 Moqueca Baiana (Bahian Fish Stew)
Bahia, Brazil · easy · 45 min
Fish simmered in coconut milk, dendê palm oil, peppers, and lime in a clay pot — the taste of the Bahian coast.
🇨🇴 Arepas con Quesito & Hogao
Antioquia, Colombia · easy · 45 min
Griddled corn cakes split and filled with fresh cheese, spooned over with a warm tomato-scallion sauce.
🇦🇷 Empanadas Mendocinas
Mendoza, Argentina · medium · 70 min
Baked empanadas the Mendoza way: a juicy beef and olive filling heavy on onion, sealed with a braided edge.
🇧🇷 Pão de Queijo (Brazilian Cheese Puffs)
Minas Gerais, Brazil · easy · 40 min
Chewy-crisp little cheese breads made from tapioca starch — naturally gluten-free and dangerously poppable.
🇨🇱 Porotos Granados
Central Valley, Chile · easy · 60 min
Summer stew of fresh beans, corn, squash, and basil — Chile’s pre-Columbian trinity in one pot.
🇪🇨 Llapingachos
Pichincha (Andes), Ecuador · medium · 60 min
Golden potato patties with melting cheese centers, griddled and served with peanut sauce and pickled onions.
🇻🇪 Cachapas con Queso
Caracas, Venezuela · easy · 35 min
Sweet fresh-corn pancakes griddled golden and folded over melting salty cheese — roadside Venezuela at its best.
🇧🇴 Sopa de Maní
La Paz, Bolivia · medium · 80 min
Bolivia’s creamy peanut soup with beef, vegetables, and crispy shoestring fries on top — altiplano comfort.
🇵🇾 Sopa Paraguaya
Asunción, Paraguay · easy · 65 min
The famous "soup you can slice": a rich cornbread of onions, cheese, and corn flour, born of a happy kitchen accident.
🇺🇾 Chivito al Plato
Montevideo, Uruguay · easy · 40 min
Uruguay’s glorious everything-plate: thin steak under ham, cheese, olives, and a fried egg with ensalada rusa.
🇵🇪 Rocoto Relleno
Arequipa, Peru · medium · 75 min
Arequipa’s fiery rocoto peppers stuffed with spiced beef, olives, and raisins, capped with melting cheese.
🇨🇴 Ajiaco Santafereño
Bogotá, Colombia · easy · 80 min
Bogotá’s three-potato chicken soup thickened by the potatoes themselves, perfumed with guascas, finished with cream and capers.
🇧🇷 Feijoada
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil · medium · 180 min
Brazil’s black-bean and smoked-meat feast, simmered for hours and served with rice, greens, orange, and farofa.
🇬🇾 Guyanese Pepperpot
Demerara (Georgetown), Guyana · medium · 170 min
Meat slow-simmered in cassareep, cinnamon, and hot pepper until glossy black — the Amerindian-rooted Christmas classic.
🇧🇷 Coxinha
São Paulo, Brazil · medium · 70 min
Teardrop-shaped fritters of shredded chicken in a soft dough, breaded and fried gold — Brazil’s favorite salgadinho.
🇧🇷 Brigadeiro
Minas Gerais, Brazil · easy · 25 min
Fudgy chocolate truffles of condensed milk cooked with cocoa and butter, rolled in sprinkles — no Brazilian party exists without them.
🇵🇪 Ceviche
Lima, Peru · easy · 25 min
Fresh white fish cured in lime "leche de tigre" with red onion, chili, and cilantro — Peru's national dish.
🇨🇴 Bandeja Paisa
Antioquia, Colombia · medium · 90 min
A groaning platter of red beans, rice, chicharrón, beef, chorizo, fried egg, plantain, and arepa.
🇸🇷 Pom
Paramaribo, Suriname · medium · 130 min
A festive baked casserole of grated pomtajer root and citrus-marinated chicken, crisp on top and tangy within.
🇧🇷 Caipirinha
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil · easy · 5 min
Brazil's national cocktail: cachaça muddled with fresh lime and sugar over ice.
🇦🇷 Yerba Mate
Mendoza, Argentina · easy · 10 min
The shared, grassy herbal tea of the Southern Cone, sipped through a metal straw from a gourd.
🇵🇪 Pisco Sour
Lima, Peru · medium · 5 min
Peru's national cocktail: pisco shaken with lime, syrup, and egg white to a silky foam, dashed with bitters.
🇧🇴 Silpancho
La Paz, Bolivia · medium · 55 min
A Cochabamba plate of rice, potato, a thin breaded beef cutlet, and a fried egg over chopped salad.
🇵🇪 Pan con Chicharrón
Lima, Peru · medium · 60 min
Crisp fried pork and sweet camote layered in a soft roll with tangy salsa criolla — the definitive Lima weekend breakfast sandwich.
🇧🇷 Cuscuz Nordestino
Bahia, Brazil · easy · 30 min
A fluffy steamed cornmeal cake from Brazil's northeast, moistened and finished with butter or coconut — naturally gluten-free morning fuel.
🇦🇷 Tortas Fritas
Mendoza, Argentina · easy · 35 min
Simple fried dough discs, crisp-edged and dusted with sugar, that Argentines make on rainy mornings to eat with mate.
🇨🇱 Sopaipillas
Central Valley, Chile · medium · 40 min
Golden pumpkin-dough fritters, soft and faintly sweet, fried up on cold Chilean mornings and eaten with pebre or chancaca syrup.
🇪🇨 Bolón de Verde
Pichincha (Andes), Ecuador · medium · 35 min
A ball of mashed green plantain stuffed with cheese, pan-crisped golden — the hearty coastal breakfast of Ecuador.
🇻🇪 Arepas con Perico
Caracas, Venezuela · easy · 35 min
Griddled corn arepas split and filled with perico — soft scrambled eggs cooked down with tomato, onion, and pepper.
🇧🇴 Api con Pastel
La Paz, Bolivia · medium · 45 min
A hot, spiced purple-corn drink thick with cinnamon and clove, served with a crisp fried cheese pastry dusted in sugar.
🇵🇾 Mbejú
Asunción, Paraguay · easy · 25 min
A chewy, crisp-edged starch-and-cheese griddle cake, gluten-free and pan-cooked to order, eaten with cocido at daybreak.
🇺🇾 Pan con Manteca y Dulce de Leche
Montevideo, Uruguay · easy · 5 min
Crusty bread spread thick with butter and Uruguay's beloved dulce de leche — the simplest, most cherished morning ritual with mate.
🇬🇾 Sada Roti with Tomato Choka
Demerara (Georgetown), Guyana · medium · 40 min
Soft griddled flatbread torn and dipped into smoky fire-roasted tomato choka sharpened with garlic and onion — a vegan Guyanese classic.
🇸🇷 Broodje Pindakaas met Sambal
Paramaribo, Suriname · easy · 5 min
A soft Surinamese bread roll spread thick with peanut butter and a fiery streak of sambal — sweet, salty, and hot at once.