Recipe
🍳 BREAKFAST
Arepas con Quesito & Hogao
Griddled corn cakes split and filled with fresh cheese, spooned over with a warm tomato-scallion sauce.
Colombian (Paisa) · easy · serves 4
prep 20 min · cook 25 min
~403 cal · 7g protein · 61g carbs · 17g fat · 6g fiber · 3g sugars · 2g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Arepas are the daily bread of Colombia and Venezuela, flat cakes of ground corn that predate the arrival of Europeans and remain utterly central to both countries' tables. In Colombia they turn up at nearly every breakfast, plain or dressed a hundred ways.
This version splits a warm griddled arepa and fills it with quesito, a soft fresh cheese, then spoons over hogao, the everyday Colombian sauce of tomato and scallion slowly cooked down in oil until jammy and fragrant. The cool cheese and warm, savoury sauce are a perfect match.
Simple, comforting, and endlessly variable, it is the kind of breakfast that fuels a Colombian morning with a cup of hot chocolate or coffee. The arepa is more than food here; it is a symbol of home and belonging.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian and gluten-, nut-, egg- and pork-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 4
2 cups masarepa (pre-cooked white cornmeal)
Hard to find? masa harina - makes a flatter, denser arepa with a nixtamal flavour masarepa does not have; P.A.N. brand masarepa is easy to order online and worth it
2.5 cups warm water
1.5 cups quesito or queso fresco, crumbled
3 ripe tomatoes, chopped
6 , sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp ground cumin
4 tbsp
Instructions
1
Mix the masarepa, warm water, and a teaspoon of salt; rest 5 minutes, then knead smooth. Shape into 8 thick discs.
2
Griddle the arepas in a lightly oiled pan over medium heat, 6-7 minutes per side, until golden with charred freckles.
3
Make the hogao: cook the scallions, garlic, and cumin in oil until soft, add tomatoes, and stew gently 15 minutes into a soft, spoonable sauce.
4
Split the hot arepas and stuff generously with the cheese so it softens inside.
5
Spoon warm hogao over the top and eat immediately, ideally with hot chocolate, a paisa breakfast.
Antioquia paisa table.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Antioquia. The arepa paisa is the plain one. Where other Colombian regions split and stuff their arepas, Antioquia's is thin, white, unsalted and unfilled, made from ground maize and eaten as a bread alongside the meal rather than as the meal. Butter and a slice of fresh cheese is as far as it usually goes.
🗺️
Colombia. Bogota's ajiaco is a specific soup rather than a generic stew: three kinds of potato go in, the small yellow papa criolla dissolves to thicken it, an aromatic herb called guascas gives it its particular note, and it arrives with cream and capers stirred in at the table alongside a cob of corn.
🌍
South America. South America's cooking follows its dramatic geography, potatoes and quinoa in the high Andes, cassava and river fish in the Amazon basin, and grass-fed beef on the pampas. Indigenous ingredients like maize, ají peppers, and cacao meet Spanish, Portuguese, African, Italian, and Japanese influences brought by five centuries of migration. Ceviche, feijoada, arepas, and the smoke of the asado are its most beloved icons.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Colombia
Ajiaco SantafereñoBogotá’s three-potato chicken soup thickened by the potatoes themselves, perfumed with guascas, finished with cream and capers.
Empanadas ColombianasCrisp golden corn-dough turnovers stuffed with shredded beef and potato, fried until they shatter and dipped in a bright cilantro ají.
Bandeja PaisaA groaning platter of red beans, rice, chicharrón, beef, chorizo, fried egg, plantain, and arepa.
Browse all Colombia recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Griddle or flat pan.
Storing it: Best fresh and hot. Keep batter covered in the fridge for up to a day, and rewarm cooked ones in a dry pan.
Make it a Colombia meal
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Natilla ColombianaDessert
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Frequently asked questions
What is Arepas con Quesito & Hogao?
Griddled corn cakes split and filled with fresh cheese, spooned over with a warm tomato-scallion sauce.
Where does Arepas con Quesito & Hogao come from?
Arepas con Quesito & Hogao is a Colombian (Paisa) dish from Antioquia, Colombia.
Can Arepas con Quesito & Hogao be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Arepas con Quesito & Hogao recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Arepas con Quesito & Hogao safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Arepas con Quesito & Hogao take to make?
About 45 minutes total (20 minutes prep, 25 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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