Recipe
🥙 LUNCH
Chifrijo
A layered bowl of rice, beans, crisp fried pork, and pico de gallo with tortilla chips, Costa Rica's favorite bar snack.
Costa Rican · easy · serves 4
prep 20 min · cook 30 min
~919 cal · 52g protein · 112g carbs · 28g fat · 16g fiber · 7g sugars · 8g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Chifrijo is a modern Costa Rican invention that has become a national obsession, the go-to order at the sodas and bars where Ticos gather for a cold beer. Its name is a portmanteau of its two core layers: chicharrones and frijoles, pork and beans.
The bowl is built in layers: rice at the bottom, then soupy red beans, then crisp fried pork (chicharrones), all crowned with a fresh pico de gallo of tomato, onion, and cilantro, a wedge of avocado, and a squeeze of lime. A basket of tortilla chips comes alongside for scooping.
Invented in the 1990s and now everywhere, it is that a food tradition need not be ancient to feel essential. Fresh, crunchy, and made to share over drinks, it is Costa Rica's easy-going idea of a good time.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally gluten-, dairy-, egg- and nut-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
1 lb pork belly, cubed and fried crisp
3 cups cooked red beans, with some broth
2 cups cooked white rice
2 tomatoes, diced
1 onion, finely diced
1 handful fresh cilantro, chopped
1 avocado, sliced
1 lime
2 cups tortilla chips, to serve
Instructions
1
Fry the cubed pork slowly until the fat renders and it turns crisp and golden; drain.
2
Make a pico de gallo with the tomato, onion, cilantro, and lime juice.
3
Layer into bowls: rice, then warm soupy beans, then the crisp pork.
✎ Chef’s note
Keep the beans a little soupy. The broth soaks down into the rice and is half the point of the dish.
4
Top with pico de gallo and avocado, and serve with tortilla chips for scooping.
Costa Rican soda-and-bar tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
San José. Gallo pinto is the national breakfast, and the Costa Rican version uses black beans, cooked separately from the rice and then fried together with onion, sweet pepper and a splash of Salsa Lizano, the mild brown sauce that has become a fixture. Nicaragua makes its own with red beans and the argument goes on.
🗺️
Costa Rica. Coffee made the country. Planting began in the Meseta Central in 1779, the nineteenth-century government handed out plots to anyone who would grow it, and by 1829 coffee had passed cacao, tobacco and sugar as the main export. The revenue built the railway to the Atlantic coast and paid for the National Theatre in San Jose.
🌍
North America. Almost every regional cooking here records who arrived and on what terms. Enslaved West Africans brought rice, okra, black-eyed peas and the techniques behind Lowcountry and Creole food; Chinese railway labour and later Italian, Jewish, Mexican and Vietnamese arrivals built the way the cities eat; and Indigenous foodways sit underneath all of it.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Costa Rica
CasadoThe soda-counter plate that "marries" rice, black beans, sweet plantains, salad, and a griddled protein.
Chorreadas con NatillaSweet-savory fresh corn pancakes, crisp at the edges, served with a dollop of cool natilla (sour cream), a Costa Rican country breakfast.
Cajeta de CocoA dense coconut-and-milk fudge cooked down to chewy squares, a traditional Costa Rican homemade candy.
Browse all Costa Rica recipes →
Good to know
Storing it: Cool leftover rice quickly and refrigerate within an hour. Keep up to 2 days and reheat until piping hot all the way through.
Make it a Costa Rica meal
Agua de SapoDrink
Cajeta de CocoDessert
Olla de CarneDinner
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Frequently asked questions
What is Chifrijo?
A layered bowl of rice, beans, crisp fried pork, and pico de gallo with tortilla chips, Costa Rica's favorite bar snack.
Where does Chifrijo come from?
Chifrijo is a Costa Rican dish from San José, Costa Rica.
Can Chifrijo be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Chifrijo 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 Chifrijo 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 Chifrijo take to make?
About 50 minutes total (20 minutes prep, 30 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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