South America → Ecuador → Pichincha (Andes)
🍰 DESSERT
Higos con Queso
Whole figs slow-cooked in dark panela syrup and served with a slice of fresh cheese, an Ecuadorian classic.
Ecuadorian · easy · serves 6
prep 15 min · cook 90 min
~395 cal · 9g protein · 63g carbs · 12g fat · 0g fiber · 61g sugars · 8g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Higos con queso is one of Ecuador's most traditional sweets, a dish that appears especially through Lent and the cooler highland months. Large are simmered for hours in a syrup of panela, the raw block cane sugar, until they turn dark, glossy, and jammy through to the centre.
The syrup is scented with cinnamon and cloves and reduced until thick and almost black. The figs used are picked young and firm, then cooked long and slow so they drink up the syrup without collapsing.
The magic is in the pairing: each sticky-sweet fig is served with a slab of fresh, mild, slightly salty queso fresco. The contrast of dark sugar and cool, salty cheese is the whole point, and it is why Ecuadorians never serve one without the other.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian and gluten-, egg-, nut- 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 6
- 12 firm
- 2 cups grated panela or dark brown sugar
- 2 cinnamon sticks
- 4 whole cloves
- 8 oz fresh cheese (queso fresco), sliced
Instructions
- 1Cut a small cross in the base of each fig and blanch briefly in boiling water to soften the skins.
- 2Dissolve the panela in water with the cinnamon and cloves to make a syrup.
- 3Add the figs and simmer very gently, uncovered, until they turn dark and the syrup thickens, about 1 1/2 hours.✎ Chef’s noteKeep the heat low and resist stirring. Let the figs cook slowly so they soak up the syrup and stay whole rather than bursting.
- 4Cool the figs in their syrup, ideally overnight, so the flavour deepens.
- 5Serve two or three figs per plate with syrup spooned over and a slice of fresh cheese alongside.
Ecuadorian highland tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Pichincha (Andes). The Quito plate is assembled rather than served. Hornado, a pig roasted whole in a wood oven, is pulled apart and set out with llapingachos, potato cakes griddled with cheese inside, plus mote hominy, toasted maize and a sauce made from tree tomato and aji. Sangolqui, just outside the city, runs a market of competing hornado stalls.
🗺️
Ecuador. Ecuadorian ceviche is not a failed attempt at the Peruvian kind: the shrimp are cooked first and the dish is served swimming in its own tomato-and-citrus juice, often with popcorn or plantain chips tipped in. Encebollado, albacore tuna with yuca and pickled red onion, is the closest thing to a national dish and is eaten for breakfast.
🌍
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 Ecuador
LlapingachosGolden potato patties with melting cheese centers, griddled and served with peanut sauce and pickled onions.
Bolón de VerdeA ball of mashed green plantain stuffed with cheese, pan-crisped golden, the filling coastal breakfast of Ecuador.
EncebolladoA brothy tuna-and-cassava soup topped with a tangle of pickled red onion, Ecuador's midday cure-all.
Browse all Ecuador recipes →
Good to know
Storing it: Store in an airtight container. Most keep 2 to 3 days at room temperature, and longer refrigerated.
Make it an Ecuador meal
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Colada MoradaDrink
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Frequently asked questions
What is Higos con Queso?
Whole figs slow-cooked in dark panela syrup and served with a slice of fresh cheese, an Ecuadorian classic.
Where does Higos con Queso come from?
Higos con Queso is an Ecuadorian dish from Pichincha (Andes), Ecuador.
Can Higos con Queso be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Higos con Queso recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions. Treat the substitutions as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Higos con Queso 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 still count coconut as a tree nut to be cautious, although the FDA stopped listing it as one in 2025), 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 Higos con Queso take to make?
About 105 minutes total (15 minutes prep, 90 minutes cooking), serving 6.
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