Recipe
🍳 BREAKFAST
Tortilla Panameña con Queso
A thick, crisp-fried corn cake, not a thin tortilla at all, split hot and stuffed with melting white cheese, a staple Panamanian breakfast.
Panamanian · easy · serves 4
prep 10 min · cook 15 min
~579 cal · 21g protein · 49g carbs · 32g fat · 2g fiber · 0g sugars · 14g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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AI-generated illustration
The tortilla panamena is not the thin flatbread its name might suggest but a thick fried corn cake, a cornerstone of the traditional Panamanian breakfast, especially in the countryside.
Ground nixtamalized corn is formed into a thick disc and fried (or griddled) until the outside turns crisp and golden while the inside stays soft and dense. Split hot, it is often stuffed or topped with melting white cheese.
Served with eggs, or simply on its own with coffee, it is filling, comforting morning food. The tortilla panamena is an everyday staple, the sturdy, satisfying corn cake that starts many a Panamanian day.
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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 precooked yellow corn flour (harina de maiz precocida)
1.5 cups warm water
1 cup fresh white cheese (queso blanco)
3 cups , for frying
1 tsp salt
Instructions
1
Dissolve the salt in the warm water, then work in the corn flour a little at a time until you have a smooth, mouldable dough that does not stick to your hands, and rest it 5 minutes.
✎ Chef’s note
Use precooked yellow corn flour, the kind sold for arepas, not Mexican masa harina. Panamanian tortillas are made from that flour (or, more traditionally, from cooked and ground pilado corn), and the two behave and taste quite differently. If the dough cracks, add water a spoonful at a time; if it sticks, a little more flour.
2
Grate the fresh cheese into the dough and knead it through, then divide into 8 to 10 balls and press each into a disc about 3 inches across and a good half inch thick, smoothing the edges so they cannot crack.
✎ Chef’s note
Cheese kneaded into the dough is how many Panamanian households make them, and it is what gives the soft, savoury inside. Keep them thick: thin ones lose the contrast of crisp crust and tender middle that defines a Panamanian tortilla, which is closer to an arepa than to a Mexican tortilla.
3
Fry in batches in hot but not smoking oil, 3 to 4 minutes a side, until golden, slightly puffed and crisp; drain on paper.
✎ Chef’s note
Fry in batches so the oil temperature holds. Street vendors in Panama fry them in lard, in the same pot the pork belly for chicharron came out of, which is where the best ones get their flavour.
4
Serve them at once, alongside more white cheese, fried eggs, sausage or stewed beef, or split like a pocket and filled.
Panamanian home and fonda breakfast.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Panama City. Sancocho is credited to the Azuero peninsula and to Chitre in particular, and it changes province by province: the Chorrera version is hen, onion, garlic, chilli, oregano and name and nothing more, while the Chiriqui one adds squash and comes out yellow. It doubles as the standard hangover cure.
🗺️
Panama. The tortilla here is not the Mexican kind. It is thick, made of ground corn, and fried rather than griddled, coming out puffed and crisp at the edges to be eaten at breakfast with cheese. On the Caribbean side, in Bocas del Toro and Colon, the cooking turns Afro-Caribbean, with coconut milk in the rice and in the fish.
🌍
North America. The most consequential technique on this continent is nixtamalisation, cooking maize with lime or wood ash. It loosens the skins, makes the dough that becomes tortillas and tamales, and frees up niacin the body cannot otherwise absorb, which is why maize spread around the world without the technique and took pellagra with it.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Panama
Sancocho de GallinaA restorative hen soup with yam, yuca, and a mountain of culantro, Panama’s cure for everything from hangovers to heartbreak.
Ceviche PanameñoDiced corvina cured in lime with onion, celery, and habanero, the fish-market lunch sold in cups across Panama City.
Sopa BorrachaSponge cake drenched in a spiced rum-and-prune syrup, Panama's boozy celebration dessert, despite the 'soup' in its name.
Browse all Panama 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 a Panama meal
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Sopa BorrachaDessert
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Frequently asked questions
What is Tortilla Panameña con Queso?
A thick, crisp-fried corn cake, not a thin tortilla at all, split hot and stuffed with melting white cheese, a staple Panamanian breakfast.
Where does Tortilla Panameña con Queso come from?
Tortilla Panameña con Queso is a Panamanian dish from Panama City, Panama.
Can Tortilla Panameña con Queso be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Tortilla Panameña con Queso 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 Tortilla Panameña 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 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 Tortilla Panameña con Queso take to make?
About 25 minutes total (10 minutes prep, 15 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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