Recipe
🍳 BREAKFAST
Mbejú
A chewy, crisp-edged starch-and-cheese griddle cake, gluten-free and pan-cooked to order, eaten with cocido at daybreak.
Paraguayan · easy · serves 4
prep 10 min · cook 15 min
~691 cal · 24g protein · 47g carbs · 45g fat · 2g fiber · 2g sugars · 29g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Mbeju is a traditional Paraguayan (and Guarani) griddle cake, a cornerstone of the country's distinctive starch-and-cheese cooking. Its name comes from the Guarani word for cake, and it to the mission-era blending of Indigenous with introduced dairy.
It is made from starch (almidon) and corn flour bound with cheese, lard, and a little milk into a crumbly mixture that is pressed into a hot pan and cooked until it holds together, crisp at the edges and chewy within. It is naturally gluten-free.
Eaten hot, often at breakfast with cocido, the traditional burnt-sugar mate, it is simple, satisfying, and distinctly Paraguayan. Mbeju reflects a cuisine built on and cheese, and it carries the Guarani heart of the country's food.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally gluten-, nut- and egg-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 starch (almidón), not flour
Hard to find? 2 cups tapioca starch - the same thing under another name, and stocked in most supermarkets; what will not work is cassava flour, which is the whole ground root and behaves nothing like it
1.5 cups fresh cheese (Paraguay), crumbled
1/3 cup butter or pork fat
as needed milk to bind
1 tsp salt
Instructions
1
Rub the fat into the cassava starch with the salt until it looks like damp crumbs.
✎ Chef’s note
It must be the fine starch (almidón or fécula de mandioca, or tapioca starch), never coarse cassava flour, which bakes up dry and crumbly. For mbejú mestizo, work in 1-2 tbsp of cornflour as well.
2
Work in the crumbled cheese and just enough milk so the mixture holds when pressed but stays loose.
3
Press an even layer into a hot, lightly greased pan and cook, undisturbed, until the underside is golden.
4
Flip carefully and crisp the other side; serve hot, torn and dipped in cocido or coffee.
Asunción and Guaraní country kitchens.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Asunción. Terere is mate drunk cold, poured from a thermos over ice and pounded herbs and passed round a circle through a metal straw, which is how the city gets through the heat. Chipa, a chewy ring of cassava starch and cheese, is what gets sold at bus windows and eaten in quantity through Holy Week.
🗺️
Paraguay. Paraguay's cuisine leans on corn, cassava, and cheese, with Guaraní roots in dishes like chipa bread and the cornbread sopa paraguaya. Terere (iced yerba mate) is drunk all day in the subtropical heat.
🌍
South America. Migration reworked the plate within living memory. Japanese arrivals in Peru and Brazil produced Nikkei cooking, Italians made pasta and pizza entirely ordinary in Argentina, Uruguay and Sao Paulo, and West African cooking carried into Bahia by the slave trade gave Brazil dende palm oil, okra and a whole ritual repertoire.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Paraguay
Sopa ParaguayaThe famous "soup you can slice": a rich cornbread of onions, cheese, and corn flour, born of a happy kitchen accident.
Vori VoriA golden chicken broth thick with little cornmeal-and-cheese dumplings, Paraguay's warming everyday soup.
Dulce de MamónGreen papaya slow-cooked in clove-and-cinnamon syrup until translucent and jammy, a Paraguayan pantry sweet.
Browse all Paraguay recipes →
Good to know
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 Paraguay meal
TereréDrink
Dulce de MamónDessert
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Frequently asked questions
What is Mbejú?
A chewy, crisp-edged starch-and-cheese griddle cake, gluten-free and pan-cooked to order, eaten with cocido at daybreak.
Where does Mbejú come from?
Mbejú is a Paraguayan dish from Asunción, Paraguay.
Can Mbejú be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Mbejú 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 Mbejú 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 Mbejú take to make?
About 25 minutes total (10 minutes prep, 15 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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