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🍢 SNACK
Anticuchos de Corazón (Peruvian Beef Heart Skewers)
Cubes of beef heart marinated in ají panca, vinegar, garlic, cumin and oregano, threaded on skewers and seared over hot coals, served on the street with boiled potato, corn and ají sauce.
Peruvian · medium · serves 4
prep 30 min · cook 30 min · plus 4 h hands-off time
~821 cal · 67g protein · 16g carbs · 51g fat · 2g fiber · 1g sugars · 17g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Anticuchos are Peru's great street-corner snack: pieces of beef heart soaked in a brick-red marinade of ají panca chili paste, vinegar, garlic, cumin and oregano, pushed onto sticks and grilled fast over charcoal. They are sold from grills on street corners, and they are loved because the heart is cheap, full of flavour and tender if it is not overcooked.
The name is usually traced to Quechua, and the dish to Andean skewers of llama meat before the conquest; the recipe changed after the Spanish arrived. Peru now marks a Día del Anticucho every October, and the dish has spread to Bolivia, Chile and Argentina.
The classic plate is two or three skewers with a slice of boiled potato and a round of big-kernelled Andean corn, and a spoonful of ají sauce on the side. Grillers baste the meat as it cooks, traditionally with a brush made from corn husks.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally gluten-, dairy-, 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
- 1 kg beef heart, about half a heart, or a whole veal heart
- 1/2 cup ají panca paste
- 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1 tbsp garlic, finely chopped
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tbsp dried oregano
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 2 large yellow potatoes
- 2 ears choclo (Andean giant-kernel corn), or sweetcorn
- 3 tbsp ají amarillo paste
- 1 scallion, finely chopped
Instructions
- 1Trim the heart well: cut away the fat, the hard white sinew and the veins, then cut the meat into squares of about 4 cm.
- 2Mix the ají panca, vinegar, oil, garlic, cumin, oregano, salt and pepper in a bowl. Add the heart, turn it until every piece is coated, cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.✎ Chef’s noteOvernight is fine too. Soak wooden skewers in water while the meat marinates so they do not burn.
- 3Boil the potatoes in salted water for about 20 minutes until tender, and the corn for about 15 minutes. Peel the potatoes and cut them and the corn into thick slices. Mix the ají amarillo paste with the scallion and a pinch of salt for the sauce.
- 4Light a charcoal grill and let it get very hot. Thread 3 or 4 pieces of heart onto each skewer and keep the leftover marinade for basting.
- 5Grill the skewers for about 3 minutes, brushing with marinade, then turn, baste again and grill for about 3 minutes more, until lightly charred outside and just cooked within.✎ Chef’s noteHeart turns tough and dry when overcooked; take it off while the centre is still juicy.
- 6Serve hot with the potato, corn and ají sauce.
Peruvian criollo street tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Lima. Lima is the culinary capital of South America, where Pacific ceviche meets Japanese and Chinese immigration in nikkei and chifa cooking. Native potatoes, ají peppers, and pisco define a world-celebrated food city.
🗺️
Peru. Two immigrant kitchens have their own names here. Chifa is the Chinese-Peruvian cooking that arrived with Cantonese labourers in the nineteenth century and put lomo saltado in a wok; Nikkei is its Japanese-Peruvian counterpart, which rethought raw fish and cut short the time it sits in citrus. Ceviche's traditional knowledge was inscribed by UNESCO in 2023.
🌍
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 Peru
Lomo SaltadoBeef flash-fried in a smoking wok with soy, vinegar, tomatoes, and fries, Lima's Chinese-Peruvian icon.
Rocoto RellenoArequipa’s fiery rocoto peppers stuffed with spiced beef, olives, and raisins, capped with melting cheese.
CevicheFresh white fish cured in lime "leche de tigre" with red onion, chili, and cilantro, Peru's national dish.
Browse all Peru recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Grill or barbecue.
Storing it: Best straight off the heat. Leftovers keep 2 to 3 days refrigerated and reheat well in a hot oven rather than the microwave.
Make it a Peru meal
Pisco SourDrink
Suspiro a la LimeñaDessert
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Cuisine
Diet
Frequently asked questions
What is Anticuchos de Corazón (Peruvian Beef Heart Skewers)?
Cubes of beef heart marinated in ají panca, vinegar, garlic, cumin and oregano, threaded on skewers and seared over hot coals, served on the street with boiled potato, corn and ají sauce.
Where does Anticuchos de Corazón (Peruvian Beef Heart Skewers) come from?
Anticuchos de Corazón (Peruvian Beef Heart Skewers) is a Peruvian dish from Lima, Peru.
Can Anticuchos de Corazón (Peruvian Beef Heart Skewers) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Anticuchos de Corazón (Peruvian Beef Heart Skewers) 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 Anticuchos de Corazón (Peruvian Beef Heart Skewers) 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 Anticuchos de Corazón (Peruvian Beef Heart Skewers) take to make?
About 5 h in all: 30 minutes prep and 30 minutes cooking, plus 4 h of hands-off waiting the method needs, serving 4.
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