Recipe
🍳 BREAKFAST
Arepas con Perico
Griddled corn arepas split and filled with perico, soft scrambled eggs cooked down with tomato, onion, and pepper.
Venezuelan · easy · serves 4
prep 10 min · cook 25 min
~401 cal · 14g protein · 57g carbs · 13g fat · 4g fiber · 4g sugars · 3g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Arepas con perico is a classic Venezuelan breakfast, pairing the country's ever-present corn arepa with perico, a soft, colourful scramble of eggs cooked down with vegetables. It is everyday morning food across the country.
Perico is made by gently cooking chopped tomato, onion, and sweet pepper until soft, then folding in beaten eggs so they scramble among the vegetables into something moist and savoury. The name is thought to nod to the bright green, red, and yellow of a parakeet.
Spooned into a warm, split arepa (or eaten alongside it), often with white cheese, it makes a simple, satisfying breakfast. Comforting and familiar, arepas con perico is the taste of an ordinary good morning in Venezuela.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally vegetarian and gluten-, dairy-, 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 4
2 cups precooked corn flour (masarepa)
2.5 cups warm water
4 eggs
2 tomato, chopped
1 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 green pepper, diced
2 tbsp
to taste salt
Instructions
1
Mix the masarepa with warm water and a little salt to a smooth, soft dough; rest 5 minutes.
2
Shape into thick patties and griddle over medium heat until a crust forms and they sound hollow, about 6 minutes a side.
3
Meanwhile, soften the onion and pepper in the oil, add the garlic, then the tomato, and cook it down into a sofrito. Turn the heat low, pour in the beaten eggs (or tofu) and stir until just set.
✎ Chef’s note
Build the sofrito properly first and only then add the eggs, over low heat. Perico is scrambled eggs cooked into onion, garlic and tomato, not eggs with vegetables stirred in afterwards. Chopped ham, sausage or chicharron go in with the sofrito in plenty of households, and some cooks finish it with cilantro.
4
Split the hot arepas like pockets and stuff generously with the perico to serve.
Caracas home kitchens.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Caracas. Christmas here is not only hallacas. Pan de jamon, a soft loaf rolled around ham with olives and raisins, was made at the Ramella bakery in central Caracas in 1905 as a way of using up leftover ham, and it now turns up on tables across the country every December.
🗺️
Venezuela. Venezuela runs on the arepa, a griddled corn cake split and stuffed a hundred ways, and the Christmas hallaca. Corn, black beans, plantain, and fresh white cheese anchor a warm, comforting table.
🌍
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 Venezuela
Cachapas con QuesoSweet fresh-corn pancakes griddled golden and folded over melting salty cheese, roadside Venezuela at its best.
Pabellón CriolloShredded beef, black beans, white rice, and fried sweet plantain on one plate, Venezuela's national dish.
QuesilloA dense caramel-topped custard set with whole eggs and condensed milk, the Venezuelan flan of every celebration.
Browse all Venezuela recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Griddle or flat pan.
Storing it: Fried food is best eaten fresh while crisp. Re-crisp leftovers in a hot oven or air fryer; the microwave makes them soft.
Make it a Venezuela meal
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QuesilloDessert
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Frequently asked questions
What is Arepas con Perico?
Griddled corn arepas split and filled with perico, soft scrambled eggs cooked down with tomato, onion, and pepper.
Where does Arepas con Perico come from?
Arepas con Perico is a Venezuelan dish from Caracas, Venezuela.
Can Arepas con Perico be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Arepas con Perico 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 Arepas con Perico 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 Arepas con Perico take to make?
About 35 minutes total (10 minutes prep, 25 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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