Recipe
🍽️ DINNER
Cachapas con Queso
Sweet fresh-corn pancakes griddled golden and folded over melting salty cheese, roadside Venezuela at its best.
Venezuelan · easy · serves 3
prep 15 min · cook 20 min
~716 cal · 38g protein · 80g carbs · 31g fat · 7g fiber · 18g sugars · 17g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
↓ Jump to Recipe
AI-generated illustration
Cachapas are the sweet corn pancakes of Venezuela, a roadside and home favourite that celebrates fresh maize at its peak. They are especially associated with the country's roadside stands, where they are griddled to order and folded over cheese.
Fresh corn kernels are blitzed into a coarse, naturally sweet batter and cooked on a hot griddle (a budare) until golden and studded with caramelised spots. The classic filling is queso de mano, a soft, salty, slightly stretchy fresh cheese, folded inside so it half-melts.
The contrast of sweet corn and salty cheese, often with a smear of butter, is the whole irresistible point. Warm, fresh, and comforting, cachapas are one of the flavours Venezuelans miss most, a taste of home and of the country's abundant corn.
Saved recipes and passport stamps are kept on this device. Sign in to keep them across your devices and leave reviews.
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 3
4 cups fresh or frozen corn kernels
3-5 tbsp masarepa (precooked corn flour, as needed to bind)
1.5 tbsp sugar
3/4 tsp salt
10 oz queso de mano or mozzarella, sliced
Hard to find? 10 oz fresh mozzarella - the texture is right but queso de mano is saltier and sharper, so salt the mozzarella a little before it goes in
3 tbsp butter, for the griddle and brushing
Instructions
1
Set aside a handful of the kernels. Blend the rest with the sugar and salt into a thick batter, adding masarepa a spoon at a time until it barely holds a mound, then stir the reserved kernels through and pulse once or twice. Let it stand ten minutes to thicken.
✎ Chef’s note
Masarepa rather than plain cornmeal, and do not skip it: corn outside Venezuela carries far more water and the batter will not hold without it. Leaving some kernels whole is deliberate. A cachapa is meant to be rustic, and you should meet pieces of corn as you eat it.
2
Butter a griddle over medium heat. Ladle wide pancakes and cook 4 to 5 minutes, until the underside is well browned and the pan smells of caramelised sugar.
✎ Chef’s note
Wait for the smell. Deep browning is where the flavour is, and a pale cachapa tastes of very little.
3
Flip carefully and cook 3 more minutes.
4
Lay cheese over one half, fold, and press gently until it melts.
5
Brush with butter and serve hot, with a knife, a fork, and no restraint.
✎ Chef’s note
Queso de mano means hand cheese: the curd is boiled and then shaped into disks by hand. It behaves like fresh mozzarella but is saltier and sharper, and mozzarella is the usual stand-in abroad. Cachapas and arepas are often confused, but an arepa is made of dry corn flour and split open to be filled, while a cachapa is made of fresh corn and folded over its cheese.
Caracas roadside tradition.
Ratings & reviews
Cooked it? Rate this dish:
No account needed. Sign in to leave a full review with a comment.
Cooked it?
Kept on this device, no account needed. Sign in to leave a review and keep your passport across your devices.
No reviews yet, be the first to cook it.
🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Caracas. Caracas eats corn in every form: arepas split and stuffed at all hours, cachapas griddled from fresh sweet corn and folded around soft cheese, and hallacas wrapped in plantain leaves at Christmas. Black beans, shredded beef, ripe plantain, and salty white cheese are the constants.
🗺️
Venezuela. The hallaca is a Christmas project rather than a dish. Maize dough coloured with annatto is spread on a plantain leaf, filled with a stew of beef, pork and chicken plus olives, capers and raisins, then folded, tied and boiled. Families make them in an assembly line over a day and the recipe belongs to the family rather than the country.
🌍
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 Venezuela
Arepas con PericoGriddled corn arepas split and filled with perico, soft scrambled eggs cooked down with tomato, onion, and pepper.
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, Blender.
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 Venezuela meal
Papelón con LimónDrink
QuesilloDessert
Pabellón CriolloLunch
Similar dishes from around the world
Pupusas con CurtidoEl Salvador
DranikiBelarus
Bramboráky (Potato Pancakes)Czechia
LlapingachosEcuador
FlijaKosovo
Arepas con Quesito & HogaoColombia
Cuisine
Diet
Vegetarian Recipes from Around the World
Gluten-Free Recipes from Around the World
Nut-Free Recipes from Around the World
Egg-Free Recipes from Around the World
Pork-Free Recipes from Around the World
Vegetarian Dinners from Around the World
Gluten-Free Dinners from Around the World
Nut-Free Dinners from Around the World
Egg-Free Dinners from Around the World
Frequently asked questions
What is Cachapas con Queso?
Sweet fresh-corn pancakes griddled golden and folded over melting salty cheese, roadside Venezuela at its best.
Where does Cachapas con Queso come from?
Cachapas con Queso is a Venezuelan dish from Caracas, Venezuela.
Can Cachapas con Queso be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Cachapas 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 Cachapas 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 Cachapas con Queso take to make?
About 35 minutes total (15 minutes prep, 20 minutes cooking), serving 3.
Get the Sunday Spin
One dish from somewhere in the world, in your inbox every Sunday. No spam, just dinner inspiration you can cook that day.