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Lechona is a traditional dish consisting of a roasted pig stuffed with onions, peas, fresh herbs, and various spices. The pig is roasted for a long time until the meat is tender and succulent. The dish is usually prepared for celebrations and festivities since one lechona can produce as many as 100 servings.
This unique Colombian delicacy can be found in numerous restaurants throughout the country's largest cities.
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Pan de bono is a traditional bread consisting of cassava starch, cornmeal or corn flour, queso fresco, eggs, and sugar. The bread is shaped into bagels or balls that are slightly larger than golf balls. Pan de bono is similar to other South American cheese breads like pan de queso, difference being added conr flour or cornmeal, and a hint of sweeteness due to the addition of sugar.
It is usually served warm with a cup of hot chocolate on the side. Some claim that the name pan de bono was created after an Italian baker in Cali who used to yell pane del buono (good bread), while others say that it is named after a place called Hacienda El Bono, where it was first made.
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Calentado is a traditional breakfast consisting of last night's leftovers that are simply reheated. It stems from the past, when much of the Colombian population lived in poverty and nothing was wasted. This hearty breakfast usually includes rice, beans, plantains, steak, fried eggs, and arepas.
Some people like to add other ingredients as well, such as sausages or chicharrónes. Nowadays, calentado is typically served on weekends due to the sheer amount of food, and it is recommended to serve it with coffee or a cup of hot chocolate on the side.
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Suero is a creamy and tangy Colombian sauce or dip made with fermented whole milk, salt, and vinegar or lime juice. It originates from Colombia's coastal region, hence its other, extended name – suero costeño. It is often served as an accompaniment to sausages, tamales, arepas, or plantain chips.
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Almojábana is a traditional and Puerto Rican bread (although it is also popular in other countries of Latin America) that is very similar to pandebono. Pandebono is usually made with yuca flour and costeño cheese, while almojábanas are made with cuajada white cheese and cornmeal flour.
Almojábanas are baked until they develop a spongy texture and a golden brown color of the exterior. This small, round bread is traditionally served warm.
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Aborrajado is a Colombian dish consisting of cheese-stuffed sweet plantain slices that are battered and deep-fried. Although the name aborrajado means battered, the dish can also be baked or grilled. Aborrajado is traditionally served as an appetizer or a snack, but some people like to add slices of bocadillo guava paste, so this dish can also be served as a dessert.
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Flan de coco or coconut flan is a delicate dessert that is popular in Colombia, Costa Rica, and parts of the Caribbean. It is typically made with eggs, coconut milk, condensed milk, cream, vanilla extract, and flaked coconut. The dessert is usually baked in small ramekins with caramel on the inside, so when flan de coco is inverted, it has a nice caramel layer on top and on the sides.
Before serving, the dessert is often topped with flaked coconut.
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Pan de queso is a cheese bread from Colombia, namely the Paisa region where it is extremely popular. The main ingredients are tapioca flour and grated cheese, but it is the fermented cassava starch that gives these rolls their lightness and volume.
They are eaten for breakfast or as a parva—a quick breakfast snack, either plain or filled with cream cheese or jelly.
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Both savory and sweet in flavor, arroz con coco is a flavorful Colombian side dish consisting of white rice, coconut milk, sugar, salt, and water. When mixed with raisins, arroz con coco becomes slightly sweeter, while the version without raisins is more savory and traditionally served with fish dishes.
It is recommended to use coconut milk without stabilizers so that it can separate into fat and solids.
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Picada Colombiana is a traditional dish where a variety of grilled or fried meat and vegetables are served on a large platter. The dish is usually prepared on Sundays for family and friends or at various special occasions and celebrations, but it can also be found served as street food.
Picada Colombiana typically includes papa criolla potatoes, pork, chicken, beef, morcilla blood sausages, longaniza, arepas, guacamole, sweet plantains, chunchullo (fried intestines), and envuelto (corn in husks). It is recommended to season this hearty dish with a squeeze of lime juice, as they usually do in Colombia.
TasteAtlas food rankings are based on the ratings of the TasteAtlas audience, with a series of mechanisms that recognize real users and that ignore bot, nationalist or local patriotic ratings, and give additional value to the ratings of users that the system recognizes as knowledgeable. For the “Top 52 Colombian Foods” list until January 31, 2025, 3,604 ratings were recorded, of which 1,922 were recognized by the system as legitimate. TasteAtlas Rankings should not be seen as the final global conclusion about food. Their purpose is to promote excellent local foods, instill pride in traditional dishes, and arouse curiosity about dishes you haven’t tried.