21 Puerto Rico Food Facts That Will Make Your Mouth Water!

Black bean soup, bread pudding, coconut flan, mofongo, and rice pudding are amongst some of the popular foods you can taste during a walk down the old San Juan markets in Puerto Rico.

Puerto Rico is an island in the Caribbean famous for its fried food and pork dishes. The Puerto Rican cuisine and Puerto Rican cooking style are enjoyed in many countries around the world. Here, we will be discussing these well loved foods along with deserts and some influences and culinary adventures in Puerto Rico.

Puerto Rico, a territory of the United States, is often called La Isla del Encanto, meaning the island of enchantment, and is a very popular holiday destination. With lush mountains and pristine beaches, not only is this island a beautiful place to visit, it also offers some mouthwatering food items to be tried and savored.

Here you can read about the traditional cooking methods used by Puerto Ricans to the most used ingredients in Puerto Rican cooking, from staple Puerto Rican dishes to Puerto Rican desserts. This will help you distinguish between your preferences for Puerto Rican cuisine and which Puerto Rican dishes you would most like to try.

Read these interesting Puerto Rican food facts to discover more. What are you waiting for, let's get all this yummy information!

Traditional Puerto Rican Food

Wondering about the most popular Puerto Rican food dishes? For that you need to understand the traditions of Puerto Rican food.

Arguably, the best food of any country or region is the traditional food. Traditional foods are always best when they are made and eaten in the place they are from.

The best ingredients and flavors for traditional dishes require the right kind of environment, ingredients and cooking for the dish to be just right. Lets us look at the traditional dishes of Puerto Rico.

Tripleta: as its name suggest, this massive sandwich has three main types of filling. It this is a made up of beef, ham, and chicken, with sauces, lettuce and even chips added in on top.

Coquito: this is a sweet drink that is generally served during the holiday season and is made up of coconut milk.

Asopao: this dish is a combination of soup and rice and is often served with seafood. One can find many variations and versions of this dish throughout the Caribbean.

Alcapurrias: these are basically fritters filled with ground beef, and made with plantains and yucca. If you really want to try the best, then go to Cuchifritos.

Bacalaitos: these are salted and fried codfish fritters.

Arroz Con Gandules: this dish is a combination of rice, pigeon peas and pork. It has the honor of being considered as the national dish, which makes it mandatory to be tried while visiting this island.

Common Puerto Rican Ingredients

Countries and regions around the World have some ingredients that are the soul of their dishes. While these ingredients are not always talked about, they play a significant role in bringing out the traditional flavors and in creating the much loved dishes we associate with different places.

Here is the list of some vital basic ingredients that can't be missed in Puerto Rican Dishes. Coconut, ground beef, chicken, plantains, avocados, tomato sauce, okra, mangoes, pineapples, gandules, calabaza yuca, and yautia.

Apart from these key ingredients, usage of various spices and rubs for flavoring meats is widely used across Puerto Rico. Some of the popular blends of spices that are popular in Puerto Rico are:

Adobo: this is a marinade for meat and poultry made up of vinegar or lime along with garlic.

Sofrito: this is the perfect blend of spices used in the making of Puerto Rico delicacies.

Puerto Rican Culinary Influences

Every dish that is created is influenced by something or someone. The same is true for Puerto Rico, where the culinary influence of the country derives from three main sources, South Africa, Spain, and Native Puerto Rican tribes. These three main influences are come together over time to create what is now food and flavors unique to Puerto Rico.

The native tribes of Puerto Rico had a diet which consisted of many items from the sea, as well as roots and fruits found on the island. When the Spaniards arrived in the 1500s, they introduces new foods, items and ideas, bringing a very crucial change in the eating habits of this nation.

Later, the slave trade bringing people from western African added further influences to cooking practicing, providing us all with the delicacies of Puerto Rico which are known worldwide today.

Staple Dishes In Puerto Rico

After discussing the traditional dishes and the ingredients, it's time to have a look at the staple food that the locals consume on a daily basis.

Adobo mojado: this marinade prepared using salt, citrus juice, black pepper, olive oil, oregano is a popular meat rub used in Puerto Rico.

Tostones: a common dish throughout the nation and often served as appetizers. This is a simple dish made by thinly slicing Plantains and coating them with a batter before deep-frying them. This deep-fried appetizer is extremely popular with Puerto Ricans.

Empanadillas: these are pastries that were traditionally filled with ground beef, but can now be found with chicken fillings, having a thick outer crust. It is an extremely popular Puerto Rican food.

Mofongo: while mashed potato is found in many countries, this dish is the altered version in Puerto Rico which is made up of Plantains. It is one of the most popular Puerto Rican dishes prepared with mashed fried plantains, garlic, and crispy pork skin.

There are several variations of Mofongo that people enjoy by using a variety of meats and spices. Other popular variations include trifongo and yuca mofongo prepared with green plantains, ripe plantains, root vegetables, sweet plantain, and yuca.

Rellenos de Papa: this is a ground beef filled potato ball deep-fried in oil to give a crispy crust.

Pastelon: this dish can be termed as the Puerto Rican version of the Italian Lasagna, which carries both the tastes of sweet and salt. Made up with two thin layers of Plantains filled with a mixture of ingredients and topped with cheese. It is an extremely popular Puerto Rican food.

Arroz Con Gandules: is a popular rice dish prepared using pigeon peas, salted pork, olive oil, bay leaves, annatto, olives, tomato paste, and capers. The star of this popular rice dish is the pigeon peas which render a unique taste with every bite you enjoy. Some individuals also add some lime juice to add a distinct tanginess.

Piña Colada: while not a dish per se, it is one of the most famous beverages that you can enjoy in Puerto Rico. Piña Colada variations are served across the island to suit different tastes.

Apart from all these popular Puerto Rican food dishes, it is important to highlight one of the most used ingredients in the cuisine, coconuts. The tropical fruit is widely used in Puerto Rican cuisine, be it a side dish, an appetizer, or a main dish.

Some of the popular dishes include coconut milk filled with seafood, empanadas with yuca dough, and coconut yellow rice with seafood.

Puerto Rican Desserts

How can you talk about food, and forget the sweetest part of the meal? Yes, they are the desserts. So, what are you waiting for, let's search the menu and order ourselves something to satisfy our sweet tooth.

Flan: This dessert is essentially an egg custard prepared with brown sugar or caramel that is enjoyed widely. Another popular flan dessert Flancocho is prepared using cream cheese, cake mix, caramel and egg custard.

Guava Pastelitos: this dessert can be called the staple dish as this is available at almost every bakery and are easy to make with just a few simple ingredients. These guava puff pastries are a marvellous oozy, puffy magic delight. It is an extremely popular Puerto Rican food.

Tembleque: this dessert is a dome-shaped pudding. The meaning is jiggly in Spanish which altogether means that the dessert will be fun to have. The ingredient that used to make this dish are coconut milk, cornstarch, sugar, and salt.

Pineapple Rum Cake: what else can be better than the perfect blend of ice cream, alcohol, and tropical fruits. While the traditional process of making this delicacy took a lot of time, modern techniques make it much simpler to cook.

Dulce de Coco: while this dessert is famous throughout Latin America, why should it be left behind in Puerto Rico. These sweet delights come in squares, spheres, or even irregular shapes.

Other popular desserts in Puerto Rican food are guava pudding, guava paste topped with white cheese, and sweet potato balls loaded with coconut and cinnamon. Coconut-based desserts are popular in Puerto Rico as the tropical fruit is widely available and used to prepare coconut bread pudding, coconut cookies, and coconut creams.