18 Delicious Salvadoran Recipes You Can Make At Home (2024)

I'm craving alllll of this.

by Marie TellingBuzzFeed Contributor
18 Delicious Salvadoran Recipes You Can Make At Home (4)

Ryan Pattie

Nestled between Guatemala and Honduras, El Salvador is the smallest country in Central America. But you wouldn't know it by looking at all of its incredible food. 🇸🇻

From favorites like classic pupusas topped with tangy curtido, to drinks and desserts like horchata de morro and creamy leche poleada, here are some of the best Salvadoran recipes and dishes you can make at home.

1. Pupusas

tasty.co

Pupusas are griddled flatbreads made with masa harina (corn flour) and stuffed with a variety of ingredients. This version uses chicharrón, refried beans, and plenty of cheese.

Recipe: Pupusas

2. Curtido

18 Delicious Salvadoran Recipes You Can Make At Home (5)

Alex Lau / bonappetit.com

Curtido is a cabbage relish – a sort of super refreshing, tart coleslaw – that's usually served as a condiment with pupusas. This one adds non-traditional serrano peppers for a bit of heat and tastes great right after you make it — but it gets even more flavorful if you let it sit in the fridge for a few days.

Recipe: Curtido

3. Salvadoran Quesadillas

18 Delicious Salvadoran Recipes You Can Make At Home (6)

food52.com

Salvadoran quesadillas have one thing in common with their Mexican counterpart: cheese. But instead of tortillas, these are rich, buttery, and super cheesy cakes. They're usually served for breakfast and pair amazingly well with a hot cup of coffee.

Get the recipe: Salvadoran Quesadillas

4. Elotes Locos

Instagram: @rlpurplelabelguy

This staple of Salvadoran street food takes classic elotes one step further — with garnishes like Worcestershire sauce, mustard, mayo, ketchup, and queso blanco slathered on.

Recipe: Elotes Locos

5. Gallo en Chicha

18 Delicious Salvadoran Recipes You Can Make At Home (8)

196flavors.com

This traditional dish is a staple of Salvadoran home cooking. Think of it as the delicious Salvadoran version of French coq au vin or Moroccan chicken tagine. It's marinated and cooked in "chicha" – a fermented drink made with corn and pineapple. If you can't find it at your local store, some recipes use beer instead while others recommend apple cider vinegar mixed with a bit of dark brown sugar.

Recipe: Gallo en Chicha

6. Salvadoran Budin

18 Delicious Salvadoran Recipes You Can Make At Home (9)

Facebook: buzzfeedtasty

This sweet bread pudding is usually made with leftover bread so nothing goes to waste. This version offers a little bit of a twist by adding bananas to the traditional recipe for extra deliciousness.

Recipe: Salvadorian Budin

196flavors.com

Tamales are an ancestral food native to Central America — their origins trace all the way to 7,000 BC. These Salvadoran tamales pisques are made with a corn-based dough filled with refried beans, then wrapped and steamed in banana leaf.

Recipe: Tamales Pisques

8. Leche Poleada

Instagram: @chef_rebeca

Leche poleada is basically a vanilla custard which you can enjoy warm or cold for dessert or as a snack. It's served topped with cinnamon for an extra comforting treat.

Recipe: Leche Poleada

9. Riguas

Instagram: @vagandoconlosbichos

These are traditional flat corn cakes made with corn on the cob, sugar, and flour, and later cooked in banana leaf on a griddle. It's extra delicious when served with some Salvadoran cream and cheese.

Recipe: Riguas

10. Torrejas Salvadoreñas

18 Delicious Salvadoran Recipes You Can Make At Home (12)

196flavors.com

This specialty (traditionally eaten during Easter week) is essentially the Salvadoran version of French toast. It's super easy to make — with lots of cinnamon for extra flavor.

Recipe: Torrejas Salvadoreñas

11. Yuca con Chicharrón

18 Delicious Salvadoran Recipes You Can Make At Home (13)

196flavors.com

Yuca (cassava) is prepared either fried or boiled here. It's served with deep fried pork skin, AKA chicharonnes, AKA crunchy bites of perfection.

Recipe: Yuca con Chicharrón

12. Horchata de Morro

Instagram: @mariomsv

This cousin of the Mexican horchata is made with morro seeds, which are native to Central America and give a sweet flavor to the drink. The recipe is pretty straightforward: toast the seeds with some spices, grind them finely, then mix with water. The real challenge is finding morro seeds, or even an horchata de morro drink mix (which makes the whole process even easier) at your local store. If you have no luck there, you can always buy them online for less than $10.

Recipe: Horchata de Morro

13. Marquesote

Instagram: @celesteopiam

A family staple in El Salvador, marquesote is a classic cake – close in taste and texture to a genoise or a savoy cake – that only needs three ingredients: flour, eggs, and sugar.

Recipe: Marquesote

14. Casamiento

Instagram: @plantbasedpao

Casamiento is the Salvadoran take on rice and beans — and is most commonly made with green peppers, though this version uses red.

Recipe: Casamiento

15. Nuegados de Yuca

18 Delicious Salvadoran Recipes You Can Make At Home (17)

196flavors.com

Nuegados are little donuts often served during Easter week in El Salvador. They can be made with corn flour, banana, and eggs — but this version uses cassava and grated cheese. The process is really easy: Mix all the ingredients, shape the dough into small disks, and deep fry those. Serve with some spiced honey and you're in for a treat!

Recipe: Nuegados de Yuca

16. Atol de Elote

Instagram: @losatolitos

You'll only need four ingredients to make this traditional sweet corn drink: milk, corn, cinnamon, and sugar. Serve it warm and topped with a few extra kernels for more texture.

Recipe: Atol de Elote

17. Sopa de Pata

Instagram: @foodisthewayy

This beloved soup's main ingredients are cow feet and beef tripe. This might not appeal to everyone, but those who know... know. 😋Filled with veggies like carrots, corn, or cabbage, this soup is one of the most comforting and flavorful Salvadoran specialties.

Recipe: Sopa de Pata

18. Chocobananos

Instagram: @david_desserts

Bananas dipped in chocolate. Need I say more??

Recipe: Chocobananos

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18 Delicious Salvadoran Recipes You Can Make At Home (21)

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18 Delicious Salvadoran Recipes You Can Make At Home (2024)

FAQs

What is the number one food in El Salvador? ›

El Salvador's most notable dish is the pupusa, a thick handmade, tortilla-like corn flour or rice flour flatbread stuffed with cheese, chicharrón (cooked pork meat ground to a paste consistency), refried beans or loroco (a vine flower bud native to Central America).

What do people from El Salvador eat for breakfast? ›

Typical Breakfast

Breakfasts in El Salvador typically include an assortment of Salvadoran food, such as eggs scrambled with vegetables (huevos picados), cheese, fried plantains (platanos fritos), mashed beans, and tortillas. Fresh tropical fruits like mango, pineapple, and banana are also common accompaniments.

What two foods are Salvadorans known for liking to eat? ›

Corn and beans are staples of cuisine in El Salvador. Local favorites include: Pupusas—ground corn with any combination of cheese, beans, chicaharrones, loroco, squash, garlic, etc. in the in middle, fried on a griddle and eaten with your hands with tomato sauce and curtido (cabbage relish).

What are the top 3 religions in El Salvador? ›

Religion in El Salvador
  • Catholicism (41.9%)
  • Protestantism (35.9%)
  • Other Christian (1.7%)
  • No religion (19.9%)

What is the national drink of El Salvador? ›

Some claim that the national liquor of El Salvador is a far more coarse drink called Tic Tack. This one is made from corn and panela which is unrefined whole cane sugar. It has roots way back to the Mayan times. Of course, there was no sugarcane then in this part of the world (till Columbus brought it over from Spain).

What do you call someone from El Salvador? ›

Salvadorans (Spanish: Salvadoreños), also known as Salvadorians, are citizens of El Salvador, a country in Central America. Most Salvadorans live in El Salvador, although there is also a significant Salvadoran diaspora, particularly in the United States, with smaller communities in other countries around the world.

What food was invented in El Salvador? ›

The pupusa, El Salvador's answer to the taco, is the quintessential Salvadoran dish. A smooth dough of nixtamalized corn is wrapped around a filling and rolled into a flat, thick patty, then pan grilled.

What are the exotic foods in El Salvador? ›

You'll find a gorgeous arrangement of papaya, mangoes, onions, enormous carrots, maracuya (passion fruit), melons, onions, zapote, yucca, squash and more. Markets like this one are found all over El Salvador, and arrangements reflect the nation's love of colour. So … So …

What is my race if I am from El Salvador? ›

El Salvador's population is composed of mixed races as well as people of indigenous, European, or Afro-descendant ancestry among smaller diasporas of Middle and Far Eastern groups. Eighty-six per cent of Salvadorans identify with mestizo ancestry.

What are 2 popular foods in El Salvador? ›

Fried Plantains, Potatoes and Yuca

One of the most common and inexpensive snacks you'll find in El Salvador are these simple, fried starches. Whether you're riding a local bus or wandering the streets of a city or town, you'll encounter someone selling these crispy, deep-fried snacks.

What do El Salvador drink for lunch? ›

Characteristic non-alcoholic beverages in El Salvador include Kolachampan, a sugarcane-flavored soda; tamarind juice; horchata, a sweet herb and spice-based El Salvador drink; and ensalada (“salad”), a drinkable blend of finely chopped tropical fruits.

What is the most popular drink in El Salvador? ›

Beer is the most common alcoholic drink found in El Salvador. Suprema is the premier local brew, however, Pilsener is the most popular brand in the country.

What is El Salvador famous for? ›

Known as the Land of Volcanoes, El Salvador has frequent earthquakes and volcanic activity. It is the only country in Central America that does not have a coastline on the Caribbean Sea. Known as the "land of volcanoes," El Salvador has frequent earthquakes and volcanic activity.

Why are pupusas popular in El Salvador? ›

But the pupusa also has a deep cultural significance. Pupusas are family meals, Sunday dinners, and, importantly, the taste of home. Just as the indigenous people used corn tortillas to sustain themselves on their travels, many Salvadorans today seek refuge in pupusas when they are outside of El Salvador.

What is the most popular sport in El Salvador? ›

Football (soccer) is the most popular sport in El Salvador and is played throughout the country.

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