With traditions handed down from the Incas and myriad influences, including Spanish and Chinese cuisine, Peruvian food is fresh, flavourful, and incredibly varied. With disparate climates, ranging from coast to highlands to jungle, food from Peru keeps you guessing. Whether it’s stir-fry inspired lomo saltado or creamy suspiro a la limeña, we bet you’ll be googling Peruvian food recipes to try at home. Let’s tuck in!
1. Ceviche
You can’t talk about food in Peru without mentioning ceviche. The national dish is so popular that it’s often found on menus worldwide. Ceviche is the name for the dish but also the cooking method. Raw fish is marinated in a zesty combination of lime juice, onion, salt, spices, and ají (hot chilies). Served ultra fresh and cold, the fish is technically cooked by the acidity of the citrus.
Ceviche comes from the Quechua language, ‘siwichi’, translating to fresh fish. The dish is primarily coastal for obvious reasons, with sea bass, tilapia, and halibut favoured, though it can be made with any firm white fish, shrimp, or octopus.
2. Lomo saltado
When people think of traditional Peruvian food, they don’t necessarily think of stir-fry. However, one of the most iconic and favourite dishes in Peru is lomo saltado, born from the chifa (Chinese-Peruvian) tradition.
In the mid-19th century, Chinese immigrants arrived as labourers in Peru, bringing their culinary traditions, including stir-fried meat and vegetables. Lomo saltado is a delightful combination of Chinese techniques and Peruvian ingredients: sautéing onion, tomato, and chilli peppers in a wok with thin strips of beef (or alpaca) marinated in soy and vinegar. The unmistakable smoky flavour is truly unique and often paired with rice, potatoes, and even french fries.
3. Arroz con pato
Translating to ‘rice with duck’, arroz con pato is a signature Peruvian dish with a few variations. The rice is combined with herbs and coriander and cooked in dark beer and/or Pisco for a richer, deeper flavour. The duck leg or thigh is roasted, fried, or served as duck confit, and sometimes seared for crispness in more formal restaurants. The duck is then cooked together with the rice, duck broth, herbs, fresh vegetables, and booze. It’s a household dish around Peru but you’ll find it on most restaurant menus too, sometimes as its counterpart, arroz con pollo (rice with chicken).
4. Ají de Gallina
If you’re looking for comfort food in Peru, then look no further than ají de gallina, or ‘chicken chilli’. Ají de gallina is, essentially, a spicy chicken stew, almost curry-like in consistency and flavour, made from soft shredded chicken, red onion, garlic, and the namesake of the dish, the ají amarillo, a spicy native yellow chilli pepper found in the Andean region of South America. Once the key ingredients are combined, the dish is finished off by thickening it with bread soaked in milk or cream, cheese, and ground nuts, then served with potatoes or rice and topped with a hard-boiled egg.
5. Pollo a la brasa
Once you’ve tried Peruvian rotisserie chicken, it’s hard to go back to any other kind. A whole chicken is marinated in garlic, soy, and herbs and spices (each restaurant has their own blend so try several). The chef spit-roasts the chicken over a fire for a smoky flavour, basting frequently. The final result? Perfectly cooked chicken and spiced, crispy skin. Pollo a la brasa is usually served with a green sauce, again with a blend that differs from restaurant to restaurant. Huacatay sauce (black mint) is common, as is ají amarillo sauce with lime, peppers, and garlic.
6. Papa a la Huancaína
One of the most popular foods in Peru no matter where you go is papa a la Huancaína, or Huancayo potatoes. Even though its name implies that it’s a regional favourite of the city of Huancayo, its simplicity and depth of flavour caught Peruvians’ imaginations and became a de facto national dish.
Often served as an appetiser or side dish, papa a la Huancaína combines sliced boiled potatoes and a sauce made of traditional ingredients, like white cheese, ají amarillo, garlic, onion, lime, and evaporated milk, pounded in a traditional Peruvian batán (a large stone mortar and pestle), offering a unique and flavourful balance to your main course.
7. Cuy al horno
Everyone wants to try traditional Peruvian food, but for many, that means meat they’d find back home. They steer clear of alpaca, the most popular source of meat in the Andes, and they especially avoid cuy (guinea pig) probably because they’re seen as pets, not protein. It’s a shame, really, because it’s more like a much smaller suckling pig — dark, tender meat, smoky from the fire, stuffed with herbs, and slow roasted for crispy skin. Cuy al horno is served with ají amarillo salsa for spice and served with potatoes.
8. Rocoto relleno
While the ají amarillo may be the most flavourful and spicy of Peru’s regional peppers, they also base several dishes around the larger and (slightly) less spicy rocoto pepper. Rocoto relleno, a stuffed pepper dish popular in southern Peru, was initially developed through Spanish influence.
A traditional Basque dish that relied on sweet red peppers could not be replicated by Spanish settlers in Peru, so they created a new and much spicier variety. Using the rocoto pepper, rocoto relleno is a hollowed-out pepper with minced beef, garlic, onion, herbs, spices, and cheese, cooked in vinegar, baked, and usually served with a boiled egg on top.
9. Causa rellena
Get ready for a historic dish that dates back to the 19th century’s War of the Pacific when Peru and Bolivia allied against Chile. Causa rellena was sold to support ‘the cause’, creating unity in a time of war. It’s a cold terrine, where yellow potatoes are mashed, spiced with ají amarillo sauce, oil, and lime, and layered with olives, avocado, and boiled eggs, as well as options like chicken, tuna, or salmon, often blended with mayonnaise.
This Quechan dish is one of those foods in Peru that looks different everywhere you go — appearing as a roll, a casserole, terrine, and even in individual portions. It’s usually served as a side, so grab a portion of causa rellena and honour the ‘cause’ of old.
10. Anticuchos de corazón
A meal at the heart of Peruvian cooking (pun intended, sorry), is anticuchos de corazón, or beef heart skewers, a dish with deep origins in Peru. Before Spanish conquest in the 16th century, the Incan empire’s staple livestock animal was the distinctive alpaca. Incans would traditionally harvest each part of the animal, including their hearts. Once the Spanish invaded and brought cattle, this spicy skewer meal was replaced by beef hearts.
Traditionally a street food in Peru, this dish is iconic not just for its unique choice of meat, but for the smoky and spicy anticucho sauce (ají amarillo, ají panca, vinegar, beer, and spices) that the meat is marinated in before being skewered, grilled, and served.
11. Picarones
Similar in appearance and texture to mini donuts, the taste of picarones is what sets them apart. The doughnut-ish batter is made from veggies, like butternut, pumpkin, or sweet potato, and then deep-fried, spiced with cinnamon or nutmeg, and served with syrup, whipped cream, or chopped fruit. A typical Peruvian street food, you’ll find no shortage of picarones as you make your way around the country or as dessert at a restaurant.
12. Suspiro a la Limeña
We couldn’t resist ending our list with the most romantic food in Peru. Translating to the ‘sigh of a lady from Lima’, it is said to be named by a famous Peruvian poet after his wife made the delectable dessert for him. It’s a pretty story (if we choose to believe the wife’s sigh to be one of love, rather than exasperation), but the dessert is Lima’s most popular — and for good reason. It combines creamy dulce de leche (slowly caramelised milk and sugar) with smooth, sweet meringue. If you have a sweet tooth, there’s no better way to end a meal or wrap up your trip.
