The Ultimate Guide to Costa Rican Food

Typical Costa Rican breakfast including Gallo Pinto, scrambled eggs, and fried plantains served on a banana leaf

When I visited Costa Rica, I had no idea what to expect from the local cuisine having never travelled to Central America before. I soon discovered that Costa Rican food embodies the national moto and way of life, “Pura Vida” or “Pure Life” as it’s simple, delicious and incredibly fresh!

Costa Rican food is typically mild and built around staples such as rice, beans, plantains, fresh fruits and vegetables, meat, and seafood. Although Costa Rica has plenty of western food options for tourists, I encourage you to try as many local dishes as you can.

In this guide, I’ll share some of the best savory dishes, desserts, and drinks to try during your visit.

Savoury Dishes

Gallo Pinto

Gallo pinto is the national dish of Costa Rica. It’s essentially rice and beans seasoned with onion, capsicum, coriander, and Salsa Lizano. Gallo pinto literally translates to “spotted rooster” because the little black beans against the white rice look like a spotted rooster. Isn’t that cute!

Gallo pinto is traditionally served for breakfast with scrambled or fried eggs, fried plantains, tortillas, cheese, and fresh fruit. This is known as “desayuno típico” or typical breakfast. Since variations of this typical breakfast are served at most restaurants in Costa Rica, I ate gallo pinto nearly every day while I was there and never got sick of it.

When I searched for recipes for gallo pinto to try it at home, I discovered that the secret ingredient is Salsa Lizano which is one of the most common condiments in Costa Rica. It’s similar to Worcestershire sauce and is used in many dishes to give Costa Rican food it’s characteristic flavour.

Typical Costa Rican breakfast including Gallo Pinto, scrambled eggs, and fried plantains served on a banana leaf

Casado

Casado is one of the most popular dishes in Costa Rica and is traditionally served for lunch or dinner. Casado isn’t actually a specific dish but rather a mixed plate of typical foods such as white rice, black beans, meat or fish, salad or vegetables, fried plantains, and tortillas.

Nearly every restaurant in Costa Rica serves its own version (or versions) of the dish so you’ll have plenty of opportunities to try different variations. Casado is also served at small traditional Costa Rican restaurants called “sodas” as a buffet so you can pick and choose the components you prefer. This is my favourite way to eat casado as well as the cheapest and most traditional!

The word “casado” means “married” in Spanish. It originated in the 1960s when there was a large increase in the number of men traveling to San José for work. Rather than going home for lunch, they began eating at sodas, where women served buffets of traditional food with generous portions. The women joked that feeding these men was like making lunch for their husbands, leading to the name casado.

Below are some common dishes that may be included in a plate of casado.

Costa Rican Casado with rice, beans, salad, and fish

Carne con Salsa

Carne con salsa is slow-cooked shredded beef mixed with a tomato-based sauce. It’s usually served with rice or as part of casado. While carne con salsa isn’t exclusively Costa Rican, Costa Rican recipes generally include Salsa Lizano to give it a distinctive taste.

Chicharrónes

Chicharrónes are pieces of crispy fried pork belly or rinds. They’re popular throughout Latin America as well as in Spain and the Philippines and are made differently in each country. In Costa Rica, chicharrónes are made by frying pork belly and are often seasoned with lime juice. They’re a key component of a local dish called chifrijo and can be served as part of casado or as an empanada filling.

Picadillo de Chayote

Picadillo is a common side dish in Costa Rica which consists of cooked and seasoned chopped vegetables. There are many variations of picadillo with the most common being chayote and potato. Chayote or choko is native to Central America and has a mild watery flavour similar to zucchini which is perfect in picadillo because it takes on the flavour of the seasoning. If you’re not from Central America, chances are you’ve never tried chayote, so I encourage you to try picadillo de chayote while you’re in Costa Rica.

Plátanos Fritos

Plátanos fritos are fried sweet plantains. They’re one of the most common side dishes in Costa Rica and can be served for any meal of the day to add a touch of sweetness to a savoury dish. Plantains are similar to bananas but are not eaten raw as they’re much tougher and starchier. Fried plantains are often called “maduros” which means “mature” or “ripe” because very ripe plantains are used to achieve the sweet, caramelised flavour.

Patacones

On the other hand, green or unripe plantains are used to make patacones. The green plantains are pan fried until soft, then mashed and fried again until crispy and golden. Patacones can be eaten as an appetiser, side dish, or with various toppings such as ceviche.

Ceviche

Ceviche is raw seafood marinated in citrus juice and seasonings until it appears opaque and firm as if it were cooked. White fish is usually use for ceviche although you can also find prawn and octopus variations. While ceviche is the national dish of Peru, it’s also common in other Latin American countries such as Costa Rica where there’s an abundance of fresh seafood. In Costa Rica, ceviche is usually made with corvina, red snapper, or mahi mahi. I was surprised to find that ceviche is a popular street for in Costa Rica and you can many street vendors selling it.

Costa Rican ceviche with avocado

Chifrijo

Chifrijo is a popular appetizer which has been served at bars in Costa Rica since the 1970s. The word is a combination of its two main ingredients: chicharrón (fried pork) and frijoles (beans). Chifrijo is similar to a bowl of nachos and typically includes tortilla chips, pico de gallo (seasoned chopped tomatoes), and avocado along with the chicharrónes and frijoles.

Empanadas

Empanadas are pastry turnovers with various fillings such as meat, cheese, or vegetables. Empanadas are a popular snack in Spain and Latin America but each region as their own version. Empanadas can be made with wheat flour or cornmeal, they can be baked or fried and may be sweet or savoury.

In Costa Rica, empanadas are typically fried and made from a cornmeal dough flavoured with cheese and chicken stock. Common fillings include chicken, beef, pork, cheese, beans, and potatoes. I highly recommend trying the chicharrón empanadas from Q’Empanadas in downtown San José.

Fried empanada made with corn dough

Tamales

Tamales are made from “masa”, a corn-based dough steamed in corn husk or banana leaves and filled with meats, cheese, vegetables, or fruit. They an indigenous dish in Mesoamerica dating back to as early as 8,000 BCE. In modern day Costa Rica, they’re normally served at Christmas with the most common filling being pork. Costa Rican tamales are always steamed in banana leaves.

Costa Rican tamales cooked in banana leaves

Ollo de Carne

Ollo de Carne is often described as being Costa Rican comfort food. Literally translating to “pot of meat”, olla de carne is a hearty beef and vegetable soup made using locally grown vegetables such as onions, potatoes, carrots, pumpkin, capsicum, corn, plantains, chayote, and yuca. Olla de carne has a long history and was traditionally cooked by farmers in large clay pots over an open fire using seasonal vegetables. Today, the dish is usually made by Costa Ricans on the weekends and in restaurants if often only served one day a week on either Saturday or Sunday, similar to the concept of a Sunday roast.

Arroz con Pollo

Arroz con pollo is a very common dish that you’ll find on every menu in Costa Rica. The phrase “arroz con pollo” simply means rice with chicken but the dish isn’t literally a plate of rice with some chicken. Arroz con pollo is actually more like paella or fried rice and consists of rice mixed with shredded chicken, chopped vegetables, herbs, and spices including achiote which gives the dish is characteristic orange colour. Arroz con pollo actually originates from Spain and is a popular dish throughout Latin America but of course, the Costa Rican version uses Salsa Lizano.

Caribbean Rice and Beans

In Costa Rica, when people use the term “rice and beans” in English, they’re not talking about the individual ingredients, nor are they referring to gallo pinto. They’re actually referring to a dish from the Caribbean side of Costa Rica. Caribbean “rice and beans” is similar to gallo pinto but is made with coconut milk, habanero peppers, and red kidney beans rather than black beans.

The origin of “rice and beans” can be traced to the 19th century when Jamaican immigrants came to Costa Rica to work on the construction of the railroad from San José to Puerto Limón on the Caribbean coast. The Jamaican workers adapted the traditional gallo pinto to suit their tastes by adding coconut milk and habanero peppers. The Jamaican influence is also the reason why the name of the dish is said in English rather than Spanish.

Caribbean "Rice and Beans" served with fish, fried plantains, and a habanero pepper

Desserts

Tres Leches

Tres Leches is one of the most popular desserts in Latin America and while it was invented in Mexico, it’s also considered to be the national dessert of Costa Rica. “Tres leches” means three milks because it consists of sponge cake soaked in three different kinds of milk: evaporated milk, condensed milk, and either whole milk or cream. The cake is also usually topped with cream.

Tres Leches cake

Arroz con Leche

Arroz con leche is another very popular dessert in Costa Rica. Arroz con leche is rice pudding although it literally translates to “rice with milk”. Variations of rice pudding can be found throughout the world and in Costa Rica the dessert is made by cooking white rice in sweetened condensed milk, sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla. Arroz con leche is traditionally served at celebrations in Costa Rica because it’s inexpensive and can be made in large quantities but you can also find this delicious dessert in many restaurants.

Sweet Empanadas

While you’re more likely to find savory empanadas in Costa Rica, sweet empanadas are also popular. Unlike their savoury counterparts, sweet empanadas in Costa Rica are typically made with wheat flour and are baked rather than fried. Fillings include dulce de leche caramel, marmalade made from the local chiverre squash, coconut, pineapple, and guava.

Sweet empanadas

Drinks

Pipa Fria

“Pipa fria” is Costa Rican slang for coconut water drunk straight from a cold fresh coconut with straw. Pipa fria is sold throughout Costa Rica by street vendors called “piperos” who cut the tops off the coconut with a machete when you buy them. Pipa fria is a delicious and healthy way to rehydrate after a swim or a hike.

Freshly cut coconut with a straw called pipa fria in Costa Rica

Naturales

In Costa Rica, you’ll often see the term “naturales” on menus which is short for “jugos naturales” (natural juices). Naturales are fresh juices usually made in-house by blending fruit with water and straining it through fine mesh rather than with a juicer. They’re popular in Costa Rica due to the abundance of local tropical fruit. I was amused to find takeaway naturales are served in a bag which locals drink simply by biting the bag and sucking the juice.

Fresh natural juice called "naturales" in Costa Rica

Batidos

Fruit smoothies called “batidos” are also popular in Costa Rica and can be made “con agua” (with water) or “con leche” (with milk). Batidos come in endless flavours and made with combinations of fresh tropical fruit such as banana, pineapple, watermelon, papaya, mango, blackberries, or cas (sour guava).

Pineapple smoothie

Guaro

Guaro is liquor made from distilled sugar cane juice. The flavour is similar to vodka but sweeter. It’s popular in Costa Rica as it’s produced locally. I recommend trying it in the form of a guaro sour!

I hope you enjoyed this guide to Costa Rican cuisine. Let me know what your favourite dish is in the comments below!