One thing many people don’t like about Costa Rica is the food. A lot of people say it’s bland, has no taste, is boring, etc. but most of the time all they try is gallo pinto or casados which honestly does get a tad boring after the 10th time in a row you eat it.
But believe it or not, Costa Rican food actually has a large variety, it’s not just rice and beans! Yes they do love Salsa Lizano but it’s a great condiment and that’s what makes Costa Rican food, well Costa Rican.
Their food is fairly healthy since most of it is fresh vegetables and fruit and they don’t like to drench everything in dressing and oils.
If you want to try more flavors and taste more of what authentic and genuine Costa Rican food is like, there are several dishes that you’ll have to look out for beyond the traditional casados.
9 Costa Rican Dishes You Can’t Miss
Chifrijo
This is the ultimate bar snack and as Costa Rican as you can get when you go out. You can find this at all bars and most restaurants, it may now always be on the menu but you can order it.
It’s basically a bowl of rice, beans, pico de gallo, chicharrones (fried pork) and guacamole. Eat it with chips, down it with an Imperial beer and you got Costa Rica in a bowl!
Arroz Con Pollo (Rice with Chicken)
This is a fairly popular dish and just as common as casados. Rice and chicken, mixed with vegetables normally accompanied with salad and fries. This rice and chicken was one of the best I ever ate with heart of palms in the salad, one of our favorites.
It’s not too difficult to make as it’s like fried rice except they like to put cilantro and shredded chicken. You can find this in other Central American countries as well.
Olla de Carne
Olla de carne is one of the few soup dishes they eat here. It’s a very simple but healthy soup with beef, yucca, corn, green plantain, taro and yam in a beef broth and you can also add carrot and potato.
You can’t find it in all the restaurants and some places only make it on Saturday or the weekend.
Picadillo de Papa
The Costa Rican version of this dish normally has the vegetable in the name (Picadillo de papa, picadillo de ayote) with meat, chopped onions and bell peppers. They eat it with tortillas or rice and the way they eat it is to stuff the tortilla with the picadillo and the blended beans.
There’s several versions of picadillo since you can add in different vegetables but it is common in Costa Rica and throughout Latin America.
Taco
Doesn’t look like the taco you were thinking of right? Costa Rican tacos are not like Mexican tacos at all. They roll the tortilla with the filling and deep fry it!
On top they put shredded cabbage with ketchup and mayonnaise swirled on top. And of course with a side of fries. OK so this one’s not that healthy but every country’s got their junk food right? This one is great for snacking on late nights when out with friends to satisfy the munchies and they’re normally pretty cheap.
Patacones con Guacamole
In other countries such as Nicaragua, these are called tostones. If you try to order patacones in Nicaragua, they’ll give you a weird look because it actually means ticks! These are smashed and fried plantains sprinkled with a little salt and nothing more.
They’re great for snacking, with the crispiness like chips but thickness of the plantain. Dipped in guacamole is even better, it’s heavenly.
Chorreadas
These are Costa Rican corn pancakes that are eaten as a snack, breakfast or appetizer. These are delicious paired with coffee as they are normally made sweet or you can eat it with natilla like the picture above, a type of sour cream.
Chorreadas is like a pancake but made with ground corn which you pan fry until it turns a crunchy golden brown.
Churchills
Made famous in Puntarenas, these bad boys will give you all the sweet you need in one month. OK it’s really more of a dessert but it’s still a dish! A more intense variation of the Costa Rica copo, it is packed with sugar, more sugar and sugar! Actually it is ice cream with kola syrup, condensed milk, powdered milk and barquillos (the straw cookies).
Notice in the picture they even give you an extra cup of condensed milk in case the 20 ml they poured in your ice cream is not enough.
Rice and Beans
I know you’re probably thinking, hey I thought you said no rice and beans! Well technically I said no casados but yes this is a dish called rice and beans. However, this is the version from the Caribbean side of the country which makes it completely different. They make their rice and beans with coconut milk and Panamanian pepper or Habanero chile.
Oh and one more thing, no Salsa Lizano and make sure you don’t call it gallo pinto! Even their chicken is cooked differently, the one in the picture was jerk chicken which you won’t find too much in other parts of the country. If you visit that side of Costa Rica such as Limon, make sure you try the rice and beans because it is a Costa Rican dish influenced by the Caribbean!
If you’re interested in learning how to cook some Costa Rican dishes, we have a recipe section!
If you are traveling as a vegan or vegetarian, check out our post on eating veg in Costa Rica.
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I am a tica living in California. I just went back to Costa Rica for three weeks to visit family and friends. The food… my favorite. These recipes are great and there are so many more! Picadillo de plátano verde, picadillo de chayote with corn. Mayonnaise from Costa Rica is the best, made by Lizano. Costa Rican pozol is outstanding. To me, it’s the best food. And when you go to the Caribbean… the food is soooo good! The rice and beans made with coconut milk, its delicious!
Those look so delicious. Arroz Con Pollo (Rice with Chicken) is my favorite meal. I love it. It’s look so amazing
So good!
Great article that shows that Costa Rica food is definitely not just rice and beans! I didn’t know about the Churchills, seem very yummy!!!
They are pretty good, you can get the original churchhills in Puntarenas, the rest are usually copos 🙂
One of my favourite foods in Costa Rica is Sopa de Pollo. It is so hot (not spicy–just temperature), it is definitely hard to eat on a hot day. It was always served with a bowl of rice. I would take the solids out of my soup, put them on the pile of rice until they cooled off, eat them, and maybe when I was done that, I could handle drinking the still hot soup broth. I just loved all the cilantro in it–it tasted so fresh! Also, I am sure their soup broth must be made from free range chickens–isn’t that all they have in CR? I am recalling the roosters that kept waking me up all night in Brasilito…..they are beautiful to look at, but at night….I’d be strangling them and making soup too!
My next favourite was pork kebabs made on BBQ’s on the street. Oh my goodness! If you could get me a recipe for those–I would be eternally grateful!
This information really helps for my project!
same!
My son is studying in Costa Rica at the UNIBE, he loves that country including the food, I don’t think he is ever coming back to Canada…LOL
All these dishes look delicious!
Hi, My brother is a Doctor and he graduated from the UNIBE. Thanks for reading our blog!
Hi, I’m from Costa Rica but living in North Carolina teaching Spanish…
I miss all of my foodand these pictures reminded me how I love my country..I miss the beaches and of course the tacos ticos!!!!
My step dad is Costa rica and he told me all about. I would love to go there some day. He taught me and my mom some of the spinach and some of the food it is amazing!!
I hope you get to go one day! 🙂
Hello! Im tica but i live overseas, i miss the food i ate when i was little and this blog almost made me cry. Good job with the description! I would only add that churchills have ice too and yeah, ticos say that if you go to the Puerto (Puntarenas) and you don’t get a churchill from Paseo de los Turistas, you really didn’t go 🙂
Saludos Eugenia! Si esos churchills son buenísimos pero con uno ya es suficiente para un año por la cantidad de azucar. Donde sea que estes te deseamos lo mejor. Pura vida!
Costa Rican ceviche. I was accustomed to Mexican ceviche from the Pacific coast (differs somewhat by region from north to far south) and Peruvian ceviche. In 7 years living in Costa Rica I’ve tried a lot of ceviche. There is an unusual twist to it unlike what I was previously accustomed to. Often made my own from super fresh Pacific ocean fish, or a variety of fresh mariscos (non fin fish seafoods). Took a couple of years to learn what the difference is (as I learned Spanish). Ginger ale, or sometimes Fresca or some similar citrus soda pop in addition to jugo de limón (lime juice). As a former chef, this first struck me as strange, but I have to hand it to them……….. They’ve nailed it!
I love their ceviche here but I haven’t tried it in other countries so I can’t compare. Glad to hear from a former chef that the CR version holds up well 🙂
You can check our guide for a list of restaurants here: Playa Hermosa
I recommend Marios or Gingers but there are quite a few good ones in Hermosa.
Where would you eat in Playa Hermosa?
Which one?
In Guanacaste 🙂
Those corn pancake/tortilla things look really yummy.
They are really delicious when they’re well done!
I would gladly try one of each, eheheh! I just have to get to Costa Rica first (it is one of my longed-for long destinations).
Thanks for sharing, and for the great photos!
Hope you visit soon!
Those dishes look amazing..! I’d love to have Patacones and Chorreadas right now..! Seems I’ll have to wait for a trip to Costa Rica 🙂 Thanks for the appetite 🙂
Haha no problem!
Most of these dishes remind me of Colombian food, which is very similar, I suppose due to the close proximity of the countries! The deserts are definitely more appealing in my opinion 🙂 We had to carry a bottle of chilli sauce with us, as the flavours are not very apparent in a lot of the food!
Yeah for sure! Latin American countries I feel like have similar foods, though Panama was completely different. Haha I started doing that too except I brought Siracha!
uhhhmmmm the tacos got me all hungry. I just love wraps and fried stuff in general AND i’m a muncher… perfect for me. Reminds me a little of what the Tunisians called Brik, a wrap of all kind of things, deep fried and served with a sprinkle of lemon or lime on top.
Ooh that sounds good! A sprinkle of lemon would be a nice kick
The Patacones con Guacamole looks great and I know I like the Mexican variation. So I would love to taste the Costa Rica variation as well. So do the Costa Ricans not use much spices in their food?
Definitely! Patacones are one of my favorites! No not really, they use basic condiments and a few sauces like their signature Salsa Lizano and some others but compared to other cuisines, it is not as flavorful.
Never tried Costa Rican food but I’m curious to taste those dishes. The churchills looks great, and the corn pankaces too! Ohhh I’m hungry now 😀
Haha the churchills are pretty yummy until you get halfway through and get a major sugar rush 😀
Huge mistake reading this whilst hungry! They all look so good, I would try them all.
Haha sorry about that!
Thanks for a very mouth-watering post! It’s interesting seeing the differences from Mexican food. I like Costa Rica’s take on the taco!
I love their tacos! I was pretty surprised when I first ate one too on how different it was than a Mexican taco
Madre mia!
All this food just made me hungry and I am almost drooling 😉
Love Costa Rican food & Latin American food in general.
We Salvadorans eat almost the same Ticos do, except that the meals have different names!
Love arroz con pollo, olla de carne etc. Rice with beans is called casamiento and we add tortillas to everything 😉
Ah those patacones and guacamole look so good!
Now i’ve to go get a snack lol!
Thanks for sharing y buen provecho 😉
TTYL
Karla
hehe me too! Mmm the only thing I’ve had from El Slavador is pupusas which I love! And they’re not super common here in Costa Rica but so interesting how every country although so close all variations of the same dish. Always something new to try! Love food hehe. Gracias Karla 🙂
Yum! These all look so delicious! Great t know there’s some variety of food there. Interesting what comes with their tacos. We call those taquitos here in SoCal. The patacones con guacamole looks so good. I don’t think I’ve ever had plantains with guac before.
It’s so funny, I had taquitos before in the States but always associated it as Mexican food so when I saw it and Costa Ricans call it their taco, well it’s essentially like little taco! But delicious nonetheless. You’ll have to try plantains with guac, the combination is delicious! I never had plantains before either until I moved down, it’s not very common in WA!
You’ve officially made me hungry reading all that! We had some amazing food in Guatemala that was pretty similar, just fell in love with their pancakes, and yes even the rice and beans (also on the Caribbean side in Livingston) were delicious. Hmmmm, now I’ve got the munchies….:-)
Oh I haven’t tried pancakes their pancakes! That’ll be something to look forward to when we go to Guatemala. haha I would send you some but don’t think they’ll make it all the way other there!
I’ll take that chicken and rice first..and then slowly make my way around that table.
Sounds good to me! 🙂
well that was a fun foodie tour..wish I could sample or even do a scratch and sniff, will have to go visit there someday…thanks for joining #tpMondays
That should be the next invention, scratch and sniff computers 🙂 Thanks Noel!
Ooh, I want a churchill! And I love arroz con pollo. It’s hard to imagine getting bored with Costa Rican food!
I agree! But there are plenty of people who say it. Each to their own eh? 😛
Hi Sammi, when I was in CR I had a lot of rice and beans but I didn’t mind because they were delicious that I didn’t get sick of it. I don’t eat meat so I didn’t much option anyway. That chorreadas looks yummy. I would like to try it next time I visit which I hope will be soon. My husband who’s more food adventurous would love to try all the dishes you featured here. He hasn’t been to CR but is now inspired to visit soon.
They’re all pretty delicious! And a good variety. I hope you guys come, you’ll have lots of fun! 🙂 Thanks Marisol!
you can ask for the taco to be made with cheese not meat. I am form Costa Rica and just love eating tacos. the chorreadas are not that hard to make but they do taste better in CR
I would but I actually don’t like cheese 😀 so meat is good for me! Thanks for commenting!
great pics, making me hungry!!! i think taco is my favourite of all these but i did love costa rican food – even gallo pinto!!
I love the taco too, one of my favs! Thanks for commenting Clayton!
Right, I’m definitely down for some patacones with guacamole and a few chorreadas. I think I may have become a diabetic just by looking at those churchills though… Good luck!
Yep I think my blood sugar level spiked exponentially after I ate one and stayed that high for a few days after too. Definitely not something you want to be eating everyday! Or even every month haha
Would have a plate of patacones con guacamole right now. Or just any day of the week. And then I would have some chorreadas. And then some more patacones. I love food.
hehe me too! I wish I ate patacones a lot more or knew how to make them correctly! chorreadas too, I don’t have the patience to grind my own corn haha
I don’t like beans anyway so I’d have no problem trying something besides rice and beans haha…these look delicious. Thanks for linking up to the #SundayTraveler this week guys! 🙂
Whattt! haha well to be fair I didn’t have a taste for that either until I got here. Now I can’t imagine not eating them! perhaps it is an acquired taste 🙂
Yep, I’m a weirdo. I was really really picky growing up. I’m a lot more adventurous in my eating these days, but I still don’t like beans haha
haha you’re going to be in quiet a foodie shock when you make it over to Asia 😛 It’s all sorts of weird stuff over there hehe
Starting each day with a heap of patacones was one of my favorite memories of Panama – glad to see the Ticos use the same word! Also, thanks for the tip on the distinction in Nicaragua.
No problem! I personally was in this awkward situation where the Nicaraguans thought I was asking for ticks but they know the distinction so we just laughed it off haha.
Aw I can’t imagine not eating guacamole or avocados now, it’s a staple part of my diet! I’d miss it a ton too!
They all look good but the Olla de carne is right up my alley.
Same, it’s my favorite!
This looks delicious, especially the taco. Really looking forward t heading down to Costa Rica (eventually), will be trying some of these beauties!
The taco is one of my favorites but I try not to eat it too often haha. They’re all really good! Thanks for reading Rob 🙂
Nice post. I’m a Tica and I’ve been reading your blog for a while now, it’s pretty good read. I know ceviche is not a Costa Rican dish per se, but it’s as common as ordering arroz con pollo for lunch. Just thought I’d mention it. Costa Rican tamales as well. Aguadulce is another pretty common beverage.
Keep up the good work!
Pura vida! 🙂
I love the ceviche here! And tamales too. I had to cut this list down quite a bit or else it’d be “every single food you should not miss in Costa Rica” haha. Thanks for reading Natalia!! pura vida 🙂