Tips for Traveling as a Vegan or Vegetarian in Costa Rica (also has tips for gluten free and food allergy travelers)

Vegetarian food in Costa Rica is much more readily available than people think. Although much of the Costa Rican diet has meat as farming is a huge industry, vegetarian dishes are not hard to find.

You can find delicious vegan and vegetarian Costa Rican food wherever you go.

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Eating Out as a Vegetarian in Costa Rica

Here is what to know about traveling as a vegan or vegetarian in Costa Rica. I personally eat vegetarian or pescatarian (fish only) when we travel in Costa Rica.

Furthermore, we will talk about how to travel with food allergies. Yeison has an extremely severe shellfish allergy so we have to be very careful when we go out to eat.

Sodas (Traditional Restaurants)

Sodas are what the Costa Ricans call their local restaurants. They are usually small, open air places that serve traditional Costa Rican food. Sodas are where you want to go to eat traditional Costa Rican food.

One awesome thing about sodas is that many of them are buffet style so you can pick and choose what you want. They usually have several different salad and veggie options.

Sodas are good places to eat in Costa Rica if you are on a budget as they will not be as expensive as the beachfront restaurants. An average lunch plate at a soda can be around 4500-5000 CRC (~$9-10 USD).

What to Know About Eating Veg if You Go to a Soda

Most sodas do not have a specific vegetarian section on the menu. However, you can turn nearly every traditional Costa Rican dish into a vegetarian one. I will say that it is a little bit more difficult to eat vegan in Costa Rica since many traditional restaurants use butter and milk, it’s easier to eat vegetarian.

The most popular and local food that is vegetarian and vegan is gallo pinto, or rice and beans. Gallo Pinto is normally eaten as breakfast along with a few sides. These sides are normally eggs, natilla (sour cream), plantains, tortillas and cheese.

As you can see, it is easy to eat a traditional Costa Rican breakfast that is vegetarian, like the plate pictured below.

Then for lunch or dinner, you can try a casado. This is a typical Costa Rican lunch and dinner dish.

Normally, a casado comes with meat but you can ask for a vegetarian casado even if it’s not on the menu. It’ll probably come with rice, beans, salad, plantains, tortilla and some sort of pico de gallo or squash/plantain mix.

Sometimes they’ll add an egg or cheese unless you specifically ask them not to. If you’re vegan, make sure you tell them you do not want an egg or cheese.

Other Vegetarian Costa Rican Food

Other yummy Costa Rican vegetarian dishes are sopa negra (black bean soup), arroz con palmito (heart of palm rice), chorreada (corn pancakes), crema de pejibaye (peach palm soup), chips and salsa and patacones (smashed fried plantains).

As you can see, eating vegetarian is not very difficult in Costa Rica.

Other Restaurants

Higher end restaurants in touristic destinations usually have a specific vegetarian/vegan options on their menu or they will mark which dishes are veg/gluten friendly.

For example, the La Fortuna pub has a few vegetarian options and their food was excellent.

There are way more vegetarian options if you go to the touristic restaurants. I’ve had some absolutely delicious veggie sandwiches, veggie pastas and mushroom/black bean burgers.

The Surf Shack in Tamarindo makes an awesome portabello mushroom burger. I also love the vegetarian casados at Soda Garra Pata, which is actually a Costa Rican barbecue restaurant.

I also had a delicious veggie pasta at La Colonia Restaurant in Uvita.

Words to Know

It is extremely helpful to know important words in Spanish so that your order is clear and there are no confusions, especially for vegans.

Do not expect all the places you go to speak English, especially if you visit local restaurants or are in small towns.

Also write down any food you are allergic to since some restaurants use the same oil and pans to cook.

Here are some important words to know for vegetarians/Vegans in Spanish.

Veg Words and phrases in Spanish

• I’m vegetarian – Soy vegetariano/a
• No meat/without meat – Sin carne
• Vegan – Vegano
• No cheese – Sin queso
• No egg – Sin huevo
• In water – En agua. If you order a fruit smoothie (batido), they will ask you “en agua o leche?” (in water or milk?) and you want to say en agua.
• No milk – Sin leche
• I don’t eat meat – Yo no como carne
• I am vegan – Soy vegano/a
• No animal products – Sin productos de animales
• No gluten – Sin gluten. It will be better for you to say Sin trigo (no wheat)
• since some locals aren’t familiar with gluten. To be even more sure, you can say Que la comida no tenga gluten o trigo (no wheat or gluten in the food).

Seasonings and Sauces

It’s very important to note if you visit a traditional restaurant in a small town or rural area, the food may not have meat but the stock, sauce, fat or seasoning may have animal products.

Some places use chicken bouillon cubes or chicken stock to make their rice and soups and some salads have mayonnaise so make sure you ask first before ordering.

Likewise, some restaurants use butter instead of oil so even though you order gallo pinto, they may have cooked it using butter (butter is mantequilla, oil is aceite).

Chicken bouillon cubes in Costa Rica are called consome de pollo. Mayonnaise is mayonesa in Spanish.

Vegetarian Restaurants in Costa Rica

More dedicated vegetarian and vegan places are popping up in Costa Rica. There is even a vegan hotel in Tamarindo called Mother Earth Luxury Vegan Hotel.

Here are some excellent vegetarian restaurants in Costa Rica.

You will find more veg friendly places in destinations like Nosara, Samara, San Isidro de Perez Zeledon, Santa Teresa, Uvita, Dominical and Puerto Viejo. There are big expat/immigrant veg communities with a large focus on wellness in those areas.

• Casa Planta: Plant based restaurant inside the Igloo Beach Lodge in Manuel Antonio.
• Organico Fortuna: Focus on organic food with vegetarian and vegan options. In La Fortuna
• Mother Earth Vegan Restaurant: The vegan hotel in Tamarindo also has a restaurant. They also have a small stall in the Auto Mercado plaza.
• Lands in Love between San Ramon and La Fortuna: This hotel and restaurant run by Israelis focuses solely on vegetarian and vegan food. They also have a Kosher restaurant.
• Indomitos Cafe in Uvita: Vegan/Vegetarian cafe with breakfast and lunch, fruit bowls, salads, etc.
• Orchid Coffee & Restaurant in Monteverde: This cafe not only has delicious coffee and dessert, but excellent food with lots of vegetarian options.
• Restaurante Shakti in San Jose: Below Hostel Shakti. Has a great variety of vegetarian/vegan options.
• Mixt Costa Rica: Yummy breakfasts, brunch and lunch like wraps, sadwiches, 100% plant based. In San Jose.
• Como en mi Casa Art Cafe in Puerto Viejo: A great place to get delicious vegan pancakes, vegetarian wraps, salads and more. Also hasg luten free options.
• The Bakery Cafe and Organico in Montezuma: Both have lots of veg options
• Arbol de Seda: Vegetarian resturant in Barrio Escalante, San Jose
• Drift Bar: A fantastic veg restaurant in Santa Teresa.

Farmer’s Market and Supermarkets in Costa Rica – What Fruits and Veggies You Can Find

If you are booking Airbnbs or staying at hostels and have access to a kitchen, you can easily cook fresh vegetarian food that you buy from the supermarket or Costa Rican farmers market.

The farmer’s market, or feria is usually open only on weekends but you can also find produce markets open every day.

It’s usually pretty cheap to buy produce at the ferias and it’s all local grown. You can find basics like lettuce, onions, tomatoes, carrots, cucumbers, cilantro, green peppers, cabbage and garlic.

However, if you’re looking for foods such as kale, quinoa, fresh mushrooms, arugula, napa cabbage, etc. you will need to go to a higher end supermarket like Auto Mercado or go to a farmer’s market geared towards foreigners.

The farmer’s market in Tinamastes has a great selection of different produce.

Eating Pescatarian in Costa Rica

If you’re pescatarian, there are lots of seafood options in Costa Rica. You can order ceviche, arroz con camarones (rice with shrimp), seafood soup, fish fingers or a fish casado.

Most of the time, the fish is tilapia. It’s not the best fish, but if you are at a restaurant that can cook it well, the earthy dirt flavor is not very strong.

If you love fish, I highly recommend trying a whole red snapper. That is my absolute favorite!

Gluten Free in Costa Rica

If you’re gluten free, you’re also in luck. The traditional dishes in Costa Rica are very gluten free friendly as their staples are rice, beans, salad and fruit.

Most of the tortillas are made from corn but ask since some serve the flour ones. I have a friend who has a lot of food allergies and is gluten free and she was so happy she could eat most of the food.

However, if you have Coeliac disease, some sauces may use gluten in them. To avoid any sort of damage, inflammation, or reaction, you may need to pack your own food.

Thankfully, many supermarkets have a dedicated gluten free aisle. The one in the Auto Mercado supermarket is quite good with lots of different options for gluten free food to cook and snacks.

Remember, no gluten in Spanish is Sin gluten o sin trigo.

Food Allergies – How to Stay Safe

If you or anyone in your group has food allergies, please write it down in Spanish. If you have extremely severe allergies, I also recommend to print out a photo of it with a big red X.

In Spanish, you need to say… I am allergic to – Soy alergico a (X food)

For those with severe food allergies, it would be best to stick to hotel restaurants or the touristic restaurants. Food allergies are not quite as common in Costa Rica, though people are becoming more aware of them.

However, some local restaurants (the sodas) may not take it seriously. They often cook everything in one pan with the same oil which can still be detrimental with those with severe allergies.

This has happened to us several times before, even with Yeison being Costa Rican. In the more rural places, the local restaurants just cooked everything with the same oil and in the same pan and Yeison got mild reactions.

For example, rice with chicken was cooked in the same pan was rice with shrimp. He is deathly allergic to shrimp and even eating just the same oil set off a reaction.

If you don’t speak Spanish, they may not understand correctly or take it seriously. Do not take any chances, especially if you have kids with severe allergies.

Tours: Many tours include a meal like lunch. If you are gluten free or have food allergies, it may be a good idea to pack your own.

For more articles on food in Costa Rica, check out these posts below!

Costa Rican beer

Costa Rican coffee

What to eat and drink in Costa Rica

Costa Rica Vacation Checklist

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