Argentinian food is diverse and multicultural, shaped by the ingredients historically available to indigenous tribes and the tastes of some seven million settlers who introduced dishes from their native Europe. Given that most of these immigrants were Spanish and Italian, it should come as no surprise that pizza rates highly in many a local’s top ten Argentina food favorites.
Then there’s the national obsession with beef. Argentina is one of just four countries in the world to have more cattle than people, so it’s no surprise that cooking and eating beef is deeply ingrained in the national psyche. You haven’t experienced Argentina until you’ve enjoyed asado, the traditional Argentinian barbecue, which is as much a social event as a feast.
While you can find most cuisines in Argentina today, and there’s a movement toward healthier food, it’s still a fun experience to try traditional Argentine cuisine, from oven-warm empanadas to sizzling hot choripan, and the happy indulgence of anything topped or filled with sweet dulce de leche.
Asado
Asado
Asado, the barbecue that Argentina is known for, is as deeply embedded in the country’s culture as tango. Asado stems from the gauchos, the country’s rugged, nomadic cowboys, who would slow-cook meat over charcoal or firewood out on the vast cattle ranches of the pampas.
Asado today can be any kind of meat in addition to beef; chicken, pork, sausages, sweetbreads, sometimes even an entire lamb, especially in Patagonia. The meat is served with sides of salads and chimichurri sauce and washed down with red wine, usually the Malbecs for which Argentina is so famous.
If you’re vegetarian, all is not lost. Baked potatoes, pasta, salads, gnocchi, and grilled, sometimes stuffed vegetables such as eggplant or bell peppers are on offer in most parilla, or grill restaurants.
Chimichurri
Chimichurri
This tangy green salsa is ubiquitous in Argentina, often dolloped on top of grilled meats. It’s made from chopped parsley, onion, garlic, oregano, chili pepper, lemon, and olive oil and can be used as a marinade or an accompaniment to steak or lamb.
You’ll see it on sale and in restaurants as a condiment, but if you like it, making your own back home is very simple.
Empanadas
Empanada
Empanadas are an irresistible street food believed to have been introduced to Spain by the Moors from North Africa in the Middle Ages and subsequently exported to Latin America.
Empanadas are half-moon-shaped meat pies, the filling encased in pastry that’s either baked or deep-fried. Fillings include chicken, goat, and ground beef. Nowadays, vegetarian versions are often available, filled with spinach or mushrooms, or vegetables with cheese.
Sweet empanadas are also popular and could include sweet potato paste, quince jam, baked apple, or the deliciously decadent dulce de leche so loved by Argentinians. Typically, they’re sprinkled with sugar, cinnamon, and raisins.
Empanadas must be served fresh and ideally, still warm from the oven, so accept nothing less. If you’re buying a selection, make sure you understand the markings on the pastry, which tell you what’s inside.
Dulce de Leche
Dulce de leche
Dulce de leche—a decadent, thick caramel sauce or paste made with sugar and milk—is the ultimate comfort food in Argentina. Children are raised on it, either as a breakfast spread, a dessert sauce, an ice cream flavor or topping, or a filling for churros, long strings of sugar-coated donuts. You’ll even find dulce de leche inside dessert empanadas.
If you develop a taste for this seductively sweet condiment, you can buy dulce de leche in jars to take home.
Milanesa
Milanesa
Another import from Europe, Milanesa is similar to Austrian Wiener schnitzel or the cotoletta alla Milanese that you’d find in Italy. But while Europeans use veal for their schnitzel, Argentinians prefer lean beef.
The meat is tenderized and covered with a mixture of egg, garlic, parsley, salt, and pepper before being coated in breadcrumbs. It’s then shallow-fried until golden. If you prefer not to eat beef, you could ask for chicken or pork, or for vegetarians, eggplant slices.
Your Milanesa will come with fries or mashed potatoes and a squeeze of lemon over the meat. Ask for a la napolitana, and there will be a topping of tomato salsa, ham, and melted mozzarella cheese.
Choripán
Choripán
Choripán is considered the ultimate Argentinian street food. You’ll find it in markets, outside soccer grounds on match days, and on street stalls; just follow the mouthwatering aroma of sizzling pork and chorizo cooking over a wood flame.
This South American dish is a smoky chorizo sausage, grilled and sliced down the center, topped with the ubiquitous chimichurri, and served in crusty bread. Other toppings might include caramelized onions, green peppers, and pickled eggplant.
Provoleta
Provoleta
What’s interesting about Argentine cuisine is tracing each dish back to its roots. Provoleta is a case in point; it’s believed to have arrived here with the waves of Italian immigrants and is a creative way to enjoy the beloved Italian provolone cheese.
This dish elevates traditional grilled cheese, topping the slices with oregano and chilli flakes and grilling it until it’s nearly melted. The ideal result should be almost caramelized on the outside and deliciously gooey in the center. Inevitably, provoleta is topped with chimichurri. Try it as a starter, a side with asado, or a meal in itself, served with crispy bread.
Carbonada Criolla
Carbonada criolla
Carbonada is a rich stew originating in Patagonia that contains just about everything: beef, beef broth, sweet potatoes, white potatoes, corn, bacon, carrots, peppers, and even fruit, from peaches or plums to dried apricots, which add a layer of sweetness.
The whole ensemble is traditionally slow-cooked in a hollowed-out pumpkin, usually on the barbecue, or buried in wood embers. The idea is that you scrape out the baked flesh of the pumpkin as you eat for even more depth of flavor.
Carbonada is usually eaten with cornbread. Sometimes, it’s even served as an empanada filling.
Humita en Chala
Humita en chala
Humita, a welcome dish for vegetarians in this meat-loving society, is a warming comfort food believed to have been brought to Argentina from Peru in the 15th century.
Creamed corn, goat cheese or mozzarella, onion, bell pepper, sometimes squash, and spices are combined and wrapped in a corn husk—the chala—which is steamed or boiled. Humita is eaten as a snack or sometimes a main course.
Pizza a Caballo
Yet another Italian import, pizza in Argentina is made with a fairly thick crust and topped with copious amounts of cheese, as well as oregano, chili, red bell peppers, and sometimes green olives.
Fainâ
What’s different about Argentinian pizza is that it’s often served with a slice of fainâ, a kind of pancake made from garbanzo bean flour, believed to have originated in Genoa, Italy. The pancake, which is a protein rather than yet another carb, lies on top of the gooey pizza and absorbs the fat from the melting cheese. “A caballo” means “on horseback”—an apt description.
Alfajores
Alfajores
Alfajores, round, crumbly shortbread cookies sandwiched with jam, mousse, or dulce de leche, are another gift from Moorish Spain dating back to the Middle Ages. You’ll find them all over Argentina. People snack on them at any time, although they’re especially good with coffee and are often eaten as merienda, the 5 pm snack that bridges the gap between lunch and dinner, which is usually eaten at around 9 pm.
The classic alfajores are made with a dulce de leche filling, rolled in desiccated coconut that coats the sticky caramel. You may come across variations, though, including chocolate-covered cookies, or cookies coated with a thin layer of meringue.
Yerba Mate
Yerba mate
Yerba mate, pronounced mah-tay, is a stimulating herbal tea that’s packed with vitamins and minerals and drunk all over South America. It’s much loved in Argentina as a pick-me-up. The drink originated with the indigenous populations here who appreciated its invigorating properties. You’ll find it all over South America.
Yerba mate is made from chopped and ground yerba mate leaves which are steeped in hot water and then drunk through a metal straw, called a bombilla, with a tiny sieve on one end. The flavor is bitter and herbal.
Traditionally, yerba mate was served in cured, hollowed-out gourds, but today you’ll find all manner of mate cups to buy. If you take to the drink, a set of hand-crafted cups made of gourd or wood, with elaborate nickel silver detail, makes a great souvenir or gift to take home. In Argentina, the cups are often passed down through the generations as a family heirloom.
Consuming yerba mate is a social activity, with the gourd being passed around a group, although nowadays, people tend to prefer to use their own bombilla.
Matambre Arrollado
Matambre arrollado
“Matar” means to kill in Spanish, while “hambre” is hunger, so this protein-rich asado dish is essentially a “hunger killer”.
A flank steak is rolled around a filling of hard-boiled eggs, herbs, and vegetables, and then grilled on the barbecue. As it cooks quicker than most traditional asado dishes, it tends to be served first, hence the name.
Ñoquis del 29
Ñoquis del 29
Gnocchi is another dish that was brought to Argentina by emigrating Italians in the 19th century. Traditionally, it’s consumed on the 29th day of each month.
There are various theories as to why; some say the 29th is simply nearing the end of the month when people would be running low on funds before payday, hence this simple, affordable dish. It’s also believed that the 29th is the day the Italian Saint Pantaleo, believed to have performed many miracles, was canonized and became a patron of Venice.
Families often gather to eat ñoquis on the 29th of the month, while you’ll also see it on restaurant menus. There’s a custom of placing a coin or banknote under everybody’s dinner plate, for luck, with each individual keeping the loot, or donating it to a worthy cause.
Ñoquis del 29
The dish is typically made from yuca rather than potato, as well as flour, egg, and salt, sometimes with spinach or squash added for color and flavor. The mini dumplings are boiled and then served with any kind of pasta sauce.
Read: Argentina Culture Guide
Fugazzeta
Fugazzeta
If you love cheese, you’ll be in heaven when you try fugazzeta. This is another variation on pizza, believed to have originated in Genoa; the word fugazza derives from “foccacia”.
While fugazzeta is a kind of pizza, it doesn’t come with tomato sauce. Instead, two layers of crust are stuffed to bursting point with mozzarella cheese and topped with thinly sliced onions, oregano, and grated Parmesan. Some variations come with ham and spinach, too.
Fugazzeta is eaten as a street food but be warned—all that runny cheese can be messy.
Medialunas
Medialunas
You’ll find these dense, sweet croissants, whose name translates as “half moon”, in bakeries and on breakfast buffets.
Medialunas differ from French croissants in that the dough contains egg and honey; they’re more like a hybrid of a brioche and a croissant. The dough isn’t laminated like croissant dough, so will crumble rather than flake when you eat it.
This makes it the perfect texture for dunking in your morning café con leche, a practice that’s completely acceptable in Argentina.
Chocotorta
Chocotorta
Popular for birthdays and other celebrations, this indulgent, no-bake chocolate dessert can take on many forms.
The conventional version is thin chocolate cookies, branded as Chocolinas in Argentina, dunked in coffee and then layered with cream cheese mixed with dulce de leche. The whole ensemble is chilled for a few hours and then topped with a glossy chocolate ganache.
Buenos Aires
Are you tempted to try some of these unique dishes? Browse Celebrity’s cruises to Argentina and plan your next culinary adventure.
