Nicaragua food ranges from street stands selling fried food and fruit, to grandmother's Oxtail Stew prepared in a home kitchen. When traveling here, make sure to sample as many types of Nicaragua food as you can get your hands on. Cheese is a big deal in Nicaragua, and there are dozens of types, served any way from fried to the string cheese variety so popular these days. Let's take a look at some of specialties of Nicaragua food!
Nicaragua Food You Must Try While Traveling
- Indio Viejo is shredded beef in a stew thickened with masa
- Mondongo is Beef Tripe Soup
- Nacatamal is a tamale, Nicaragua style. It's wrapped in banana leaf, containing bacon, rice, potato, onion, cilantro, tomatos and prunes
- Baho is pork, plantains, beef and yucca steamed in a banana leaf. Usually served with cabbage slaw
- Quesillo is string cheese, Nicaragua style, with sour cream and curtido
- Salpicon is finely chopped onion and bell pepper with poached beef also chopped up very finely
- Huevos de Tortuga are turtle eggs! We'd opt for the string cheese instead.
Consider that the essential list of Nicaragua food everyone should aim to try while traveling in this great country. If you're a vegetarian, the wonderful array of cheeses in this country should please you, and well if you're a vegan, the abundance of fruit, veggies and rice should suit you too. Rum is a common drink with meals. Here it's called Flor de Cana. However, the national drink is Macua.
More Nicaragua Food to Try
For breakfast, you'll commonly see gallo pinto. That's beans and rice fried in oil. As you stroll about exploring cities or towns, buy lunch from a vendor for some really authentic Nicaragua food. They sell tacos, which are served in plastic bags! They come with cabbage and sour cream.
Other good street food is maduro, which is sweet fried plantains. Tostones are fried plantain chips. For a truly authentic Nicaragua food experience, go to a cafeteria, which is what Nicas do. They're called comedors here and display lots of different foods in glass cases for low prices.
Fruit andDrinks
Fesco de cacao is like heavenly chocolate milk. Or try flor de rosa de jamaica, which is hisbiscus juice. Cactusfruit drink is also delicious, and it's called pithaya. There are lots of frescos served with lunch, try them all!
Mango is another convenient street food you can buy on the run. It's normally served with salt on it so if you don't want that just tell the vendor.
Nicaragua Food Recipes
Oxtail Stew
Start with half a cup of dried white beans and cook them. You can do this in a pressure cooker or soak them over night. Then cook 3 pounds of beef oxtails in lard. Put them in a Dutch oven and add:
- 1 tomato diced
- 1 onion diced
- 2 c beef stock
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 2 c water
- 2 T ground allspice
- salt and pepper to taste
- some hot sauce
Simmer for one and a half hours, then add the cooked beans. Simmer for another one and a half hours. Add water if it gets too dry. That's it, the best traditional Nicaragua food there is!
