The ABCs of Latino Cooking: Recipes and Food History That Celebrate Latino Cultures

Published on September 19, 2024 by Beatrice Alvarez


We talk a lot about how much of our family, history, and culture is told through our foods. Every holiday or celebration has a dish that signals joy and togetherness, right? And when we are homesick, certain foods will take us back to the comfort of home with one bite. The foods and recipes from Latino kitchens are no different.

We've selected just a few of those unique flavors and recipes to celebrate Latino cooking. This is by no means an exhaustive list, but we think it's a great starting point. We hope you see some of your favorite recipes here and we'll keep adding recipes and food history as we keep learning more.

And if this inspires you to cook something new, you can find even more recipes on PBS Food.



Let's start with A, B, C, D, E


A is for Abuela's Recipes

So much of our cooking is about honoring the foods of families and loved ones. So it's fitting that many of our favorite recipes come from our family kitchens and include cultural notes in their ingredients. So we have two abuela recipes from The Great American Recipe:

Sopa de mi Abuela con Tortitas is from season 3 contestant Ingrid Portillo. Her recipes celebrate her Salvadorean heritage and this one is no different.

Abuelita Food: Flour Tortillas with Conchas and Picadillo is from season 3 winner Jon Hinojosa, who offers this dish as "love letter to all the important people in [his] life." This might be our new definition of comfort food. 

B is for bacalao and birria

C is for chilaquiles and ceviche (gracias Perú!)

And let's include Caesar saladCaesar salad was created by a Tijuana-based chef, after all.

D is for dulce de leche

Here is a recipe for alfajores that uses a dulce de leche filling.

E is for empanadas


G, H, I, J

G is for gandules

Ask around about arroz con gandules and you'll see eyes light up and smiles spread across people's faces. In Puerto Rican families, this dish is on the table for holidays and family gatherings. It is, in fact, Puerto Rico's national dish. This recipe from Family Ingredients is accompanied by a bit of history: the Puerto Rican community in Hawai'i likely dates back to the early 1900s when Puerto Rican laborers immigrated to Hawaii to work on sugar plantations.


H is for horchatahallacas

I is for ibes con puerco (shout out to Yucatán!)

J is for jicamajibarito

Have you had a jibarito? It's incredible sandwich created by Chicagoan Juan Figueroa that uses smashed fried plantains in place of bread. Brilliant. Let's go to Chicago for jibaritos, like now.


O, P, Q

O is for olla

You can't cook without an olla! And you know we all have a favorite one to cook with. Certain family recipes just taste better when cooked in that favorite olla. 

P is for pasteles, pozole, pupusas

Q is for queso, quinoa



S, T, U


S is for sancocho, sofrito

T is for tostonestamales

Tostones are just one way to use plátano, but they are always a crowd favorite. If you want more plátano recipes, we have a collection for you!

U is for uva pasas

Uva pasas, or raisins, are found in so man delicious Latino dishes. They add a sweetness and texture to recipes for picadillo, capirotada, and beef empanadas, to name a few.

Y, X, Z

Y is for yuca

X is for xocolatl (show·kow·laa·tl)

Practice saying the Nahuatl word used to describe the pre-Columbian cocoa-based drink enjoyed by the Indigenous people of Latin America. It was often flavored with other local ingredients like cinnamon and pepper. Some variations might have included vanilla (they knew how well it paired with cocoa, duh.) The Maya called their cocoa and water drink: "chocolhaa." Both the Maya and Nahuatl words translate to "bitter water." Those words evolved to "chocolate" after cocoa beans were taken back to Europe by the Spanish in the 1500s and everyone in the world realized how much better the world is when eating chocolate.

Xocolatl was called the "Food of the Gods" by Aztec Emperor Moctezuma II. We totally agree with him on that one because it's still delicious.

Z is for zapote

Have you ever eaten this sweet soft fruit? It is native to Mexico, Central America, northern parts of South America, and the Caribbean. The fruit grows year-round can be eaten in various ways, such as fresh from the tree or blended in drinks or baked in pies. Fun fact: a byproduct of the zapote tree is a gummy latex (chicle!) used as a main ingredient in chewing gum.