On the menu today and forever: arepas arepas arepas.
Just warning you in advance that you’re about to make a hot arepa mess and your life will never be the same.
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I made these on Saturday for lunch with pickled red onion, avocado, sauteed sweet potatoes and refried black beans – O.M.G. Amazing. I could literally eat these everyday for every meal. And they were super easy to make, too. Thank you for sharing this incredible, life-changing recipe! 😉
Jen V
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What Are Arepas?
These are a really big deal in my life right now.
Arepas! Have you had them? Let’s talk about what they are.
Okay, these gems are South American pockets of fried cornmeal-like dough (harina precocida if you want to get technical) and they’re stuffed with every possible good thing you could ever want stuffed in a pocket of fried cornmeal-like dough. You most commonly find them being made in Colombia, Venezuela, Bolivia, and Panama.
Dream with me for a minute here. Slow cooked carnitas. Chipotle chicken. Shredded beef. Grilled sweet potatoes. Slices of avocado and tomato and other vegetables that I can’t think of right now because THE MEATS. So distracted by the meats. Chimichurris and aiolis galore. Halloumi (except that one little detail that I’ve never actually made halloumi, but this idea is just coming to me right now and I sense that it would be so epic). Black beans. Fried plantains. Pickled red onion. Magic Green Sauce, but I mean, obviously.
Watch How To Make Arepas
What Arepas Are Made Of
I first jumped on the arepa train when my friend Melissa moved to Minneapolis and introduced me to Hola Arepa which is an arepa hot spot here in our little city. And now here we are, making them at home.
Truth: anytime you come across a recipe that requires just *ONE* special ingredient, it can seem daunting and overwhelming and like you can’t even do it because WHAT IS THAT INGREDIENT.
But another truth: friends do not let friends miss out on food this good, so I’m gonna push you.
You’re going to need just ONE new ingredient. It’s called harina precocida or in more familiar terms, pre-cooked cornmeal.
How to Get Harina Precocida
I am generally not super pumped about buying food things online, but in this case I make an exception because overloaded carnitas sweet potato lightly fried arepas and straight-to-my-front-door 48 hour delivery – these are not things I take lightly. I buy this harina precocida on Amazon. For $8, you get a big bag of this stuff that makes you many arepas for many days, and it ships right to your front door in two days because Amazon loves us like that. You could also drive to a grocery store that specializes in Central or South America foods. But honestly. God bless Amazon Prime.
Now, this is important – this is not the same as masa harina which is uncooked. This version is COOKED which means you don’t need to bake it all the way through in the same way as you would with masa harina. I am not sure how substitutions would work – but from what I’ve read, the arepa flour really does get a better texture both inside and outside. #worthit
How To Make Arepas
Here’s what the arepa flour / precooked cornmeal looks like:
And here’s the sweet potatoes after you saute them and before you stuff them in the arepas with all your other toppings to the point where they become unrecognizable in the delicious mess:
And here’s where you form the dough discs into little 2-inch thick circles and pan-fry them over medium-high heat in a large skillet. You can fry them in vegetable oil or butter. Flip the arepas once they turn golden brown. If your pan is small, it helps to do this part in batches.
And here’s where the delicious arepa mess makes its way to your hungry mouth.
Like ♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡.
Zero percent regrets. This is food straight from heaven. Pillowy and loaded with flavor.
Arepas: Frequently Asked Questions
Shredded chipotle jackfruit would be delicious! Otherwise, the black beans will provide a protein boost, too.
The texture of these is a little corn-cakey, so if the insides are a little sticky that’s okay and good.
You can store any leftover fried arepas in a sealed container in the fridge for up to 3-4 days.
Thinly slice 1 red onion. Place the sliced onion in a jar and fill it about 1/3 of the way with white vinegar and the rest with water. Add a pinch of salt, a pinch of sugar, give it a good shake, and toss it in the fridge for a couple hours to pickle them.
Yep! Precooked cornmeal is naturally gluten-free.
Note: I have studied arepa recipes a little bit to make sure I’m generally going in the right direction here, but as usual, I claim no authority or authenticity on my arepa skills other than THESE ARE DELICIOUS. If you want to share how YOU make arepas, I’d love to hear. Please leave a comment!
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Arepas Recipe
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 8 arepas 1x
Description
Arepas – fried cornmeal pockets stuffed with all the fillings you could ever want, like carnitas, spicy chicken, sweet potatoes, black beans, sauces, and more. THESE ARE SO GOOD!
Ingredients
Arepas:
- 2 cups precooked cornmeal*
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 2 1/2 cups warm water
- oil for pan frying
Filling Ideas:
- Carnitas (personal fave!) or Chipotle Shredded Chicken
- Magic Green Sauce or other sauce (umm, what other sauce would there be?)
- black beans
- sweet potatoes, sliced into thin pieces and sautéed in olive oil and salt until softened
- red onions (pickled? yum)
- Cotija cheese
Instructions
- Combine your ingredients: Mix the precooked cornmeal and the salt. Add the water and whisk remove any lumps, then stir until combined. Let the mixture rest for 5-10 minutes.
- Form the arepas: Using your hands, divide the dough into 8 pieces. Roll each piece into a ball and flatten in gently to create a disk, about 1 inch thick (see pictures).
- Fry the arepas: Heat a thin layer of oil (about 1/4 inch deep) in a large heavy skillet over medium heat. Add the arepas and fry for about 6 minutes on both sides. The arepas should get a dry fried exterior without getting overly brown. Set on paper towels to drain and cool.
- Assemble: Cut the arepas in half and stuff with your fillings!
Notes
Nutrition info is just for arepas (no fillings).
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Colombian
Keywords: arepa recipe, fried cornmeal, carnitas
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What I e difference between masa harina and precooked cornmeal?
Great question! I found this article that might help. But it sounds like they differ in how they’re prepared. Masa harina is masa that has been dried and ground into four while precooked cornmeal (masarepa) is flour made from precooked corn.
Soo good! I could not find masarepa so I subbed 1.5 cups masa harina with .5 cups flour and a bit of baking powder. Had low expectations with this substitute but it came out perfectly!
If you really want to go all in Minneapolis we always make these with our leftovers from Brasa. The green sauce, pork, black beans, and if we have it we will add a sweet potato. It is a Brasa / Hola Arepa love child and I am here for it!
Wow, genius!
I adjusted the serving size to “1/2” and it called for one teaspoon of salt. I crave salt but these were very salty. Nice texture though.
Just made a half batch, after frying I put them on a heated pizza stone preheating to 400 degrees. Crisp outside, steamy fluffy inside. A Central American friend recommended finish in the oven. The comments below are an inspiration! Bookmarks are set. Thanks.
Sound delicious.
At the top you say make 1: thick arepas and fry.
Later you say 1 “
holy @#!$
this was INSANE. I made this with the chicken and the magic green sauce, stuffed it with the sauteed sweet potato, black beans and some red pickles and it was just a flavour party in my mouth, and sooo satisfying
this is my favourite recipe for arepas as the combination of all the components (all individually superb) was just heaven.
I made this using the pulled pork recipe from Brasa (can be found on food and wine), pickled onions, sweet potatoes, black beans, and brasa green sauce. It is like our two favorite south MSP spots made into an amazing mashup that we want to keep with us forever
I have a piece of advice that everyone reading this article like me should try this amazing recipe right away.
I tried it! It came out fabulous! I had a group of friends over and they all had 2-3 arepas piled high with all the fixins (homemade pickled jalapeños and onions are a must!) So glad the magic green sauce allowed my dairy sensitive friend to enjoy these!
O-M-G! I had arepas once at my local Farmer’s Market and they are AH-mazing! I can’t wait to make this recipe! My local Target has this flour and I am on my way to get it to make these today! I have been looking for more ideas to pack for my daughter’s lunchbox. Do you think these would hold up for 3 hours? She is vegetarian so this would be a perfect lunch for her. Black bean stuffed arepas here I come! 🙂
Are they fried 6 minutes on each side, or 6 total (3 on each side)? Thanks!
6 minutes per side. Enjoy, Haley!
So easy, so delish! Made the arepas, carnitas, and magic green sauce. Served with black beans and the sweet potatoes (no cheese) so so good! Def adding to the rotation!
Trying these with your magic green sauce and carnitas recipe and so excited! I wanted to ask, could you freeze these at the disk stage (before frying)? Would love to make a bunch of them and then freeze to have them on hand. Thanks for all of your amazing recipes! I’ve never tried one that I haven’t liked.
Thanks so much, Jennifer! We think freezing the dough prior to cooking would work well. We hope you enjoy the arepas!
Made these w my DIL (who just moved to the US from Ecuador). She said your recipe is the same as her abuela’s. Your recipe made me instant hero! We doubled the recipe and zero leftovers … will quadruple next time!
That’s awesome, Mary! Thanks so much for the comment!
These were SO good and incredibly easy. We made the version with carnitas. Everything was thrown into the crockpot in the morning and it took literally 20 minutes to throw the arepas together. They were fluffy and so flavorful with the perfect amount of saltiness too. Wonderful with the carnitas and various toppings. It was a special feeling dinner in the middle of the week!
So glad you enjoyed it, Jessica!
I have a couple of friends from Venezuela and they introduced me to arepas! The only difference (for health reasons) is that they cook them with no oil, or just enough to coat the pan. Absolutely delicious!
Looks tasty and im about to make this sometime this week, i have a question, in fact 3 questions that i hope you will be able to answer which are all along the same lines. Firstly if i want to make a bigger arepa like a much wider one like the size of a bigger pizza base how much more should i be using (note im not trying to make pizza), do i simply multiply the amount im using several times and its easy as that?
Is the bread stable or does it break apart easily if you fold it over? Im thinking of making a kebab style pitta/naan with this so i can stuff meat and salad in it but dont know if the bread will break apart if you fold it over. I was thinking also to make 7-9 inch base then roll it over or stick a 7inch base on top of another 7 inch base to make a sort of “sandwich” of sorts.
Also are there any dangers in eating too much Arepa in one sitting, is it unhealthy to eat much of one sitting? Thanks for sharing this recipe and if it goes down a treat i will come back to leave a comment
Hi, Jay! It should work to just scale the ingredients up based on how much you want to make. We probably wouldn’t recommend “stuffing” these similar to a pita pocket – they work better as something similar to an English muffin. As far as eating too many of these, the recipe as is makes 8 arepas and these are fried, so like most things, you’d just want to eat these in moderation. 😉
These looks amazing – we too are OBSESSED with Hola Arepa (MN Native here!) but I’m thinking of making these arepas teeny tiny for little appetizers. Do you think if I made the arepas a day before it would keep? Then assembling them before guests arrive?
Thank you!
Hola Arepa = the best! Such a fun idea to have these as apps. So that they’re freshest, we probably recommend doing the frying right before serving rather than the day before. Enjoy!
OMG ! here is a full of all types of recipe. Just amazing experience i have got. Nice work. i am waiting for your next post. keep it up.
Tried these for the first time last night with a different receipe but pretty close. I found the insides to be doughy / uncooked and the outsides to be crispy / chewy. The receipe I used called for them to be cooked in the frying pan for 5 – 7 minutes then placed in a hot over for 15 minutes or so while you cooked the rest. Were yours well cooked all the way through? What was the texture like?
oh, I knew I liked you, but now I ADORE YOU!!! been following you for a bit, I’m venezuelan (born and raised), love your recipes and YES arepas are the best: gluten free, can be eaten for breakfast, lunch or dinner, go with almost anything (my husband loved them with marmalade!) you pick. even better, and a healthier option: making them in the tosty-arepa (they’re toasted, not fried) to perfection (plenty of choices on amazon). thank you for this twist with the green sauce and the sweet potato. yummy….will try this weekend! my family will thank you, no doubt. 🙂
Easy and Delicious
these arepas were way too salty. should only be 1 or 1.5 tsp of salt at most.
Thank you for the recipe. It was delicious.