These corn pancakes are served at almost every festival and food stand in Costa Rica and are easy to replicate at home.

About This Recipe

Costa Rican chorreadas are basically Costa Rican corn pancakes. They can be sweet or savory, and are made from ground fresh corn. They have similar ingredients to a corn tortilla but the fresh corn and milk give them a completely different texture.

These traditional pancakes (unlike Costa Rican arepas ) are one of the oldest foods in Costa Rica, and are a native indigenous recipe handed down through generations. They originated in the Blue Zone of Costa Rica, the Guanacaste peninsula. The peninsula is known as one of the eight regions of the world that have the healthiest and longest-living populations. The original recipe for chorreadas came from here.

Originally, the fresh corn was ground by hand on a mortar and pestle, but today most Costa Ricans use a blender or Vitamix to form the correct consistency of the ground corn.

The chorreadas have a moist and spongy texture and are about 1/8 of an inch thick. They are served as very large round circles. Traditional toppings include sour cream and fresh honey. These are usually served with traditional coffee, agua dulce or other popular Costa Rican drink.

You can find these chorreadas in most traditional sodas (small restaurants) and as popular street food, LINK especially at festivals such as Independence Day.

Related post: Top 20 Costa Rican Side Dishes

Chorreadas Recipe

Printable recipe below

Ingredients

• fresh yellow corn (canned or removed from a cooked cob of corn)
• milk
• sugar or salt
• flour
• cooking oil

Instructions

Remove the corn from the can and drain. If using corn on the cob, make remove the corn with a sharp knife.

Blend the corn, flour, milk and salt in a blender until a very smooth consistency is reached. If you are making sweet chorreadas make sure to use sugar instead of salt.

Preheat a skillet to medium heat (or medium-high heat if using an electric stove) and add cooking oil or nonstick cooking spray. Coat the pan.

Pour the corn mixture into the pan until you have about 1/4 inch of batter in the pan. These are notorious for falling apart, and you want a nice round tortilla-like shape. Therefore, make sure to pour just enough to evenly coat the pan.

Lower heat to low, and cover the chorreada mixture. Cook through and remove. Repeat until you have no more batter.

Related post: Costa Rican Empanada Recipes

Substitutions

You could substitute heavy cream for the milk, and brown sugar for the granulated sugar in the sweet version. For cooking oil, you can easily substitute extra virgin olive oil.

Variations

The main variation here is making either a sweet or savory version.

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Serving Suggestions

The chorreadas can be a side dish or a main dish. They are very filling. We usually serve them with a dollop of sour cream (or natilla as we say in Costa Rica.)

Serve warm, accompanied by hot coffee, tea, or a favorite juice.

These would be a great with fresh fruit on top, but is not a customary way to serve the dish.

Related posts you might like:

• Costa Rican Pancakes Recipe (Arepas)
• Top 20 Costa Rican Side Dishes
• Street Food of Costa Rica
• Guide To Costa Rican Fruit