Colombian highlands
Bogotá and Boyacá food: what Colombia's highlands eat
The dishes of the high plateau, when in the day they're eaten, and the recipes to cook them at home.
Bogotá sits at about 8,600 feet, and the region around it, the departments of Cundinamarca and Boyacá, cooks for cold weather: thick lunch soups such as ajiaco, cocido boyacense and cuchuco; breakfast soups such as changua, made with milk and a poached egg; and small cheese and corn breads eaten with hot chocolate with cheese in the morning and again in the afternoon. Potatoes (often several kinds in one pot), corn, wheat, milk and fresh curd cheese are the base, and almost nothing is spicy: the hot sauce, ají, sits on the table.
Boyacá is farm country, and its stews use three Andean tubers that rarely leave the region. Bogotá's cooking, called santafereño after Santafé, the city's old name, is Sunday lunch food: ajiaco, puchero and sobrebarriga. Below, the dishes are grouped by meal, with how long each pot really takes, what gets eaten when, and what to buy in a US or UK supermarket for each tuber. For the rest of the country, see traditional Colombian food.
Boyacá food: farmhouse soups and stews
Cocido boyacense is the dish Boyacá is known for: hen, pork ribs, potato and corn on the cob, plus three native tubers that go in one after another during the last 15 minutes so they don't fall apart. It's a one-bowl meal, served with a spoonful of hogao (a tomato and scallion sauce) on top and avocado alongside. Cuchuco is the other big soup: coarse cracked wheat soaked for 8 hours the night before and simmered with pork backbone, and the fine wheat dust is what makes it almost creamy.
Both come with a Boyacá arepa, slightly sweet and stuffed with fresh cheese, which plays against the salty broth. Mute boyacense is whole dried white corn simmered with beef ribs, pork neck bones and fava beans; soak the corn before bed, or use canned hominy. For comparison, mute from Santander adds tripe. Mazamorra chiquita, from Tunja, is a savory soup, not a dessert: beef, tripe, fava beans and potatoes thickened with raw corn flour. And Boyacá fava bean soup slow-cooks dried favas with pork bones and cumin until it thickens on its own. Most of these soups split well over two days, and the chart shows what's left to do on the day you serve.
SoupsCocido Boyacense, Colombian Andean Tuber Stew
Cocido boyacense: hen and pork ribs simmered with oca, ulluco and mashua, the three Andean tubers that define it. What each one tastes like, where to find them abroad and the order that keeps them whole.
SoupsCuchuco, Colombian Cracked Wheat and Pork Soup
Cuchuco de trigo is the thick cracked-wheat soup of Boyacá, built on pork neck bones, favas and two kinds of potato. What cuchuco actually is, what to buy instead abroad, and why the grain goes in at minute 60.
SoupsMute Boyacense, Colombian Hominy and Pork Soup Recipe
Mute boyacense, Colombian soup of whole dried white corn simmered with beef ribs, pork neck bones, fava beans and peas for 10 bowls. How long to soak, when each ingredient goes in, canned hominy, pressure cooker and freezing.
SoupsMazamorra Chiquita, Colombian Corn Flour and Beef Soup
Mazamorra chiquita is a savory soup from Boyacá, Colombia, with beef, tripe, fava beans and potatoes, thickened with raw corn flour. Which flour to buy, how to add it without lumps, US and UK swaps and storage, 130 minutes for 6.
SoupsBoyacá Fava Bean Soup, Colombian Dried Favas with Pork
Boyacá fava bean soup is a thick Colombian highland soup of skin-on dried favas slow-cooked with pork bones and cumin. How long to soak, trimming the black tip, peeled or not, Instant Pot timing, US and UK swaps and a G6PD warning.
SoupsColombian Mute Soup, Santander Corn Stew with Beef and Tripe
Colombian mute soup is a thick Santander stew of whole white corn, beef and pork ribs, tripe, chickpeas and beans. Serves 12 in 4 hours plus an overnight soak, with hominy swaps, a no-tripe version, costs and freezing.
Bogotá food: santafereño cooking
Ajiaco is Bogotá's soup: chicken, corn and three potatoes that each do a job (a floury one thickens, a waxy one holds its shape, a small yellow one adds color), flavored with guascas, a wild herb you can buy dried online. Heavy cream, capers and avocado go on the table so everyone finishes their own bowl. Puchero cooks beef, pork, chicken and sausage in one pot but is served in two rounds: first the clear broth in a cup, then the whole meats on a platter with rice, avocado and hogao.
Sunday lunch can also be sobrebarriga, an inexpensive flank steak simmered until tender and finished in tomato sauce or under a crust in the oven, with papas chorreadas alongside: small yellow potatoes under a sauce of hogao, cream and cheese. Breakfast with hot chocolate and cheese means Bogotá-style tamales: soft corn masa with chicken, pork ribs, pork belly and chickpeas, tied in banana leaves and simmered 2 hours.
SoupsColombian Ajiaco, the Bogotá Chicken and Potato Soup
Colombian ajiaco is Bogotá's thick chicken and potato soup with corn and guascas, ready in 90 minutes (40 hands-on) for 6 bowls. US and UK potato swaps, where to buy guascas, a make-ahead plan, costs and storage.
SoupsPuchero Santafereño, Bogotá's Four-Meat Pot
Puchero santafereño is Bogotá's Sunday pot: beef, pork, chicken and longaniza in one broth, served in two courses rather than one bowl. What cut to buy for each meat outside Colombia, and the 194°F that keeps the broth clear.
LunchColombian Sobrebarriga, Braised Flank Steak Two Ways
Colombian sobrebarriga is flank steak simmered 150 minutes until fork-tender, then stewed in Creole tomato sauce or baked under breadcrumbs. 190 minutes for 6 servings, with US and UK cut swaps, Instant Pot times, make-ahead plan and cost.
LunchPapas Chorreadas, Colombian Potatoes in Cheese Sauce
Papas chorreadas are Colombian boiled potatoes under a tomato, scallion, cream and melted cheese sauce, ready in 40 minutes for 6 sides. Which cheeses melt, how to keep the sauce from splitting, US and UK potato swaps and reheating.
BreakfastBogotá-Style Tamales, Colombian Tamal Santafereño for 12
Bogotá-style tamales (tamal santafereño) with soft corn masa, chicken, pork ribs, pork belly and chickpeas, tied in banana leaves and simmered 2 hours. How to wrap and tie them, how to tell they are done, scaling up and freezing.
Breakfast and onces in Bogotá and Boyacá
Highland breakfast is often a soup. Changua, equal parts milk and water with a poached egg, scallions and dry toasted bread, takes 15 minutes. Caldo de costilla, a beef rib broth Colombians call levantamuertos, the dead-raiser, is as filling as lunch; cook the ribs the night before and the morning part takes 40 minutes. Chicken giblet soup with rice does the same job with more meat. On the side: an arepa or bread and hot chocolate with cubes of cheese at the bottom of the cup.
Onces (OHN-ses) is the afternoon snack, roughly the highland version of afternoon tea, and it repeats the morning's pieces: hot chocolate or aguapanela, a drink of unrefined cane sugar dissolved in water, with something baked. Almojábanas are made with a little more than twice as much fresh curd as corn flour (ricotta works abroad); garullas are the cheese rolls of Soacha, near Bogotá, and freeze raw; mantecada is a butter and corn flour cake cut into squares; corn envueltos are steamed in the husk and made in big batches for the freezer. The grid shows what belongs to each time of day.
BreakfastChangua Recipe, Colombian Milk and Egg Soup in 15 Minutes
Changua is Bogotá's breakfast soup, a whole egg poached in milk and water with scallion and cilantro, ready in 15 minutes for two. The ingredients, how to keep the yolk soft without boiling the milk and what calado bread is.
SoupsCaldo de Costilla, Colombian Beef Rib Soup Recipe
Caldo de costilla is Colombian beef rib soup with potatoes, scallions and cilantro, the Bogotá breakfast bowl, ready in 120 minutes for 4 bowls. Short rib cuts, US and UK potato swaps, a night-before plan, Instant Pot timing and freezing.
SoupsColombian Chicken Giblet and Rice Soup
Gizzards, hearts, livers and necks simmered into a rice soup, each giblet added on its own clock. How to clean a gizzard, why the liver goes in for the last 6 minutes only and what to do with the bile sac.
DrinksColombian Hot Chocolate With Cheese in the Cup
Colombian hot chocolate made from sweetened table chocolate, frothed with a molinillo and served with a cube of fresh cheese melting in the cup. Why it must never boil, which cheese holds up and the calories of each version.
BreakfastArepas Boyacenses, Stuffed with Fresh Cheese and Panela
Boyacense arepas are yellow corn dough with 28% wheat flour, stuffed with fresh curd and panela and browned in butter. Why the wheat is what lets you seal them, and which cheese softens without melting. Eight arepas.
BreakfastColombian Almojábanas, Cheese and Corn Buns with Cuajada
Colombian almojábanas are soft cheese and corn buns made with fresh curd cheese and masarepa, baked 20 minutes at 400°F (200°C) for 12 buns. Which US or UK cheese to use, why they go flat or hard, costs and freezing raw.
BreakfastGarullas, Colombian Cheese and Corn Rolls
Garullas are the cheese roll of Soacha, near Bogotá: corn and wheat flour, fresh curd and creamed butter, baked 24 minutes at 350°F. Why creaming instead of kneading makes them crumbly, and which cheese to use outside Colombia.
DessertsColombian Mantecada, Buttery Cornmeal Pound Cake
Colombian mantecada is a butter cake made with flour and fine yellow cornmeal, baked 35 minutes at 350°F (180°C). It makes 15 squares with 20 minutes of hands-on work. Which corn to buy in the US and UK, pan sizes and costs.
BreakfastColombian Corn Envueltos, Fresh Corn Steamed in the Husk
Colombian corn envueltos are fresh corn ground with butter and fresh cheese, wrapped in its own husk and steamed for 60 minutes. Makes 12 in 2 hours, with sweet corn fixes for US and UK cooks, dried husks or foil, freezing and costs.
Cubios, ibias, chuguas and papa criolla: the highland tubers
Two of the three native tubers in cocido boyacense travel under other names. Ibia is oca, small and pink or yellow, sold as yam in New Zealand and grown by specialty growers in the UK; left in the sun for a few hours before cooking, it turns sweet. Chugua is ulluco, the glossy tuber Peruvian menus call olluco, and it stays slightly gelatinous instead of breaking down like potato. Cubio is mashua, long and yellow with purple streaks, and mildly peppery, closer to radish than to potato. None of them is peeled: scrub them and add them at the end, each with less time in the pot than the one before. Cubio soup is the simplest way to taste mashua on its own: sliced, it turns tender without falling apart, and cooking softens its radish bite into something between turnip and potato.
Potatoes work the same way: highland cooks use several at once because each does something different. Outside Colombia, papas criollas, the small yellow Andean potatoes, are sold frozen in Latin grocery stores and go into the pot straight from the freezer; russet (or Maris Piper in the UK) stands in for the floury papa pastusa; and a white turnip is the honest swap for cubio, because it repeats the bite. For oca and ulluco there's no real equivalent: small waxy potatoes fill the gap, but the stew loses its sweetness and texture.
SoupsColombian Cubio Soup, What Mashua Is and How to Cook It
Colombian cubio soup from Boyacá, with beef short ribs, potatoes, fava beans and peas, ready in 130 minutes for 6 bowls. What cubio (mashua) is and tastes like, whether to peel it, how long it cooks, and why white turnip is the swap.
SnacksPapas Criollas, Colombian Yellow Potatoes Fried or Roasted
Papas criollas are small Colombian yellow potatoes fried whole in their skins at 340°F (170°C) until wrinkled outside and creamy inside. Also roasted, air fried or boiled, with timings, doneness cues, frozen bags and US or UK swaps.
Highland desserts and drinks
Highland sweets are built on milk and panela, Colombia's unrefined cane sugar (dark brown sugar is the usual stand-in). Cuajada with melao is unsalted fresh cheese in panela syrup, eaten after ajiaco or at onces, and chicharrón de cuajada, from Somondoco in the Valle de Tenza, is the same fresh curd cooked down in panela syrup; the natas dessert is made from the skin that forms on whole milk over three boilings, so the work spreads over several days; and merengón, crisp meringue layered with whipped cream and fruit, is a birthday and Sunday-lunch dessert. Peto, Bogotá's hot corn and milk pudding with cinnamon and cloves, is explained alongside its cold cousin, mazamorra.
To drink, aguapanela hot with a slice of cheese is almost breakfast, and cold with lime it goes with a fry-up platter. Masato, a lightly fermented rice drink, is for onces with cheese bread and for December gatherings: made with white sugar it's the pale version Bogotá bakeries sell, with panela it turns brown and tastes of molasses. Homemade corn chicha is cracked corn and panela fermented for 2 days: cloudy, sweet at first sip and sour at the finish. If you like fermented drinks, homemade kumis is thick, tangy cultured milk served very cold with cinnamon.
DessertsCuajada with melao, Colombian fresh cheese in panela syrup
Cuajada with melao, Colombian fresh cheese set with rennet at 95°F (35°C) from 1 gallon of milk and served under a dark panela syrup. Makes 6 servings in 155 minutes, or 25 with store-bought queso fresco, plus US and UK swaps and cost.
DessertsChicharrón de Cuajada, Caramelized Colombian Cheese Curds
Chicharrón de cuajada is a Colombian sweet of fresh cheese cubes simmered in panela syrup until caramel brown. It isn't fried: which cheeses hold their shape (paneer works), how to read the syrup, and how to store it, 80 min for 8.
DessertsColombian Natas Dessert, the Milk-Skin Pudding for Christmas
Colombian natas dessert, postre de natas, is milk skins from 6 liters (1.6 gal) of whole milk simmered in cinnamon syrup with yolks taken to 160°F (71°C). Which milk works, a 3-day plan, US costs and a cream shortcut.
DessertsColombian Merengón, Crisp Meringue with Cream and Fruit
Colombian merengón is two discs of meringue dried 2½ hours at 212°F (100°C), layered with whipped cream, strawberries, soursop and blackberries. Serves 10 in 240 minutes, with US and UK fruit swaps, make-ahead plan and cost.
DrinksAguapanela, the Colombian Cane Sugar Drink, Four Ways
Aguapanela is unrefined cane sugar dissolved in water, 5 oz per liter, ready in 12 minutes and drunk hot or cold. The four strengths it is made at, why panela goes into cold water and how it compares with juice and soda.
DrinksColombian Masato, Fermented Rice Drink Recipe
Colombian masato is cooked rice blended with water, sugar, cinnamon and cloves, then fermented 24 hours at 72-79°F (22-26°C) with a pinch of yeast. Ratios, signs it's ready, how much alcohol it has, when to toss it and a kid-safe version.
DrinksColombian Corn Chicha, Homemade Fermented Corn Drink Recipe
Colombian corn chicha made at home from dried cracked corn and panela, boiled after blending and fermented 2 days at 68-79°F (20-26°C). How to tell it's ready, when to toss it, how much alcohol it has, and an alcohol-free version.
DrinksColombian Kumis Recipe, Homemade Fermented Milk Drink
Colombian kumis is whole milk fermented 20 to 24 hours at 79-82°F (26-28°C) with a spoonful of starter, then sweetened and chilled. Which starter to use in the US or UK, how to tell it's ready, when to throw it out, and what it costs.
Food for celebrations and sharing
Fritanga is the platter for sharing: pork ribs, beef, chorizo, blood sausage, small yellow potatoes and cassava, each fried separately and piled in the middle of the table with ají, grilled arepas and avocado, about 8 oz (230 g) per person, eaten with your hands. Whatever goes into the oil first is what holds best in a 200°F (90°C) oven, so everything reaches the table hot at once. In Boyacá the shared feast is the piquete: simmered then grilled hen, pork ribs, sausage and blood sausage over salt-crusted potatoes, with cassava, corn and ripe plantain on banana leaves and ají on the side.
Some dates have their own dish. In 2026 Bogotá marked its anniversary, on August 6, with an Ajiaco Santafereño Day, and since 1988 the La Perseverancia neighborhood has held a festival for chicha, the fermented corn drink. December brings sabajón, an egg-yolk, milk and aguardiente liqueur served cold in small glasses during the Christmas novena and on Christmas Eve, along with the natas dessert and masato with fritters and almojábanas. And on Sundays and holidays, breakfast is a tamale with hot chocolate.
LunchFritanga, the Colombian Fried Meat Platter
Fritanga is Colombia's shared platter of fried pork ribs, chorizo, blood sausage, baby potatoes and cassava, fried in batches at 340°F in a fixed order. Why the ribs go first and the blood sausage last, and what to buy for each.
LunchColombian Piquete Platter, Boyacá Meats and Salt Potatoes
A Colombian piquete is a shared highland feast of simmered then grilled hen, pork ribs, sausage and blood sausage over salt-crusted potatoes. Game plan, safe temperatures in °F and °C, US and UK swaps, and amounts for 6 to 20.
LunchMorcilla, Colombian Blood Sausage With Rice and Herbs
Colombian morcilla: pork blood with par-cooked rice, peas and fresh mint, poached at 176-185 °F so the casings never burst. Sourcing blood and casings, why the rice goes in half-cooked and how it differs from black pudding.
LunchColombian Tamal Tolimense, With Rice in the Dough
Tamal tolimense: cracked corn soaked three days, rice and split peas in the dough, chicken, pork ribs and belly. Boiled two and a half hours in banana leaf, why the soak cannot be rushed and what to buy in the US.
DrinksColombian Sabajón, the Aguardiente Eggnog That Stays Thick
Colombian sabajón is a cold eggnog of whole milk, 6 yolks and cornstarch, boiled for 1 minute so it stays thick, then spiked with aguardiente. It makes two 750 ml bottles in 50 minutes, with a kid version, ABV and fridge life.
Frequently asked questions
What is the typical food of Boyacá?
Cocido boyacense, a stew of hen, pork ribs, potato and corn with three Andean tubers: cubio (mashua), ibia (oca) and chugua (ulluco). After it come cuchuco, a cracked wheat and pork soup, mute boyacense, a hominy and fava bean soup, and the Boyacá arepa stuffed with fresh cheese, an everyday breakfast.
What food is Bogotá known for?
Ajiaco, the chicken and three-potato soup flavored with guascas. Bogotá is also known for puchero, breakfast soups like changua and caldo de costilla, and hot chocolate with cheese dropped into the cup.
What are cubios, ibias and chuguas, and what can I use instead?
Andean tubers from the cold highlands. Cubio is mashua and tastes faintly of radish; ibia is oca and turns sweet if left in the sun; chugua is ulluco and stays slightly gelatinous. They aren't peeled and cook in 15, 12 and 8 minutes. To taste cubio on its own, try cubio soup. Outside Colombia, use white turnip for cubio and small waxy potatoes for the other two, knowing the stew loses some sweetness and texture.
Why do Colombians put cheese in hot chocolate?
In Bogotá the cheese goes into the cup first and the chocolate is poured over it, so the cubes soften and stretch and are eaten with a spoon at the end. The salty cheese against the sweet chocolate is the point. In the US, queso fresco is the natural match, and a mild feta, rinsed and cubed, works too.
What is a typical breakfast in Bogotá?
Changua or caldo de costilla, an arepa or bread, and hot chocolate with cheese, often with almojábanas, garullas or corn envueltos. On Sundays a Bogotá-style tamale with hot chocolate is common.
What is onces in Colombia?
The afternoon snack of the highlands, roughly like afternoon tea: hot chocolate with cheese or aguapanela with something baked, such as almojábanas or mantecada. Masato with cheese bread and cuajada with melao are also onces food.