Skip to Content

25 BEST Cuban Foods To Try Next!

25 BEST Cuban Foods To Try Next!

Are you looking for some flavorful Cuban recipes? I think you’ll love the traditional and contemporary foods that we found for you here.

These Cuban recipes will offer you some comforting love from their delicious and flavorful dishes. They are all made with lots of love, just for you!

The dishes are pretty easy to make since they all use readily available ingredients. 

If you are on an adventure to try new delicious dishes, you should try these recipes.

Cuban delicacies have a deep and rich history that the enslaved Africans influenced during colonization. 

Cuban cuisines consist of a variety of flavorful spices and natural ingredients.

Cuban recipes or Cuban food is prepared in different styles depending on the type of meal. 

Some dishes are prepared through the deep-frying method, boiling, baking, stewing, and casseroles.

These different styles ensure that traditional meals’ original tastes and flavors are maintained. 

Cubans are known to prepare very tender pork using a method borrowed from Chinese Culture.

The method uses a wooden box called La Caja China, and it is still used in festivals and occasions to prepare some delicious roasted pork.

Let’s take a look at some traditional Cuban dishes that include their staple foods, like rice, Picadillo, Beans, Pernil, Ropa Vieja, Cuban Chicken Fricassee, Mojo, Tamales, and many more.

If you are a lover of soup, you must try out this Cuban soup recipe famously known as Ajiaco Cubano. 

It is the perfect recipe for a lover during the Fall and Winter seasons. 

The soup comprises natural ingredients such as shredded chicken, corn, potatoes, lime & cilantro. 

This Cuban Chicken Soup recipe is quick and easy to make in under an hour.

This Roasted Cuban Mojo Shrimp is interactive, fun to eat, and flavorful. 

You can put this dish together in three steps. 

The first thing we want to do is make the Cuban mojo sauce, a garlicky citrus sauce used in Cuban cooking. 

Shrimp cooks fast, so the oven won’t even be on for long, and the range does all the work for you.

Croquettes are perfect for pantry staple challenges. 

Cuban Ham croquettes are made ins some easy steps. 

These Croquettes need high-quality thin sliced ham and either pulse it 4-6 times in the food processor or finely chop it.

These delicious Cuban Sliders are made with ham, Swiss, pickles, and a mustard glaze that makes these Cuban sliders great. 

Cuban Sliders are made with Hawaiian rolls or any slider roll. 

To prepare these sliders, you take a package of Hawaiian rolls and cut them in half lengthwise. 

Do not separate the rolls, and layer them that way when serving.

This Cuban Pulled Beef is made from a steak braised with many spices, onions, and bell peppers. 

It is recommended that this meat dish should be slow-cooked to achieve the best flavor. 

It would help if you had some Shredded meat or this dish. 

The shredded meat will be mixed with tomatoes, marinated pimentos or bell pepper, olives, capers, and raisins. 

It is best served over plantains or white rice to soak up the delicious sauce.

Cuban Seafood Paella used to be a rice dish that originated in Valencia. 

The origins of this seafood dish come from its name Paella, which some say means leftovers. 

The trick to making great-tasting Paella is using the suitable rice and the correct pan.

The pan should be broad and shallow, with sloping sides.

This Grilled Cuban Sandwich is made with tender pork that is very juicy and super flavorful. 

The pork is marinated all over with a simple Cuban rub. 

The sandwich spread has a slight hint of heat and a crunch from the pickles. You need to slice it into 1-inch squares and skewer it to serve as finger food for a party. 

It is also a great sandwich to make for a party.

This slow-cooked Cuban pulled pork is packed with delicious flavors. 

It is left to slow-cook until it is fork-tender.  

The pork butt is simmered in a mixture of citrus juices, garlic, and spices, making the meat so tender and juicy. 

After it’s well cooked, roast the pork in the oven for a few minutes.

This gives the pork a crispy charred crust.

Cuban Tamales are made with fresh corn from the cob or fine dry cornmeal. 

Cuban Tamales contain cooked pieces of pork, garlic, onions, tomato sauce, and green peppers.

This classic Cuban dish is made with red kidney beans. 

The beans are seasoned with onion, bell pepper, garlic, cumin, and oregano. 

Sprinkle the dish with cilantro after it’s cooked. 

Serve and enjoy this flavorful dish.

Fricassee De Pollo is bone-in chicken simmered in spices, vino Seco, and tomato sauce and cooked until falling off the bone. 

If you use chicken that still has its skin on, make sure to crisp up and char the skin well. 

This recipe requires skinless chicken legs and thighs.

The chicken is so tender that it falls off the bone smoothly. 

You can choose to enjoy this chicken recipe on its own or over white rice and a side salad.

This colorful Cuban Mojo Chicken consists of a great combination of ingredients in this recipe. 

The high chances are that you will become obsessed with the variety of these flavors. 

And it’s super flavorful. 

They balance each other out, making such tangy, sweet, and sour chicken.

Every bite of this dish will be a flavor bomb explosion in your mouth. 

It is served best with a delicious pineapple-avocado salsa, made from super fresh ingredients—a perfect side!

This delicious summer recipe is so delicious that everyone will enjoy it.

This Cuban Street Taco recipe has a delicate and mild flavor. 

It is made with boneless pork, garlic, oregano, pepper, chili, jalapeno, oranges, and lime.

It is prepared in a slow cooker or crockpot. 

This cooking process infuses the orange and lime citrus right through the meat.

The potatoes turn out so delicious. 

These Cuban Mojo Potatoes are generously seasoned with garlic, onions, olive oil, lime, and seasonings. 

Then wrapped tightly in aluminum foil and cooked directly over the charcoals.

These Mojo Potatoes turn out amazing with the perfectly caramelized onions. 

When serving, lime juice is also added to create a great new dimension that complements the Cuban Mojo Chicken.

Carne Con Papas is a Cuban dish that is a portion of excellent comfort food. 

It is straightforward to make and includes the basics of Cuban ingredients. 

You are likely to find this menu in many Cuban homes. 

The Cuban elements in every home are green peppers, garlic, onions, and Scazon Goya. 

Like any Ethnic recipe, everyone’s recipe is always the best. It is fantastic for cold winter days.

Cuban black beans are easy to prepare. 

They are packed with bold flavors. 

Make this recipe with canned black beans, which means no soaking is required.

The leftovers of these black beans are even tastier since the flavors have a chance to really develop. 

The best thing is that these beans can be kept in the freezer to eat later or for meal preps.

The meatballs are seasoned with some traditional Cuban spices: garlic powder, cumin, oregano, finely diced onions, and parsley. 

After seasoning, they are fried until golden. 

Then they are cooked in tomato sauce with more onions and garlic to add more flavor. 

They are best served on a bed of white rice.

Mojo is a citrus and garlic sauce used for pork, chicken, and other meat or vegetable dishes. 

This Cuban roast pork (lechon asado) is marinated in a homemade mojo marinade overnight. 

After thoroughly marinating, it is roasted low on and has slow heat until exceptionally tender. 

The citrus juice used is traditionally sour orange.

This recipe comprises beef and sometimes ham with lots of seasons, adobo, sofrito, bay leaves, fresh garlic, you name it. 

This is incredibly flavorful. 

Your taste buds will scream. 

It is not supposed to be saucy; it is supposed to be a tad bit on the dry side.

The Cuban Beef Cigars are a delicious explosive fusion of Cuban empanada filling. 

This Beef cigars consist of a spicy picadillo meat mixture wrapped up in filo dough and then fried or baked until crispy. 

This meat pastry has more meat than dough.

This is a simple but savory Cuban Style dish of sausage and garbanzos (chickpeas). 

It is full of Cuban flavor with minimal effort in making it.

The Cuban recipe recalls a long battle period between the Islamic Moors and the Christian Spaniards. 

The black beans represent the Muslim Moors, while the white rice represents the Spanish Christians. 

This recipe represents how the groups came to live together in harmony in the Iberian Peninsula.

“congri” is a similar rice and beans dish made in the Eastern part of Cuba. 

The beans used there are red rather than black. 

Some recipes prefer when the beans and rice are cooked separately and mixed when serving—rice and beans are a famous Cuban cuisine.

Camarones enchiladas are loosely translated to spicy shrimp; however, this recipe is not spicy despite its “spicy appearance.”

There are several variations of Camarones enchiladas and different names, too, like the deviled shrimp, shrimp creole, and Camarones a la diablo.

This Cuban Shrimp Creole is best served over white rice. 

The rice soaks up the sauce and just bursts with flavor.

Cuban Bread is made with a starter that helps it develop flavor. 

The flavor is enhanced by adding lard to the dough. 

The crust for this bread is eggshell thin and crisp. 

It is very soft and delicious on the inside. 

The best secret ingredient to this bread is a long kneading time. 

It should be thoroughly and well kneaded.

Most of the dough for this Cuban bread is made in advance and allowed to rest. 

This enhances its flavor. 

Kneading with a stand mixer takes less time than kneading with clean hands.

When the dough has rested and risen, the rest of the ingredients are added. 

You shape the dough and leave it to rest again before preparing. 

The leftover loaves of the bread should be wrapped in foil and then plastic wrap. 

To preserve the freshness of the bread, keep it in a freezer. 

The bread tastes the best when it is fresh.

The bottom line

Here you have it!

I hope you’re going to add these Cuban recipes to your repertoire. 

The best part is that some of the dishes here are pretty quick to create. 

Now head out and buy the ingredients for your best Cuban recipe and then create it for the upcoming feast!

Can’t get enough Cuban recipes? 

Unlock these 24 Cuban Appetizers, 25 Cuban desserts, and delightful sides for Cuban sandwich!

25 BEST Cuban Foods To Try Next!

25 BEST Cuban Foods To Try Next!

Are you looking for some flavorful Cuban recipes? I think you’ll love what we found for you here.

Ingredients

  • Cuban Pork Sandwich
  • Ajiaco Cubano Cuban Chicken Soup
  • Roasted Cuban Mojo Shrimp
  • Cuban Ham & Cheese Croquettes
  • Cuban Sliders
  • Instant Pot Cuban Ropa Vieja
  • Cuban Seafood Paella
  • Grilled Cuban Sandwich
  • Slow Cooker Cuban Mojo Pork
  • Cuban Tamales
  • Cuban Red Beans & Rice
  • Cuban Chicken Fricassee
  • Cuban Mojo Chicken
  • Cuban Street Tacos
  • Cuban Mojo Potatoes
  • Cuban Beef (Carne Con Papas) Stew
  • Cuban Black Beans
  • Cuban Style Meatballs
  • Cuban Roast Pork
  • Cuban Spaghetti
  • Cuban Beef Cigars
  • Cuban Style Garbanzos
  • Traditional Cuban Rice (Moros Y Cristianos)
  • Cuban Shrimp Creole
  • Cuban Bread

Instructions

  1. Take a look at our Cuban Recipes list!
  2. Bring the ingredients to create a new favorite dish.
  3. Woohoo! You created a home-cooked meal!
  4. Comment your thoughts on our Facebook page!

Did you make this recipe?

Please leave a comment on the blog or share a photo on Pinterest

Skip to Recipe