10 Top Peruvian Side Dishes To Try With Your Next Family Meal

10 Best Peruvian Side Dishes

Try these delectable Peruvian side dishes if you're searching for something new to serve with dinner tonight.

The phrase "Peruvian food is a cuisine of extremes" appeared on a website as I was deciding which recipes to include, and I immediately thought, "That couldn't be more true."

These Peruvian side dishes unquestionably demonstrate this.

The best Peruvian cooks are experts at balancing conflicting tastes, textures, and temperatures.

They combine bold flavors with delicate ones, creamy with crunchy, and hot with sweet.

Even in their sweets, they season their cuisine liberally with spices and herbs and liberally include fresh vegetables.

I made an effort to limit this list to dishes that are relatively easy to prepare but still have a strong Peruvian flavor. I'm hoping you'll like it.

1. Papa a la Huancaina

This recipe arguably best illustrates the "Peruvian cuisine of opposites" noted earlier than any other on the list.

Papa la Huancaina is a meal created with thick slices of boiling potatoes topped with Huancaina sauce that is typically served as an appetizer.

If you've never eaten Huancaina sauce, it's rich, cheesy, velvety smooth, slightly spicy, and velvety smooth. It's excellent.

It becomes salty, cheesy, bitter, fresh, and delicious all at once the eggs, olives, lettuce, and parsley are added.

View Recipe >

2. Peruvian Mixed Bean Salad

This Peruvian side dish, which includes chickpeas, black beans, and mixed beans, is appropriately titled. But it doesn't just contain beans.

Additionally, there are grape tomatoes, yellow and red peppers, avocado, parsley, garlic, and a variety of seasonings.

It's a stunning salad with greens, reds, browns, yellows, and other colors.

I frequently bring it to cookouts and picnics since, in my opinion, the variety of colors makes it lively and festive.

Although you may serve it immediately, I like to put it in the refrigerator and let it chill for at least a few hours first.

This allows time for all the tastes to meld together.

View Recipe >

3. Peruvian Chopped Salad

I made the simple decision to start with a 20-minute Peruvian salad.

It's a thick, substantial salad that is more like a shoepeg corn salad than anything you would ever have at a restaurant.

It has the fresh earthiness of onions, parsley, radishes, and mint, as well as the sweetness and sourness of maize, tomatoes, and red wine vinegar. It also has the zest of lemons, sea salt, and olives.

Even a few jalapenos are included for the heat! Nothing is a contrast study like this salad. Don't worry, though; it's quite tasty.

View Recipe >

4. Peruvian Potato-Chicken Salad (Causa Rellena)

I'm very certain that this Peruvian potato-chicken salad is unlike any other salad you've ever seen.

If you prepare it properly, it more closely resembles flan than anything that even vaguely resembles a salad. Potato-chicken salad is still what it is, though.

It's chilly, creamy, and flavorful, but the aji amarillo chili paste gives it a wicked kick of heat.

It's a multilayer dish that requires some time to prepare and perfect.

There won't be a single person in the entire house who isn't impressed if you succeed, though.

Both its appearance and flavor are fantastic.

View Recipe >

5. Yuquitas Fritas (Peruvian Yucca Fries)

Although yuquitas fritas take an hour to create, you can do it in 15 minutes or less with just four basic ingredients.

These are the equivalent of French fries in Peru. They are delicious, salty, crunchy, and crispy.

View Recipe >

6. Salchipapas

This traditional Peruvian dish only only ten ingredients and takes 35 minutes to prepare.

It has a meaty, starchy flavor that is reminiscent of real street cuisine.

(In the kindest sense possible, I say that. It's amazing and difficult to locate good street food.)

Despite having a sophisticated, difficult-to-pronounce name, the dish is just sausage on French fries with a variety of tasty toppings.

View Recipe >

7. Tacu Tacu

You might feel a little apprehensive when you first look at this recipe. There are numerous ingredients and it seems like the cooking will take a while.

But it's not at all difficult to produce tacu tacu. You can repair it if you know how to sauté ingredients and soak beans.

The Peruvian equivalent of rice and beans is tacu tacu. They will be cooked and formed into a patty resembling hash browns.

The fried egg, fried plantains, and a zingy onion relish will next be served beside that patty.

What's not to love about fried cuisine that's also loaded with garlic and onions?

View Recipe >

8. Fried Plantains

Speaking of fried plantains, I had to include these on the list as well. They feature deliciously crispy exteriors and sensitive, squishy interiors.

Don't expect them to be "American sweet," though they are mildly sweet.

Even though they are called "fried sweet plantains," it doesn't necessarily mean they taste like dessert.

Instead, these are typically served as a side dish to savory meals such soups and stews, rice, and beans.

If you do intend to serve them as dessert, you might wish to season them with some cinnamon, sugar, or nutmeg first.

They become less like chips and more like pastries as a result.

View Recipe >

9. Peruvian Pan de Anis (Anise Bread)

Check out this recipe for Peruvian pan de anis, often known as anise bread, if you're seeking for a new sweet bread recipe.

The bread contains anise seed in addition to the "usual" bread ingredients of yeast, eggs, flour, and water. It also contains one-third cup of sugar.

It goes well with a cup of black coffee or strong tea and is warm and fluffy.

View Recipe >

10. Peruvian Rice

I've picked Peruvian rice, a straightforward staple of the country, as the final course.

Rice, garlic, olive oil, water, lemon juice, and salt are the only other ingredients, and it only takes 35 minutes to prepare.

It's a moderate dish with a light flavor; the garlic, salt, and lemon juice offer a tad of depth without being overbearing or strong in flavor.

That is not typical of Peruvian cuisine.

It's supposed to be mild and unassuming because people typically top the rice with onion relish, peppers, marinated meats, or roasted vegetables.

Even so, it fills you up like most rice does and has just enough flavor to be excellent even when eaten on its own.

View Recipe >

Related Keywords: peruvian side dishes, peruvian vegetable side dishes, peruvian chicken side dishes, peruvian side dish, peruvian side dish recipes, side dishes for peruvian chicken, peruvian vegetable side dish recipes