Arepas de Queso are made with pre-cooked corn flour, butter and cheese. These arepas usually eaten for breakfast and popular in Colombia and Venezuela.
Arepa is a typical Colombian dish from the region Antioquia, my home state. They are made with pre-cooked corn flour or masarepa. There are many variations of this dish in the country and depending on the region and cook, you will also find arepas made with yuca, plantains, sweet corn, dried corn and potatoes.
I love eating warm Arepas de Queso for breakfast, spread with butter and more cheese on top, with a good cup of Colombian hot chocolate.
Colombian arepas are very versatile because they can be top or fill with your favorite ingredients and served for breakfast, appetizer, lunch or dinner.
These Cheese Arepas are an essential part of the Colombian daily diet. You can serve them as a main course or appetizer with any topping you like. I love making small sized arepas de queso with hogao. They are absolutely delicious!
What You'll Need to Make Arepas de Queso
You can find the printable recipe card with exact amounts and cooking directions below.
Pre-Cooked Cornmeal: This is the main ingredient to make this dish and can't be replace. You can find it online or at your local supermarket.
Water: To make the dough and should be lukewarm.
Cheese: I like to use grated mozzarella cheese for this recipe, but feel free to use any melting cheese.
Butter: Unsalted butter to make the dough and to cook the arepas.
Salt: To add flavor to the dough.
More Arepas Recipes To Try:
Arepa with Guacamole and Shrimp
Arepa with Chicken and Avocado
Arepas de Queso Recipe (Cheese Arepas)
Ingredients
- 1 cup pre-cooked white or yellow arepa flour or cornmeal
- 1 cup warm water
- ⅓ cup white or mozzarella cheese grated
- 2 tbsp butter
- Pinch salt
Instructions
- Combine the cornmeal, warm water, cheese, 1 tbsp butter and salt, mixing thoroughly. Let mixture stand for five minutes.
- Knead with your hands for about 3 minutes moistening your hands with water as you work.
- Form 4 small balls with the dough. Place each ball between 2 plastic bags and with a flat pot cover flatten to ½ inch.
- Add the butter to a nonstick pan over medium heat. Place the arepas in the pan, and cook about 3 minutes on each side, until a crust forms or they are golden brown.
Wendy
Hi Erica,
I would like to know what is the procedure of freezing the arepas? Do you freeze them raw or cooked? How can you heat them up after?
Dan Flynn
I'm going on holiday to Switzerland soon and I'd like to know if you can make these with Swiss cheese too?
Erica Dinho
You can try it!!!
Rochelle
Going grocery shopping later and I plan on trying to make arepas. Possibly another Colombian recipe
Becki
Hi Erica, can these be frozen? I would like to make bulk and freeze if possible
Erica
Yes.
JW
Hi!
I tried making these this morning and I thought they were delicious! However my boyfriend pointed out that in Colombia the arepas tend to be a little bit more “hard.” The ones I made were pretty soft..they folded easily and there wasn’t much “resistance” to them when you bit into them. I thought I followed the recipe to the letter – do you have any idea what I might have done wrong?
I used fresh mozzarella – could that be the issue? Or did I just not cook them long enough?
Erica
Next time...don't use fresh mozzarella and cook them longer. Arepas made with masarepa are softer the arepas made with corn.
Anonymous
What is polenta?
Susana
Dios mio, estas arepas salieron deliciosas!! gracias por la receta, la hice ayer y nos encanto. Me encanto que la masa quedo siempre suavecita y no se seco!!
Una pregunta, usted ha echo alguna receta de carne en palito? me recuerdo que en las called de Maicao - La Guajira, vendian carne en palito con papitas chiquitas. Super deliciosas!
Erica
Hi Susana, mira esta receta : https://www.mycolombianrecipes.com/beef-skewers-chuzos-de-res/
Chantal
I can't wait to try some of these recipes for my boyfriend! His father was Colombian (passed away), and he grew up with his Canadian mother making him Colombian foods, supposedly she was excellent at it, but I'd love to learn from a real Colombian woman as well! He lived in Colombia every year for 3 months until he was 18. He always talks about Arepas, and I have never had them, but I really want to try them! This recipe looks pretty simple. Not sure what I would use here in Canada for the pre-cooked cornmeal, since we do not have many latin american food stores.... hopefully I can find a good substitute!
Thanks Erica!
Amanda
Hi Erica,
Thank you for posting all these great recipes...
Can you use masa harina to make arepas? Do you have to cook it beforehand?
My boyfriend is Ecuadorean, not Colombian, but both countries eat arepas and I would love to surprise him with some...!
thank you!
Erica
Amanda, For Colombian arepas you have to use masarepa or pre-cooked cornmeal. They sell different brands Goya, Harina Pan.....You can find it online at amazon.com or at your local Latin market.
Jennifer
Arepas not areas lol oh corrective spelling why do you torture me!
Jennifer
You can cook the areas in a George Foreman grill. Cooks evenly on both sides and butter is optional.
The Duo Dishes
So great to find your recipes! We'll be experimenting with arepas this weekend. Would you mind emailing us to let us know what kind of cheese you could use instead of the traditional Colombian farmer's cheese? We're going to try to find it, but just in case...!
Elena
I spent my childhood in Santa Marta, and arepas are one of the many, many things I miss desperately... along with the queso campesino/queso costeño that went both in and on them, and which I have not been able to find anywhere else. It's a relatively hard cheese, kind of rubbery--almost squeaky--and definitely salty.
While the real thing is probably only available in Colombia, I have found something that's surprisingly close: white cheddar cheese curds, which is the sort of cheese that Canadians use for poutine. Grind it up in the food processor, and you can add it to the arepa mix. (I use a LOT more than this recipe calls for, though; about 2 cups ground cheese to 1 cup masarepa, then medium-low heat for 4-5 minutes per side, because it does make it a bit melty.)
Since the white cheddar cheese curds are also a bit hard to find--I order mine online--another reasonably good substitute is anything being sold in the Hispanic food section as "frying cheese." Often it may wind up being moister than what's used for arepas in Colombia, but as long as you know that, you can tweak the amount of water you add to the recipe, and it'll still turn out well. (We're only talking maybe a teaspoon less water, if that, rather than a dramatic reduction.)
sarita
Can you cook these on an arepa pan (the ones with the holes) or do they need to be cooked through in some way first? I am worried they will break up? We use PAM but my Colombian husband cooks them in the oven, they seem a bit hard (delicious but not like they are in Col.!) Do you have a recipe for hogao, can't see it here. Thanks, great blog!
Erica
Sarita- You can use a "parilla" and this is the recipe for hogao https://www.mycolombianrecipes.com/colombian-tomato-and-onion-sauce-hogao/
Olga
Hi Erica!
As everyboby else I am very glad I found your blog. It has become my main cookbook 😉 Half of my family is from La Guajira where they make also a delicious type of arepa a bit smaller than the Paisa arepa but much thicker. It is usually stuffed with different types of fillings. I tried to bake them in the oven because it is much quicker but they turned out too dry. Do you have any recipe for baked arepas?
Thank you so much for having this blog!
Olga Lucia
Susan Burkley
I just made these for lunch...YUMMY!! This is a great, quick recipe!
Ana Maria
I made arepas today for breakfast and I loved them.