Bandeja Paisa is a traditional Colombian dish from the Andean region of the country. It is a filling and delicious recipe that contains beans, rice, arepa, chorizo, plantain, chicharrón, avocado and beef.
What is Bandeja Paisa?
It is probably the most popular Colombian dish, originally from the Andean region of the country where the people are called “Paisas” and the area where I was born and raised.
Tradionally, Bandeja paisa includes Colombian style beans, white rice, chicharrón, carne en polvo, chorizo, fried egg, ripe plantain, avocado and arepa, but you can substitute the powdered beef for grilled beef or pork.
Bandeja paisa is something I’ve eaten all of my life and if I have to choose my last meal on this earth, this is the one. It's filling, hearty and comforting.
How to Make Bandeja Paisa
- Prepare the beans, hogao and powdered beef one day ahead and keep in the refrigerator.
- When you are going to serve the bandeja paisa, heat the beans and powdered beef and hogao. Make the chicharrones.
- Cook the white rice and plantains.
- Fry the eggs and chorizos.
- To serve, place the rice in a tray or platter and place the rest of the ingredients as you like. I prefer the beans in a separate bowl, but you can ladle the beans next to the rice if you like.
- Bring the hogao in a serving dish to the table, so people can place it on top of the beans if they like.
More Popular and Traditional Colombian Dishes:
Empanadas Colombianas (Colombian Empanadas), Sancocho de Gallina (Chicken Sancocho), Ajiaco Bogotano (Chicken and Potato Soup), Pandebono (Cheese Bread), Buñuelos (Cheese Balls) and Arepas Rellenas de Queso.
Bandeja Paisa Recipe (Paisa Platter)
Ingredients
- 1 recipe Paisa Pinto Beans Frijoles Paisas
- 1 recipe white Rice Arroz Blanco
- 1 recipe Powdered Beef Carne en Polvo
- 4 fried Pork Belly Chicharrones
- 4 cooked Chorizos
- 4 fried eggs sunny side up
- 4 baked plantains or Tajadas de Plátano
- 1 recipe Hogao
- Lime and Avocado for Serving
Instructions
- Prepare the beans, hogao and powdered beef one day ahead and keep in the refrigerator.
- When you are going to serve the bandeja paisa, heat the beans and powdered beef and hogao. Make the chicharrones.
- Cook the white rice and plantains.
- Fry the eggs and chorizos.
- To serve, place the rice in a tray or platter and place the rest of the ingredients as you like. I prefer the beans in a separate bowl, but you can ladle the beans next to the rice if you like.
- Bring the hogao in a serving dish to the table, so people can place it on top of the beans if they like.
Empar
Un plato muy variado y sabroso!
Además de muy energetico.
Un beso.
Erica
Gracias Empar por todos tus comentarios!!!
Oysterculture
I think this would be my last meal as well, its got everything. What s sampler plate!
Karen
Oh, that is one beautiful looking platter of food... delicious!
Felisha
Love this recipe! This is a once in a few months type dish for me! It's a lot of work, but well worth it!! 🙂
Erica
LouAnn, Karen and Felisha,
Thank you very much for your comments!
Carolina
Y la arepa? Ja ja ja. I can't wait to make this and make it look just like your picture....Bandeja Paisa!!! mmmmm, unas de las comidas que mas extrano de nuestro pais. Erica, you're the best...
Erica
Gracias Carolina. La arepa me la comi antes con quesito jajaja!
rebecca subbiah
what a great meal, and i love the picture
Natasha - 5 Star Foodie
Excellent platter of delicious food!
Erica
Thank you all so much for your nice comments!
Joan Nova
I never can control myself when I see this on the menu in a Columbian restaurant. I've nicknamed it 'the belly buster'. I imagine the paisas worked it off climbing up and down the mountains.
VEZ
Joan, I don't mean to be mean to you or anybody, but everyone that is not from Colombia must learn that when you refer to our food, our cities , our people, etc...it is not ColUmbian, it is ColOmbian with two Os...Columbia is the Univeristy od ColUmbia, etc.. Not the Country.
I hope I didn't hurt anybody's feelings here, I am just trying to teach you and the rest of the people that love our food, our culture, our country....We ColOmbians appreciate it very much!! And this website is the pride of us ColOmbians!!
VEZ
I meant University OF Columbia.
Jarhead-Spartan
Thanks for "stepping up"! .... You were polite & everyone should want to get their cultural understandings as accurate as possible!! It's time people learn that Estados Unidos doesn't own the term 'American'. ... Is that .... North American?, Central American?, South American? .... and that all "Latins" don't speak 'Mexican'. (P.S. - Anyone waiting to bark at me - save it! - I'm a 4th generation U.S. Marine - I look like a gringo. By heritage, I'm Cherokee, Scottish, & German! ..... Good people are good people. I've met amazing people in all 38 countries I've been to!)
Anna
That looks truly delicious.Chicharron is my husband new favorite, he discovered that with some friends and came back home accusing me of try to hide a national treasure from him. I didn't know what chicharron was until I googled a picture. Then I told him, the name in portuguese is "torresmo". He ask me for chicharron every day. I have to hide your site from him now. 🙂
Danielle
Oh my! that looks delish! I haven't had breakfast yet and now I'm REALLY hungry
Erica
Thank you everyone for reading my post!
nora@ffr
wow!! vat a delicious looking food platter.. great work erica!!
heidileon
esto es una bomba! pero aun asi me gustaria probarla 🙂
Cynthia
Wow! What a feast this is!
girlichef
Wow! What a gorgeous plate of food...I can see how it would be your favorite 😀
Erica
Thank you all for the comments 🙂
Natalia Sanabria-Lopez
Amiga te felicito...te deseo todo lo mejor y este plato es el mejor te envio un fuerte abrazo desde La Madre Patria :):)
Erica
Gracias Natty,
Un abrazo.
Simply Life
Wow, what an amazing looking spread of food!
velva
This looks so appetizing. A very satisfying and comforting platter of delicious foods.
Erica
Thank you, thank you and thank you. I truly appreciate all the comments 🙂
Melanie
I can see why this is such a wonderful meal--just told my boyfriend about it and he said he loved it too. I am a foodie and have had an effect on him--he is spicing it up a bit. The stuffed plantains with cheese and guava I plan to make soon. I love plantains every way.
sangeetha
Wow!! Gorgeous looking plate of foods!! Nicely presented...
Sergio
Hola erica !
Te sobraste con esta pagina;Estoy lejos de Colombia,vivi 11 años en Aruba y ahora llevo 8 viviendo en Holanda y sobra decir que igual extraño mi familia,amigos y la comida,hay que ver que tenemos una cultura muy rica y variada,en los paises bajos es muy diferente ademas que no se encuenttran gran mayoria de los productos,son costosos y el sabor es mediocre.
mi plato favorito siempre ha sido y sera la Bandeja Paisa;Oh como extraño mi tierra,su gente y la comidita,de verdad que es deprimente !
Te felicito por tu pagina,me dejaste con hambre,
Un abrazo desde Holanda,
S.Jaramillo R
Erica
Sergio- Gracias por tu mensaje! Me alegra mucho que te guste la pagina.
3hungrytummies
my kind of food! looks so delicious!!
Lori Lynn
Hi Erica - I stopped by to wish you the happiest of holidays.
LL
jesus octavio jaramillo
Que bueno encontrar a esta embajadora colombiana...espero encontrar mas publicaciones de nuestra variada gastronomía.
jesus octavio jaramillo
Siempre que viajo para Antioquia es imperdonable no probar su típico montañero...o bandeja paisa
Katherine
I just came back from a visit to Colombia in December. The food was absolutely amazing! I absolutely LOVE bandeja paisa!! Most of my pictures are of the food! Thanks for the recipes!
Mari
This Paisa plate looks delicious. I have enjoyed most of your recipes. I look forward into learning how to do good arepas. I love them.
Thanks for visiting my blog.
Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella
I'm so excited that you posted this Erica! I tried it at a Columbian restaurant a while back! 😀
Thankyou for the recipe!
Anonymous
We made bandeja paisa on Sunday for my family and we loved it.
OLGA
Wow que blog mas chevere tienes.
Toda la vida me ha fascinado la comida de colombia y venezuela pues me parece bien completa y saben aprovechar al maximo los alimentos.
Yo soy de Ecuador y tambien vivo aca en Estados Unidos en Washington DC concretamente.
La bandeja paisa es lo mas rico para mi de la comida colombiana seguido de las arepas y el arequipe.
Saludos
Olga.
Carolina
This recipe was perfect......we made bandeja paisas for my parents and they were really happy. thanks!
Juliana
Wow, what a nice dish...everything in it looks do yummie, great combination 🙂
Chris
Why oh why is your husband vegetarian with you cooking these gems in the house, I'll never know..... I used to be vegetarian for 5-6 years in my early 20s but then realized me not eating meat isn't going to save any animals, because they will die anyway, but at least I will be respectful of the sacrifice the animal has given in order to give me food. I've seen some that argue that eating meat is bad because you kill animals, but to eat a plant you have to kill it too, just because it's a plant doesnt make it any less alive than a horse, or human. You still have to kill something to eat.
But this reminds me of my childhood, on sundays we'd go to my aunts house and she'd make this for us, there was never a plate with anything left on it. LOL Bellisima! (Yea I'm italian too lol)
paola
this is one of my favorite colombian dish,this is a huge mixture of food on more of a platter than a plate, it consists of grilled steak, fried pork rind, chorizo sausages, on a bed of rice and red beans that is then topped with a fried egg and a side of sliced avocado and sweet banana (chips). It is one of the most delicious national dish of Colombia.
Marcus
Hey Erica,
I just added the recipe and a link to the Discover Colombia website along with some history about the bandeja paisa in Colombia. Keep up the good work!
Mely (Mexico in my Kitchen)
Hello Erica,
Thanks for visiting my blog. I am glad you did because now I get to discover yours. There are so many recipes that I would love to try. Our local Colombian restaurant also adds arepas to the Bandeja Paisa. We love their food.
Saludos,
Mely
Lina
Hi Erika, i just wanted to say that im soooo thankful that you took the time to wirte this blog...
I am colombian too, living in Austria. Sometimes i just wake up feeling like cooking something colombian, and one of those days i cam by accident into your blog and i loved it...
I love bandeja paisa and now my husbend does too, he hates the fact that its absolutelly unhealthy but once he started eating he forgot about it....
Anyway i just wanted to thank you...
Greetings from Austria, and smilies 🙂
VEZ
Sorry to tell you but it is not ABSOLUTELY unhealthy...here are some facts to take into consideration:
-The egg has about 6 grams of protein, a bit of vitamin B12, folic acid etc..
- the beans are filled! Filled with fiber! Iron, potassium, vitamin B, etc..
- avocado is filled with vitamin E, B, potassium, etc..
- rice is an excellent source of complex carbohydrates, fiber, vitamins,contains all eight of the essential amino acids, which help to build and maintain muscle tissue and make up enzymes, antibodies and hormones, etc
- the chicharron, oh well....not AS healthy, but this is a plate you don't need to eat every day or every week! So please! Just go ahead and enjoy it when you can!
Fred
This is a heart attack waiting to happen!
Liz
I agree this would definitely be my last meal too! With one addition una arepa con quesito! LOL!
b
so bad, but so good!
Caroll Buitrago-Long
That is going to be the lunch today!!
Pero falta el chicharroncito...imposible de conseguir! Donde lo compras tu?
Aqui traen los productos internacionales desde chicago pero toca pedirlas desde mucho antes y llegan al mayor..entonces es dificil.
Gracias
Erica
Caroll- ShopRite or a Latin market.
Lina
RECETAS DE LA COCINA COLOMBIANA FACILES DE ENTENDER, ES COMIDA DE COLOMBIA FÁCIL Y DELICIOSA.
Nicole
Erica, just wanted to thank you for this website. My boyfriend is Colombian and your blog has made our relationship ten times better(:
Erica
Nicole-Thank you ....:)
Xiang Gu
Hi Erica, I just came back from an incredible 2-weeks trip in Colombia and Medellin was by far my favorite city. I fell in love with the crisp air, the beautiful valley and especially its welcoming Paisa people and culture. I'm so happy to have found a recipe for Bandeja Paisa and will be trying to make this this weekend. Luckily I'm from Toronto, Canada where it's very multicultural and I can find most ingredients. Thanks again for sharing and making this possible!
Thomas Ross Camelo
Una receta deliciosa. La comida aquí en Inglaterra es pésima.
mauro
Creo que Paisa "Platter" es mejor traduccion. Un "tray" en ingles significa otra cosa.
Erica Dinho
Gracias,Mauro! Creo que"Platter" suena mejor.
Ian Maclaren
Very interesting!, it looks a bit like an english breakfast!
Dana
I prepared this for my husband , who is a native of Medellin... He loved it. Everything in this recipe was spot on. I could have never made this dish without this website so thank you!! . I got lots of brownie points for this one ! 😀
Jose David
Saludos, desde Cali, que bueno saber que somos reconocidos por Canadá por nuestros platos colombianos, me gustaría saber mas de ustedes y poder ofrecer mi amistad, soy estudiante de administración de empresas y estoy buscando nuevas oportunidades en ese país, quisiera relacionarme con personas de la misma patria, y poder también llegar a sumar con sus objetivos organizarles, muchas gracias mi wasap 311 7427511
Cristina
I found this recipe while searching for a dish my Colombian grandmother used to make for us as a quick dinner. It was very similar. She would serve us carne molida over beans just like this, which were served over white rice. That's it! My brother and I would mix it all up and devour it every time. It was our favorite! Is there a name for that dish?? Thanks for your awesome website!
Ralph
Great website. Thank you for sharing. This looks delicious, and I CAN'T WAIT to make this! What type of chorizo do I buy? I am in San Francisco. Most stores here sell Mexican chorizo which looks & cooks completely different than the chorizo you show in your picture.
Sher
Hi,
This looks absolutely delicious but I'm not sure what measurement to use for the ingredients which require 1 Recipe. Could you please provide the exact measurements?
Much appreciated.
Jerry McCoy
I am currently writing a blog about Colombian grilling techniques and would like to collaborate with you. I would acknowledge all of contributions on this topic
Cristina Lewis
Where can I find the dish where the beans are served? I love it!
chris 06
Il faut un appétit d'ogre pour manger ce beau plateau.
A t-on droit à la sieste après??? Bises Chris 06
Drako
Is it a breakfast meal
Anonymous
It could be but is most often eaten later in the day. It is a large platter that has a variety of meats and some vegetables.
Jerry
articlereader
Bandeja paisaNational Dish of Columbia is something I’ve eaten all of my life and if I have to choose my last meal on this earth, this is the one.
Shaglonger
This looks great, trying to decide if i prefer colombian or mexican recipes
Thanks for this, keep em coming
Cheers