Short answer: Guatemalan food is built on the Maya recado, the dry-roasted, ground sauce that carries the meat. The three to know are the recado trio: pepián (Guatemala’s national dish), kak’ik (the Q’eqchi’ Maya turkey soup), and jocón (the green one). Around them sits a world of corn, tamales of every kind, and plantain sweets. For a Belizean, this food is family: the recado craft is the one we share across the border, the same one behind our own red and black recados.
Guatemala is our western neighbor and our nearest Maya kin, the country you cross into to reach Tikal. Here is what to eat there, and how it connects to the kitchen we already know.
The recado trio
- Pepián, the national dish: chicken in a deep, toasted recado of charred tomatoes, dried chiles, and ground pumpkin and sesame seeds.
- Kak’ik, a pre-Hispanic Q’eqchi’ Maya turkey soup from Alta Verapaz, red and spicy with the chile cobanero, recognized as part of Guatemala’s cultural heritage.
- Jocón, the green member of the family: chicken in a tomatillo-and-cilantro recado thickened with toasted seeds.
All three are Maya, pre-Columbian in technique, and all three are recados, which is exactly the craft we keep alive in Belize with our own pastes.
More stews and mains
The recado trio leads, but the everyday table runs deeper. Hilachas is shredded beef in a tomato recado, and pollo en crema is creamy chicken, often with loroco. Pulique is an old highland recado stew, and subanik is a three-meat ceremonial dish steamed in leaves. Revolcado is the pork-offal stew in a red recado, and chiles rellenos, the Guatemalan kind, are batter-fried stuffed peppers.
Corn and the tamale family
Maize is the foundation, and the tamale family is wide. There are four to know: the Saturday tamales colorados in their red recado, the Christmas tamales negros built on sweet chocolate mole, the potato-dough paches eaten on Thursdays, and the small corn-husk chuchitos sold as street snacks. If they run together, our explainer on Guatemalan tamales explained sets all four side by side.
Street snacks and antojitos
Three fried-tortilla antojitos share a base and split by their toppings: garnachas, thick half-moons with curtido and beef; tostadas, served as a single-spread trio; and enchiladas guatemaltecas, the loaded beet-escabeche-and-egg version. Our explainer on Guatemalan fried-tortilla snacks sorts them apart. Beyond the fried trio, shucos are Guatemala’s charred street hot dogs, boxboles are masa rolls steamed in güisquil leaves, frijoles volteados are the flipped refried black beans on every breakfast plate, and molletes are the sweet syrup-soaked bread.
Sweets and a holiday drink
For dessert, rellenitos are plantain stuffed with sweet black beans, mole de plátano is fried plantain in a chocolate-chile sauce, and champurradas are the big sesame cookies you dip in coffee. Come December, ponche is the hot fruit punch that warms every Christmas. And once a year, for All Saints’ Day, comes fiambre, the great composed cold salad eaten on November 1st.
Eat it on the way to Tikal
Most Belizeans meet Guatemalan food on a trip to Tikal. If that is you, see how to get to Tikal from Belize and, once you are across, how to visit Tikal from Flores. Flores and the Petén are a fine place to eat your first pepián.
Frequently asked questions
What is the national dish of Guatemala?
Pepián, a Maya recado stew of chicken in a sauce of dry-roasted vegetables, dried chiles, and ground pumpkin and sesame seeds. Kak’ik, the Q’eqchi’ turkey soup, is also held up as a national dish.
What food is Guatemala known for?
The recado stews pepián, kak’ik, and jocón; tamales, paches, and chuchitos; hilachas and pollo en crema; and rellenitos for dessert. Maize and the dry-roasted recado are the through-line.
Is Guatemalan food spicy?
More deep and toasty than hot. The recados lean on mild, flavor-forward dried chiles, so the food reads rich and earthy; heat is usually added at the table.
About Joe Post
Joe Post is the founder and editor of Belize News Post. He grew up in Corozal Town, Belize, on the Caribbean sea with a view across Corozal Bay to Cerro Maya. He has lived in Costa Rica, Kenya, England, Spain, and the United States. He grew up cooking alongside his mother and grandmother, and has personally tested the vast majority of the recipes on this site. He started BNP in the early 2000s as one of the few independent Belizean news sources online. Over the years, the food became the stickiest thing. News comes and goes. Food stays.
