Recipes

This is the full recipe collection: Belizean home cooking first, and the wider Caribbean and Central American kitchens it sits inside.
The Belizean core is stew chicken, rice and beans, fry jacks, panades, hudut and escabeche, built on recado, coconut milk, fresh seafood and corn.
Around it are the regional kitchens that share those ingredients and cook them differently: Jamaican jerk and brown stew, Puerto Rican pernil and mofongo, Cuban ropa vieja, Salvadoran pupusas, Guatemalan pepian and Haitian griot.
Browse by meal in the sections below, or by country and culture.

A Honduran tamale wrapped in corn husk served with a cup of coffee
Ticucos DinnerHonduras

Ticucos

Corn-masa tamales folded around loroco or chipilín, wrapped and steamed. The herb is what makes them, and this is how the region's cooks get it right.
Isela Post
August 4, 2026
Glass bowl of Honduran chismol with finely chopped tomato, onion, green bell pepper and cilantro
Chismol HondurasSauces

Chismol

The everyday Honduran table relish of chopped tomato, onion, green bell pepper, and cilantro in lime. Fresh, barely spicy, and spooned over everything from carne asada to fried fish.
Isela Post
August 4, 2026
Honduran montucas, fresh-corn tamales wrapped in corn husk
Montucas DinnerHonduras

Montucas

Honduran fresh-corn tamales from young elote, ground soft and a little sweet, filled with pork or chicken and steamed in the husk. Southern Honduras makes them when the corn is in.
Isela Post
August 4, 2026
Salvadoran torrejas, a fried egg-bread slice glossy with syrup, served with a hot milky drink
Torrejas DessertEl Salvador

Torrejas

Slices of dense egg-yolk bread fried and steeped in cinnamon-clove panela syrup. Not an everyday sweet: the one Salvadoran families make for Christmas and Semana Santa.
Isela Post
August 4, 2026
A cup of hot chilate, the traditional Salvadoran corn drink spiced with ginger and black pepper
Chilate BeverageEl Salvador

Chilate

A thick, barely sweet corn drink from El Salvador, masa simmered with allspice, ginger, and black pepper. Served hot in a jícara beside nuégados at fairs and street stalls.
Isela Post
August 4, 2026
A street vendor selling food from a cart in San Salvador, El Salvador
Atol Shuco BeverageEl Salvador

Atol Shuco

A hot, sour, savory street drink of fermented black corn, served in a jícara under alguashte, red beans, and chile. It has fueled early mornings in El Salvador's western highlands for generations.
Isela Post
August 4, 2026
A street vendor selling produce in San Salvador, El Salvador — the kind of market stall where riguas are often sold freshly griddled
Riguas El SalvadorSnacks

Riguas

Salvadoran fresh-corn griddle cakes: young elote ground coarse and cooked on the comal until the edges crisp. A harvest-season snack, eaten warm with crema and cheese.
Isela Post
August 4, 2026
Mariscada recipe — creamy mixed seafood soup with shrimp, crab, and fish, El Salvador style
Mariscada DinnerEl Salvador

Mariscada

El Salvador's creamy mixed-seafood soup: shrimp, fish, crab, mussels, and clams in a broth rich with cream and achiote. Born in the beach comedores of La Libertad as a celebration dish.
Isela Post
August 4, 2026
Guatemalan shuco on a toasted bun with guacamol, shredded cabbage, grilled sausage, mustard, ketchup and mayonesa at a night street stall
Shucos GuatemalaSnacks

Shucos

Guatemalan shucos are grilled hot dogs built on a split, toasted bread roll: a smear of guacamol, a pile of boiled cabbage, mustard and mayonnaise, and your choice of grilled sausage or meat. The name is Chapín slang for messy. Shucos come from Guatemala City and Antigua street carts. The first one I ate, I ate standing up at a cart in Guatemala City, near eleven at night, the longaniza still spitting on the griddle. The guy split the bread, laid it face-down on the hot iron, and by the…
Isela Post
August 4, 2026