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Traditional food · the Dominican Republic
Rice with beans and meat at lunch, mashed plantain for breakfast, fish in coconut milk in Samaná and goat with oregano in the northwest: the Dominican table blends Taíno, African and Spanish heritage.
In the photo: Praia de Bávaro, Punta Cana
Illustrative images. The pictures in this guide are illustrations based on the real place, not photographs, and may differ from it.
The cuisine
Dominican Republic cuisine was born from the meeting of three heritages. From the Taínos, the island’s first inhabitants, came cassava, corn and annatto; from Spain came rice, cattle and the sauté of garlic, onion and cilantro; and enslaved Africans brought plantain, root vegetables, coconut and fried foods. Over the centuries, immigrants from the Canary Islands, the United States and the English-speaking Caribbean islands added their own recipes.
Everyday life has dishes that every Dominican recognizes. At lunch, La Bandera combines white rice, stewed beans and meat; for breakfast, green plantain mangú comes with pickled onion and often with fried cheese, salami and egg. At family gatherings, the sancocho pot brings together meats and tubers in a thick broth.
Regions have their own flavors. On the Samaná peninsula, descendants of 19th-century African American immigrants made pescado con coco a local staple. In the Línea Noroeste, in Monte Cristi, chivo liniero is stewed with oregano and pepper. In San Pedro de Macorís, the cocolos, who came from the English-speaking Caribbean islands to work in the sugar mills, made guavaberry the Christmas drink. In Boca Chica, the crispy yaniqueque accompanies beach days.
The calendar also has its sweets and drinks: habichuelas con dulce mark Lent and Holy Week, and mamajuana, herbs and bark macerated in rum, wine and honey, appears at friend gatherings and as souvenirs taken by travelers.
9 flavors
Sweet cream made from cooked red beans that are mashed and strained, mixed with coconut milk and evaporated milk, sugar, sweet potato, raisins and spices, served with little cookies on top. It is the Lent and Holy Week dessert throughout the country.
Everyday lunch: white rice, stewed beans and stewed meat, with salad and often tostones. The name evokes the colors of the national flag, and rice with beans is a foundation of the country’s culinary identity.
Drink made from peels, roots, herbs and spices macerated in a bottle with rum, red wine and honey. It went from a country home remedy to a signature Dominican drink, and the name comes from damajuana, the large glass carboy.
Mashed boiled green plantain mixed with butter or oil, topped with red onion in vinegar. It is the Dominican breakfast par excellence, often served with the tres golpes: fried cheese, salami and fried egg.
Thick broth of assorted meats and tubers such as plantain, cassava, yam and yautía, served with white rice and avocado. In the festive version it includes seven meats. It is part of the national identity and has a history linked to colonial times.
Thin, crispy fried wheat-flour dough, savory, about the size of a plate. It’s the beach snack associated with Boca Chica, and the name comes from the English johnnycake, brought by immigrants from the English-speaking islands of the Caribbean.
Stewed, spicy goat kid meat scented with oregano, ají and garlic, typical of the Línea Noroeste and Monte Cristi. Local belief holds that the region’s goats graze on wild oregano, which seasons the meat even before cooking.
Fresh fish seasoned with lime and cooked in a coconut milk sauce with annatto, cilantro, onion and garlic. It is Samaná’s signature dish, where coconut defines the local cuisine.
Homemade liqueur made from the guavaberry fruit, cooked with spices and mixed with rum, drunk at Christmas. It was brought to San Pedro de Macorís by the cocolos, Afro-Caribbean immigrants who came to work in the sugar mills.
Suggest a traditional dish, sweet or drink of the Dominican Republic that is not here. We check the sources before adding it.
Your questions
La Bandera, the lunch of white rice, stewed beans and meat, is the most commonly cited everyday dish. Sancocho and mangú are also regarded as national identity dishes.
Mangú, a green plantain purée with pickled onion, often served with fried cheese, salami and egg—the so-called tres golpes.
Yes. Samaná has a coconut-based cuisine, the Línea Noroeste is the land of stewed goat, and San Pedro de Macorís preserves the cocolos’ heritage, like guavaberry.
Habichuelas con dulce, a sweet cream of red beans with coconut milk, sweet potato and spices.