How to Make Venezuelan Arepas
- November 2024
- By Liliana Hernández
- Recipe from Venezuela
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- (99)
”Arepas are our daily bread in Venezuela,” says Liliana Hernandez, one of our favorite cooks from that country. ”You could say it’s our country’s most famous dish — it represents Venezuela in any part of the world. Its ingredient list is simple: it made from three things: pre-cooked and ground corn meal, water and salt. Arepas are typically made on a round griddle or comal called a budare. In my case, I then pop them into the oven for another 10 minutes so that they stay fluffy and taste even more delicioso.”
Not only are they delicious, says Liliana, arepas are so versatile. ”We Venezuelans fill them with an infinity of ingredients and serve them any time of day. Arepas are eaten for breakfast or as a side with lunch and dinner. We even eat arepas fried sometimes, with a little hole in the middle: they are crunchy—and equally delicious.”
Among the arepa’s most famous fillings are:
• reina pepiada (chicken with avocado)
• carne mechada (shredded beef)
• dominó (black beans with queso blanco)
• perico (scrambled eggs with tomato and onion)
• pulpo (octopus)
• cochino (pork)
• sardinas (sardines)
• the classic trio: butter, ham and cheese.
”And many more! Honestly, no matter when or how you eat them, arepas are delicious,” says Liliana.
Liliana’s First Arepa
”Since I was raised in a 100% Venezuelan home, it’s hard to remember the first time I made arepas. The way we move our hands to make an arepa is something all Venezuelans carry in our genes. What I do remember perfectly is asking my mother or my father for a piece of masa to make a mini-arepita one day while they were making them. Because the flour is precooked, it doesn’t hurt you to eat a little piece of the raw masa. What a treat!
“I must have been no older than 6 or 7 years since I remember looking up to speak to my parents and not even being able to reach the height of the stove. I also remember asking them that day to put my mini aprepita on el budare — and the immense joy I felt at eating it: I made this! It filled me with pride.“
“As you can see, we Venezuelans are practically born making arepas.”
For more of Liliana’s Venezuelan family recipes, try her life-changing bienmesabe cake, asado negro main dish for celebrations, party-starting melted-cheese tequeños, reina pepiada and carne mechada arepa fillings, and her mother’s go-to ensalada rusa potato salad. All are 100% delicioso.
And be sure to check out Liliana on her YouTube channel Mi Show de Cocina, where she is working her way through all her favorite Venezuelan dishes.
Ready to make Liliana’s Venezuelan Arepas?
Liliana’s Venezuelan Arepas
7 to 8
servings20
minutes25
minutesIngredients
2 cups precooked corn meal (see Notes below)
2 1/2 cups water, room temperature
1 tsp salt
1 Tbsp vegetable oil, for the budare, griddle or non-stick pan
Directions
- Preheat oven to 410° F.
- Pour the water into a large bowl. Make sure it is room temperature.
- Add the salt. Blend well with a mixer, fork or spatula to make sure it dissolves well.
- While you continue to beat the mixture, slowly add the corn meal—a little bit at a time.
- Once all the flour is added, keep mixing until the corn meal, water and salt are thoroughly blended and dissolved.
- Set aside the masa in its bowl. Let it rest for 5 minutes so that the flour is thoroughly hydrated. This type of corn flour does not have any gluten, so it doesn’t need to be kneaded. The masa should be smooth, firm yet malleable.
- While waiting for the 5 minutes’ rest, heat your budare (or comal, griddle, cast-iron pan or non-stick pan) over medium heat. Coat with a little bit of the oil.
- Fill a small bowl with water to wet your hands to make the arepas.
- Take about 2 Tbsp of the masa in your damp hands. The masa should fit easily in your palm so that it is easy to shape into a small ball.
- Cross your hands, so that one is on top of the other, with the masa ball between them. Rotate your right hand in a circle, so that you are at the same time both pressing the masa into a flat disc and keeping its round shape.
- The last step in shaping your arepa is to quickly pass and lightly press the masa disc from one hand to the other until it is about ¾ of an inch thick and 4 inches wide. Smooth the edges with your fingertips (quickly dip them into the water bowl first) so that they stay as round as possible and without cracks.
- Place your arepas in batches on the preheated surface of your budare griddle or nonstick pan. Let each side turn golden, about 4 to 5 minutes per side. Check them often so that they don’t burn.
- Once they are nicely browned on both sides, place the arepas on a baking sheet in your preheated oven for 10 minutes. They should be somewhat puffy, so that if you tap an arepa lightly on top, it will sound like you are tapping an empty box.
- Serve arepas hot, whether you stuff with them with your choice of fillings or serve solo to accompany your favorite Venezuelan guiso or stew.
Notes
- I usually use Harina Pan white corn flour, which is precooked, ground and packaged. It’s sold in most Latino grocery stores or you can order it online.
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Suggestions and questions from our readers
I love arepas! ❤️
Excellent! The perfect recipe for traditional arepas!
Ricura! Se me antojan ahora mismo!
The best arepas and the best explanation
She cooks delicious and her recipes are incredible!!! 😋
Love those arepas!!
Excellent!!!
Me encanta tu receta,su proceso de hacerla facilita obtener unas maravillosas arepas ,suaves sabrosas y crujientes.Felicitaciones amiga
She cooks delicious!!!
Everybody loves Arepas 🫓! And Liliana’s arepas are the best!
Arepas are really delicious! Thanks for this wonderful recipe!
It took me a few tries, but thanks to this recipe (and the excellent video tutorial) I managed to pull off 8 passable arepas this morning! A few notes:
– The recipe says to start with 2 tbsps of dough for each ball, but that’s way too little dough to make eight 4-inch, sandwich-sized arepas. I just divided the dough in roughly 8 parts and worked from there.
– I needed way more water for my hands than I expected!
– I had more success with a nonstick pan than I did with my cast iron–but I think it’s because the pan has to be quite hot and I got impatient with the cast iron.
Thank you so much for sharing this recipe and video!
Thank YOU so much for offering these very useful tips! We will update the reference to 2 Tbsp to your suggestion. And, we’re dying to know, how did they taste?
I am making arepas for a potluck dinner. Do you have any idea on how to keep them warm?
At a potluck is a bit of a challenge because you don’t have an oven nearby probably, right? Usually, we make arepas and wrap them in foil to keep them warm, and then reheat them in an oven for a few minutes until they warm up before serving later. How did you end up handling it?