bread and milk on serving board on table.

Venezuelan Arepas are one of our favorite cultural foods that we’ve tried! We ‘travel’ virtually ‘around the world’ for geography studies in our homeschool and our favorite part of geography by far is the food! Cooking another culture’s recipes can be tricky only because well, we aren’t from there and have no frame of reference for whether or not we get it totally right. We can only hope that it’s close enough. Arepas though, are quite simple and straight forward. Only 3 ingredients! I feel like it would be difficult to mess them up. Maybe one day we’ll be able to travel to these different countries and try them out in their authentic locations. Until then, we are having quite a lot of fun trying new recipes out for ourselves.

Arepas are one of Venezuelan’s main foods. It’s a big deal in a lot of other South American cultures as well. They all have a slightly different way of serving them, some with just cheese, some plain, some with shredded pork and cheese! We prefer them with shredded pork and cheese. They are delicious!

What do you need To make venezuelan Arepas?

Only 3 ingredients

Pre-cooked corn flour (I order the brand P.A.N. from amazon)
Sea salt
Water

arepa corn flour, salt, bowl, ,and plant on table.

How do you make arepas?

First, mix the salt and water together in a large mixing bowl.

Then slowly sprinkle the arepa flour into the water, using your fingers to stir and mix in to prevent any lumps.

white bowl with arepa flour and water being mixed together.

After all the flour is poured, it will be quite wet. Keep mixing for another few minutes. Because the flour is pre-cooked and dehydrated, it will continue absorbing water as you mix.

Once it has fully incorporated, it should be a bit moist, but not sloppy.

Now, scrape the sides and smooth the surface of the dough.

Cover the bowl with a clean kitchen towel and allow to rest 10 minutes. This will allow the arepa flour to continue absorbing water.

After 10 minutes, divide the dough into 12 pieces. Roll each piece into a ball and then, using the palm of your hands, form into disks that are 1/2 inch thick. You can wet your fingers with water and pat edges if they start to crack.

hands rolling dough into balls and forming disks.

hand placing disks of bread dough onto cookie sheet with parchment paper. — Even littles can help! It’s so easy!

Add a bit of oil to a skillet and heat on medium heat. Pan fry each side of the arepas 3-4 minutes until they are a light golden brown.

Place on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes or until they are puffed and a nice golden brown.

Let them cool a bit before serving.

arepa sandwich and chicha drink on table.

You can serve them up by themselves or add some meat and cheese of choice and enjoy! Check out this post for Venezuelan Chicha! A refreshing drink recipe!

Tip

You may want to add more salt to taste. It’s totally safe to try before cooking because the flour is pre-cooked! You definitely don’t want Venezuelan Arepas that are under-salted!