Dominican Cooking and Recipes

First-time visitors to the Dominican Republic, and to those only casually interested in its cuisine it is not rarely the case that they believe Dominican food is only about rice and beans. Well, nothing could be further from the truth.

The Dominican culinary culture is very rich. Not that you'd know that at first glance, but once you've spent time in the Dominican Republic, and visited its different regions, you'll sample the many dishes in our cuisine.

The best-known dish of the Dominican cookery is La Bandera Dominicana (the Dominican Flag) the aptly menu of rice, beans, meat and salad that is served in la comida (lunch). There are many variants of this dish depending on the meat of choice, plus you can substitute the salad for the myriad side dishes in the Dominican cooking.

We'll speak later about side dishes later on, but let's go back to la comida, besides the variations in la bandera dominicana there are many other dishes traditionally served for lunch, and almost all are rice-based. Some popular lunch dishes are moro (rice mixed with beans) and locrio (rice mixed with meat or seafood, similar to the Spanish paella). A thick rice-based stew called asopao is also very popular, specially during informal meetings and rainy days (the Dominican Republic ostensibly lacking a real winter).

Coming back to the side dishes we have to mention tostones (flattened fried plantains) as the Dominican's favorite, and mangu (mashed plantains) a breakfast favorite. Other popular side dishes are arepitas (cassava fritters), fried aubergines, salads, and many others.

When writing about Dominican cuisine one must never forget to mention sancocho, a hearty, meaty stew that is the flagship of Dominican cuisine.  

Dominicans are passionate about their food. However adventurous some of them might be about other cuisines, they always remain faithful to theirs. It is no strange then that there are so many cookbooks written about Dominican food even if the country is itself rather small. Below you can find some of our recommendations for those wishing to learn more about Dominican cookery.

Buen provecho! 

Aunt Clara's Dominican Cookbook (100 traditional Dominican recipes, all with color photos)

La Cocina Dominicana (best Dominican cookbook in Spanish)

Traditional Dominican Cookery (economy, text version of Aunt Clara's Dominican Cookbook) 

A Taste of the Caribbean: Remembrances and Recipes of the Dominican Republic  (great little book about Dominican culture and cooking)

Mujer 2000 I (bestselling Dominican cookbook in the Dominican Republic)