20 Classic Puerto Rican Christmas Foods

If you’re spending Christmas in Puerto Rico this year, you’ll be celebrating the longest holiday season in the world. Christmas in Puerto Rico—la Navidad—runs for around 45 days starting in late November until mid-January, when it peaks with the vibrant Fiestas de la Calle San Sebastián. 

You’ll notice that food is the main event, and dinner is served on Christmas Eve, not Christmas Day. So most of the Puerto Rican Christmas food traditions are focused around friends and family gathering on Christmas Eve—Nochebeuna—to relax, get into the holiday spirit, and feast on traditional Puerto Rican holiday dishes. 

You’ll find holiday dishes like arroz con gandules (rice pigeon peas and pork), roast suckling pig, and coquitos (egg nog with rum). And don’t forget the delicious desserts!

20 Puerto Rican Christmas food ideas

Whether you’re spending the festive season in Puerto Rico or at home this year, you can still cook up an impressive feast of Puerto Rican Christmas food with these holiday dishes.

1. Arroz con gandules

This traditional Puerto Rican Christmas food is one of the pinnacle foods you’ll find on most Christmas dining tables. Arroz con gandules is roast pork, rice, and pigeon peas cooked in bacon fat and sofrito sauce.

2. Lechón asado (whole roast suckling pig)

Lechón asado and arroz con gandules are the main foods focused around Christmas dinner. A whole suckling pig is marinated in a garlic-citrus marinade and usually slow-cooked on a spit. The cooking of the pig is an all-day affair, starting early and often lasting all day. 

3. Morcilla

Morcilla (Spanish blood sausage) has an intensely rich flavor and is an essential component of Puerto Rican cuisine. The ground meat is mixed with pigs blood, spiced with chili pepper, paprika, garlic, and salt, filled with onions and rice, and then flash-boiled and cured. Morcilla is then cut, fried, and often served with lechón.

4. Longaniza

Longaniza is another Christmas sausage favorite. It’s a long and thin spiced pork sausage offering a denser flavor. Instead of being ground meat, it is chopped into chunks, resulting in a rougher texture. Dried chilies are often added, and it’s usually fried and served with rice or as a side dish.

5. Pernil

Pernil is another favorite Christmas dish in Puerto Rican cuisine. Pork shoulder is marinated for hours—sometimes 2 days—in a garlic and oregano paste that is rubbed on, and then the pork is slow-roasted.

6. Cuajito

Cuajito is a savory dish where the stomach of a pig is soaked in vinegar then boiled in saltwater until tender to create a soup. Although this dish doesn’t sound as appealing as the others, it is traditionally a comforting broth.

7. Pasteles

Pasteles have a soft vegetable dough made from green fruits and vegetables such as mashed green bananas, green plantain flour, taro, pumpkin, and potato. The dough is then ground with broth or water, filled with meat and spices, and wrapped expertly in banana leaves. Often the whole family takes part in perfecting the pasteles dough and the art of wrapping them for boiling.

8. Guanime 

Similar to pasteles, guanime is made with cornflour and is also wrapped and cooked in banana leaves. Although guanime can be made sweet or savory, traditionally it is served with salted codfish. They can also be stuffed with nuts, beans, vegetables, or nothing at all.

9. Guineitos en escabeche

Guineitos en escabeche is a popular side dish made up of marinated green bananas and is almost like a tangy green banana salad. The bananas are cooked in a marinade of white vinegar, green olives, garlic, bay leaves, and olive oil. Although it is served as a Puerto Rican Christmas food, guineitos is also ideal as a refreshing summer dish.

10. Ensalada de coditos o papas

Ensalada de coditos o papas is a fried macaroni salad made of hard-boiled eggs, ham, scallions, and capers. It’s a simple and easy-to-make pasta side dish for Christmas dinner and is also sometimes served as a breakfast dish.

11. Arroz con dulce

Arroz con dulce is a traditional Christmas dessert in Puerto Rico that is similar to rice pudding.  This sweet rice dish is made with coconut milk and raisins, and the added spices of cinnamon, cloves, and ginger give it its Christmas taste.  

12. Tembleque

Tembleque is a traditional Puerto Rican coconut pudding, with a set custard-like consistency, made with coconut milk, sugar, and cornstarch. Often served as part of a celebration, it is set in a decorative mold and sprinkled with cinnamon.

13. Mofongo

Plantain Mofongo originated in Puerto Rico and is a holiday dish made up of fried, green (unripe) plantains. They are sliced, fried, and mashed with garlic paste and pork crackling.

14. Asopao

Asopao is Puerto Rico’s national soup and is based on the Spanish paella dish. Similar to gumbo and often paired with seafood, chicken, or pork, it’s cooked in a sherry broth and is usually served with plantain dumplings.

15. Sancocho

Sancocho is a Puerto Rican hearty beef stew, made with beef, beef broth, and a variety of native root vegetables. It’s also flavored with herbs. Sancocho deserves a place on every Christmas dining table. It has very versatile ingredients, so it’s easy to swap out different vegetables or meat.

16. Alcapurrias

Alcapurrias are small fritters made from taro and green bananas/plantain and filled with ground meat, onions, and spices. They are a tasty, crispy snack, best served warm.

17. Empanadillas

Empanadillas are a traditional Puerto Rican food and are a type of baked turnover that can be savory or sweet. There are countless fillings such as potato, meat, cheese, corn, or tomato, but the staple ingredients are sofrito and achiote seasoning. They’re a perfect appetizer to serve at Christmas while everyone is waiting for the lechón to finish roasting.

18. Arroz con habichuelas

Arroz con habichuelas is a classic staple of every Puerto Rican family dinner. Stewed beans are simmered in a sofrito and tomato-based broth with fried potatoes and olives. 

19. Flan

Flan is a traditional Puerto Rican baked-custard dessert, usually made with milk, cream, sugar, and eggs. It is then poured over a caramelized sugar base, baked, and turned upside down to reveal the flan’s creamy caramel topping.

20. Coquito

Let’s finish off with a drink. Coquito is a rich and creamy, alcoholic coconut drink similar to eggnog and served during Puerto Rico’s Christmas season. It is a combination of coconut milk, vanilla, evaporated milk, cinnamon, cloves, and rum and is usually served with cinnamon or nutmeg sprinkled on top.

Start planning your Puerto Rican Christmas dinner

Being surrounded by delicious food and drink and celebrating Christmas with the ones you love is what’s important, whether you’re spending the holidays in Puerto Rico or elsewhere in the world. 

The holiday season can be hectic, so save yourself some time and shop for your Christmas groceries through Instacart. Get convenient, same-day delivery on all of your festive food, drinks, and Christmas party supplies.

Grab it now on Instacart:

Goya Green Pigeon Peas (15 oz)

Whole Suckling Pig (per lb)

ConGusto Blood Sausage, Morcilla (16 oz)

Longaniza Sausage (per lb)

Pork Shoulder ()

Pasteles en Hoja (each)

Foulds Macaroni, Elbo (7 oz)

Graul's Homemade Rice Pudding (lb)

Goya Tembleque, Coconut Flavored Pudding (3.5 oz)

Unilever Bestfoods North America Chicken Asopao De Pollo (each)

Tradiciones Andinas Vegetables Mix (32 oz)

Kikuet Alcapurrias Beef Filling Wrapped In Dough Of Cassava, Green Banana And Taro Root. (57 oz)

La Reyna Puerto Rican Sofrito (14 oz)

Lila's Desserts Flan Carmel Custard (4 oz)

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