Healthy South American Recipes

Brooke Siem baked with grandmothers around the world for her Grandmother Project, including with Sofy in Buenos Aires, where she learned this Argentinian take on bread pudding. It tastes like a magical mashup of French toast, cheesecake and flan. The caramel is made directly in the pan you bake the pudding in (one less dish to wash!), so you’ll need a metal cake pan or pie plate. Sofy uses Wonder Bread, but any soft white sandwich bread will produce luscious results. Learn more about this recipe and other recipes Siem learned as part of her project in the article How Cooking Connected One Chef with Grandmothers Across the World.

A fish sandwich doesn't have to be deep-fried to be delicious. Try our healthy crispy fish sandwich recipe with a tangy, zesty pineapple slaw. It's worth taking the extra minute to chop pineapple slices instead of using crushed pineapple, which is too small and disappears into the slaw. Store-bought shredded cabbage-carrot mix saves time. Look for it in the produce section.

In this easy quinoa recipe, tomatillos work double-duty: some are pureed to flavor the cooking liquid, others are chopped and stirred in raw for color and texture. Serve with grilled chicken, steak or fish, and a dollop of sour cream.

Picadillo, which means “small bits and pieces,” is a sweet-and-savory spiced ground- meat mixture from Latin America. Serve with warm corn or whole-wheat flour tortillas.

These savory pastries were created by Mariana Velasquez, a Test Kitchen intern who grew up in Bogotá, Colombia. “Whenever we took a trip into the country we would stop at a roadside stand for empanadas. We would wrap the empanada with a napkin, take a bite and pour a spoonful of aji sauce inside the stuffing. This empanada is called pipian because it uses toasted pumpkin seeds (pepitas). In Colombia, empanadas are deep-fried, but you bake these without sacrificing a crispy crust. They are fun to make with children.”

Though traditional Puerto Rican cuisine may favor fatty cuts of pork with the skin on, lean cuts like pork loin are just as delicious with the intense garlic rub in this recipe. Serve warm with red beans and rice. Leftover slices make a good sandwich.

This healthy buttermilk chicken breast recipe has all the flavor of buttermilk fried chicken without the frying. The herb sauce recipe brings together mint, basil and ground coriander--perfect for serving with the chicken, or make extra and toss with pasta.

Roasting chicken and potatoes right in the same pan is a great shortcut for a busy night. While you make this healthy roast chicken recipe, whir up a quick batch of this tangy Cuban mojo sauce for drizzling and dipping.

This easy low-alcohol cocktail keeps things fresh with whole limes and basil leaves. It's a twist on the caipirinha that subs white vermouth and vodka for the traditional cachaça, the fermented sugarcane liquor popular in Brazil, and features basil instead of the usual mint.

With its pretty striped skin and uniform shape, delicata squash is a beautiful vessel for serving up this healthy quinoa stuffing. Serve this recipe as a stunning side dish or a vegetarian main with a big leafy green salad alongside.

Barbecued meats (churrasco) are served in churrascarias, Brazilian barbecued-meat restaurants, with a salsa-like sauce as an accompaniment. Since hearts of palm show up at every salad bar in these restaurants, we've added them to the sauce to give it a tasty twist.

This bright orange hot sauce recipe is perfect for spicing up eggs, soups and seafood. To cut the heat, use a little more carrot or fewer habanero peppers. Scotch bonnet peppers can be substituted.

Plantains and orange juice balance this thick, Latin American pork-and-bean stew with some sweetness and also a little acidity. Top with nonfat sour cream or yogurt, if you like.

This Puerto Rican one-dish chicken and rice stew is rich in flavor.

The flavors of picadillo--a dish found all over Latin America--turn meatloaf into something more than the usual. Make it a meal: Accompany with cornbread and hot green beans splashed with vinegar.

In this healthy kebab recipe, ancho chile powder, made from dried poblano chiles, is used for a slightly spicier and smokier flavor than regular chili powder. Serve alongside fresh tomato wedges for an easy weeknight dinner or arrange on a platter at your next cookout.

An acidic combination of citrus juices "cooks" fresh fish to make ceviche. Yuzu looks like a bumpy lemon and is prized in Japanese cuisine for its distinctly aromatic juice and rind. Buy yuzu juice in Asian markets and online, or substitute more lemon juice. Recipe adapted from Chef Greg Harrison, Pacific'O Restaurant.

In Venezuela, sandwiches are often made with corn rolls known as arepas (ah-reh-pahs) that are crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. Here, we use the arepas to create a healthy sandwich stuffed with chicken and avocado salad.

Pungent red chiles and sweet mango flavor this robust sauce, which accents simply broiled salmon wonderfully. Broiling salmon will perfume your kitchen, so if you prefer, cook the salmon on the grill, over direct heat, 8 to 12 minutes total.

Fish cookery doesn't get any easier than this. Look for the freshest fish you can find--just about any firm, mild white fish will be a fine foil for this spicy tomato sauce.

Traditionally, locros are thick, vegetable-based soups, served mostly during the cold months of the year in Ecuador. They are meant to be hearty and filling enough to stand as a whole meal. Be sure to seek out achiote paste, as there is no good substitute.

This hearty steak and potato salad is inspired by salpicón, a favorite dish in Chile. The purple potatoes add vibrant color but you can substitute any young “new” potatoes that are harvested early in the season--even small fingerlings would work. Serve on a bed of spicy mesclun greens to round out the meal. This recipe can easily be doubled.

Escabeche, which means “pickled” in Spanish, is a popular condiment in Mexico and other Latin American countries. In this escabeche recipe, we also add carrots and onions to the chiles. Jalapeños are traditional, but any small hot chiles, such as serranos, will work. Stored in the refrigerator, the vegetables stay crunchy; if canned they will be softer, but still delicious.

This take on the Argentinian classic is full of bright spring flavor and will be your new go-to dish for parties. Chimichurri is a sauce that is typically served with grilled meats. This version--made with fresh English peas, parsley and tofu--is served as a dip with either toasted baguette slices or vegetable dippers.