1Sancocho
Eaten all over Panama
Chicken soup with culantro and yam, the national dish.
‹ The dishes of every country › The Americas
What to eat in Panama
The 8 dishes to eat in Panama
Canal crossroads cooking.
1
2Arroz con pollo
Eaten all over Panama
Chicken cooked with rice, vegetables and saffron or annatto.
3
4Patacones
Eaten all over Panama
Green plantain slices fried, flattened and fried again until crisp.
5Carimañolas
Eaten all over Panama
Cassava dough filled with spiced beef, shaped like torpedoes and fried.
6Ropa vieja
Eaten all over Panama
Shredded beef stewed in tomato sauce with peppers.
7Tamales
Eaten all over Panama
Corn dough tamales with chicken, wrapped in leaves.
8A photo like itWhere to eat in Panama
Chef is checking the restaurants worth it here, one by one, and posts each once it's confirmed open. See the list so far
Eat your way through Panama
Tell Chef when you're going and he'll lay out the days: the dishes, the markets, a walk and dinner, with places that are open.
Next door
Photos: each dish's lead photo on its Wikipedia article (license and author on Wikimedia Commons); "a photo like it" is a food photo of the same kind, not that dish. Cook it opens a recipe in Chef Amazing, or Chef writes one for you. Picked by Chef Amazing, November 2026.
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