Looking for buns on a gluten-free diet or something that makes life different? Check out this arepas recipe to make alt sandwiches relevant.

Arepas is at least 3000 years old traditional dish originating somewhere from Columbia and Venezuela. It is still widely consumed today, there mainly unchanged from the original recipe.

The recipe is almost blatantly simple, once we can get our hands on the main ingredient the cornmeal flour. Without cornmeal flour it is a pretty daunting task to prepare arepas as we would have to mill the maize then cook and dry it out again.

Luckily this process is industrialized and little to none artificial ingredients are added to the cornmeal flour during the production providing us a healthy base for any dish. Making the arepa from cornmeal flour is as easy as mixing it together with a bit of salt and water then frying a bit and then baking them.

It can be done by only frying or baking but combining the two methods fastens up the process while reduces the need of deep frying.

Some recipes like to include eggs, butter or milk but that is the question of personal preference and doesn’t modify the texture or the flavor significantly.

Especially not after the bun is stuffed with some juicy filling. There are countless options to choose from here ranging from all vegan avocados and roasted vegetables to various meat fillings with natural sauce and salad.

Saying the arepas are superior to burgers wouldn’t fly for someone who is bred and grown on gluten since started to chew. Nevertheless, Arepas are versatile buns that deserve to be on the same level as the staple of western cuisine with its fillings ability to reach previously unbeknown summits.

Ingredients

2½ / 600g cups Water (tepid)
2 cups / 350g Cornmeal flour (P.A.N.)
1 teaspoon / 5g Salt
2 tablespoons / 30g Cooking oil
Optional
- Butter (instead of oil)
- Egg (just for fun)
- Milk (instead of water)

How to make arepas

Mix the ingredients in a bowl by hand until the dough comes together into a ball. If it sticks to the hand or the side of the bowl, add more flour to it. If it seems dry and falling apart, add more water to it.
Add oil to the dough ball and knead it further.
Flatten the dough into a circle shape.
Divide the dough into eight equal parts.
Make balls from the eight dough parts.
Flatten the dough balls into ½ ” / 1.5cm tall circles. This would yield about 4″/10cm wide circles.
With an oily hand rub together the cracks on the side of the dough if present.
Pour oil into a pan and fry one side of the circle shaped dough on medium heat. It takes about 5 minutes to achieve a golden brown color and hard outer layer.
Flip over the dough and fry the other side as well.

Enjoy.

F.A.Q.

What is arepa flour made of?

Arepa flour is made of pre-cooked corn as known as Harina de maiz refinada, precocida. Mind not to mix it up with corn starch which is Harina fina de maiz because that will not make arepas ever.

What goes good with arepas?

Avocado, purple onion and a bit of olive oil fits exceptionally well with it but there are no hard set rules. Anything that goes good with sandwiches, burgers will go fine with arepas.

Star this recipe!

Arepas Recipe

Looking for buns on a gluten-free diet or something that makes life different? Check out this arepas recipe to make alt sandwiches relevant.

Course Main Course, Meal

Cuisine Dairy free, Gluten free, Sugar free recipe

Prep Time 5

Cook Time 25

Total Time 30

Ingredients

Instructions

Mix the ingredients in a bowl by hand until the dough comes together into a ball. If it sticks to the hand or the side of the bowl, add more flour to it. If it seems dry and falling apart, add more water to it.
Add oil to the dough ball and knead it further.
Flatten the dough into a circle shape.
Divide the dough into eight equal parts.
Make balls from the eight dough parts.
Flatten the dough balls into ½ ” / 1.5cm tall circles. This would yield about 4″/10cm wide circles.
With an oily hand rub together the cracks on the side of the dough if present.
Pour oil into a pan and fry one side of the circle shaped dough on medium heat. It takes about 5 minutes to achieve a golden brown color and hard outer layer.
Flip over the dough and fry the other side as well. Fill with any filling of choice.