Work through the list in order. Hide the notes when you know what to do.
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Try pastel de choclo
A baked corn pie served bubbling in a shallow clay bowl, featuring a sweet, basil-scented pureed corn crust over savory seasoned minced beef, chicken, hard-boiled egg, black olives, and raisins.
Best enjoyed during the summer harvest, though traditional countryside restaurants serve it all year. Locals often sprinkle sugar over the top before baking to form a caramelized crust.
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Try baked empanada de pino
Chile's signature baked savory pastry, packed with spiced minced or chopped beef, slowly braised onions, cumin, a whole pit-in olive, raisins, and a slice of hard-boiled egg.
Authentic pino empanadas are always baked in an oven rather than fried. Watch out for the whole olive inside, as the pit is purposely left in.
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Try cazuela
A comforting broth soup featuring large whole cuts: a generous portion of beef or chicken alongside an intact half-cob of corn, potato, sweet pumpkin slice, and rice.
Custom dictates sipping the fragrant broth first before tackling the tender meat and intact vegetables with a fork and knife. Always sprinkle fresh cilantro and pebre into the bowl.
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Try completo italiano
Chile's iconic loaded hot dog: a warm elongated bun housing a frankfurter, buried beneath diced fresh tomatoes, an enormous mound of mashed avocado, and a heavy ribbon of mayonnaise.
Order at retro lunch counters known as fuentes de soda. Eat leaning forward over the counter, as the massive topping layer inevitably drips.
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Try curanto
An ancient ancestral feast from the Chiloé archipelago layering giant mussels, clams, smoked pork ribs, sausages, and potato cakes, steamed in an earth pit lined with hot stones and pangue leaves.
Outside Chiloé island, it is commonly prepared in a giant stockpot as 'pulmay' (curanto en olla), producing an intensely flavorful, smoky seafood-pork broth.
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Try caldillo de congrio
A rich conger eel chowder immortalized by poet Pablo Neruda, stewed with firm chunks of white fish, onions, garlic, carrots, tomatoes, white wine, and fresh herbs.
Best experienced in historic port towns like Valparaíso. Tear off pieces of crusty marraqueta bread to soak up the golden, wine-laced broth.
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Try choripán con pebre
A grilled pork chorizo sausage split lengthwise inside a crusty marraqueta bread roll, loaded with fresh pebre salsa made of tomatoes, onions, cilantro, and green chilies.
The universal prelude to any Chilean barbecue (asado) and the undisputed king of outdoor festivals during Fiestas Patrias in September.
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Try machas a la parmesana
Pink razor clams baked on the half-shell with a dash of crisp dry white wine, a dab of butter, and a bubbling crown of melted parmesan cheese.
A coastal staple served straight from the broiler. Avoid tourist spots that cut corners by substituting processed yellow cheese for real aged parmesan.
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Try pastel de jaiba
A decadent baked crab casserole made from fresh Pacific blue crab meat blended with milk-soaked bread, cream, sautéed onions, garlic, and melted cheese in a clay crock.
Extremely rich and concentrated; it pairs seamlessly with a cold glass of coastal white wine, such as a crisp Casablanca Valley Sauvignon Blanc.
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Try charquicán
A wholesome indigenous-colonial mash of tender pumpkin, potatoes, sweet corn kernels, and green beans cooked down with minced beef or jerky and crowned with a fried egg.
A comforting fixture of everyday lunch specials (menú del día). Pierce the runny yolk of the fried egg immediately so it enriches the hearty vegetable mash.
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Try chacarero sandwich
A classic farm-style sandwich built on a round soft bun with thin griddled beef slices, fresh tomatoes, cold boiled green beans, and finely sliced pickled green chilies.
If you are sensitive to heat, request it 'sin ají' to skip the chilies. Unlike other Chilean sandwiches, this one lets the crisp green beans shine without mayo.
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Try marraqueta con palta
The essential centerpiece of Chilean breakfast and tea-time: a crisp, airy four-part bread roll split open and loaded with fresh Hass avocado mashed with coarse sea salt.
The bread must have a crackling, brittle crust. Known as marraqueta in Santiago, it is called 'pan batido' in Valparaíso and 'pan francés' across the southern regions.
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Try torta de milhojas con manjar Desserts and pastries
Chile's beloved thousand-layer cake, built from paper-thin crispy pastry wafers slathered with rich, slow-cooked caramelized milk (manjar) and crushed walnuts.
Chilean manjar is cooked longer and thicker than Argentine dulce de leche. It is the definitive companion to an afternoon pot of tea in local teahouses.
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Try Chilean alfajores Desserts and pastries
Delicate cornstarch shortbread sandwich cookies generously filled with thick dulce de leche (manjar) and rolled in shredded coconut or dipped in dark chocolate.
Chilean 'hojarasca' style alfajores feature a crispier, flake-like egg dough that offsets the deep, unctuous sweetness of the caramel filling.
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Try Southern Chilean kuchen Desserts and pastries
A German-immigrant heritage fruit pie ubiquitous in the Lake District, featuring a crumbly pastry crust laden with local murta berries, raspberries, or apples under sweet custard.
Seek it out in southern lake towns like Frutillar and Puerto Varas. Try the version made with native murta (Chilean guava) berries for an herbal, strawberry-like aroma.
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Try leche asada Desserts and pastries
A rustic baked milk custard cooked directly in high oven heat until a toasted, scorched caramel crust develops over a tender, creamy core.
Unlike a silky water-bath flan, leche asada is firmer, slightly spongy, and served chilled straight from the roasting pan with cold liquid caramel.
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Try mote con huesillo Non-alcoholic drinks
A quintessential warm-weather street refreshment: a chilled caramelized peach nectar infused with cinnamon, layered with chewy cooked husked wheat and rehydrated dried peaches.
Served with a spoon to scoop up the grain and fruit before drinking the nectar. Find the best stands perched atop Santiago's San Cristóbal and Santa Lucía hills.
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Try ulpo Non-alcoholic drinks
An ancestral Mapuche grain beverage made by whisking toasted wheat flour (harina tostada) into warm water or milk, sweetened with a generous spoonful of local honey.
Offers a nutty, malted-grain profile and great nutritional energy. Commonly found at rural southern markets and Mapuche cultural centers.
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Drink tea during la once Non-alcoholic drinks
Strong black tea served piping hot in mugs, often softened with milk and sweetened with sugar, anchoring the daily Chilean evening family meal.
Chileans drink more black tea per capita than anyone else in South America. Coffee takes a back seat to a steaming pot of tea during the evening meal.
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Try Chilean pisco sour Local alcohol
The national cocktail made with Chilean grape brandy (pisco), tart juice from northern Pica limes or lemons, and powdered sugar, shaken hard over ice.
Chilean pisco sour is tarter and crisper than the Peruvian standard, often omitting egg white and bitters to spotlight the aromatic floral notes of Muscat grapes.
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Try a terremoto cocktail Local alcohol
The legendary 'Earthquake' cocktail created in Santiago dives: sweet rustic white wine (pipeño) topped with a scoop of pineapple ice cream and bitter fernet or grenadine.
Served in half-liter glasses with a straw. It drinks dangerously like an innocent melted float despite harboring an alcoholic punch.
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Try Chilean Carménère wine Local alcohol
Chile's signature red wine varietal, thought extinct in Europe after phylloxera until rediscovered in Chilean vineyards, delivering smooth tannins and flavors of blackberry, cocoa, and green bell pepper.
The ultimate partner for savory beef empanadas and grilled meats. Look for bottles hailing from the Colchagua, Cachapoal, or Apalta valleys.
