Work through the list in order. Hide the notes when you know what to do.
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Try chicken sancocho (sancocho de gallina)
Panama's national soup is made with stewing hen, starchy ñame root, and fresh culantro. As the ñame breaks down during simmering, it creates a thick, opaque, deeply aromatic herbal broth without any tomato base.
It is always served alongside a bowl of hot white rice, meant to be stirred directly into the broth. Locals swear by it as the ultimate comfort food and hangover cure.
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Try corvina ceviche
Panamanian ceviche differs from the Peruvian style: fresh Pacific sea bass (corvina) is diced into small cubes and marinated longer in lime juice with finely minced onion and celery. It comes served chilled in simple cups with saltine soda crackers.
Head to the Mercado de Mariscos in Panama City for the freshest batches. Eat it using soda crackers as edible spoons.
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Try carimañolas (yucca fritters)
Torpedo-shaped fritters made from boiled mashed yucca, stuffed with seasoned minced beef or pork, and deep-fried until crisp and golden. The contrast between the crunchy shell and creamy yucca interior is sensational.
A quintessential morning snack sold at fondas and bakery counters. Eat them piping hot with a splash of hot sauce.
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Try hojaldras (fried breakfast bread)
Discs of yeast dough stretched thin by hand and deep-fried until puffy and blistering. At breakfast fondas, they are served savory alongside Creole-stewed hot dog slices («salchichas guisadas») and mild white cheese.
Available almost exclusively during breakfast hours before 10:00 AM. In bakeries, you can also find them sprinkled with sugar.
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Try patacones (crispy plantain rounds)
Thick slices of green plantain that are fried once, smashed flat with a wooden press, and fried a second time until golden. They are crunchy on the edges, savory, and function as the default Panamanian side dish.
Served with everything from whole fried fish to braised beef. A well-made patacón is rigid, lightly salted, and never greasy.
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Try Panamanian tamal
Fresh ground corn dough enriched with seasoned broth, wrapped around chicken or pork on the bone, olives, capers, and raisins. It is wrapped in wild bijao leaves rather than corn husks and slow-boiled for hours.
The bijao leaves impart an earthy herbal aroma distinct from Mexican tamales. Traditionally eaten during Christmas, though widely available on weekends.
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Try rice with pigeon peas and coconut milk (arroz con guandú y coco)
Long-grain rice cooked in fresh pressed coconut milk alongside tender pigeon peas (guandú). Originating from the Afro-Caribbean hubs of Colón and Bocas del Toro, it balances nutty, savory, and subtle sweet notes.
Look for versions made with fresh green guandú during the winter harvest season. It pairs naturally with slow-cooked stews.
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Try seafood guacho (guacho de mariscos)
A thick, rustic rice stew cooked to a porridge-like consistency with squid, octopus, shrimp, and clams. It is simmered with culantro, sweet ají peppers, and chunks of root vegetables.
Traditionally served inside a carved totuma calabash gourd. It is a hearty meal best enjoyed right by the coast.
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Try ropa vieja (shredded beef stew)
Flank steak slow-simmered until tender, shredded into long ribbons, and braised in a rich sauce of tomatoes, bell peppers, onions, cumin, and garlic. The meat absorbs the sweet-and-savory pan sauce completely.
Order it as part of an «almuerzo del día» in any neighborhood fonda, accompanied by ripe plantain slices and white rice.
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Try saus (pickled pig's trotters)
An Afro-Caribbean street food staple made of boiled pig's trotters cut into bite-sized pieces and pickled cold in lime juice, vinegar, grated cucumber, onions, and spicy ají chombo peppers.
Look for street vendors ladling it out of large glass jars in Colón, Bocas del Toro, or the Río Abajo neighborhood in Panama City.
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Try whole fried red snapper (pargo frito)
A whole fresh red snapper scored, seasoned with garlic, salt, and lime juice, and fried crisp in hot oil. The skin turns crackling crisp while the white flesh stays moist and flaky.
Order it at open-air beach shacks or along the Amador Causeway, flanked by smashed patacones and a wedge of fresh lime.
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Try sweet fresh corn fritters (torrejitas de maíz)
Fluffy, golden fritters made from freshly ground young sweet corn, seasoned simply with a pinch of salt and raw sugar, then shallow-fried until the edges caramelize and crisp up.
Best bought from rustic roadside stands along the Pan-American Highway in the Azuero Peninsula. Eat them fresh from the pan.
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Try bistec picado
Tender strips of beef flashed in a pan with sweet peppers, onions, garlic, and a savory reduction of tomato paste and Worcestershire sauce. It is a cornerstone filling for local breakfast breads.
Pair it with fried hojaldras for the definitive Panamanian power breakfast at any casual cafeteria.
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Try Chiriquí bienmesabe Desserts and pastries
A traditional confection from Chiriquí slow-cooked in large copper cauldrons using fresh milk, rice flour, and raw cane sugar (raspadura). Hours of stirring yield a dense, velvety, caramel-like sweet paste.
Traditionally wrapped in dried banana bark or sold in small clay pots. It keeps for weeks at room temperature.
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Try sopa borracha (rum-soaked cake) Desserts and pastries
Despite the name ('drunk soup'), this is a dessert: airy sponge cake thoroughly soaked in a hot syrup infused with dark Panamanian rum, brandy, cinnamon, cloves, and lime peel, topped with plump raisins.
The indispensable dessert at Panamanian weddings and christenings. Look for it on the dessert board of Creole dining halls.
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Try raspao (shaved ice) Desserts and pastries
Panamanian shaved ice hand-scraped from a giant ice block by street cart vendors («raspaeros»), drenched in tropical fruit syrups (passion fruit, strawberry), and topped with condensed milk and malted milk powder.
Find the colorful wheeled carts near parks and plazas in Casco Viejo. Always ask for condensed milk and malt powder on top.
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Try tres leches cake Desserts and pastries
A light sponge cake pierced all over and saturated in a sweet mixture of evaporated milk, condensed milk, and heavy cream. It is finished with a crown of torched meringue.
Served ice-cold in almost every pastelería across the country. A proper slice should seep milk gently when pressed.
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Try sorrel hibiscus drink (chicha de saril) Non-alcoholic drinks
A ruby-red infusion brewed from calyces of roselle hibiscus (saril) simmered with fresh grated ginger, whole cloves, and cane sugar. It is tangy, floral, and pleasantly spicy from the ginger.
Brought to Panama by Jamaican canal laborers, it is served chilled over ice in street markets across the country.
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Try Geisha highland coffee Non-alcoholic drinks
One of the world's most celebrated specialty coffees, grown on the volcanic slopes of Volcán Barú in Boquete. It produces a delicate, tea-like cup bursting with aromas of jasmine, bergamot, lemongrass, and stone fruit.
Order it brewed as a pour-over (V60 or Chemex) without milk or sugar at specialty coffee houses in Casco Viejo or Chiriquí.
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Try pineapple and rice chicha (chicha de piña con arroz) Non-alcoholic drinks
A soothing homemade drink made by boiling rice together with ripe pineapple rinds, cinnamon sticks, and raw sugar, then blended smooth and strained. It drinks like a silky, chilled tropical nectar.
In Panama, 'chicha' refers to any fresh fruit cooler. It is the premier accompaniment to a hearty cafeteria lunch.
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Try Seco Herrerano Local alcohol
Panama’s national spirit: a clear, triple-distilled alcohol made from 100% sugarcane juice at roughly 35% ABV. Produced in the Herrera province, it has a neutral, remarkably crisp character.
Locals rarely take it neat; instead, they mix it with fresh passion fruit juice («chichirigüi») or chilled milk on ice («seco con leche»).
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Try aged Panamanian rum (Ron Abuelo) Local alcohol
Panama's premier dark rum, distilled from estate-grown sugarcane honey and aged in charred American white oak bourbon casks. It carries rich notes of molasses, dried figs, sweet vanilla, and toasted oak.
Sip the 7-year or 12-year reserves neat or over an ice rock. Available in practically every restaurant and cantina nationwide.
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Try local Balboa or Atlas beer Local alcohol
The two heritage Panamanian lagers: Balboa offers slightly more malt body and crisp hop bitterness, while Atlas is an ultra-light, pale, thirst-quenching beer brewed specifically for equatorial heat.
Always served sub-zero («vestida de novia», frosted with ice). It cuts neatly through the richness of fried empanadas and whole fish.
