Short answer: Don’t leave Costa Rica without eating gallo pinto for breakfast, a casado at a family-run soda for lunch, a bowl of olla de carne, Caribbean rice and beans with rondón on the Limón coast, and a cup of coffee brewed in a cloth chorreador. Add ceviche at the beach and a slice of tres leches, and you have tasted the country.
Costa Rican food is simple, filling and built on rice, black or red beans, corn, plantains, root vegetables and very fresh fruit. The Costa Rica Tourism Board (ICT) describes a cuisine rooted in several cultures, and you can taste the regions: corn and cattle-country cooking in Guanacaste and the Nicoya Peninsula, Pacific seafood along the west coast, and an Afro-Caribbean kitchen of coconut, thyme and hot peppers around Limón and Puerto Viejo. In the Central Valley, coffee farms climb the volcano slopes. Food is rarely spicy; heat comes from a bottle of chilero (pickled pepper sauce) on the table, and almost everyone adds a splash of Salsa Lizano, the tangy brown sauce found on every soda counter. For the bigger picture, see our Costa Rica travel guide.
Everyday plates: breakfast and lunch
1. Gallo pinto (rice and beans)
The ICT calls gallo pinto Costa Rica’s national dish: rice fried with black or red beans, onion, sweet pepper and cilantro. It is a breakfast food, served with eggs, fried ripe plantain, bread or tortillas with natilla (a soft sour cream), and coffee or fresh juice, but you can order it any time of day. Every hotel breakfast and soda serves it, and it is naturally vegetarian if you skip the sausage or meat on the side.
2. Casado (the “married” lunch plate)
The casado is the everyday lunch: rice, beans, a cabbage and tomato salad, fried ripe plantain and a choice of chicken, beef, pork or fish, sometimes with a picadillo (chopped vegetable hash) and a tortilla. The name means “married man”, and every soda has its own version. Lunch is the main meal of the day, so this is when sodas are busiest and the food is freshest. Ask for casado vegetariano and you will usually get eggs or extra vegetables instead of meat.
3. Olla de carne (beef and vegetable stew)
A big pot of beef short ribs or flank steak simmered with cassava, taro, potatoes, chayote, corn, carrot and green plantain, served with white rice on the side. The ICT notes that you find it in restaurants and sodas all over the country. Families make it at weekends, so it is a good Saturday or Sunday lunch, and San José’s Central Market sodas are a classic place to try it.
4. Sopa negra (black bean soup)
A smooth, dark soup of black beans and their broth, flavored with onion, garlic and cilantro, served with a hard-boiled egg (sometimes a poached one) sliced into the bowl and a little rice. It is cheap, comforting and a smart choice on a rainy green-season afternoon in the highlands. It is often vegetarian, but ask, because some kitchens use meat stock.
5. Arroz con pollo (chicken and rice)
Yellow rice cooked with shredded chicken, vegetables and spices, usually served with a salad, potato chips and a dollop of mayonnaise-dressed vegetables. It is the dish of birthday parties and family gatherings, and every soda has it on the menu. It is mild, which makes it a safe bet for children and picky eaters.
6. Chifrijo (bar snack bowl)
A bar favorite from the San José area: a bowl layered with rice, beans, crispy fried pork (chicharrón) and pico de gallo, served with tortilla chips. It is ordered as a boca, a snack that comes with a cold beer, and is big enough to share. For a lighter boca, ask for patacones (twice-fried green plantain) with bean dip.
Seafood and the Caribbean coast
7. Ceviche
Raw white fish, often sea bass (corvina), cured in lime juice with onion, sweet pepper and cilantro, eaten with crackers or plantain chips. It is a beach-town staple on the Pacific coast and the ICT lists it among the country’s typical dishes. Eat it at a busy marisquería (seafood restaurant) where the fish turns over quickly; vegetarian versions made with mushrooms or palm heart are sometimes on the menu.
8. Sopa de mariscos (seafood soup)
A tomato-based soup with clams, mussels, shrimp, squid, fish and vegetables. The ICT notes that most restaurants have it but that the best comes from coastal towns on the Pacific. Order it in places like Tamarindo or the Quepos area near Manuel Antonio, and ask what came in that morning.
9. Rice and beans (Caribbean style)
On the Caribbean coast, gallo pinto gives way to rice and beans: rice and red beans cooked in coconut milk with thyme and a whole hot pepper, served with Caribbean-style chicken, fish or pork. The ICT says it is best eaten on the Caribbean coast, in the province of Limón. In Puerto Viejo, many families cook it as a weekend dish, so it is easiest to find from Friday to Sunday.
10. Rondón (run down)
A rich Afro-Caribbean stew of fish and seafood with yam, cassava, green banana and breadfruit, simmered slowly in coconut milk with spices. The name comes from “run down”, the long cooking that breaks everything down into a thick sauce. It takes time to make, so some small restaurants cook it only on certain days or to order; ask the day before.
11. Patí (spicy Caribbean turnover)
Small half-moon pastries filled with spiced minced beef and hot pepper, sold from bakeries, shops and bicycles along the Limón coast. The ICT recommends them on the Caribbean side. They make a perfect cheap snack on the way to the beach; ask for one fresh and warm, and expect a little heat.
Corn, sweets and drinks
12. Tamales
Corn masa filled with pork or chicken, rice, vegetables and olives, wrapped in plantain leaves and boiled. Tamales are the food of Christmas, when families gather to make dozens at a time and give them as gifts, and they turn up in bakeries and markets the rest of the year too. Related corn snacks are worth a try: chorreadas, sweet fresh-corn pancakes served with natilla, and the corn rosquillas and tanelas of Guanacaste.
13. Tres leches (three-milk cake)
A light sponge cake soaked in a mix of evaporated milk, condensed milk and cream, topped with meringue or whipped cream. It is the dessert you are most likely to see on soda counters and at family celebrations. If you like milk desserts, try arroz con leche (rice pudding with cinnamon) too, and on a hot beach day look for a copo, shaved ice with syrup and condensed milk sold from carts.
14. Coffee from a chorreador
Costa Rica’s coffee is a point of national pride: according to the ICT, the country by law produces only Arabica coffee, and it has been grown here since the late 1700s. At home and in many sodas, it is brewed in a chorreador, a wooden stand holding a cloth filter, with hot water poured slowly over the grounds. Tour a farm in the Central Valley, in Tarrazú south of San José or around Monteverde to see the harvest and roasting. Other drinks to try: fresh fruit batidos (shakes made with water or milk), agua dulce (hot water with melted cane sugar), agua de sapo (a lemonade with brown sugar and ginger on the Caribbean side, per the ICT) and water from a fresh green coconut, called a pipa.
Where to eat: San José and beyond
San José. The ICT points visitors to the Central Market in downtown San José to eat like a local. Its narrow aisles hide small sodas serving casados, olla de carne and fruit drinks at counter seats, next to stalls of coffee, spices and herbs. The city’s restaurant neighborhoods east of the center, around Barrio Escalante and San Pedro, are where younger chefs cook modern Costa Rican food.
The Caribbean coast. Puerto Viejo de Talamanca and the villages along the coast road are the place for rice and beans, rondón, patí and ginger drinks, plus cacao farm tours. On the way to Tortuguero, lodge kitchens serve the same Caribbean flavors.
The Pacific coast. Beach towns from Tamarindo in Guanacaste to Quepos, next to Manuel Antonio, are best for ceviche, seafood soup and whole fried fish. Inland, Guanacaste’s ranching traditions mean good grilled beef and corn snacks; the ICT highlights pujagua corn from Nicoya as one of the country’s signature ingredients.
Arenal and the mountains. Around La Fortuna and Lake Arenal, the ICT suggests charcoal-grilled freshwater fish with a palm heart salad and a soursop (guanábana) shake. In Monteverde, coffee and chocolate tours are an easy afternoon between cloud-forest walks.
Farmers’ markets and roadside stands. Weekend farmers’ markets (ferias del agricultor) in towns across the Central Valley, and fruit stands along the highways, are the cheapest way to try mangoes, rambutans, papayas and fruits you may not know.
Food etiquette and tipping
Sodas are casual: you sit where there is space, order at the counter or from the board, and pay at the end. According to the ICT, restaurant bills already include the 13% tax and a 10% service charge, so an extra tip is optional; leave a little more for very good service. Tour guides, drivers and hotel staff are usually tipped separately, and our tip calculator does the math. Small sodas and market stalls prefer colones, so carry some cash.
A few words of Spanish go a long way: buen provecho (enjoy your meal), la cuenta, por favor (the bill, please) and sin carne (without meat). Our phrase cards have more. Tap water is drinkable in most of the country, so you can refill a bottle at your hotel.
Eating on a budget
Sodas are the budget traveler’s best friend. A casado costs about ₡4,000–6,000 ($9–13) in most places, a little more in beach towns, while restaurant and hotel dining in Tamarindo or Manuel Antonio is much closer to US prices. Eat your big meal at lunch, buy fruit at markets, and keep sit-down dinners for special nights. For daily budgets, see how much a trip to Costa Rica costs. If you want a guide, coffee, chocolate and market food tours are easy to book through our tour finder.
Plan your trip
Fit your meals into the bigger plan: our top places to visit in Costa Rica shows where each regional kitchen lives, the Costa Rica itinerary links them into a route, and the best time to visit Costa Rica covers the dry and green seasons, coffee harvest and holidays. Or let our AI trip planner build a day-by-day plan with food stops included, and check the Destination weather tool before you pack.
Frequently asked questions
What is the national dish of Costa Rica?
Gallo pinto, rice fried with black or red beans, onion, sweet pepper and cilantro, is what the Costa Rica Tourism Board calls the national dish. It is eaten mainly at breakfast with eggs, plantains and coffee. The casado is the equally famous everyday lunch.
Is Costa Rican food spicy?
No, most Costa Rican food is mild and lightly seasoned with onion, garlic, cilantro and Salsa Lizano. Heat is added at the table with chilero, a pickled pepper sauce. Caribbean dishes such as patí and rice and beans can carry more pepper.
What do people eat for breakfast in Costa Rica?
Gallo pinto with fried or scrambled eggs, fried ripe plantain, bread or tortillas with natilla, a slice of fresh cheese, and coffee or fresh juice. Hotels add tropical fruit platters.
Is Costa Rica good for vegetarians?
Yes, it is easy. Gallo pinto, rice and beans, plantains, salads and fresh fruit are everywhere, and sodas will make a vegetarian casado on request. Ask whether beans and soups are cooked with meat stock or lard, and say sin carne when you order.
What is a soda in Costa Rica?
A soda is a small, family-run restaurant serving home-style Costa Rican food, especially the casado at lunch. Sodas are the cheapest and most local places to eat, from the Central Market in San José to roadside stops in the countryside.
Can you drink the tap water in Costa Rica?
In most of the country, yes, and that includes restaurants that serve it with meals. In remote areas, or if you have a sensitive stomach, ask your hotel or stick to bottled or filtered water.