COPPERWhat is the national dish of Ecuador?
Ecuador has no official national dish, but encebollado is the one most often named. It is a fish soup of albacore tuna and cassava simmered with tomato, cumin and coriander, topped with a heap of red onion cured in lime juice, and eaten with plantain chips. A 2023 study found it the most consumed dish in Ecuador. Fanesca and guatitas are also cited.
Is encebollado officially Ecuador's national dish?
No law makes it so, but it is the dish most often given the title. Ecuadorian sources call it the flagship dish of the national cuisine, and English-language references describe it as a national dish. In a 2023 study of what Ecuadorians eat, encebollado came first among the most consumed dishes, ahead of ceviche and hornado (roast pork).
Its reach goes beyond Ecuador: in 2023 the food guide TasteAtlas ranked encebollado the second-best fish soup in the world. Within the country it is most popular on the coast, but it is eaten everywhere.
Two other dishes appear on lists of Ecuador's national dishes: fanesca, a soup of fish with several kinds of beans, lentils and corn eaten at Lent and Easter, and guatitas.
What is in encebollado?
Encebollado means "onioned", and the name comes from its topping rather than the soup. The core ingredients:
Variations add or swap in other seafood, such as shrimp or octopus, but the cold onion on top never changes.
- Albacore, the usual fish; tuna, bonito or billfish also work.
- Cassava (yuca), boiled in the broth until it splits and thickens it slightly.
- Tomato, cumin, mild ground ají and fresh coriander for the broth.
- Curtido: thin half-moons of red onion cured in lime juice with salt and a little tomato, served cold on top.
- Chifles, thin plantain chips dropped into the bowl at the table, plus lime and ají. Some people eat it with bread or rice instead.
How encebollado is made
The onion comes first. In our encebollado recipe, 2 red onions are sliced, rinsed and left 20 minutes in the juice of 3 limes so the curtido is ready and cold when the soup is done.
The broth starts with onion, tomato, cumin and ají cooked in oil for 5 minutes, then 2 litres of water. 800 g of albacore is poached gently for 12 minutes, never at a hard boil or it turns to threads, then flaked. The strained broth cooks 700 g of cassava for 25 minutes, the fish goes back in just to warm through, and each bowl gets a generous handful of the cold onion and chopped coriander.
Order matters at the table too. The chifles go into the bowl just before eating so they stay crisp, and lime juice and ají are added to taste.
Encebollado is often eaten in the morning. Restaurants that sell nothing else open early, and Ecuadorians swear by it as a cure for chuchaqui, the local word for a hangover.
Where encebollado comes from
It is a coastal dish, and several provinces on the coast claim it. Its predecessor was "picante de pescado", made with salted fish. The recipe as it is made today dates from the 1950s and spread in the 1980s as a cheap meal, popular with dockworkers before it reached the rest of the country.
It may be much older. The Valdivia culture of the coast cooked fish slowly in ceramic pots, and after the Spanish conquest their descendants added European ingredients such as onion. One English-language reference also suggests a link to marmitako, a Basque tuna stew.
Ecuador shares its coast and its taste for lime-cured seafood with its southern neighbour: ceviche is made in both countries. See our article on the national dish of Peru.
Other dishes to know from Ecuador
Beef, chicken and seafood dominate on the coast; in the mountains, pork, chicken, beef and cuy (guinea pig) are eaten with rice, maize or potatoes.
Ecuadorian food changes with altitude. In the Andes, llapingachos are potato cakes coloured orange with achiote, each hiding a core of fresh cheese, cooked on a hot griddle and served under peanut sauce with chorizo, a fried egg and avocado. The potato mash is left to dry for an hour before shaping, or the cakes fall apart in the pan, and the cheese stays in the middle rather than being mixed through.
Seco de pollo is chicken browned in achiote oil and braised for 45 minutes in beer and naranjilla juice, then reduced until the sauce coats the meat. It is served with yellow rice, fried ripe plantain and avocado. The name means "dry": the dish is meant to finish with very little liquid.
All three recipes are on our page about the food of Ecuador, with more from the continent in our South American recipes.
The recipes
- Encebollado🇪🇨 Ecuador · 1 hour and 15 minutes
Llapingachos🇪🇨 Ecuador · 2 hours and 25 minutes
Seco de pollo🇪🇨 Ecuador · 1 hour and 50 minutes
Questions people ask
How do you pronounce encebollado?
En-seh-boh-YAH-doh. It comes from "cebolla", the Spanish word for onion.
Is encebollado eaten for breakfast?
Often, yes. It is eaten at breakfast, lunch or dinner, and many encebollado restaurants open early in the morning.
What is served with encebollado?
Chifles (plantain chips), lime and ají are standard. Some people eat it with bread or rice instead.
What fish is used in encebollado?
Albacore is the usual choice. Tuna, bonito or billfish are also used, and some versions add shrimp or octopus.
Is ceviche Ecuador's national dish?
Ceviche is very popular in Ecuador and is made in Peru too, but encebollado is the dish most often called Ecuador's national dish, and it ranked as the most consumed in a 2023 study.
Keep reading
- Traditional food of Ecuador: 14 dishes to know
- What is the national dish of Argentina?
- What is the national dish of Bolivia?
- What is the national dish of Brazil?
- What is the national dish of Chile?
- What is the national dish of Colombia?