Bandeja Paisa (Colombian Mixed Platter)

Method

1. Cook the beans by draining the soaked beans and adding them to a large pot with fresh water, diced pork belly, onion, garlic, tomato, and cumin. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a gentle simmer. Cook for 1.5-2 hours until the beans are tender and creamy. In the last 30 minutes, stir in the grated green plantain — it will dissolve into the broth and thicken it. Season with salt and pepper. The beans should be thick and saucy, not soupy.

2. Make the ground beef by browning the beef in a skillet over medium-high heat, breaking it into small pieces. Cook for 8-10 minutes until well-browned. Add onion, garlic, tomato, cumin, and sazón. Cook for 5 minutes until the vegetables soften and the spices are fragrant. Season with salt and pepper. The beef should be savory, slightly orange from the sazón, and not too wet.

3. Fry the plantains by slicing the ripe plantains on a diagonal into 1/2-inch thick pieces. Heat 1/2 inch of oil in a deep skillet over medium heat. Fry the plantain slices for 2-3 minutes per side until deeply golden and caramelized. The riper the plantain (black skin), the sweeter and more caramelized the result. Drain on a wire rack.

4. Prepare the remaining components: Fry the chicharrón or bacon until crispy. Slice and pan-fry the chorizo until browned. Fry the eggs sunny-side up with runny yolks. Warm the arepas in a dry skillet or oven. Slice the avocado.

5. Assemble the platter by placing a mound of white rice in the center of each plate. Arrange the beans, ground beef, fried egg, plantains, chicharrón, chorizo, arepa, and avocado around the rice. Each component should be visible and distinct — bandeja paisa is as much about presentation as flavor. Top the beans with hogao if you have it.

6. Serve immediately — everything should be hot except the avocado. In Colombia, bandeja paisa is served on an oversized plate (bandeja means tray) and eaten with a fork in one hand and an arepa in the other. The arepa is for scooping beans and breaking the egg yolk over the rice.

Equipment

• Large pot (for beans) Recommended: Lodge 6-Quart Enameled Cast Iron Dutch Oven
• Large skillet Recommended: Joyce Chen 14-Inch Carbon Steel Wok
• Deep skillet (for frying plantains) Recommended: Lodge 12-Inch Pre-Seasoned Cast Iron Skillet

Chef Notes

• The most important thing: Bandeja paisa is not one recipe — it's an assembly of 8-10 components on a single plate. The key is timing: start the beans first (they take longest), then work on the other components while they simmer. Everything should be ready at the same time.
• The grated green plantain stirred into the beans is the traditional thickener. It dissolves into the broth and gives the beans a creamy, starchy body without adding flour or cream.
• Fry the ripe plantains (maduros) in enough oil to come halfway up the slices. They should be deeply caramelized — almost black on the edges — and soft and sweet inside. Undercooked plantains are starchy and bland.
• Each component is seasoned independently. The beans are savory and smoky, the ground beef is cumin-forward, the plantains are sweet, the chicharrón is salty and crispy. The variety of flavors and textures on one plate is what makes bandeja paisa special.
• This is a feast, not a weeknight dinner. In Colombia, bandeja paisa is a weekend or celebration meal. Don't try to rush it.

Common Substitutions

Ingredient	Substitution	Notes
Chicharrón	Thick-cut bacon, fried crispy	Less dramatic but provides the salty, crispy pork element
Chorizo	Any smoked sausage, sliced	Colombian chorizo is different from Mexican — use a mild smoked sausage
Arepas	Corn tortillas or crusty bread	Not traditional but serves the same starchy, scooping purpose
Green plantain (for beans)	1 tbsp cornstarch slurry	Different texture but thickens the beans effectively
Sazón/achiote	1/2 tsp turmeric + 1/2 tsp paprika	Approximates the color and mild flavor

What You're Practicing

Bandeja paisa teaches you the art of component cooking — preparing multiple dishes simultaneously and timing them to finish together. This is the same skill professional kitchens use during service: managing multiple pans, staggering start times, and plating everything hot at the same moment. It's the most practical cooking skill you can develop. Visit Techniques for more on kitchen timing and organization.

The bean-cooking technique — slow-simmering with pork fat and thickening with grated plantain — is a distinctly Colombian approach that appears across Latin American bean cookery. Brazilian feijoada uses a similar method, as do Puerto Rican habichuelas and Cuban black beans. Understanding how starch, fat, and time transform dried beans into something rich and creamy is fundamental to Latin American cooking.