Arepa Burger

Arepas are one of my all time favorite things to eat and to make, so putting a burger on an arepa was only a matter of time for me. Just think about that amazing sweet corn flavor of an arepa serving as the base for a juicy and cheesy burger! So tasty! The secret to making a perfect arepa for a burger is making sure the arepa is soft and pliable after it cooks. I use a lot of butter and milk in the recipe and it keeps the arepa at a perfect “bun” texture.

The inspiration for this recipe

My friend who can’t eat wheat was really craving burgers the other night. A burger patty on a plate or in a lettuce wrap would just not do. I’ve always had arepas in the back of my head as an idea for a gluten free version of bread. But traditional arepas can be too thin and brittle to give you that nice pillowy bread texture for your burger. I made sure these were a bit softer with lots of butter. It was such a success, I’d suggest you give it a try next time you’re cooking gluten free.

Make the arepa dough

You need to make sure to find masarepa for this recipe. The most common brand is Harina PAN and is in most stores these days. There are plenty of other brands if you go to a Latin American market.

The package will suggest mixing the masarepa with water to make the arepas, but I used butter and milk to make them a little softer and tastier.

Cook the arepa burger buns

Form the arepas and cook them on high heat on both sides until charred.

Smash the burgers

Make balls of meat and season them aggressively with salt and pepper Cook on one side, then flip and smash as thin as you can. Top with cheese, then double up the burgers.

Build the arepa burgers

After the arepa cools, slice it most of the way. Add some simple guacamole, then the burgers, then more guac and some cilantro.

Serving the arepa burger

These arepa burgers are amazing! The butter in the arepa adds so much amazing flavor to the burger. The salty corn flavors are just what this burger needs to be amazing! The creamy guac is a perfect condiment, and all the cilantro on top adds a freshness to everything.

I did an arepa burger a while back and it had roasted poblano peppers and cotija cheese on it, but I liked this simple version much better.

The corn cake is so light and fluffy, yet hearty, and the perfect gluten-free replacement for a bun on this burger.

Twists on this recipe

I mentioned having roasted poblanos and cotija on here in the past. I also had made the arepas cakier and filled the beef patty with some black beans. It was a good burger but this one was much better. The arepa was more authentic and the burger was more up to date with how burgers are served these days. That being said, this burger would also be great with some pickled jalapenos, pico de gallo, chimichurri, hot sauce, or many other tex-mex or Latin American adjacent toppings.

For more about arepas and links to many other authentic version recipes, check out this page.

You can also check out my fried clam arepas, or these awesome shrimp pesto arepas!