Fiestas Patrias menu: what to cook for Chile's 18th
A complete Fiestas Patrias menu with tested recipes: empanadas and sopaipillas with pebre to start, anticuchos and Chilean salad for the barbecue, pastel de choclo and arrollado as mains, and alfajores, leche asada and mote con huesillo to finish. With the work plan to have almost everything ready before the 18th — each recipe says what can be made ahead.
To nibble: how the 18th begins
The Fiestas Patrias spread goes out as soon as guests arrive and lasts all afternoon: freshly baked empanadas, sopaipillas and a bowl of fresh pebre in the middle for dipping everything else.
Baked empanadas de pino
The queen of the table: lard pastry, a juicy beef-and-onion filling, egg and olive. They can be assembled the day before.
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Sopaipillas (and pasadas)
Pumpkin dough discs, fried until golden. Plain with pebre as a starter, or soaked in chancaca sauce as a sweet.
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Chilean pebre
Tomato, soaked onion, cilantro and green chili, finely chopped. The salsa no Chilean table goes without.
View recipeThe barbecue and the main dishes
If there is a grill, anticuchos and Chilean salad make the asado complete. For an oven-and-table celebration, pastel de choclo and arrollado huaso carry the lunch.
Chilean anticuchos
Beef skewers marinated in paprika and cumin, threaded with onion and bell pepper. The beef marinates overnight.
View recipeChilean salad
Peeled tomato and thin-sliced soaked onion: the mandatory barbecue side. One large tomato per person.
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Pastel de choclo
Beef filling, chicken and a golden corn crust baked in the oven. The quintessential main, ideal in a clay dish.
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Marinated pork rolled in skin and brushed with paprika. Cooked the day before and served cold or barely warm.
View recipeThe sweet finish and the drink
The celebration closes sweet and refreshing: hojarasca alfajores with manjar, chilled leche asada made the day before, and a cold glass of mote con huesillo.
Chilean alfajores
Thin hojarasca layers with manjar and icing sugar. Makes 20 and keeps all through the September week.
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Leche asada
A milk-and-egg custard baked over caramel in a water bath. Best made the day before: it needs hours of chilling.
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Mote con huesillo
Dried peaches in spiced syrup over wheat berries. Chile's national refresher, served ice-cold with its juice.
View recipeThe work plan: reaching the 18th without rushing
The Fiestas Patrias table is won in the days before. This split leaves the 18th with under an hour of active cooking:
- Two days before: make the empanada filling (it improves with rest) and cook the whole arrollado huaso — it is served cold, so it is done.
- The day before: assemble the empanadas and refrigerate them unbaked, leave the anticucho beef in its marinade, bake the leche asada, cook the mote con huesillo syrup and assemble the alfajores.
- On the morning of the 18th: bake the empanadas, fry the sopaipillas and chop the pebre and the Chilean salad — the three fresh items of the day.
- At serving time: anticuchos on the grill (or griddle) and mote con huesillo ice-cold, assembled glass by glass.
Fiestas Patrias menu FAQ
How much food per person for the 18th?
For a full Fiestas Patrias lunch: 1-2 empanadas, 2 anticucho skewers (250-300 g of raw beef), 1 large tomato of Chilean salad and 2-3 sopaipillas per adult, plus an alfajor and a glass of mote con huesillo for dessert. If there is also choripán or pastel de choclo, drop to 1 empanada and 1 skewer each — on the 18th there are always leftovers, and they become the next day's ajiaco.
What can I prepare ahead of the 18th?
Almost everything. Two days before: the empanada filling (it improves with rest) and the whole arrollado huaso. The day before: empanadas assembled unbaked, anticucho beef in its marinade, leche asada baked and chilled, the mote con huesillo syrup, and the alfajores. On the day itself only the empanada baking, the grill, the Chilean salad and the pebre remain — under an hour of active cooking.
What if I don't have a grill?
The menu works fully without a barbecue: anticuchos come out great in a very hot skillet or griddle (4-5 minutes per side), and pastel de choclo or arrollado huaso can be the main. With empanadas, sopaipillas with pebre, an oven main and mote con huesillo, the table is complete without lighting charcoal.
What absolutely cannot be missing from the table?
If you must pick three things: empanadas de pino, pebre with bread or sopaipillas, and mote con huesillo. Those are the three flavours that define the 18th in any Chilean home, covering starter, side and sweet. Everything else — anticuchos, pastel de choclo, arrollado, alfajores — adds up depending on time and guests.
Want the technique behind each dish?
The evergreen guide to traditional Chilean recipes explains the pino, the empanada fold and the corn crust, and compares the whole cluster. For more ideas, browse all our recipes.