Jazz up your breakfast with these Breakfast Stuffed Arepas. Crispy pancetta, scrambled eggs, avocado slices and tomato are stuffed into warm arepas made with corn flour.
There’s a Venezuelan restaurant in a neighboring town that my kids just love. The food is excellent and the atmosphere is fun. One of their specialties are their arepas, which come with all sorts of fillings. Arepas are common food in Venezuela and are eaten for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Today, I’m sharing a breakfast arepas, but I’ve also stuffed arepas with leftover bits and pieces from my refrigerator for a quick afternoon snack for my son.
What’s great about arepas is that they are naturally gluten-free, and make the perfect vehicle for just about any filling, from eggs to cheese, to meats. Arepas can be made ahead and reheated too. I try to use them up within a few days as they do tend to get hard if kept too long.
Recently, I decided to try to make arepas at home. They are actually really easy to make – the key is to find the special corn flour for arepas, called masarepa, a pre-cooked corn flour. You can find it in the Latin American section of your grocery store. The dough is nothing more than masarepa, water and salt. Simple. And the cooking process is also easy – the arepas are pan-grilled first, then finished in the oven.
The fun part is the fillings. I’ve stuffed arepas with leftover Slow Cooker Island Pulled Chicken, Chicken Tinga, and other leftovers. Just be careful not to overstuff the arepas; otherwise, they’ll break apart. You can also use some foil and wrap the bottom half of the stuffed arepas to make it easier for your kids to hold while they’re eating them.
I made this particular arepas for breakfast on Saturday morning, and stored the extra arepas in my refrigerator. The extra arepas came in handy for breakfast and dinner during the week – they reheat nicely in the toaster oven.
Breakfast Arepas with Egg, Avocado, Crispy Pancetta and Tomato
Ingredients
- 2 cups Masarepa flour pre-cooked corn flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3 cups warm water
- olive oil
Filling
- scrambled eggs
- sliced avocado
- tomato slices
- diced red onion
- shredded cheese optional
- uncured pancetta very thinly sliced (I used Applegate)
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
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In a medium bowl, combine flour and salt. Add water and stir until mixed through, making sure there are no lumps; let stand 5 minutes; dough will thicken.
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Divide dough into 8 pieces. Roll each piece in the palm of your hand and flatten into round patties, about 4 inches in diameter and 1/2 inch thick.
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Heat a cast iron skillet on medium heat and lightly oil. Cook arepas until lightly browned on one side, about 3 minutes; turn over and lightly brown other side, about 2-3 minutes. Transfer cast iron skillet from stove to oven (if you're using a skillet that's not oven-safe, place arepas on lightly greased baking tray). Bake for 20-25 minutes. Remove; let cool slightly. Arepas should have a nice crust and sound hollow when thumped gently with your fingertip.
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Crisp pancetta by placing pieces in cast iron skillet and cooking until browned and crispy.
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Slice arepas in half to create a pocket, making sure not to cut all the way through, and stuff with desired fillings.
oh my gawd, Jeanette!! These look amazing!!! Crispy pancetta, scrambled eggs, avocado slices and tomato stuffed into warm arepas made with corn flour?! YES, please!! love and pinned!!
Awesome! I would totally (obviously) stuff them with something else, but these looks so yummy!
I’ve never tried an arepas before – thanks for introducing me to them, Alice – they sound so versatile – great for breakfast lunch or dinner!
This looks like my dream breakfast! Can’t wait to try it.
I just printed the recipe. I need these on my breakfast menu for when company arrive soon. Thanks!
Anything with eggs and avocados makes me very happy. What an awesome breakfast idea 🙂
The colors are so bright and pretty and the fried corn flour dough sounds amazing! I love how that you can play around with the fillings and use what you have! This looks fantastic for breakfast, lunch or dinner!
These look great and I’m always struggling to find some variety to feed my daughter who is a vegetarian athlete. Life is hectic – have you ever found decent tasting arepas prepackaged in a grocery store?
Jamie, I’ve never tried grocery store arepas, but I’ve seen them in the refrigerated section in some grocery stores.
looks so unique and delsih!
Thanks for the recipe. I am in the process of making these, but I wanted to mention that the ratio of flour to water was way off for me. Not sure why. I added a lot more flour because it never thickened. 🙁 I even tried to cook them like pancakes because the consistency was so thin and it didn’t work. Once I got the texture down, I feel like it’s going smoothly. They are in the oven now. We shall see how that goes. Just thought I’d share that sentiment. I’m still excited to eat them, regardless! 🙂
Michelle, thanks for your feedback on this recipe. It may be that the moisture content of the corn flour I used was different than yours. Let me know how they turn out. I’m curious.
Me too!
This looks mouth-watering delicious! By any chance, can I substitute masa for the masarepa? I know the masa has been lime soak which would change the flavor, but other than that I’m not too familiar with either one. Any additional info you can give would be appreciated! I can’t wait to try these – assuming I can find the correct flour. 🙂
Hi Laurel, I don’t think masa is the same thing as masarepa. Masarepa is pre-cooked corn flour. I don’t think masa is cooked.
That’s a bummer since that’s what I have already, but I will definitely be looking for some masarepa for this recipe though. Thanks!