Top 10 Must-Try foods in Argentina | What to eat in Argentina

Argentina. A land of impossible scale. Glaciers in the south, vineyards against the Andes, and endless grass plains where Gochos still ride. Argentines eat more beef per person than almost anyone on earth, and waves of Italian and Spanish immigrants folded their kitchens into that fire and smoke tradition, creating a food culture that's equal parts pasta, pastry, and open flame. So grab a fork, here are the 10 dishes you absolutely need to try in Argentina, counting down to the most iconic of them all. Number 10. Empanadas. Golden, hand-folded pastry pockets, baked or fried, stuffed most famously with juicy spiced beef, olives, and hard-boiled egg. Brought over by the Spanish centuries ago, every province has since made them its own. The ones from Salta are so famously juicy that locals joke you should eat them leaning forward, legs apart, so the juices drip clear of your clothes. They're Argentina's ultimate handheld food. The smell of one fresh from the oven, pastry crackling and filling, steaming, is basically a national greeting. The decorative crimped edge, called the ripolg, isn't just pretty. Each folding pattern signals a different filling, so you can tell beef from cheese before you bite. Eaten anytime, as a quick lunch from a bakery counter, a starter before an asado, or ordered by the dozen from neighborhood empanada shops for a casual dinner. Number 9. Choripan. A smoky, snappy chorizo sausage grilled over coals, split down the middle, and tucked into crusty bread with a generous spoonful of chimichurri, that punchy green sauce of parsley, garlic, oregano, and vinegar. The name says it all, chorizo plus pan, the word for bread. It's the people's sandwich, the fastest, most affordable way to taste Argentina's legendary grill culture, with chimichurri cutting straight through the rich, juicy sausage. A street food classic, sizzling at roadside grill stands, outside football stadiums on match days, and as the traditional warm-up bite while the main asado is still cooking. Number 8. Locro. A thick, slow-simmered stew of white corn, squash, beans, and cuts of pork and beef, with roots stretching back to the indigenous peoples of the Andes, long before Argentina existed. It's hearty, rustic, and built to warm you from the inside out. This is the dish that connects modern Argentina to its pre-colonial past. Deep, savory comfort food, with a drizzle of spicy paprika oil on top that wakes the whole bowl up. A cold-weather dish, found at traditional restaurants in winter rather than every day. Locro is the official food of patriotism. Argentines eat it en masse on national holidays like May 25th, the anniversary of the 1810 revolution. Number 7. Milanesa. A thin cutlet of beef, pounded flat, coated in seasoned breadcrumbs, and fried until shatteringly crisp at the edges. Italian immigrants carried the idea over from Milan, and Argentina adopted it so completely it's now everyday comfort food in nearly every home and cafe. It's the great equalizer of Argentine dinner tables. Crunchy outside, tender inside, and endlessly adaptable, especially topped with ham, tomato sauce, and melted cheese as the beloved Milanesa Napolitana. Despite the name, the Napolitana version has nothing to do with Naples. It's said to have been created in the 1940s at a Buenos Aires restaurant called Napoli. Lunch or dinner, any day of the week, whether home-cooked or ordered at a casual sit-down restaurant, usually alongside mashed potatoes or fries. Number 6. Fugazeta. Buenos Aires pizza at its most indulgent. A thick, doughy crust stuffed with an outrageous amount of mozzarella, then buried under a mountain of sweet, slightly charred onions. Genoese immigrants brought the onion-topped Fugaza, and Porteños took it somewhere gloriously cheesier. Argentine pizza is its own universe. Heavier, cheesier, and prouder than its Italian ancestor. And Fugazeta is its crown jewel, with cheese pulls that seem to defy physics. Classic dinner and late-night food, eaten standing at the counter of historic pizzerias or shared around a table, often washed down with a glass of sweet Moscato wine. Number 5. Media Lunas. Argentina's answer to the croissant. Smaller, denser, and glazed with a sweet syrup that leaves your fingers sticky in the best possible way. The name means half-moons, and no Argentine morning feels complete without them. That glossy, honeyed sheen sets them apart from any French pastry. Soft and chewy rather than flaky, made for dunking into a milky coffee. They come in two rival styles. De Manteca, made with butter, sweet and plump, and De Grasa, made with beef fat smaller and more savory. Argentines have strong opinions about which is correct. Breakfast, and the late-afternoon merienda snack, ordered by the trio at cafes and bakeries everywhere. A genuine daily ritual, not an occasional treat. Number 4. Alfajores. Two delicate, crumbly, shortbread-style cookies hugging a thick layer of dulce de leche, often rolled in coconut or sealed in dark chocolate. They melt apart the moment you bite in. Soft, sweet, and dangerously easy to finish in three bites. Argentina consumes them on a scale few countries can match. Entire supermarket aisles are devoted to competing brands, and every region guards its own recipe. An anytime treat, grabbed at kiosks and supermarkets as an everyday snack, packed into lunchboxes, or bought in fancier boxed versions as the go-to souvenir gift. Number 3. Dulce de Leche. Milk and sugar simmered slowly for hours, until they transform into a thick, glossy, deeply caramelized spread. Silkier than caramel, richer than anything else in the jar. In Argentina, it goes on almost everything. Breakfast very much included. It's the flavor thread running through the entire national dessert repertoire. Swirled into ice cream, layered in cakes, spread on morning toast, eaten straight off the spoon. Argentina and Uruguay have a genuine, long-running rivalry over who invented it. Both countries have pushed to claim it as part of their cultural heritage. Daily, everywhere. A supermarket staple in every Argentine kitchen, at breakfast, in the afternoon merienda, and hiding inside nearly every pastry you'll order. Number 2. Mate. Argentina's national infusion. Dried yerba. Mate leaves packed into a hollow gourd, topped with hot water, and sipped through a metal straw called a bombilla. Grassy, bitter, gently energizing, and inherited from the Guarani people centuries before it became the country's daily heartbeat. One gourd, one straw, passed hand to hand around the circle. Mate is less a beverage than a ritual of friendship and trust. All day, every day. Locals carry thermoses of hot water to parks, offices, and road trips. Yerba is a supermarket staple, shared at home far more than ordered out. There's real etiquette here. When the gourd comes around, only say gracias if you're finished, thanking the person pouring signals you don't want another round. Number 1. Asado. Argentina's legendary barbecue, but calling it a barbecue undersells it. Ribs, flank, sausages, and sweetbreads cook slowly over wood embers for hours, tended by the asador, the grill master, until the beef is smoky, crusted, and impossibly tender. It grew from gaucho campfires on the pampas into the beating heart of Argentine life. No dish is more tied to national identity. The world's best grass-fed beef, patience, fire, and family. Asado is less a meal than a full-day social event. When the meat finally hits the table, there's a beloved ritual. Everyone applauds and cries, un aplauso para el asador, a round of applause for the grill master. The centerpiece of Sunday gatherings at home, stretching lazily through the afternoon, or any day of the week at a Perilla steakhouse if you're visiting. And that's Argentina, from sticky media lunas to the smoke and applause of a Sunday asado. Now we want to hear from you. Have you tried any of these, and which one is calling your name first? Drop your pick in the comments. If this made you hungry, give the video a like, and subscribe for more must-try food countdowns from around the world. Buen provecho!