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What to Eat in the Dominican Republic
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Mar 24, 2025
It is more than just rice and beans in the Dominican Republic! There are so many great fruits to eat, drinks to have like mama juana, chivo/goat is great too! Here we go through what tourists should eat when they visit The Dominican Republic, whether you are in Punta Cana, Santo Domingo, or where ever enjoying the great beaches that go great with all the great Dominican food. Filmed in the Dominican Republic #dominicanfood #dominicanrepublic #puntacana Learn how to plan your travels like we do with our Travel Planning 101 Course: https://www.brighttrip.com/woltersworld Visit Our Amazon Store for Drinkware, cookingware, travel gear, and other necessities of life. http://www.amazon.com/shop/woltersworld Follow Jocelyn on Instagram - http://www.instagram.com/jocelynwoltersworld Follow Simply Jocelyn on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/Simply-Jocelyn-A-Globally-Inspired-Life-100312851709273/ Follow Our Shorts Channel for quick travel tips: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmSIWRrLCcqamLlTEEBLFLA
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Hey there fellow hungry travelers, Mark here with Walter's World and today we're in Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic
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And today we're going to talk about some of the great foods that you can get when you come to the Dominican Republic
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Because there's a ton of fantastic food that's here, but one of the problems you're going to have is if you're going to be staying at all-inclusive resorts
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it's a bit harder to get the traditional food when you're here, so you're going to have to ask at your all-inclusive where they have the Dominican specialties, okay
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But you can find someone you're on. If you're going to Santo Domingo and you're going to be going to the Zona Colonial
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you get plenty of opportunities to have some of these fantastic foods. I think, like any place, we should think about the flag
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And here you have La Bandera, or La Bandera Dominicana, which is the Dominican flag is what it's called
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But what it is, it's red beans, rice, meat, and a salad together
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So it's like the flag here, you know, it's the cross of the four different colors. You have the four different colors that are on your plate
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That's one thing you're going to see. that's kind of like the traditional like meal that people do have and i'll be honest with you
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whether you're getting like steak or chicken or whatever like the meat here they do a really good
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job of cooking it but when you have the bandana you have that stewed meat with the rice the beans
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and the salad yeah you're going to be doing just fine okay you'll see that a lot of places around
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town but there's one dish i think is really really typical dominican that you're not going to get
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at your all-inclusive you're not going to be able to find a lot of places is sancocho and sancocho
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it's not a soup it's a stew it has a lot of different meats in it you have up to seven
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meats in it sometimes there's only a couple meats in it but if you think about it you might have pork chicken sausage chivo which is goat oh my god the goat is so good when you're here but that stew
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you're gonna have it have corn maybe some potatoes some spices in there it is a really good hearty
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stew and the fact that it's a hearty stew and you're in a very warm climate sometimes turns
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people off from getting it so if you see it on the menu do get it to try because that is one of
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those things you gotta have when you're here and i know i said chivo is in there but goes
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goat is something that's really good i had stewed goat three different times we've been here
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jostles loved it as well and you're if you've ever had goat before it's really good it's worth trying
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but i will say if it gets chopped up a little like stewed pieces with the bone do be careful
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because sometimes that bone splinters especially you're going to give to some of your kids to like
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have them try them so do be aware of it but chivo goat oh that is awesome when you're here now if
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we focus at different times of the day I mean breakfast is obviously a very important meal you got to stock up before you go on your excursions or you go have a day by the pool
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or you're doing whatever when you're going to the Dominican Republic going on a great hike you want to have a really good breakfast and Mangu so Mangu not mango mango is a fruit
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and you get lots of grapefruits here I tell you that but Mangu what Mangu is it it smashed plantains boiled well boiled and smashed plantains and kind of like it looks kind of like a mashed potato kind of thing But you have like some onion in there and stuff And for some reason whenever they put like grilled onions with things here it amazing
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But you have that. So that's like one part of it. And then you put with it the tres colpes
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The three hits. Okay, in tres colpes, you'll have like fried cheese. You'll have eggs, right
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And then you'll have salami, like fried salami. And they love their salami here
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And honestly, you can get that salami cooked in the onion stuff. It's amazing, all right
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So that might be a good fortifying breakfast to have before you go out for the day
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But the thing is, there's so many good foods you want to have when you're here. Chichorron, which is fried chunks of pork, is really good you want to have
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Honestly, if you just get a steak here, a little thin beef steak, it's actually pretty good as well
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And you're going to have it with rice and beans. Don't be surprised. You have right rice and stewed beans there to put with it
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That's another thing that will actually show up. You're all inclusive all the time because it's a cheap eat, but it's a good eat
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It's a very traditional one. And so at least you can have that at your all-inclusive. I'm pretty sure about that one
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Now, plantains will actually pop up a lot on the menu. I talked about mango already, but you might have mofongo, which is a very popular Caribbean dish
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It's probably more famous from Puerto Rico, but they have it here as well. And it's kind of boiled up and smash-cooked plantains
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And you'll have with seafood or meat with it, garlics and the plantain stuff too
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I mean, it's actually a really good thing to have when you are here, and it's fantastic
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But I think the plantain thing you have to have when you're here is tostones. and anybody that's gone through central america looks probably have had probably tostones before
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so what they do is they take the plantain up and they cut it up kind of like um like banana chips
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you cut up your banana for your kid kind of thing they do that they smash it down and they fry it a
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couple times on there and it becomes this kind of like banana flat chip like almost like a banana
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hash brown but it's one of those things to do a little salt in there maybe some you know ketchup
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mayonnaise and stuff whatever you want or plain it's really good you'll have either there's a side
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dish it might be a snack you have with drinks with friends but tostones you're gonna find that on
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or many, you're going to find it somewhere. So you definitely should have it. Now, since the Dominican Republic, you know, is surrounded on three sides by water, obviously seafood plays a
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big part. And we're talking from seafood to shellfish to fish. There's so many great like
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seafood dishes to have when you're here. One of the more popular one is pescado con coco, which is
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you know, coconut fish, which is a fantastic way to have it. But honestly, fried fish, cooked fish
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whatever fish you get in your grilled fish, you're going to have fantastic seafood and fish when
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you're here. So do enjoy that when you have the opportunity. And if you're looking for kind of
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like a fresh version of eating your seafood, you have salpicón, which is basically cooked
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chopped up fish and veggies mixed together. It's almost like a salad kind of thing, but it's very
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refreshing You can have that It good on a hot day at the beach to get some of that and just eat it up and enjoy your day But one of the best parts of coming to the Dominican Republic is the fruit There is so much great fruit here from the melons the papaya pineapple so many great
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fruits, which means you get fantastic juices. You get fresh fruit all year round, which is amazing
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But also at schools, you get these batidos, which are basically smoothies they make with
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that fresh fruit. It's so good. You're all inclusive. Your hotel, they'll probably have someone that'll make you a batido for breakfast or
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when you're out at the markets, you can get a batidos made there. So good
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Now, when you're going around, you probably want to grab something to eat when you're going between excursions or you're heading around town
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It's like, I want a handheld treat I can enjoy when I'm here. And yes, they have empanadas here as well, which you're not sure
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It's kind of like a folded pop tart kind of thing, which inside will have meat and cheese
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We had ham and cheese, chicken and cheese, beef and cheese. We had a lot of different stuff stuffed in there
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But yes, empanadas are a great go-to, like handheld snack. I know we went to Sona Island out there
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There was no food while we were waiting for our boat. but there was an empanada stand and you'll see the empanada stands when there's tourists
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there's people there'll be an empanada stand somewhere around there and you can grab one or
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two or three when you're there fantastic put some hot sauce on there you can't go wrong that was
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actually liam's favorite thing to eat when we were here um another kind of i wouldn't call it
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necessarily a handheld thing but they're they're called pasteles de oja which is basically it looks
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like a tamale which it basically is a tamale in there with the meat inside and the the the corn
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fillet in there but that's something really good that's one of my favorite things i've had when i'm here. It's actually been my all-inclusive has it like at every meal. So I'm like, okay, at least I
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can get that, but that's another nice thing to have. And I think, I know I mentioned the salami
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before, but they really like their salami and sausages here. So don't be surprised if sausages
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show up on the menu or your all-inclusive quite often, but it's their local salami you want to
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have. When they cook that up, they fry that up with a little bit of onion. Yes, get that, put
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your rice or your yucca because you have a lot of cassava, a lot of yucca here, whether it's fried
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yucca, mashed yucca, boiled yucca. There's a lot of different ways they serve it
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So you have a lot of other proteins and starches you could be able to get when you are here
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Yes, I know yucca is not a protein. It's a starch, but it's so wonderful. You're going to put it with some meat
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So it's like a protein comes with it anyway. Oh, and there's another little snack you might want to grab out there called kippes
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which is these fantastic little handheld bites. You just go by and have a good time eating those when you're walking around
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But I think when you come here, we need to talk about the drinks. Because a lot of people come here for all inclusive
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And they're like, I want to drink my trip away, which you can do when you're here. Because rum is definitely a thing here
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So expect rum to be included in your all-inclusives. Also expect rum to be included when you're going on your excursions as well
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Whether it's rum and goat, rum and spite, or just rum. They'll have all those things for you, so don't worry about that
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But if you looking for alcohol rum is obviously the biggest one out here Presidente beer is the big beer but if there one adult beverage you have to have when you come here to the Dominican Republic it Mama Juana
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No, no, not marijuana. No, drugs are really illegal here. You're going to get in big trouble for that
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So Mama Juana is a local drink, which is a mix of shocking rum, red wine, honey, and then herbs
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It is super, super strong, so do be careful. Even all-inclusives, they don't give you a full glass
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They give you like a quarter glass or half glass. because it is quite powerful, but you should try it
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But just know if you have too much of it, don't be surprised you got a headache the next day. But Mama Juana is one of the things you have to have when you are here in terms of alcohol kind of stuff
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In terms of non-alcoholic things, remember, you do not drink the tap water. Never, never drink the tap water in Dominican Republic
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You'll be able to get bottled water all over the place. You want to do that, not tap water, okay
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The ice, usually when you get your ice at your resorts, that's filtered ice
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You'll be fine with that, but actual water you want to be very careful with. If you're out and doing excursions or you're going out and exploring around the country
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you might also want to be careful in terms of the fruits and vegetables you may remember
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Peeling is good for you, okay? Not washed and given to you. And the thing is, when you come to Dominican Republic, you have to realize is things take a little bit more time
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It's much more of a chilled out kind of thing. You don't come to Dominican Republic to hurry
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You come here to chill, relax, and have a good time. And that also does the same thing when it comes to the service
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So don't expect fast service when you are here. Because I have seen some tourists getting a little upset with the slowness of the service, but man, we're on an island
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What else are you going to do? Chill out. Enjoy the beach. Enjoy the view. Enjoy the Colonial Center
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You know, like, enjoy those things in San Francisco. You'll have a good time, but just know service is going to be a bit slow
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Also, when you go out to eat, the price you see is probably not the price you're going to pay because you have the price
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then you have sales tax, and then you have the automatic gratuity put on, and then you tip on top of that
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And if you're going to be complaining, oh, I don't want to tip anymore for them, look around this country when you go around the country and if you say you can't tip you are a
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horrible person okay i don't care if you say well they should pay them more this is this is not a
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thing that that's not going to work here so make sure you tip it on top but i do want you to know
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that the pricing of the restaurant it's going to be added on maybe 28 with all the extra stuff
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so do be aware of that if you're pounding counting your pennies when you're here because overall dominican republic is actually a really affordable place to go visit but especially
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a really affordable place to go eat and enjoy this fantastic food so what are some other things
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we missed when we were here because I know there's tons of great drinks. There's tons of great food. I know I didn't even
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mention some of the great stuff that's out there like the Morir Soñando
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which is basically condensed milk and orange juice together. That was amazing but it tastes
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even better. Anyway, I wish you all the best and have a great time when you're here in the Dominican Republic
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Bye from Punta Cana
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