Haitian Food: 21 Best Haitian Dishes to Try in Haiti or at Home

When it comes to cuisine, Haiti is small but mighty. Haitian food has the most blended, fascinating flavor base of most other countries in the world. Haitian food is a form of Creole cuisine. Haitian food is a beautiful fusion of everything from Spanish to Arabic, African to American and French cuisines.

Its flavors are absolutely bursting with its history. Haiti has bold-tasting dishes – be the dishes pan-fried, stewed, or cooked. Haitian food isn’t always spicy (although it often is when scotch bonnet peppers are added). Instead, you’ll find acidic flavors like lemon juice, deep meaty broths, and plenty of herbs like star anise and cloves.

Haitian Dish Guide: The Best Dishes in Haitian Cuisine

If you are planning a visit to Haiti, lucky you. There are so many dishes that you absolutely must try in Haitian restaurants. And if you are just looking to recreate dishes at home, you’ve come to the right place.

In this guide, we’ve carefully picked out the best Haitian food you can try at home or in Haiti. You can try classic dishes like fried plantains – crispy and enjoy them as a side or main. Or you can tuck into lesser-known dishes outside Haiti, like diri ak or Kasav. This is going to be an exciting 5 minutes. Welcome to the best of Haitian food.

1. Fried Plantains

Fried plantains are one of the ultimate Haitian dishes. For those unfamiliar with plantains, they look a lot like slices of fried banana. Plantains are larger, starchier versions of bananas and, when ripe, are much sweeter. The plant is a popular dish not just in Haiti but all around Africa, Central America, South America, Asia, and the Caribbean. You serve fried plantain as a snack or side – it is one of the most widely utilized Haitian food.

Despite the widespread enjoyment of fried plantains today, the dish has a dark history. Originally, plantains were provided as meals by white masters and slave traders, who found them a cheap way to provide food for enslaved people. Plantains grew in Asia but eventually ended up in the Caribbean and countries like Haiti because of the movement of slave traders. Keeping this solemn start to the classic Haitian dish in mind is essential, and food history is often closely interlinked to a country’s story.

2. Soup Joumou

Soup Joumou is a typical Haitian dish. In fact, it is actually so traditional that it is part of the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage List – added in 2021 and forever immortalized as a historic dish worthy of…