Frituras – Puerto Rican Fritters

Puerto Rico’s Best Street Food, FRITURAS

Frituras is something you don’t want to miss when traveling to Puerto Rico. According to Rose Y Colon-Singh from FineDiningLovers.com, if you do not venture out of San Juan, you’d be missing one of the islands best kept secrets. She is referring to Piñones of course, located about 20 minutes from San Juan and about 5 minutes from the airport. Piñones is home to the best street food in Puerto Rico. There you may also find a boardwalk that snakes through the mangroves where you can bike, run or walk.

Piñones is not full of five-star restaurants, instead the road is lined with kiosks and colorful shacks selling delicious puerto rican savory food. Frituras are fritters and they are made from indigenous vegetables such as cassava, yautía (root vegetable), malanga (type of sweet potato), and plantains. These mashed up veggies are usually stuffed with meats, chicken, pork or shellfish and fried. One of the most popular fritters are called alcapurrias, they are shaped like canoes. Bacalaitos (salt cod fritters) are also very popular, as well as piononos (sweet plantain stuffed with ground beef).

Pinchos (shish-kebabs) are also the very best in this area. You can find them made of chicken or pork, the latter is to die for. Piñones is near the town of Loíza, which has the highest population of Puerto Ricans of African descent. The blend of the cultural influences and traditions aid in this town’s unique style of cooking. I believe it also helps in the flavors!

When visiting Piñones, as Colon-Singh states, the hardest thing to find is parking. Being the caribbean, you’ll be fine tucking your car way on the side of the road. Be ready to explore and taste all that Piñones has to offer, and by the way, it will not break your budget.