What to Eat in Cuenca: A Food Guide (2026)

Cuenca food is highland food, and it rests on one grain and one animal. The grain is mote, the big-kernel field corn cooked in an alkaline solution like Mexican hominy, which appears at nearly every meal here. The animal is pork, roasted whole as hornado and blowtorched to crackling as cascaritas. Around that core sit the corn cakes, the celebration cuy, and the fig-and-cheese dulces of the surrounding province of Azuay. To eat well in Cuenca is to eat at the markets, and it pairs naturally with a slow walk on one of our Cuenca self-guided tours.

The dishes to seek out

Hornado. Cuenca signature plate: a whole pig slow-roasted until the skin is deep golden and blistered, then carved to order at the market stall, usually with the head on proud display. It comes with mote, tostado (toasted corn), fried potato cakes, and a sharp tomato-and-onion salad. This is the dish to try first.

Mote pillo. The everyday classic: mote sauteed with onion and garlic, then scrambled with egg, milk, and cheese and finished with spring onion. Comforting, filling, and often served alongside roast pork. If you eat one thing that tastes of Cuenca home kitchens, make it this.

Cascaritas. Crispy pork skin cooked to a blister with a blowtorch and served with mote, salt, and ají chilli sauce. Street-side and irresistible.

Cuy asado. Roasted guinea pig, the Andean celebration dish, cooked whole over coals until the skin crackles and served with potatoes and mote. Reserved for special occasions rather than everyday meals, but authentic highland cuisine worth trying if you are curious.

Humitas. The corn cakes of Ecuador: fresh ground corn wrapped in a corn husk and steamed rather than baked, made either savoury (salado) or sweet (dulce). A perfect mid-morning bite with coffee.

Dulces. Azuay has a sweet tooth. Look for dulce de higo, figs stewed in spiced syrup and served with fresh cheese in a sweet-and-savoury balance, alongside preserved peaches, pears, and quince, and the region traditional wood-fired breads.

Where the food culture lives

Mercado 10 de Agosto. The city great covered food market, and the single best place to eat the classics. Head to the upper floor where the hornado and mote stalls line up, point at what you want, and eat where the locals do. It is central, cheap, and the most authentic meal in Cuenca. For why the markets are the true heart of the city, read Cuenca market culture.

The flower and food squares. The Plaza de las Flores beside the Carmen church and the surrounding market blocks are woven into a morning walk through the centre. This same ground is what the Cuenca historic-centre tour walks you through, market by market and cathedral by cathedral.

Todos Santos, for bread. The old neighbourhood on the Tomebamba riverbank is known for bakeries that still bake in traditional wood-fired ovens, a craft that goes back well over a century here. It is a fitting stop after the Panama-hat workshops on the Cuenca Artisan Trail, which follows the same riverbank district.

Calle Larga and the riverside, for an evening. The streets sloping down to the river hold the cafés, the sit-down restaurants, and the bars where the day winds up. It is the natural place to end a walking day at a table.

Eat as you walk

The best way to work through this list is on foot, one district at a time. Pair a morning on Parque Calderón with a market lunch of hornado, an afternoon on the hat trail with cascaritas from a riverside stall, and an evening on Calle Larga with dulces and coffee. Route your day with the one day in Cuenca itinerary, plan the practical side with the Cuenca travel guide, and browse all Cuenca tours. Every tour is free to start, with roughly the first 30% of stops unlocked before an optional purchase.