Huatia the typical dish of the Incas – Cusco 2025

Huatia is undoubtedly one of the most typical and unique foods that our visitors will find worldwide, not only because of its flavor and texture, but also because of the peculiar way of preparing this delicious food that continues from generation to generation.

Why do we eat Huatia?

The custom of eating was born before the arrival of the Incas to Cusco, since the inhabitants of the high Andean mountains ate huatia on the dates of the potato harvest, in this way of gratitude to the PachaMama.

With the arrival of the Incas this custom was taken to the whole Tahuantinsuyo, not only for being a custom but also for providing high amounts of nutrients for the people.

Andean farmers preparing a huatia, burying potatoes and ocas in hot earth.

What is the best season to eat?

The best time to eat Huatia is in the dry season from April to October, although the month where the entire Cusco population eats Huatia as a custom is in the month of June, which also corresponds to the festive month of Cusco where the Inti Raymi or Festival of the Sun is celebrated, a celebration known worldwide.

How has huatia evolved over time?

In the beginnings was only potatoes, beans, goose and let’s not forget the uchucuta (cream of rocoto or chili peppers with different herbs) were eaten. As time went by, this tradition was accompanied by cheeses and meats.

Freshly unearthed potatoes and ocas after being cooked in a traditional huatia.

How is a traditional Huatia prepared?

The only thing we need to prepare a good Huatia, apart from the ingredients we talked about before, are clods of dry earth to build the oven where our potatoes, beans, oca and whatever we want to add to our huatia will go.

The first thing as we said is to make the oven, to make the oven, we have to revive our side builder, as to assemble the oven is the most difficult in the Huatia, my advice is to first assemble the oven door, then to get stability with the door once achieved this point.

Earthen oven made of soil and stones, used to cook traditional Andean huatia.

We must form the base of our oven, this we must do it with clods of a large dimension suitable to support the weight of the oven, once we get this, we start with the walls of the oven, this must have a semicircular shape to fulfill its function.

Once our oven is finished we have to place firewood inside the oven and start heating it, we wait until our oven changes color until it reaches a white/gray color.

This will tell us that it is time to place our ingredients inside the oven, but before doing so, we must remove the ashes of the wood we placed, to avoid burning our food before they are cooked, once this is done, we place our potatoes, beans and goose (the traditional), as we said, there are people who now add meats inside aluminum to achieve their cooking.

Once our food is placed, we collapse our oven over our food, this is how to cook everything we want to place inside the oven, we cover very well all the heat leaks, with the same soil of the oven or the place where our oven is, once this is done, we wait between 30 to 45 minutes to remove our food and enjoy this delicacy.

Andean villagers gathered around a huatia, sharing food and traditions.

Nutritional Benefits

The huatia presents many benefits since it is a food free of any addition of chemical or modified components, that is why in Cusco this culinary delicacy is still consumed.
The benefits are:

Rich in healthy carbohydrates.
Essential vitamins and minerals (Vitamin C, iron, potassium, antioxidants and anti-inflammatory properties).
Source of fiber.
Low in fats and additives.
It is an alkaline and detoxifying food.

Gastronomic Tourism in Cusco

Now that we know the Huatia, I know you are wondering where is the best place to prepare a delicious Huatia, from my point of view, any place that has dry land suitable for building a Huatia is ideal, since there is no prohibition to make the Huatia, yes, we must be careful with the fire and its expansion, to avoid accidents and above all take care of our forests and mountains.

Throughout the Sacred Valley this tradition is well known, so it will not be a problem if you want to do it there, as well as in Cusco, in June month of Inti Raymi, eating Huatia is easier, since, in the esplanade of Saqsayhuaman, you will find many people selling, Huatia ready, ovens and everything you need to make your experience with the Huatia more than unique.

So, don’t wait any longer! Come to Cusco, bring out your creative side and put into practice your engineering skills to make your Huatia and be part of our ancient history.

A plate of huatia with potatoes, oca, and fresh cheese served in the Andes.