Street Food & Drinks in Paraguay: What to Eat for Under €5
Paraguay's food is hearty, cheap, and built around manioc, corn, and grilled meat — think chipas from street corners, sopa Paraguay from home kitchens, and terere from a cooler on nearly every corner. It's a cuisine best eaten standing up, from a stall, rather than off a tasting menu.
What are the must-try dishes?
Start with chipas — small manioc flour breads made with milk, eggs, and butter cheese, descended from older corn-cheese-egg breads. They're sold on street corners for a few guaraní, making them the easiest and cheapest way to taste local food.
Sopa Paraguaya, despite the name, isn't a soup — it's a casserole of ground corn, milk, cheese, and onions, and it's considered a traditional specialty rather than street food, so look for it at restaurants or home-style eateries.
For a full meal, parilladas (grilled meat) are the country's signature restaurant dish: beef and pork, including offal, grilled with spices alongside sausages, peppers, tomatoes, beans, and courgettes. These are found in restaurants throughout Paraguay, not just in the capital.
What should I eat on the street?
Street food in Paraguay is dominated by three things: empanadas with fillings ranging from herb-vegetable mixes to spicy cheese and tuna; lomitos, beef sandwiches with avocado as a standard component; and of course chipas. All three are sold at stalls and street corners, making them good, low-cost options for grazing rather than sitting down to a full meal.
What should I drink?
Terere is the drink of Paraguay — a cold mate tea made from mate bush leaves and herbs, sold and drunk everywhere as a thirst quencher. For something stronger, try Caña Paraguay, the national spirit distilled from cane sugar and honey. If you want a simple café stop, a cappuccino at a restaurant runs about €1.80, and bottled water (1.5 L) costs around €0.50.
Where can I find fresh, local ingredients?
For produce and local ingredients rather than prepared dishes, Paraguay's municipal markets are the places to browse: Mercado Municipal 4, Mercado Municipal 3, Mercado Central de Abasto, Mercado Municipal 5, and Mercado Municipal de Ita. These are recognized farmers markets where you can see the raw ingredients — manioc, corn, cheese — that underpin the country's signature dishes.
What does eating and drinking cost?
Budget-wise, Paraguay is inexpensive: a simple meal costs around €4, a 0.5 L local beer is about €0.80, and a 0.33 L imported beer runs around €1.50. Prices are time-sensitive, so treat these as rough guides rather than fixed figures.
FAQ
Is sopa Paraguaya actually a soup? No — despite the name, it's a baked casserole made from ground corn, milk, cheese, and onions.
What's the cheapest way to try local food? Chipas, sold on street corners for a few guaraní, are the most accessible and affordable introduction to Paraguayan food.
What's a typical Paraguayan drink to try? Terere, a cold mate tea, is the everyday drink found throughout the country; Caña Paraguay is the national spirit for something stronger.
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