Venezuelan Hallacas
Venezuela's Christmas tamal: achiote-gold corn dough around a beef and pork stew with olives, raisins, capers, peppers and chicken, wrapped in banana leaves like a gift and boiled.
The hallaca is a staple of Christmas in Venezuela and Colombia, and families usually gather in the morning to make them together; the dough is made with broth and lard colored with annatto, the filling may include beef, pork, peppers, raisins, capers and olives, and the leaf packets are boiled (Wikipedia:). In 2014 Venezuela's government made a hallaca about 400 feet long that set a Guinness World Record (Wikipedia). Where the dish came from is DISPUTED: Wikipedia describes indigenous origins with Spanish additions such as raisins, capers and olives, but also repeats a popular story that enslaved cooks invented it from the leftovers of their owners' Christmas Eve meal (citing the Chicago Tribune, 2017). The name may come from an Arawak verb meaning to mix (Adolfo Ernst's theory), or from a western Venezuelan word for a wrapped bundle; that too is DISPUTED.
Why it works the kitchen science
Achiote lard does two jobs
It colors the dough and the filling gold and seasons them, and brushing it on the leaf keeps the dough from sticking.
Boiled, not steamed
The double leaf and tight twine keep the water out, and because the filling is already cooked and the flour precooked, a short boil just sets the dough.
Step by step
- Step 1
Melt the lard over medium heat, add the achiote paste and cook 2 minutes, stirring. Let it rest 10 minutes, then strain and keep warm.
- Step 2
Whisk the warm broth and 50 g achiote lard into the corn flour until smooth and slightly sticky. Season with salt, cover and chill at least 30 minutes.
- Step 3
Brown the beef and pork in 4 tbsp achiote lard over medium-high, 5 to 8 minutes, and lift them out. In the same pot cook the onion, garlic, pepper and tomato over medium-low 30 minutes, until soft. Add the paprika and the meat with its juices, cover with water and simmer 40 minutes, until the meat is tender.
- Step 4
Lift out the meat, cool it a little and shred it. Mix it with the vegetables and just enough cooking liquid to make a moist filling that is not watery; stir in a spoonful of corn flour if it is thin.
- Step 5
Brush one leaf with achiote lard. Spread 100 g (about 1/3 cup) dough into a circle about 1/2 inch thick. Put 70 g (about 1/4 cup) filling in a rectangle in the middle and top with 4 raisins, 4 olives, 4 capers, 2 onion strips, 2 pepper strips and 1 chicken strip.
- Step 6
Fold the leaf so the dough closes over the filling into a rectangle, wrap it in a second leaf like a gift, and tie it with twine both ways.
- Step 7
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, add the hallacas and boil about 30 minutes. Lift them out, let them rest 5 minutes, then cut the twine and open them on the plate.
Venezuelan Hallacas
Serves 10 (1 hallaca each) · 10 hallacas · 3 hr total
Achiote lard
- 200 g (about 1 cup) lard
- 40 g (1 1/2 oz) achiote paste
Dough
- 375 g (about 3 cups) precooked yellow corn flour (arepa flour)
- 550 ml (2 1/3 cups) warm chicken broth
- 50 g (1/4 cup) achiote lard
- Salt
Filling
- 9 oz (250 g) beef, finely diced
- 4 1/2 oz (125 g) pork, finely diced
- 4 tbsp achiote lard
- 1 onion, 4 garlic cloves, 1 medium red bell pepper and 1 tomato, all finely diced
- 1 tbsp sweet paprika
- Salt
- 1 to 2 tbsp precooked corn flour, to thicken if needed
To assemble
- 40 raisins (4 per hallaca)
- 40 pitted Manzanilla olives
- 40 capers, drained
- 1 onion and 1 Italian green pepper, each cut into 20 strips
- 1 cooked chicken breast (about 8 oz), cut into 10 strips
- 20 banana leaf pieces about 12 by 12 inches (two per hallaca), wiped clean
- Kitchen twine
Method
- Melt the lard over medium heat, add the achiote paste and cook 2 minutes, stirring. Let it rest 10 minutes, then strain and keep warm.
- Whisk the warm broth and 50 g achiote lard into the corn flour until smooth and slightly sticky. Season with salt, cover and chill at least 30 minutes.
- Brown the beef and pork in 4 tbsp achiote lard over medium-high, 5 to 8 minutes, and lift them out. In the same pot cook the onion, garlic, pepper and tomato over medium-low 30 minutes, until soft. Add the paprika and the meat with its juices, cover with water and simmer 40 minutes, until the meat is tender.
- Lift out the meat, cool it a little and shred it. Mix it with the vegetables and just enough cooking liquid to make a moist filling that is not watery; stir in a spoonful of corn flour if it is thin.
- Brush one leaf with achiote lard. Spread 100 g (about 1/3 cup) dough into a circle about 1/2 inch thick. Put 70 g (about 1/4 cup) filling in a rectangle in the middle and top with 4 raisins, 4 olives, 4 capers, 2 onion strips, 2 pepper strips and 1 chicken strip.
- Fold the leaf so the dough closes over the filling into a rectangle, wrap it in a second leaf like a gift, and tie it with twine both ways.
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, add the hallacas and boil about 30 minutes. Lift them out, let them rest 5 minutes, then cut the twine and open them on the plate.
Adapted from Mesa Cero Chefs and Jaime de las Heras, "Hallacas venezolanas: receta tradicional, típica de Navidad", Directo al Paladar, December 4, 2025. Its amounts for 10 hallacas of about 170 g, its 2 minute achiote lard and 10 minute rest, its 30 minute vegetable cook and 40 minute stew, its 100 g of dough and 70 g of filling per hallaca, and its 30 minute boil. Its list calls for "refined cornmeal" in the filling with no amount; we use 1 to 2 tablespoons only to thicken. Cup measures, the chill time for the dough and the brushing amount are ours. Directo al Paladar. Ingredient list follows the source; the method is in our own words.
All sources (2)
Tips
- Precooked corn flour (arepa flour) is not the same as masa harina; it is not nixtamalized. Use what the recipe says.
- Banana leaves crack less if you pass them over a burner or dip them in hot water first.
- Hallacas freeze well, wrapped and tied; Wikipedia notes families make them ahead.
- Make an assembly line for the toppings, the way Venezuelan families do.
The rules people argue about
What the sources agree on, what they don't, and what is just a good story.
- Enslaved cooks invented the hallaca from Christmas leftovers. Disputed: a popular story Wikipedia repeats from the Chicago Tribune (2017); the same article describes indigenous origins with Spanish additions.
- The name comes from the Arawak word for mixing. Disputed: Adolfo Ernst's theory (Wikipedia); another theory points to a western Venezuelan word for a bundle.
- Hallacas are a Christmas dish. Documented (Wikipedia).
- Boil them about 30 minutes. Disputed as a rule: Directo al Paladar boils 30 minutes; Wikipedia says Aruban and Curaçaoan versions boil about two hours, and Andean hallacas use a raw filling that needs longer.
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