Welcome to the summary page for FabulousFusionFood's Salvadoran recipes, part of Central America. This page provides links to all the Salvadoran recipes presented on this site, with 6 recipes in total.

This is a continuation of an entire series of pages that will, I hope, allow my visitors to better navigate this site. As well as displaying recipes by name, country and region of origin I am now planning a whole series of pages where recipes can be located by meal type and main ingredient. This page gives a listing of all the Salvadoran recipes added to this site.

El Salvador (República de El Salvador in Spanish) is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south by the Pacific Ocean. El Salvador's capital and largest city is San Salvador.

The indigenous foods consist of a mix of Amerindian cuisine from groups such as the Lenca, Pipil, Maya Poqomam, Maya Chʼortiʼ, Alaguilac and Cacaopera peoples and some African influences. Many of the dishes are made with maize (corn). There is also heavy use of pork and seafood. European ingredients were incorporated after the Spanish conquest.

El Salvador, officially the Republic of El Salvador, is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south by the Pacific Ocean. El Salvador's capital and largest city is San Salvador. El Salvador's population in 2024 was estimated to be 6 million.

Among the Mesoamerican nations that historically controlled the region are the Maya, and then the Cuzcatlecs. Archaeological monuments also suggest an early Olmec presence around the first millennium BC. In the beginning of the 16th century, the Spanish Empire conquered the Central American territory, incorporating it into the Viceroyalty of New Spain ruled from Mexico City. However, the Viceroyalty of New Spain had little to no influence in the daily affairs of the isthmus, which was colonized in 1524. In 1609, the area was declared the Captaincy General of Guatemala by the Spanish, which included the territory that would become El Salvador until its independence from Spain in 1821. It was forcibly incorporated into the First Mexican Empire, then seceded, joining the Federal Republic of Central America in 1823. When the federation dissolved in 1841, El Salvador became a sovereign state. It then formed a short-lived union with Honduras and Nicaragua called the Greater Republic of Central America, which lasted from 1896 to 1898.

From the late 19th to the mid-20th century, El Salvador endured chronic political and economic instability characterized by coups, revolts, and a succession of authoritarian rulers. Persistent socioeconomic inequality and civil unrest culminated in the Salvadoran Civil War from 1979 to 1992, fought between the military-led government and a coalition of left-wing guerrilla groups. The conflict ended with the Chapultepec Peace Accords. This negotiated settlement established a multiparty constitutional republic, which remains in place to this day. During the civil war and afterwards, large numbers of Salvadorans emigrated to the United States. From 1980 to 2008, nearly one million Salvadorans emigrated to the United States, such that by 2008, they were the sixth largest immigrant group in the US.

The economy of El Salvador has historically been dominated by agriculture, beginning with the Spanish taking control of the indigenous cacao crop in the 16th century, with production centred in Izalco, along with balsam from the ranges of La Libertad and Ahuachapán. This was followed by a boom in use of the indigo plant in the 19th century, mainly for its use as a dye. Thereafter the focus shifted to coffee, which by the early 20th century accounted for 90% of export earnings. El Salvador has since reduced its dependence on coffee and embarked on diversifying its economy by opening up trade and financial links and expanding the manufacturing sector. The colón, the currency of El Salvador since 1892, was replaced by the United States dollar in 2001. As of 2019 economic improvements had led to El Salvador experiencing the lowest level of income inequality among nearby countries. Among 77 countries included in a 2021 study, El Salvador had one of the least complex economies for doing business.

Etymology: After the Spanish conquest, the land was divided into the Province of San Salvador, the Spanish version of 'Holy Saviour', a biblical title for Jesus. From 1579 it included the province of San Miguel (Saint Michael). San Salvador became, throughout the colonial era, an alcaldía mayor ('great mayor's office'), an intendancy, and finally a province with a provincial council, and the province of Izalco, which was later called the mayor's office of Sonsonate. In 1824, the two jurisdictions were united in the State of Salvador, a part of the Federal Republic of Central America.

After the dissolution of the Federal Republic of Central America, the country was referred to as the Republic of Salvador (República del Salvador). In 1915, the Legislative Assembly passed a law which stated that the country's name should be rendered as the definite form El Salvador ('The Saviour') — again a reference to Jesus — rather than Salvador. With another law passed in 1958, the legislature reaffirmed the country's name as El Salvador.

Salvadoran Cuisine:

The indigenous foods consist of a mix of Amerindian cuisine from groups such as the Lenca, Pipil, Maya Poqomam, Maya Chʼortiʼ, Alaguilac and Cacaopera peoples and some African influences. Many of the dishes are made with maize (corn). There is also heavy use of pork and seafood. European ingredients were incorporated after the Spanish conquest. El Salvador's most notable dish is the pupusa, a thick handmade, tortilla-like corn flour or rice flour flatbread stuffed with cheese, chicharrón (cooked pork meat ground to a paste consistency), refried beans or loroco (a vine flower bud native to Central America). There are also vegetarian options, often with ayote (a type of squash), mora (Solanum nigrum, a type of nightshade plant native to Eurasia), or garlic. Some restaurants even offer pupusas stuffed with shrimp or spinach which are served with salsa roja, a cooked tomato sauce, often served with curtido.

Pollo encebollado is another popular Salvadoran dish that contains chicken braised with onions. Salvadoran cheeses queso duro (hard cheese), queso fresco (fresh cheese), and cuajada are also eaten with meals. Two other typical Salvadoran dishes are yuca frita and panes rellenos. Yuca frita is deep-fried cassava root served with curtido (a pickled cabbage, onion and carrot topping) and chicharron with pepesca (fried baby sardines). The yuca is sometimes served boiled instead of fried. Panes rellenos ('stuffed bread') are warm submarine sandwiches. The turkey or chicken is marinated and then roasted with Pipil spices and hand-pulled. This sandwich is traditionally served with turkey or chicken, tomato, and watercress along with cucumber and cabbage.