Our 21 Best Tapas Recipes (2024)

FAQs

What is the most popular tapas dish? ›

Tapas has two meanings in Spanish. As a verb, tapas means “to cover”, revealing its origins as a way for guests to cover their drinks with pieces of food. As a noun, it references small plates of food.

Portion sizes will vary by restaurant, but typically, ordering 2 to 3 tapas per person gets the job done. So a party of 4 would order 8 to 12 tapas between them. Don't be afraid to ask your server if you haven't ordered enough food, and remember, your friends are there to help if you've ordered too much.

Traditional tapas include mixed olives, garlicky shrimp, fried baby squid, meatballs, and chorizo.

A large part of the tapas tradition is about sharing platefuls with your friends. Apart from being very sociable, it is a great way of trying lots of different dishes and flavours. People generally eat direct from the shared plate. 6) Don't order everything at once.

Sure, you can find them in some American cities, but for the true tapas experience, you must go to Spain. The experience is like an edible scavenger hunt, where I collect small portions of seafood, salads, meat-filled pastries, and deep-fried tasties, and piece them together for a light evening meal.

Although the aperitivos can be the same little amount of food that a tapa is, tapas are served radically differently. The appetizer commonly comes just before the first course. Tapas, on the other hand, are served constantly in bars all over the country to accompany drinks and long conversations.

A tapa (Spanish: [ˈtapa]) is an appetiser or snack in Spanish cuisine. Tapas can be combined to make a full meal, and can be cold (such as mixed olives and cheese) or hot (such as chopitos, which are battered, fried baby squid, or patatas bravas).

The most common types of tapas include: Hot tapas—as the name implied, these tapas are meant to be served warm. Depending on your preferences, these might include sizzling shrimp, or chorizo with paprika, prepared in a white wine sauce and fava bean pesto. Cold tapas—are meant to be served chilled.

Tapas is traditionally a drink and bite to eat, so when you meet for tapas in Spain, it's usually around 1:30 to 3pm or 8:30 to 10:30pm. If you stick to the traditional Spanish times for tapas, you're guaranteed to get the freshest food and the best atmosphere.

What to drink with tapas? ›

In fact most tapas' sessions can start with a chilled dry sherry, then move onto a Rosado/Rosé or a Spanish white wine like an Albariño, or a crisp dry Riesling, or even a Chablis, with seafood tapas and then move onto a red Rioja Crianza or light Syrah, or a Rhône-Valley red blend with meat or mushroom-based dishes.

With the increased openness of Spain to tourism after the 1975 death of dictator Francisco Franco, the tradition of free tapas eventually gave way to profit. Today, tapas bars in most of Spain either charge for tapas or give out paltry bar snacks, like chips, nuts or a few olives.

Prepare this fantastic Chorizo with Wine, one of the most popular appetizers, or tapas, in Spain. In addition to its rich flavor, it's an easy recipe to prepare, ready in just minutes. The hero? The delicious flavor of GOYA® Chorizo, which is cooked in the bold flavor of GOYA® Extra Virgin Olive Oil and red wine.

Paella is perhaps the most famous Spanish dish of all, and certainly one of the most abused. Authentic paella originates from the region around Valencia, and comes in two varieties: Paella Valenciana, with rabbit and chicken; and seafood paella.

Spanish Tapas / Tortilla Española

This simple but delicious tapa is often referred to as Spain's national dish. A traditional Spanish omelet filled with potatoes. A few ingredients come together in the dish, with crispy egg forming a flaky crust that binds a filling of potato, onion, and spices.

Some of the most well-known are Manchego (typical of Castilla – La Mancha), Idiazábal (Basque Country), Roncal (Navarre), Mahón (Balearic Islands) and Majorero (Canary Islands).