Gluten-free Arepas – Your New Favorite Food

Harina P.A.N. (Producto Alimenticio Nacional) or corn flour – you know, the yellow package you see in almost every one of my videos is an essential and versatile ingredient to make authentic gluten-free Arepas. Whether you make Colombian or Venezuelan style Arepas, it is the go-to flour. The spectacular thing is, Arepas are naturally gluten-free when using Harina P.A.N so there is no modifying to do to make them gluten-free. Why is Harina P.A.N. the only flour you should use? Let’s break it down a bit.

Gluten-free Arepas ©ArepasDelGringo

First off, I wanted to say that I have no relation to Harina P.A.N, I learned early on that this is the corn flour of the Arepa. There is something about not only the fine texture, but also the high consistent quality that gets created over and over again.

You see, back in the day before this product existed, getting the corn into this state of matter was extremely labor intensive. It required growing the corn, harvesting the corn, grinding the corn and tempering it. This company found a way to industrialize it in 1954 and since then, it has been virtually untouched. It is now an essential ingredient to make the arepa. Harina P.A.N once had a slogan “Se acabó la piladera” which literally meant “no more pounding” because you needed to pound the corn in a stone grinder to get the fine flour.

Gluten-free Arepas – ©ArepasDelGringo

Harina P.A.N not only makes light corn flour, but they make yellow corn flour for empanada, sweet corn flour for Cachapas or Arepas de Chocolo, and a whole wheat flour for the health conscious. They really focused in on one thing and made it great.

Gluten-free Arepas (Yes, Harina P.A.N is Gluten-free)

Hold up. What? Yes – that is right! Harina P.A.N. is gluten-free and if you are not familiar with the Arepa, this should open up a whole new world of opportunity for you. Arepas are essentially like a corn muffin, but not quite. My Colombian wife basically replaces bread with Arepas and that is just how it is. If you have a gluten restricted diet, think about these possibilities:

Plantains, Pulled Pork and Cotija Cheese – ©ArepasDelGringo

Arepa Pizza – Yep, that’s right. Arepa’s can be stuffed with pizza toppings. Oozie stringy mozzarella cheese, pepperoni, and Italian seasoned sauce all stuffed inside a delicious hot off the grill corn patty. If you are gluten-free and are looking for a pizza alternative or bread alternative – this is the one.

What about Arepa Waffles? You have got to try them. If you have had an Arepa before, this kicks up the standard Arepa 100 times over. The Waffle iron square imprints makes for some crunchy delicious goodness. I can’t tell you how many people get super excited when I tell them they can finally have a waffle again.

Arepa Waffle Creative Arepa Ideas – ©ArepasDelGringo

Gluten-free Arepas Can Be Vegetarian

Harina P.A.N makes Arepas so versatile. As you have probably noticed Arepas can be filled with basically anything. Here are some of my favorite Vegetarian Arepa Recipes with this deconstructed Arepa – Take the Arepa, slice it down the middle, fill it with plantains (sweet bananas), black beans, and cotija (a salted crumbly cheese).

Deconstructed Arepa – ©ArepasDelGringo

Vegetarian Arepa Ideas – ©ArepasDelGringo

Vegetarian Arepa Filling Ideas – ©ArepasDelGringo

Gluten-free Arepas and Can Be Vegan

OK. Hold up, a 100% gluten-free vegetarian and vegan food that can be had thousands of different ways? You got it! As you can see the possibilities are endless. Many Arepa recipes call for either water or milk. Just use water. You can also omit the butter and use a teaspoon of coconut oil.

Arepas – Gluten-free Blog Network

I hope this got your gears turning. The possibilities are endless here. So many combinations of fresh fillings, anyway you like them. ArepasDelGringo recently joined the Gluten-free Blog network and we are excited to be a part of a new growing community. Speaking about communities, check out and subscribe to my YouTube channel ArepasDelGringo for all things Arepa and get latest videos right in your inbox.