Jamaican food may be described in a variety of ways, including very excellent, delectable, and gratifying. I’m sorry to inform you, friend, but you’re missing out on some very fantastic things if you’ve never eaten a Jamaican cuisine. Tourists and locals alike are eager to try Jamaican cuisine.
Our cuisine is more diversified than anywhere else on the planet, making the island a foodie’s dream.
Genuine Jamaican dishes were historically impacted by Amerindians, Africans, Indians, Chinese, Irish, and other populations who added their own tastes, spices, and cooking methods to produce what many refer to as Jamaica’s culinary melting pot.
During your visit to Jamaica, you will have numerous wonderful meals and drinks to select from, and this article will walk you through the tastiest and most popular cuisine. These are the 25 finest meals and beverages to try in Jamaica, ranging from jerk chicken to Oxtail to Red Stripe beer.
If you’re visiting Central America, don’t miss out on these 11 Mouth-Watering Honduran Meals.
When in Jamaica, don’t miss out on the following activities that will help you immerse yourself in the island (get them while they’re hot!):
- Montego Bay: MBJ Airport Tranfers to All Hotels Islandwide
- Jamaica: Dunn’s River Falls, 9 Mile and Optional Lagoon Tour
- Jamaica: Bioluminescent Lagoon Boat Cruise with Transfers
- Dolphin Swim Encounter – Dolphin Cove, Ocho Rios, Jamaica
- Ocho Rios: Dunn’s River Catamaran Cruise with Snorkeling
Contents
Jamaican Cuisine And Dishes You Must Try
Major Courses
1. Jerk Chicken from Jamaica
Jamaican jerk chicken is an irresistibly tasty, flavorful, and widely popular meal. It mixes smoky, spicy, and sweet aromatics while dressed in delicious, crunchy, charred chunks from its jerk cooking method.
Jerk cookery is a Jamaican tradition in which meat, mainly chicken, is dry-rubbed or wet marinated in jerk seasoning created from herbs and spices before being grilled over hot woods produced from pimenta diocia, a Caribbean pimento tree.
Maroons fleeing their enslavers to neighboring mountains would dig a trench in the ground, fill it with pimento wood chips, ignite the chips, add the seasoned wild boar (pig meat), cover the holes, and let the meat to cook slowly.
Despite the fact that most jerk chicken nowadays is not cooked in pits, current Jamaican jerking follows a similar method.
First, the chicken is expertly seasoned with a proprietary combination of Jamaican scotch bonnet pepper, allspice, onion, scallions, garlic cloves, thyme, and other flavorful spices.
The chicken is then slow-cooked or barbecued in an enclosed ancient barrel drum called as a jerk pan over locally obtained pimento woods.
Pimento woods’ inherent aromatic scents help create Jamaican jerk chicken into a unique, beloved, and finger-linking feast.
Real Jamaican jerk chicken is delicious on its own, but it’s much better when coupled with rice and peas, toast, or Jamaican festival.
2. Ackee and Saltfish from Jamaica
Jamaica’s proud national cuisine is ackee and saltfish. Visitors, residents, and diasporans all adore Jamaican ackee and saltfish because it is genuine, rich, and filling.
Ackee is a reddish pear-shaped exotic fruit with three lobes. By the mid-1700s, a slave ship carried Ackee from West Africa to Jamaica.
Because of Jamaica’s amazing climate and soil, ackee adapted well and thrived swiftly throughout time. Ackee trees are now found practically everywhere in Jamaica, ranging in height from 10-23m.
It’s one of the most unusual sights you’ll ever witness as ackee ripens and splits open.
Within, three to four big, glossy black seeds are seen, each partially enveloped by yellow, soft, spongy flesh known as arils.
When completely mature, the arils are the only portion of the fruit we should consume since unripe ackees are dangerous and should be avoided.
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Ackee’s buttery texture and delicate nutty and neutral flavor assist to soften the strong, aggressive, dry, and salty flavor of saltfish.
The ideal marriage of Jamaican ackee and saltfish, seasoned harmoniously with Jamaican herbs and spices, results in a genuine, one-of-a-kind, tasty, and gratifying meal.
Breakfast or brunch with ackee and saltfish is considerably better when served with Jamaican fried dumplings, roti or boiled yam, dumplings, and banana. Make a point of trying this traditional Jamaican meal.
MuttonMeat3. Jamaican Curry Goat
Jamaican curry goat is undoubtedly one of the top five Jamaican dishes. Jamaican curry goat is nothing short of delectable, brimming with juicy, spicy, and savory tastes that will have you going back for more.
Curry is an important component of Jamaican cuisine, history, and culture, akin to the renowned pimento spice used in Jamaican jerking. During the abolition of slavery in the 19th century, indentured Indian laborers brought curry to the island.
Curry has now become a popular condiment for meats such as goat, chicken, and fish. In addition to curry, the goat is marinated for several hours with Jamaican scotch bonnet pepper, thyme, scallions, ginger, cloves, onion, pimento (allspice), and coconut milk before being completely cooked till the flesh becomes soft and flavor-rich.
Jamaican curry goat pairs well with Jamaican rice and peas or roti.
4. Oxtail from Jamaica
Genuine Jamaican Oxtail is juicy and supple, infused with lively tastes and traditional Jamaican cuisine.
Jamaican Oxtail is influenced by African one-pot culinary methods used by enslaved Africans and Maroons. Currently, Jamaican Oxtail is generally prepared with butter beans and seasoned with real Jamaican aromatics including scotch bonnet peppers, thyme, scallions, onions, ginger, and the renowned pimento (allspice) flavour.
Serve with Jamaican rice and peas to complement the gelatinous, rich, and savory meat.
5. Jamaican Escovitch Fish
Crisply fried fish is covered with a spicy sauce composed of vinegar, lime, and loads of carrot strips, onions, bell pepper, scotch bonnet pepper, and pimento berries in Jamaican Escovitch fish.
This delectable Jamaican meal links Jamaica to Spanish, who ate a similar dish called escabeche in 1494.
This meal is best eaten when you’re hungry. Nonetheless, for a more enriching experience as you enjoy this Jamaican food, I strongly suggest adding Jamaican bammy or festivals (more about this below).
Run, Dun (Fish Stew)
Jamaican run down is a succulent and tasty fish stew made with coconut milk, tomato, garlic, onion, spices, and other fragrant ingredients.
This Jamaican dish is known as run dun (a Jamaican slang) because the sauce is runny or watery, and it also refers to how the fish is completely cooked till it disintegrates or runs down. Pickled mackerel, a pelagic fish rich in proteins, vitamins, and minerals, is often used in Jamaican run dun.
I beg you to try this very healthy and delicious recipe with Jamaican rice and peas or dumplings and green bananas. You’ll like it.
7. Oatmeal
Have a Jamaican-made porridge if you wake up craving something sweet and savory. You will not find another oatmeal as good as ours.
Jamaican porridge is a substantial, warm, and filling Jamaican dish with a particular flavor attributable to the right combination of coconut milk, cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla. Jamaican porridge alternatives include hominy corn, cornmeal, banana, plantain, oats, and rice porridge.
Our most popular porridge is cornmeal, but try my two favorites, banana and hominy porridge. We like to drink porridge with saltfish fritters, and you can even add little pieces of Jamaican cream crackers to your porridge for a more satisfying Jamaican meal.
Soup
Jamaican Fish Tea No. 8
Jamaican Fish Tea is a hot soup eaten as an appetizer in Jamaican restaurants and on special events such as birthdays, family reunions, and funerals.
Jamaicans also like drinking fish tea during illness and cold weather to keep their bodies warm. You must be wondering why this meal is termed tea rather than soup.
The soup broth is thinner and has fewer components than other heartier and heavier soups (like the ones mentioned next).
Yellow yam, pumpkins, carrots, okra, thyme, cho-cho, onion, salt, pepper, pimento (allspice) flavor, and, most significantly, fish are the essential ingredients in Jamaican fish tea (usually Doctor Fish). While you’re in Jamaica, be sure to eat this wonderful and sometimes addicting Jamaican cuisine.
9. Mannish Water from Jamaica
My ultimate favorite Jamaican soup to serve as an appetizer or main course is Jamaican mannish water or goat soup.
Mannish water is highly tasty and meaty, with spicy, smoky, and distinctly rich fragrant aromas.
Jamaican mannish water is composed of green bananas, yam, carrots, dumplings, thyme, onion, allspice, scotch bonnet pepper, roasted head, intestines, testicles, and feet of a rammy (a male goat). Since it is usually prepared by guys, this meal has a special moniker.
Mannish water, also known as power water, is an aphrodisiac among Jamaican males, however its use extends beyond the bedroom. This meal is often prepared by locals for restaurants, birthday parties, weddings, fun fairs, and funerals.
You’ll never taste a soup as unique, addicting, and strong as Jamaican Mannish Water. That is a very unusual dinner that you must try when in Jamaica.
Soup of Jamaican Red Peas
Jamaica is the birthplace of Red Peas Soup. Warm and flavorful, Jamaican Red Peas Soup has an unique rich flavor.
Most Jamaicans would tell you that Red Peas Soup is unrivaled in their opinion. That is completely correct.
Jamaican Red Peas Soup is a wonderful recipe that combines soft and juicy dumplings, kidney beans, yam, pumpkins, and carrots with coconut milk, thyme, pimento (allspice), scotch bonnet pepper, garlic, and other herbs and spices.
To enhance the taste of the soup, locals often add tiny chunks of chicken, beef, or pork, although this is optional. This recipe is delicious whether it contains meat or without. Most local fancy and street eateries provide Jamaican Red Peas Soup. This soup is often consumed as an appetizer or as a main dish by the locals.
Sides
Jamaican Rice and Peas 11
Jamaican Rice and Peas is a classic Jamaican staple, main course, and side dish that you will appreciate. Jamaican rice and peas is flavored rice made with kidney beans or dried gungo peas, coconut milk, thyme, chopped pepper, garlic, onion, scallion, and pimento (allspice).
Mixing all of these components results in a distinct flavor that you won’t find anywhere else.
On Sundays, Jamaican rice and peas is customarily cooked to accompany main meals such as curry goat, oxtail, or baked, jerk, and stew chicken.
Regardless of the day, you can find Jamaican rice and peas on the menu at most eateries. I adore eating freshly prepared rice and peas. It is filling and tastes much superior than ordinary rice.
Jamaican Festivals 12
Sure, we’re still talking about food, but try this delectable delicacy during a Jamaican festival or funfair.
This is my favorite Jamaican side dish by far. Sweet, long, crispy, fried dumplings consisting of sugar, cornmeal, flour, vanilla essence, salt, and milk are popular during Jamaican festivities. These dumplings are really excellent and are often served with Jerk chicken and Escovitch fish.
Festival is my favorite Jamaican dish, and it could become yours as well.
Saltfish Fritters13. Stamp and Go
Stamp and go, also known as Jamaican saltfish fritters, is a popular appetizer, side dish, and snack in Jamaica.
Saltfish fritters are fried dumplings that are as tasty as Jamaican festivals, except that fritters are seldom sweetened. Saltfish fritters are created using a flour mixture that includes finely diced saltfish or codfish, tomato, scallion, and onion, as well as salt and black pepper.
A fritter’s skin is crunchy and crispy, while the inside is soft, warm, and somewhat spicy.
Jamaicans adore eating saltfish fritters with porridge for morning, and you should try it if you visit the island.
Roast Breadfruit14.
Jamaicans like roasting and frying breadfruit, especially in the mornings, and I believe you will enjoy it as well.
Have you ever come across breadfruit? Probably not, and I’d be pleased to tell you more about it.
Breadfruit is a big, round, green, starch-rich, and gluten-free fruit introduced to Jamaica in 1793 by navigator and explorer Captain William Bligh as a cost-effective means to feed the countless enslaved workers on sugar estates.
Breadfruit has now become a staple fruit in Jamaica. It has a light sweet flavor. It is mostly used to make soup thicker and heartier when boiling.
Breadfruit pairs well with curry chicken or goat when grilled. Locals eat it for breakfast with ackee and saltfish, salt mackerel, and steamed callaloo when roasted and then fried.
15. Plantain, fried
Anybody who has perfected the skill of frying plantains knows how tempting this Caribbean dish can be. Fried plantain combines well with almost every main meal, making it a must-have in your Jamaican cuisine arsenal while visiting the island.
The fried plantain is a popular Jamaican appetizer, often with jerk chicken, mussels, and Escovitch fish. Dip the plantain slices in a mixture of soy sauce, garlic powder, and thyme, which is my favorite combo for fried plantains.
Jamaican Bammy 16
Jamaican bammy is a popular ital cuisine in Jamaica, especially among the Rastafarian culture.
Bammy is a thick flatbread prepared from cassava roots that have been crushed or grated and soaked in coconut milk.
Jamaican Bammy has a moderate, mildly sweet taste with a nutty undertone. Despite the fact that bammy usage is declining, locals will combine it with escovitch fish, callaloo, cabbage or ackee, and saltfish. We often eat bammy for breakfast as a delicious way to start the day.
Bammy is a hearty Jamaican dish that is quite simple to make.
Desserts & Snacks
Patty of Jamaican Beef
The Jamaican beef patty is the unofficial national cuisine of Jamaica, due to its widespread consumption among Jamaicans, who savor this delectable food.
The Jamaican beef patty is a semi-circular encased pastry packed with seasoned minced beef that is yellow to golden brown in color.
Using onions, scallions, thyme, breadcrumbs, curry, and other aromatic herbs and spices, this beef filling is properly seasoned.
The Jamaican beef patty is our go-to quick meal, and we prefer having them at lunchtime with a box drink.
If you don’t like beef, try alternative burger tastes like chicken, shrimp, or veggies. If you want to improve the flavor of a beef burger, consider a cheese patty, which is a beef patty with melted cheese within the crust.
Consider sandwiching the beef patty between two slices of Jamaican coco bread for a more satisfying snack.
Tourists from all around go crazy over properly produced Jamaican patties, and you may too. This may become your favorite Jamaican snack.
18 drops of coconut
Coconut drops are a classic Jamaican treat made from three basic ingredients: coconut flesh, ginger, and sugar.
Elderly Jamaicans prefer creating coconut drops at home, which explains the wide range of flavor and appearance. Some are little, circular balls, while others are lengthy, thick-cored poles. The surface is thin and crispy, with a sweetly sweet and somewhat chewy within.
Since I like coconut in virtually everything, this sweet, delightful, gluten-free dessert is totally up my alley. Coconut drops are often found in tourist areas, such as Montego Bay, and they are also sold on the streets of big cities.
Pudding 19 (Bread, Banana, Sweet Potato)
Many Jamaicans, especially the older generations, like creating puddings such as bread pudding, banana pudding, and the most famous, sweet potato pudding.
Jamaican sweet potato pudding is a substantial and delicious Jamaican dish prepared with hand-grated sweet potato, flour, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla extract, and other powerful ingredients. Locals often identify sweet potato pudding by the famous Jamaican riddle. That is one hell of a top. Hell is at the bottom, and hallelujah is in the middle.
This riddle refers to the traditional way of baking the pudding, which entails baking it in an iron Dutch oven with hot coals below and on top of the pot.
This approach enhances the smokey, sweet, and nutmeg characteristics of the pudding.
You’ll also get to try real Jamaican bread pudding. In fact, I’m rather obsessed with this pudding since it’s so velvety, salty, and sweet. Jamaican bread pudding offers the right combination of raisin, rum, cinnamon, vanilla, and stale bread. It’s the ultimate treat when paired with ice cream. You should try one of our puddings.
Jamaican Gizzada 20.
Jamaicans adore dessert. Gizzada, commonly known as pinch me around, is a popular coconut-inspired traditional food.
Gizzada is a circular pastry with pinches along the edge of the buttery and soft crust, with sweet and spicy coconut contents within.
The grated coconut is primarily seasoned with three basic ingredients: brown sugar, ginger, and mixed spice, which are perfectly combined to make a sweet and wonderful dessert. On any given day, Jamaican gizzada is a must-try. If you want to satiate your sweet taste, opt for a properly prepared Jamaican gizzada.
Beverages
21. Tea
Jamaicans like their morning tea to bust gas (relieve bloating) and reawaken their spirits before facing the day.
Jamaicans dislike drinking tea made from teabags because they feel teabags are low in nutritious content. Moreover, why should Jamaicans consume teabags when practically every Jamaican household has dried or fresh herbs appropriate for making wonderful, pleasant, and very nutritious tea?
Ginger, peppermint, lemongrass, thyme, basil, lime leaves, orange leaves, chocolate, and cerasee tea are among the most popular teas among Jamaicans.
While visiting Jamaica, I recommend that you order or seek genuinely produced Jamaican tea. You’ll like its warmth, richness, and earthy tastes.
Jamaican Rum 22.
You’ll like the flavor of full-bodied Jamaican rum.
It’s unusual, different, delectable, and wild. Jamaica has stringent quality control measures in place to ensure that its rum is of the greatest quality. As a result, people from all over the world come to appreciate the richness and originality of Jamaican rum.
Jamaican rum is traditionally prepared in the 17th century, which contributes to its particular characteristics. Molasses is deliberately fermented in big puncheons with all-natural GMO-free yeast before being distilled in pot stills and aged in wood barrels for many years in this way.
Apart from the natural fermentation process and history of Jamaican rum, the island’s rum is particularly unique in that it is made from sugarcane cultivated on limestone-rich terrain.
Limestones are high in calcium carbonate, which helps to soften the finished product and make it a bit sweeter and richer. Locals and visitors alike like mixing Jamaican rum into their drinks and punches; others just drink it with water.
My favorite Jamaican-based drink is the Jamaican rum cream, which is made with milk, fruits, and spices. Jamaican rum cream is creamy, thick, and wonderful, and I definitely suggest it.
If you like rum, you should only drink the finest, and Jamaican rum is simply the greatest.
23. Red Stripe Beer
Red stripe beer is Jamaica’s most popular beer, and you don’t have to be a beer specialist to truly enjoy this home-brewed beverage. Red Stripe beer has become an integral part of Jamaican culture, from workdays to beach days, from quiet Sundays to festivities.
A lovely amber lager with modest butterscotch taste, full-bodied, and a pleasant post-palate experience, according to the manufacturer. So, get this great beer and relax on Jamaica’s lovely white sand beach with your pals.
Dragon Stout No. 24
Jamaica’s stronger sibling is Dragon Stout, a deep, black, and smooth liquor. Dragon Stout has been brewed solely in Jamaica since 1920, using 2-row European hops, caramel roasted malts, and brown sugar to create a sweet, malty, and roasty taste.
Dragon Stout is popular among Jamaican working men because it represents power and vigor. Hence, if you want to give your body an additional boost and stamina, Jamaican Dragon Stout is the way to go for Jamaican beer.
Blue Mountain Coffee No. 25
Whether you like coffee or not, you’ll appreciate the rich flavor of 100% Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee. Jamaica is famous across the world for its expensive, genuine, and one-of-a-kind coffee. These coffee beans are cultivated in Blue Mountain’s chilly, foggy, mineral-rich soil.
Because of the tropical climate, it is excellent for cultivating this highly sought-after coffee. Blue Mountain coffee from Jamaica is light, refined, and pleasantly sweet, with a trace of chocolate taste and no bitterness. Consider enjoying Blue Mountain coffee to start your day while in Jamaica.
Jamaican Food: Final Words
Jamaican cuisine is shamelessly delicious and filling. Every mouthful of a skillfully prepared meal will be tasty, rich, enticing to the palate, and leave you wanting more. When in Jamaica, make a point of visiting as many local eateries as possible in order to sample all of the original Jamaican dishes and enjoy an all-around feast.
Jerk chicken, curry goat, and ackee and saltfish are my top three Jamaican meal suggestions. If I lived near a Jamaican restaurant, I would gladly enjoy these foods on a daily basis. Whether you dine on the roadside to have a fun local experience or at an expensive restaurant, you will always discover traditional Jamaican cuisine and beverages to relish.
That’s all there is to it! The top 25 Jamaican dishes and drinks to sample when visiting Jamaica. Subscribe to our newsletter to get great advice on the finest local meals to try on your next holiday.