These Leftover Arepa Crisps are ultra-crispy, super delicious, vegan, gluten free and extremely easy to make. When you make them I always recommend making quite a few because you’re going to love them!! They are so addictive is just impossible to have one.
If you’re one of those people like me that like to eat your meal with bread or crackers, these Leftover Arepa Crisps are a great alternative to bread, crackers or Ryvitas. They are 100% natural, ie only have 3 ingredients and completely vegan and gluten free! But they are also fantastic if you’re making canapes simply make the arepas smaller, and let me tell you people love them!!
Arepas are the perfect versatile food, being vegan and gluten free it already lets you cover a wide range of diets. But also with their neutral flavour you can combine them with anything and everything, literally with everything! I haven’t tasted one food that doesn’t work with arepas, even my husband prepares his Italian style and that is with some Italian cheese and prosciutto, not my taste, but it proves the point they go with any food!
HOW TO MAKE VENEZUELAN AREPAS
If you’ve never made Venezuelan Arepas I really encourage you to try them, they are very easy to make and I’m pretty sure you’ll be making them quite often.
A while ago I made a video series called The Ultimate Guide on How to Fill an Arepa – Easy Arepa Recipes, go and check it out because not only I show how to make them, but also how to make some of the Venezuelan traditional fillings.
Below you’ll find the video the series starts with.
HOW TO KEEP, STORE AND FREEZE AREPAS
Arepas are such a wonder food that I can’t stop taking good about them, they are so easy to keep, store and freeze that you can make them days, weeks or months before and freeze them and they’ll be as good as when just made, bearing you follow these steps:
- In the video you’ll see the steps how to make an arepa. So you can freeze them either after cooking them in the pan or after baking.
- Wrap them well in cling film or put them in a container
- You can bake them from frozen or defrost and then follow the same steps as to make the leftover arepa crisps but without cutting them in half.
- Bare in mind that if you froze them before baking you will have to bake them before eating because the inside will be uncooked.
- Arepas can last weeks or months in the freezer, sometimes I’ve had them for even 3 months and they are just fine when I cook them.
OTHER THINGS YOU CAN DO WITH LEFTOVER AREPA CRISPS
There are hundreds of things you can do with leftover arepa crisps, but there’s one thing I often prepare with them when I want something quick, delicious and with no hassle whatsoever, and this is the equivalent of the British “Cheese on Toast”.
So I prepare my leftover arepa crisps as per following the video recipe above, then I grate some cheese , you can use the cheese of your choice, put on top of the crisps, put it back in the oven under a grill and wait until the cheese melts and becomes crispy…. YUM YUM YUM!! Super melted cheese on top of a super crispy base, I mean what more do you want!!
Just one thing to bear in mind, instead of baking the crisps for 15 or 20 minutes, bake them for 10 because when you put them back in the grill they will continue to crisp up so you don’t want to burn them, apart from this, you can experiment with any cheese or combination of cheese till your harts content!!
WHERE TO BUY HARINA PAN FLOUR FOR AREPA MAKING
So arepas are only made with one flour using white corn called Harina Pan. At the moment there’s only one Venezuelan company making it, but the good thing is if you’re in the UK you can get it in Tesco. Here’s the link to the product itself if you want to get it on-line, but they also have it in some shops, Pan pre-cooked white maize meal.
If you’re not in the UK, there are suppliers in Europe and USA, here’s the link to my post where I go in details where to get it if you’re in Europe or US. How to Make Venezuelan Arepas.
I hope you enjoy making this recipe, like I mention before once you make them you’ll be making them over and over again!
See you next time with another delicious recipe, remember you can always rate the recipe below and comment.
HAPPY COOKING!! 🙂
