If you are planning a trip to Peru and you are a vegetarian, you might be wondering if it’s easy to find vegetarian food in Peru. I’m a vegetarian myself and have been for more than half of my life, so for me, that’s one of the main questions I think of when choosing my next destination.

Do you want to try a variety of vegetarian food in Lima?

1. Lima Gourmet Food Tour (I joined this tour selecting the vegetarian option and it was an amazing tour)
2. Vegan Peruvian food tour in Lima

I’m Peruvian, so I decided to write this guide about all you need to know regarding finding vegetarian food in Peru. First of all: is it easy to find vegetarian food in Peru? How is it to be a vegetarian in Lima vs. the rest of the country? How are the vegetarian restaurants in Peru? And of course, also, what vegetarian Peruvian food can you find in a restaurant?

In the end, I’m recommending some of the best vegetarian restaurants in Lima (at least my favorite ones).

Is it easy to find vegetarian food in Peru?

I grew up in Lima, the capital of Peru. Meaning, out of all the places in Peru, the place where you should have more variety of options in terms of food. But I became vegetarian at 15, and at that time, there were basically no vegetarian food options in most restaurants.

So whenever I would go out to a restaurant, my main option would be to have fries. Unless we would go to an Italian restaurant, where I could have spaghetti or ravioli with vegetables.

But in most restaurants in Peru, when I inquired about vegetarian options, the responses varied: 1) “Are fish, ham, or chicken okay?” 2) “What do you mean by ‘vegetarian’?” 3) “Would a lettuce salad be okay?

I’m in my thirties now and many things have changed. In the last 10 years or so, “a lot” of people have become vegetarian. So there are many more options now, but it’s still not so easy. Questions #1 and #3 from the above paragraph are still something that I get all the time when I ask for vegetarian food in many places in Peru.

Still, there will be differences between finding vegetarian food in Lima and in other places of Peru.

How easy is it to find vegetarian food in Lima?

Peruvian cuisine is considered one of the best in the world. And several of the world’s top restaurants are in Lima (actually, as of 2024, the #1 restaurant in the world is in Lima).

So, naturally, vegetarian food options in Lima are more than in the rest of the country. There are many vegetarian restaurants and several vegan restaurants as well.

But even though Peru is a country with an abundant variety of vegetables, there are not so many vegetarian Peruvian food options at “normal” non-vegetarian restaurants.

Vegetarian food at standard “good restaurants” in Lima

If you visit a standard restaurant considered to be serving good food in Lima, the most common vegetarian option that you will find is a salad. Usually, this will be just a regular Caesar’s salad. But most times, even though they will have many salads on the menu, none of them will be vegetarian.

Even though restaurants want to cater to vegetarians, the most typical option you can find when eating out is ravioli (at least in Lima). If it’s just one dish, it’s 80% likely it will be that. In some places, you can find other kinds of pasta dishes or risotto as well.

Of course, it’s becoming more common to find restaurants that are trying to include vegetarian options on their menus.

In some places, for example, you can find “chaufa de quinoa” (a vegetarian twist of a famous Peruvian-Chinese dish), a veggie burger, or a vegetarian pizza.

Vegetarian food in high cuisine restaurants in Lima

While you would think high cuisine restaurants do a better job catering to vegetarians as well as to non-vegetarians, this is not always the case.

For example, just a couple of years ago, we went to Maido (considered one of the best restaurants in Peru and in the world).

During dinner, we found a little bit of foil in our food. That incident (which they denied was possible), anyhow led to being asked for our comments and suggestions for the restaurant. We recommended that there could be more vegetarian options (there was just one on their big a la carte menu. I know they do have more options on their tasting menu though).

The waiter sent us back a message from the main chef: he had no obligation to cater to vegetarians (he probably had had a bad day to send back such a rude answer, but still).

Not all high cuisine restaurants are like that though. In some gourmet restaurants you can find some amazing veggie options.

For example, recently we visited Kjolle, one of the top restaurants in Peru and in the world as well. The vegetarian dishes we tried were delicious and unique, clearly crafted with as much care and creativity as the rest of the menu. Highly recommended if you want to have a vegetarian gourmet dinner in Lima, Peru!

Vegetarian food in the rest of Peru

Finding vegetarian food in the rest of Peru is more difficult than in Lima. With the exception of Cusco, where there will be several vegetarian restaurants or vegetarian dishes on the menus, since there are so many tourists.

Besides Lima and Cusco, it’s not so easy. The bigger and more touristy the city you go to, of course, the easier it will be.

If you go to very small towns, I recommend you ask not if they have something “vegetarian,” but if they have something “without meat” (“sin carne”). Then, you can expand, and say without beef, chicken, pork, fish, or any other animals (“sin carne, pollo, chancho, pescado, ni ningún otro animal”).

And you can give an example. You could say, “for example, something like stir-fried vegetables” (“saltado de verduras”). Because if the town is small and not touristy and you ask for something vegetarian, people might assume you are looking for lettuce.

But then, what about traditional vegetarian Peruvian food? I have to say, there are not so many options. You will be able to find some starters, but almost no main dishes.

Take a look at the vegetarian Peruvian dishes I list further down and write them down so that you can have more chances of finding something vegetarian at a restaurant.

Another important tip for vegetarians traveling to Peru is not to assume that lentils or beans that are not served with meat are vegetarian. They are very often cooked with meat. The same goes for soups, which most of the times are cooked with kind of animal stock, or bones.

How are the vegetarian restaurants in Peru?

If you want to have good vegetarian food in Peru, the best is to go to a vegetarian restaurant.

Broadly speaking, we can separate the vegetarian restaurants in Peru into two categories.

There are simple restaurants that serve a set menu; they are generally open only for lunch and they are relatively cheap. You can find these kinds of restaurants in most cities in Peru.

The food they serve is generally simple and tasty. And the best is that most of them do offer traditional Peruvian food but in a vegetarian version. For example, replacing the meat with soy meat or the fish in the cebiche for mushrooms. Usually, you get a starter, a main dish, a simple dessert, and a drink.

Then, there are à la carte restaurants, which are generally open for lunch and dinner and are not necessarily cheap. These restaurants might or might not serve traditional Peruvian food. Many of these restaurants offer vegan options as well. There are some great vegetarian restaurants, especially in Lima (read further down for a list of the best vegetarian restaurants in Lima).

Vegetarian Peruvian Food: the most common typical dishes

So what are the most available traditional vegetarian Peruvian dishes (meaning not just only in vegetarian restaurants)?

1. Papa a la Huancaína

This is a cold starter of a creamy sauce made of milk, cheese, and chili, which goes on top of boiled potatoes. It’s topped with olives and served with boiled eggs. It’s usually not spicy though. This is a typical dish from Huancayo, but you can find it in all of Peru.

2. Ocopa

This is another starter made with potatoes and topped with a sauce. The sauce is made with milk, cheese, herbs, and peanuts. It’s also served cold. It’s a typical dish from Arequipa, but it’s widely available in the country.

3. Causa de verduras

This is my favorite vegetarian Peruvian dish. It’s also a cold starter. And it’s also a potato dish (as you can see us Peruvians love potatoes). The potatoes are mashed and flavored with lemon and chili. In the middle, there are vegetables with mayonnaise.

The most common version of the causa is made with tuna instead of vegetables, but the vegetable version is not so uncommon. You can find it all around Peru.

4. Palta rellena (stuffed avocado)

This is yet another cold starter. It’s half an avocado filled with a potato, beetroot, carrot, and mayonnaise salad. You can find it in all of Peru.

If you go to a cebichería with friends and are worried about not finding anything to eat, this can be a lifesaver, since it’s not uncommon that they serve it at cebicherías.

5. Locro

When thinking of vegetarian Peruvian food that is not a starter but a main meal, this is the first option that comes to my mind. It’s a dish made mainly of squash. It also has potatoes, cheese, milk, peas, and some herbs.

Locro is not widely available at restaurants though; it’s more of a home meal. It’s a dish from the Andes, but you can find it in many other areas as well, including Lima. Don’t confuse it with the Argentinian locro, which is a completely different dish that has meat.

6. Ajiaco

There are two kinds of ajiacos (that I know of): ajiaco de caiguas (slipper gourd ajiaco) and ajiaco de olluco (olluco ajiaco). They are both similar. The base is mashed potatoes with milk, chili, and cheese. In one of the versions, there is slipper gourd, and in the other, the potato is mixed with olluco (another Andean tuber).

This is a main meal, but again, it’s more of a home meal than something you would usually find in a restaurant. Don’t confuse it with the Colombian ajiaco, which is a soup and has chicken.

7. Humita

Humitas are very similar to tamales, in that they are made of corn and wrapped in leaves. But humitas are made of fresh corn, instead of the dried corn that is used for making tamales. Also, humitas are sweet. They are made of corn, butter, milk, and sugar.

They are neither starters nor main meals but more of small meals or snacks. Humitas are from the Andes, but you can also find them on the coast.

8. Japchi (pronounced “hapchee”)

Japchi is a dish from the Andes made of mashed Andean cheese, milk, herbs, and chili. In Cusco, they add fava beans as well. Generally, people top it over potatoes.

This is a dish that I love, but unfortunately, it’s very hard to find (if at all) in Lima, where I live.

9. Ensalada de chonta (palm heart salad)

This is a very nice side dish made mainly of palm heart. You can find it mainly in the jungle. Unfortunately, I don’t really recommend ordering it, since it’s very unecological to prepare it. To make a salad, they need to cut down a whole palm tree! I used to love it before I found out that.

10. Cebichocho

Cebichocho is a cebiche (the typical Peruvian dish made of raw fish) but made with chocho instead of fish. Chocho (also known as tarwi) is a grain from the Andes, considered a superfood. It’s a cold dish that has, besides chocho, lemon, onions, and chili.

Cebichocho is a typical vegetarian Peruvian dish from Ancash. So if you are planning to do some hiking in Huaraz, you will surely see it.

11. Chupe de habas (fava bean chupe)

Chupes are spicy soups from the Andes region. They are not necessarily very spicy to taste, but at the base, they have a chili paste. The chupe de habas has, besides chili paste, fava beans, potatoes, corn, eggs, milk, cheese, and herbs. It’s a delicious hearty soup, especially good if you are visiting cold regions in the Andes.

Make sure to ask if they have used beef or chicken stock though, since this would not be unusual.

Vegetarian Food Tours in Lima

If you don’t have so many days in Peru but want to taste several vegetarian Peruvian dishes, then I suggest you take a vegetarian food tour in Lima.

Vegetarian Food Tour in Lima

A food tour that I have joined and that I highly recommend is the Lima Gourmet tour. Even though it’s not strictly speaking a vegetarian tour, they do have a vegetarian option (which is very similar to the standard option).

The tour takes you around nice cafes in Barranco where you get to try fresh Peruvian coffee, toasts with local ingredients and shakes of exotic fruits. You also get to visit a local market and learn about the fruits and vegetables of Peru.

After that, you head to a restaurant you will have a pisco sour tasting and learn how to make a vegan cebiche, and a delicious starter. The tour ends at a top restaurant in an archaeological complex, where you get to sample a variety of Peruvian dishes, like causa, lomo saltado (with a vegetarian twist), a quinoa bowl with native potatoes, empanadas, and more.

If you want to read all the details about my experience, where we went and the food we had, you can read my complete review about this food tour.

Here you can book their daytime food tour (which is the one I joined), and their evening food tour.

Vegan Food Tour in Lima

There is also a vegan food tour, which takes you on a four-hour journey along several sightseeing spots in Barranco, while stopping to taste different dishes.

You will taste cebiche made of mushrooms instead of fish, lomo saltado in a vegan version, sorbets, Peruvian drinks, and more.

Book this vegan food tour in Lima.

Vegetarian products in Peru to cook yourself

More and more, shops and supermarkets are having more vegetarian food items on their shelves. There has been a huge increase in the past years, especially in Lima, though. The following part applies to Lima, which is where I live and the place I know better.

Vegetarian patties

In big supermarkets like Wong, Vivanda, or Plaza Vea, you will find several options in their frozen food section. Metro has fewer options, but still, they have a few. Soy meat patties, vegetable patties, lentils, beans, chickpea patties, and even Beyond Burgers. The Beyond Burgers are really expensive, though, at least double the price than what they sell them for in Europe.

Tofu

Tofu is not very widely available, though in the above-mentioned supermarkets, you can find it. Though it will depend on the neighborhood. In Miraflores, San Isidro, and Barranco, for example, you will find it.

If you go to the Surquillo Market, or even better, to Chinatown, you will be able to find very fresh tofu (in Chinatown it’s even still warm when you buy it!) for a much cheaper price.

You might also find it at some organic farmer’s markets. Not sure about all of them, but at least at the Taiwanese stand at the Feria Ecológica de Barranco, they sell it (along with some vegetarian min paos).

Tempeh

Tempeh is something that you can’t find in shops or supermarkets in Peru. At least not that I have seen. But there are some people making it and selling it on Instagram (@tempeperu). They have several kinds, like beans tempeh, not just the regular soy one. They deliver it to your house. It’s very good, and the price is reasonable, but at least at the time of writing, they were taking a break from the business.

Legumes and grains

Otherwise, there are very common staples in Peruvian food that you will find everywhere in Peru. Lentils, beans, chickpeas, fava beans, lima beans, quinoa are just a few that I can think of.

Final Thoughts

As you can see, it’s not so easy to find vegetarian food in Peru, but for sure it’s easier in Lima and in Cusco than in smaller or less touristy cities.

If you are in a big city, you won’t have a problem finding vegetarian restaurants. But the smaller the city or town is, the most likely it is that they will not have heard about the concept of vegetarianism.

But the typical vegetarian Peruvian dishes that we do have in Peru are interesting and worth a try. Make sure to try at least a couple in your trip to Peru!