For a new taste adventure, discover the spicy combination of native and European influences that comprise the cuisine of our nearest continental neighbor - South America.

Indigenous South American foods include corn, lima beans, potatoes, sweet potatoes, chile peppers, avocados, peanuts, and chocolate, with an emphasis on ajis (peppers), both sweet and hot. Portuguese, Italian, and Spanish settlers learned to adapt their traditional cuisines to the ingredients on hand, and Asian and African immigrants were a further influence.

Of course, South America is a vast continent with diverse cuisines that vary from country to country. The pampas (plains) of Argentina conjure images of gauchos eating barbecue around a campfire (see Apricot-Ancho BBQ Glaze), and we also give a nod to South America’s tens of thousands of miles of coastline with scrumptious Red Pepper Crab Soup.

Today’s South American cuisine takes the best of several worlds to serve up vibrant, spicy dishes that you can recreate with the Vitamix blender.

  • Apricot-Ancho BBQ Glaze
    Sweet apricots, salty bacon, spicy ancho chiles - this BBQ sauce has it all.
  • Mango Sauce for Chicken
    Chicken glistens with a tangy citrus sauce, given a South American twist with your addition of hot sauce.
  • Red Pepper Crab Soup
    A beautiful, velvety soup, especially nice for company, but easy enough to serve on a week night.
  • White Bean Purée
    Cook beans with vegetables, simmer with cream and spices, then blend together for this warm, velvety purée.