Peru's iconic street skewer: slices of beef heart marinated in ají panca chile, vinegar, and cumin, seared over charcoal by anticucheras and served with boiled potato and corn. The dish fuses pre-Columbian llama-meat grilling with ingredients and technique from enslaved African cooks of the colonial era.
Also known as anticucho de corazón, Peruvian heart skewers, anticuchera.
Reference video
Ingredients
- 800 g beef heart, trimmed of veins, fat and silverskin
- 80 g aji panca paste
- 60 ml red wine vinegar
- 4 garlic cloves, mashed
- 1 tbsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp salt, 0.5 tsp black pepper and 30 ml oil
- 4 small boiled waxy potatoes and 2 ears of choclo corn
- Aji sauce, to serve
How to make it
- 1
Slice the cleaned heart into pieces about 1.5 cm thick and 4 cm wide.
- 2
Stir panca paste, vinegar, garlic, cumin, oregano, oil, salt and pepper into a loose slurry and marinate the heart overnight — the acid does real tenderising work on a muscle this dense.
- 3
Thread 3-4 pieces flat onto each skewer and save the marinade.
- 4
Sear over scorching charcoal 1-2 minutes per side, painting with the reserved marinade at every turn (street vendors use a corn-husk brush).
- 5
Plate with golden potatoes and a wheel of choclo, aji sauce alongside.
Pro tip: Heart behaves like lean steak, not like offal: it is pure muscle and has two good states, briefly seared and rosy or braised for hours. The three-minute window on fierce heat is your target; a minute past it and you are chewing rubber.
Where Anticuchos come from
The use of heart dates from the colonial era, when enslaved African cooks were given the offal that households discarded, and the dish remains a point of pride in Afro-Peruvian communities. It is sold from carts in the evening across Lima, and the best anticucheras are known by name in their neighbourhoods.
Anticuchos: the Peruvian beef-heart original and its offshoots
Peruvian cooks trim beef heart of sinew and valves, slice it about 1.5 cm thick and marinate it in ají panca, red wine vinegar, garlic and cumin. Seared a minute or two a side over charcoal, it is basted constantly with the marinade, often using a corn-husk brush, then served with boiled potato, choclo and a creamy huacatay or rocoto ají sauce. Neighbouring countries, grouped under Anticucho (Andean variants), moved away from that template: La Paz keeps the heart but adds spicy peanut sauce, Ecuador's coastal grills use beef or chicken with achiote, and Chile drops offal for a beef, longaniza and onion brochette seasoned with merkén.
Compare: Anticucho (Andean variants)
How Anticuchos are cooked
Beef heart is a working muscle and behaves unlike any other cut: very lean, very dense, and it turns tough almost instantly if overcooked. It is trimmed of all sinew and fat, sliced across the grain, and marinated overnight in an acidic marinade that does real tenderising work.
Grilling is fast and hot — a minute or two a side — and the slices are basted repeatedly with the marinade as they cook. That basting is what keeps a very lean cut from drying, and anticucheras do it constantly with a brush made of corn husks or a bundle of herbs.
Ingredients and shopping
Beef heart, trimmed hard — all the silverskin, valves and fat removed — and sliced to about a centimetre and a half. It is cheap and available from most butchers on request. Beef sirloin is the common substitute and makes a good skewer, but it is not anticuchos.
Ají panca paste is the essential ingredient: a mild, fruity, dark red Peruvian chilli. Red wine vinegar, garlic, cumin and oregano; a little ají amarillo is an optional extra for more heat. Marinate overnight. Boiled potato and choclo (Andean corn) to serve.
How Anticuchos are served
Two or three skewers on a plate with a boiled potato, a piece of choclo, and a spoon of ají sauce — usually a creamy huacatay or rocoto sauce. Eaten in the evening from a street cart, standing. An Inca Kola or a beer.
Common mistakes
Not trimming the heart properly
Sinew and valves stay tough no matter what. Trim aggressively — you will lose a third of the weight and it is worth it.
Overcooking
Heart is very lean and dense. A minute or two a side, and pull it while still pink inside. Past that it is rubber.
Skipping the basting
The marinade brushed on during grilling is what keeps a lean cut moist. Anticucheras baste almost continuously.
Substituting generic chilli for ají panca
Ají panca is mild, fruity and dark. Generic chilli powder gives heat without the character the dish is built on.
Anticuchos: questions and answers
What is anticucho made from?
Beef heart, traditionally — trimmed, sliced and marinated in ají panca and vinegar. Beef sirloin versions exist but are a substitute, not the original.
What is ají panca?
A mild, fruity, dark red Peruvian chilli, usually sold as a paste. It gives anticuchos their colour and their characteristic flavour.
Why is it associated with Afro-Peruvian cooking?
Enslaved African cooks in colonial Peru were given the offal that households discarded, and made it into this dish. That history is a recognised part of its identity.
How do I stop beef heart being tough?
Trim all sinew and valves out, slice across the grain, marinate overnight in an acidic marinade, and grill fast — pulling it while still pink.
Sources and further reading
- Anticuchos — Wikipedia
- Día del Anticucho: ¿Cuál es el origen del plato que se ganó el corazón de todos los peruanos? — Marca Perú (PromPerú)
- Anticuchos: la historia del origen de uno de los antojos favoritos de octubre — El Comercio (Peru)
