Super Bowl Party Foods: 15 Puerto Rican Dishes & Drinks To Celebrate Bad Bunny Halftime Show

The hours are ticking away before Super Bowl 2026 between the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots, and if you're anything like me, you've been blasting our Bad Bunny halftime show setlist on repeat (not a joke) in preparation for his performance at Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif.

That also means you're running out of time to plan your Super Bowl party this weekend ahead of Sunday's kickoff (6:30 p.m. ET, NBC). So, in addition to all of our Super Bowl predictions, we've donned our culinary hats to rank the best Puerto Rican foods so you can properly celebrate the first-ever Super Bowl halftime performance in Spanish.

While we may not have tried all of these dishes ourselves, we scoured the web for reviews, recipes, and other recommendations to help you throw the best Super Bowl party for the Big Game this year.  

🏈 Best Puerto Rican foods for your Super Bowl party

🍽️ Best Puerto Rican main dishes

🥇 Pernil

On the surface, there isn't anything noteworthy about pernil, which is essentially slow-roasted pork shoulder with garlic and herbs. Combine that with the island's local spices and cooking techniques passed down through centuries, though, and you get what one review called "as close to Puerto Rican home cooking as you can find." Whether served in tacos, over rice, or as its own dish, I'm all in for some ol' fashioned pork.

🥈 Arroz con gandules

There are so many ways to serve rice as a main course, but arroz con gandules is perhaps the most quintessential Puerto Rican option and a twist from traditional offerings - "gandules" (pigeon peas) are cooked with sofrito, a signature flavor in Puerto Rican cuisine, along with tomato paste and spices and even meat, too. It's a great meal to serve a crowd and captures the essence of the island as a staple dish.

🥉 Mofongo

It's hard to find a list of Puerto Rican foods that doesn't prominently feature mofongo, the native dish made by mashing fried plantains with garlic and pork cracklings. You can serve it as a side or stuff it with proteins like shrimp or chicken. That versatility alone makes it perfect to serve as Super Bowl party food, but the local appreciation for this dish - and my own love of garlic - made it a natural fit on the podium for main dishes.

Honorable mentions: Pasteles, pollo guisado, arroz con pollo

🥟 Best Puerto Rican appetizers

🥇 Tostones

It doesn't get more traditional than tostones, which are basically just ultra-fried plantains. These can be served as a sweet or savory snack depending on how they are spiced between the first and second deep-frying session (yes, twice). This reminds me of fried pickles but with plantains, which sounds incredible for a Super Bowl appetizer. These are often best served with mayo-ketchup - more on that later.

🥈 Alcapurrias

These look absolutely delicious and I would (will?) devour these at a Super Bowl party. Alcapurrias are fried fritters stuffed with green bananas and a root vegetable - usually taro or yucca - and filled with a meat of your choice, typically crab or beef. I'm not a seafood fan myself, but I would destroy a plate of beef alcapurrias.

🥉 Empanadillas

There isn't as much widespread hype for empanadillas, which are basically Puerto Rican empanadas, but I haven't been able to stop thinking about them since I first laid eyes on them. The traditional empanadilla is like a gigantic fried turnover stuffed with beef, cheese, or whatever you please. With sofrito and other Puerto Rican spices setting these apart from traditional empanadas, this is a highly underrated appetizer for Sunday.

Honorable mentions: Bacalaítos, pastelillos, sorullitos

🌶️ Best Puerto Rican sauces & dips

🥇 Mayoketchup

What else could be ranked No. 1? Mayoketchup (also written as mayo-ketchup or mayo ketchup) is exactly what it sounds: mayonnaise mixed with ketchup, sometimes garlic, and the perfect amount of Puerto Rican spice - though just the mayo and ketchup will do. While it likely didn't originate from the island, it's become ubiquitous in Puerto Rico and is the go-to sauce for tostones, alcapurrias, and anything that needs dipping.

🥈 Pique

If, like me, you're always looking for the perfect mix between heat and vinegar, I think I've discovered our new favorite sauce. The traditional Puerto Rican hot sauce is made by fermenting chili peppers with garlic and other spices or even fruits like pineapple. There are endless variations on pique based on where you buy it, and I can't wait to try them all.

🥉 Mojo de ajo

Another entry on this list that seems to be flying under the radar, mojo de ajo is simple but brilliantly effective: garlic, olive oil, and lime juice. That's it! The result is a versatile sauce and condiment that has earned the reputation as a "liquid gold" for adding to recipes, drizzling over top your plate, or using as a dipping sauce.

Honorable mentions: Mojito isleño, habichuelas guisadas, sofrito

🍹 Best Puerto Rican drinks

🥇 Piña colada

The piña colada was invented in Puerto Rico (at the Caribe Hilton in San Juan) and has been the official drink of the island - how could we not feature it with the top spot? Sure, it might feel a little strange drinking a tropical cocktail a few feet away from the TV, but this classic mix of rum, coconut cream, and pineapple juice is a familiar hit with any guest and can be made in bulk to keep your party refreshed throughout the game.

🥈 Medalla Light

If you're looking for a more traditional beer with a Puerto Rican twist for your Super Bowl party, Medalla Light is the obvious choice - it's the most popular beer on the island as light lager that pairs well with the rich and fried party food that we'll be serving. The beer originates from and is bottled in Puerto Rico, but it's become more available in the U.S. in recent years and could be for sale at your local corner store ahead of Sunday.

🥉 Coquito

I have two confessions: I'm lactose intolerant and I don't drink alcohol often. But even I'm intrigued by coquito, the "Puerto Rican eggnog" that combines coconut cream, condensed and evaporated milk, rum, vanilla, and cinnamon. This is traditionally a holiday drink (no surprise there), which is why it ranks so low on this list of Super Bowl party beers, but no drink says Puerto Rico quite like this one.

Honorable mentions: Chichaíto, Don Q rum, guava rum punch

🥐 Best Puerto Rican desserts

🥇 Quesitos

Quesitos are the most popular pastry dessert in Puerto Rico, and it's pretty easy to understand why. Flaky puff pasties filled with sweetened cream cheese with sugar sprinkled on top - they might be the actual dream dessert and especially for a Super Bowl party. These are basically finger food that you can stuff with cream cheese, chocolate, guava, or whatever filling you have available. I might have to learn how to make these by Sunday.

🥈 Pastelillos de guayaba

Remember those empanadillas from before? Pastelillos de guayaba (guava pastries) are basically smaller, slightly thinner versions of those but filled with guava paste, cream cheese, and puff pastry. Like quesitos, these are another Puerto Rican staple that you can find at basically every local bakery on the island, which would be extraordinarily dangerous for me if I lived there.

🥉 Flan de queso

Puerto Ricans love their flan, and this is one of the most popular and compelling ways to serve it - a creamy custard with caramel laryering the top. It almost resembles a cheesecake with a little extra tang from the cream cheese, which is the perfect complement to the ultra-rich sweetness from the rest of this flan dish. I would enjoy this immensely if it wouldn't destroy me from the inside out, but if you can handle it, it could be the perfect flourish to a Super Bowl party done right.

Honorable mentions: Arroz con dulce, mantecaditos, tembleque

🎉 Super Bowl party games

• Super Bowl prop bet sheet
• Super Bowl Squares
• Super Bowl bingo cards
• Super Bowl touchdown game
• Super Bowl drinking game
• Super Bowl word games
• Super Bowl trivia
• Best Super Bowl party games
• Free Super Bowl betting contests

🎤 Super Bowl halftime show bets

• Super Bowl halftime show predictions
• Bad Bunny prop bet guide
• Bad Bunny halftime set predictions
• How to trade on the Super Bowl halftime show
• Super Bowl halftime show prop bets
• Predicting the next 10 Super Bowl halftime performers