Lunch and dinner generally begin with sizzling-hot appetizers such as bacalaitos, crunchy cod fritters; surullitos, sweet plump cornmeal fingers; and empanadillas, crescent-shaped turnovers filled with lobster, crab, conch, or beef.

Soups, chicken, and egg dishes are also popular Puerto Rican foods.

Puerto Rico produces a wide variety of vegetables so they also eat veggies with almost every meal.