One of the best ways to understand Panamanian food is to pay attention to what goes into the pot before the main ingredients even arrive. Panamanian cooking is not generally famous for being extremely spicy or for covering everything in powerful heat. Instead, it tends to build flavor through herbs, spices, garlic, onions, peppers, achiote and slow cooked seasoning mixtures. The result is food that can be incredibly flavorful without necessarily being hot. In fact, some of the most important ingredients in Panamanian cooking are technically herbs or seasoning ingredients rather than spices, but they are so important to the country's food that they absolutely deserve to be included in any discussion of Panamanian spices.
Culantro
If there is one ingredient that deserves to be called the signature seasoning of Panamanian cooking, it is culantro. And this is not the same thing as the familiar cilantro that you find in Mexican or many other Latin American dishes. Culantro has long, pointed leaves and a much stronger and more concentrated flavor. It is particularly important in sancocho, Panama's famous chicken soup, but it also appears in rice dishes, stews, tamales, meat dishes, soups and various sauces. Panamanian chefs and food writers have repeatedly identified culantro as one of the defining ingredients of traditional cooking, with some describing it as the culinary DNA of Panama.
The easiest way to understand the importance of culantro is to try a bowl of sancocho. Chicken, ñame and other ingredients make up the body of the soup, but the unmistakable aroma and flavor of the culantro are what make it taste distinctly Panamanian. It is one of those ingredients where a relatively small amount can completely change the character of a dish.
Achiote
Achiote is another extremely important ingredient in Panamanian cooking. The seeds come from the annatto plant and are famous for their deep reddish orange color. In Panama, achiote is used in dishes such as tamales, arroz con pollo, stews and meat preparations. It is especially valuable because it contributes both color and flavor. The seeds can be infused in oil or fat, producing a bright colored cooking oil that can then be used throughout a dish.
Achiote is particularly interesting because sometimes you notice its color before you notice its flavor. It gives food a beautiful golden, orange or reddish appearance while adding a mild earthy and slightly peppery character. It is one of the reasons traditional Panamanian tamales and certain rice dishes can look so different from plain rice or other versions of the same dishes found elsewhere in Latin America.
Garlic
Garlic is one of the great workhorses of Panamanian cooking. It appears in meat dishes, soups, rice, tamales, stews and sauces, and it is frequently combined with onion, culantro and other seasonings. Unlike some spices that are associated with particular dishes, garlic is used across a huge range of everyday cooking.
The importance of garlic is partly because Panamanian cooking often starts by building a flavorful base before the main ingredients are added. Garlic cooked with onions, peppers, herbs and other seasonings creates a foundation that can turn something as simple as meat, chicken, beans or rice into a much more complex dish.
Oregano
Oregano is another familiar seasoning that plays an important role in Panamanian food. It is particularly useful in soups, meats, stews and other dishes where a warm herbal flavor is wanted. Panama's Ministry of Health specifically includes oregano among the natural seasonings commonly used in the country's cooking.
Oregano also demonstrates how Panamanian cooking has developed from many different cultural influences. The country's cuisine is a mixture of Indigenous, Spanish, African, Caribbean and other influences, and the pantry reflects that history. You can have Indigenous ingredients such as culantro and local peppers appearing alongside seasonings that arrived through centuries of international migration and trade.
Black Pepper
Black pepper is another extremely common seasoning. It is used with meats, soups, stews, rice and many everyday preparations. Unlike a hot chili pepper, black pepper provides a gentle heat and aromatic bite rather than overwhelming the rest of the food.
It is worth remembering that Panamanian food is generally not built around extreme spice. A dish can have plenty of seasoning and still be quite mild. Black pepper therefore often provides background warmth rather than turning a dish into a challenge for someone who does not like spicy food.
Ají and Ají Chombo
If you do want heat, Panama certainly has it. Ají is the general word for peppers and chilies, and different varieties appear throughout Panamanian cooking. One of the most famous is ají chombo, a small and very hot pepper associated particularly with Afro Caribbean cooking in Panama.
Ají chombo is much more serious than the mild peppers used mainly for flavor. It can provide considerable heat and is used in dishes and condiments where a spicy kick is wanted. It is particularly associated with the Caribbean influenced cooking of places such as Colón and Bocas del Toro. Traditional foods such as sao can use hot peppers alongside ingredients such as onion and lime.
This is one of the interesting things about Panama's cuisine. You can eat a very mild traditional Panamanian meal one day and then encounter a Caribbean influenced dish that suddenly delivers a completely different level of heat.
Onion
Onion may not sound particularly exotic, but it is one of the fundamental ingredients in Panamanian cooking. It is frequently combined with garlic, peppers, culantro and other herbs to create the base for soups, rice, meats and stews. Panamanian culinary sources consistently include onion among the ingredients that provide the characteristic flavor of traditional dishes.
Onion is also part of the reason Panamanian cooking can taste so good even when there isn't a huge list of complicated spices involved. Much of the flavor comes from building layers with simple ingredients rather than dumping large amounts of powdered seasoning into a dish.
Cebollina
Cebollina, or green onion, is another common ingredient used to add freshness and flavor. It appears in refritos, salads, soups and various traditional preparations. It is more of a fresh seasoning than a conventional spice, but it is important enough in Panamanian kitchens to deserve a place on the list.
Parsley
Parsley is another common herb used in Panama, particularly in sauces, salads, refritos and various cooked dishes. It generally plays more of a supporting role than culantro, but it contributes freshness and aroma. Traditional Panamanian cooking frequently combines several herbs rather than relying on one seasoning alone.
Cumin
Cumin is also found in Panamanian cooking, particularly in savory dishes involving meat, rice and stews. Its warm, earthy flavor works particularly well with slow cooked foods. It is not necessarily the dominant flavor in traditional Panamanian cooking, but it can provide an important background note.
Modern descriptions of Panamanian seasoning commonly include cumin alongside achiote, garlic and oregano, although exactly how much is used varies enormously between households and regions.
Cinnamon
Cinnamon shows another side of Panamanian cooking. While people often associate it with desserts, it has a long history in Panama and appears in drinks, sweets and various traditional preparations. It is part of a broader collection of spices that arrived through international trade and became incorporated into local cooking over generations. Other warm spices such as cloves and anise can also appear in Panamanian sweets and drinks.
Ginger
Ginger is particularly interesting when looking at the Caribbean and Afro Caribbean influences on Panamanian cuisine. It brings a completely different type of heat to food. Instead of the burning sensation produced by a hot pepper, ginger gives a warm, fragrant spiciness that works particularly well with coconut, seafood and other tropical ingredients.
This becomes especially noticeable when exploring the food of Panama's Caribbean coast, where coconut, seafood, peppers and aromatic seasonings combine to create flavors that can be quite different from the traditional cooking of Panama's interior.
The Secret Is Often the Combination
Perhaps the most important thing to understand about Panamanian seasoning is that there is no single magic spice that makes everything taste Panamanian. The character usually comes from combinations. Culantro might be combined with garlic, onion and peppers. Achiote may provide color while garlic and herbs provide aroma. Oregano and cumin can add warmth to meats and stews, while ají provides heat.
One traditional combination worth knowing is recao verde, a flavorful mixture of herbs and aromatics that can include culantro, parsley, basil, thyme, onion, tomato, sweet pepper and garlic. It can be cooked and used as a base for sauces, meats, fish, poultry and beans. It is a good example of how Panamanian cooking often builds flavor from fresh ingredients rather than relying entirely on dry powdered spices.
And this is probably why Panamanian food can surprise travelers. Someone might look at a bowl of sancocho or a plate of arroz con pollo and think it looks relatively simple. Then they taste it and discover that there is an entire collection of herbs, aromatics and spices working underneath the surface.
The most recognizable flavors to look for are therefore culantro, achiote, garlic, oregano, ají, black pepper, onion, cebollina, parsley and cumin, with cinnamon, ginger, cloves and other spices appearing in particular dishes and regional traditions. Panama's cooking is less about making everything aggressively spicy and more about creating layers of flavor that complement the meat, rice, vegetables, seafood and tropical ingredients already in the dish.
If you are travelling through Panama, paying attention to these seasonings is actually a great way to understand the country's food. Try sancocho and notice the culantro. Try a Panamanian tamal and look for the achiote. Eat something Caribbean and see how the coconut and ají change the flavor completely. Try a traditional meat stew and see how garlic, onion, oregano and other seasonings work together. The more you pay attention, the more you realize that Panamanian cuisine does not need enormous amounts of spice or heat to be interesting. Its personality comes from the ingredients, the combinations and the long history of cultures that have been cooking in Panama for generations.