Easy Spanish Recipes Help You Learn Spanish

Learn Spanish by preparing easy Spanish recipes. It is effective to have memorable real life experiences, for language learning. Drilling and memorizing lists of words is boring, and is only useful for short-term memory. You remember the vocabulary for the test, but a few days later... it is gone.


Cooking uses many senses and not only creates a context, but also produces a pleasant memory - long-term memory.

Try to incorporate Spanish culture into the experience. Make gazpacho soup, a cold tomato and vegetable potage, made with bread, olive oil, tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers - words to add to your Spanish vocabulary. Dating back to Roman times, it is thought that the Moors introduced gazpacho soup to Andalusia and Portugal.

Tortilla espanola, made with eggs, onion and potatoes, is a popular tapas in Spain. "Tapar" is the Spanish verb "to cover". Tapas originated as a cover for glasses - to keep the flies out. They made a convenient resting place for small snacks, eaten with the drinks, such as olives, meats and cheese. Today these small plates are served at tapas bars, hot and cold.

Try making an authentic Mexican hot chocolate recipe and learn the words for milk, chocolate and the verb batir - to stir. And recite the popular rhyme, while stirring the drink:

Bate, bate, chocolate - (Stir, stir, chocolate)
Bate, bate, chocolate - (Stir, stir, chocolate)
Uno, dos, tres, CHO - (One, two, three CHO)
Uno, dos, tres, CO - (One, two, three CO)
Uno, dos, tres, LA - (One, two, three LA)
Uno, dos, tres, TE - (One, two, three TE)

In Mexico, a utensil called "El molinillo" is used to stir and froth the chocolate and milk. It is similar to a whisk and beautifully made of "turned wood".

Rice with chicken,"arroz con pollo," is eaten in Spain and all over Latin America. Each region has its own variation. It is prepared in a "caldero", which is a cast iron pot, with lid.

It was considered quite, exotic when it originated in Spain; it had rice from India, saffron from Asia and tomatoes.

What better way to complete a meal than with a Spanish flan recipe recipe. Flan is a light egg custard, with caramel sauce. The dish originated during Roman times, and has had many variations from savory to sweet. It followed the Conquistadors, to South and Central America, where it is very popular today.

Children can cook along with adults, under proper supervision. Practice the vocabulary, as you are making the recipes together. Then, when you all sit down to eat reinforce it again, perhaps explaining to each other, in Spanish, how you prepared the meal or dessert.

Beth Manners has devoted over 15 years to finding fun ways to learn French and Spanish. Visit her website and try some of the "recipe Spanish lessons" such as tortilla espanola or arroz con pollo.

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