The main characteristic of this dish is the generous amount and variety of food in a traditional bandeja paisa: red beans cooked with pork, white rice, carne molida (ground meat), chicharrón, fried egg, plantain (plátano maduro), chorizo, arepa, hogao sauce, black pudding (morcilla), avocado and lemon.

Side dishes include mazamorra (a maize-derived beverage similar to atole) with milk and ground panela.

A diet-friendly version of the dish is very popular in Bogotá, which replaces pork with grilled chicken breast, black pudding with salad and chorizo with a wiener.

A number of people opposed this designation, arguing that only a small percentage of the Colombian population consumes it on a regular basis and that it originated in only a single region of Colombia (Antioquia).

[5] However, the suggested alternative, sancocho, is not a distinctively Colombian dish, as it is known and enjoyed in many other countries, such as Cuba, Venezuela, the Canary Islands, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and Panama.