Cachapa is a traditional dish made from maize flour from Venezuela. Like arepas, they are popular at roadside stands. They can be made like pancakes of fresh corn dough, or wrapped in dry corn leaves and boiled (cachapa de hoja). The most common varieties are made with fresh ground corn mixed into a thick batter and cooked on a budare, like pancakes; the cachapa is slightly thicker and lumpier because of the pieces from corn kernels.

Cachapas are traditionally eaten with queso de mano (hand[made] cheese), a soft, fresh, white cheese, similar to fresh Italian mozzarella (but not American/Canadian mozzarella). They occasionally also contain fried pork chicharrón on the side. Cachapas can be very elaborate, some including different kinds of cheese, milky cream, or jam. They can be prepared as an appetizer, generally with margarine, or as a full breakfast with hand cheese and fried pork.

In Costa Rica, chorreadas are similar.

In the Llanos Orientales, they are known as arepas de maiz jojoto or tierno (soft corn)

In Seville, Spain, there is a similar word in the Chaima dialect, which is registered as an indigenous word "kachapa" to make a sweet arepa for the Chaima (Venezuelan tribe).^{[clarification needed]}

In Venezuela, the word "cachapera" refers to restaurants that sell this product. But in countries such as Venezuela and Puerto Rico, cachapera could also be a derogatory term for a lesbian.

Cachapas are very prominent in Venezuelan cuisine; anthropological evidence shows cachapas have been eaten in Venezuela for about 3,000 years.

Cachapas have a long history, originating in pre-Columbian times when indigenous people would grind corn with a stone and cook it under their fireplaces, a common practice frequently found in Latin America.