During the modern era, the basis of the rural Catalan cuisine was laid down. Exceptionally refined and complete, the gastronomy of the Renaissance, Baroque and the Enlightenment was the gateway to the traditional Catalan cuisine.

From the 16th to the 18th century, it underwent a revolution with the arrival of new products from the Americas: tomatoes, peppers, beans, corn, cocoa, turkey and vanilla. In addition, it introduced changes in tastes, with the distinction between sweet and salty, and the popularity of new tastes such as cold drinks, salads, chocolate, rice and pasta. The lower classes and the convents were the most receptive to these new products, while the aristocrats and bourgeois were more conservative, preferring to stay with the medieval cuisine.

The most notable written evidence of Catalan cuisine in the modern era are Nuevo arte de cocina (Juan Altimiras), the Llibre dels secrets d'agricultura, casa rústica i pastoril (Fr Miquel Agustí), Instrucció breu i útil per los cuiners principiants (Francesc del Santíssim Sagrament), Avisos y instrucciones per lo principiant cuyner (Francesc Orri), El llibre de l'art de quynar (Fr Sever d'Olot) and the Llibre de cuina de Scala Dei (Monastery of Banyoles).