Puchero Uruguayo is the Uruguayan boiled dinner — beef, chorizo, chicken, and vegetables (potato, sweet potato, corn, carrot, squash) simmered for hours in one pot. It is the dish of the winter Sunday, the kind that warms the whole house. The broth is served first as a soup; the meats and vegetables come next as the main.
Puchero (literally 'stewpot') is the Spanish colonial boiled dinner that became, in Uruguay, the great winter family meal. Like the Spanish cocido (and the Argentine puchero, which is nearly identical), it layers meat, sausage, and vegetables in one pot and simmers them for hours. The Uruguayan version is distinguished by the abundance of sweet elements — sweet potato, butternut squash, corn on the cob — which reflect the country's agricultural richness. The puchero is served in two courses: the broth first (often with noodles), then the solids (the 'sustancia') arranged on a platter.
The broth comes first — clear, golden, deeply savory from the beef and sausage. Then the platter — slices of corned beef, a piece of chorizo (orange with paprika), a chicken thigh, and a colorful array of vegetables: yellow corn, orange sweet potato, green squash, white potato. Each piece has drunk in the broth. Eat it with bread, on a cold Sunday, with the family around.
The puchero is built on the principle of slow extraction: cold water and gentle heat pull flavor and collagen from the meats and bones into the broth, without emulsifying the fat (which would make it cloudy). The ingredients are added in stages — the toughest meats (beef, bones) first, the chicken and sausages in the middle, the vegetables last so they don't fall apart. The sweet vegetables (sweet potato, squash) are added in the final 20 minutes only, so they keep their shape.
Variations
Some add bacon (panceta); some serve the broth with noodles or rice; some add chickpeas; the sausage type varies (chorizo colorado, morcilla).
On the Palate
Where Puchero Uruguayo sits in the Uruguayan flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 6
How it's made
8 steps · 40 min active + 2 hours 20 min waiting
- 15 min
Place 800 g beef (chuck or brisket, bone-in), 1 marrow bone, and 2 chorizos in a large pot; cover with cold water.
- 260 min
Bring slowly to a simmer; skim the foam; simmer 1 hour.
Watch outBring it up slowly from cold water and skim the grey foam as it rises — this keeps the broth clear; a hard boil turns it cloudy and greasy.
- 330 min
Add 4 chicken thighs; simmer 30 minutes.
- 45 min
Add 4 potatoes (halved), 2 sweet potatoes (chunks), 2 carrots, 1 butternut squash (chunks), and 2 corn cobs (cut in 3).
Watch outAdd the sweet potato and squash only for the final stretch — put in too early they collapse into mush before the meat is done.
- 540 min
Simmer 40 minutes until all vegetables are tender.
- 62 min
Taste; season with salt.
- 75 min
Strain the broth; serve as a first course, with noodles if you like.
- 85 min
Arrange the meats and vegetables on a large platter; serve as the main.
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