A Canary Islands one-pot stew of thick noodles, chickpeas and potato cooked with beef and chicken in a paprika-and-saffron broth. It sits between a soup and a stew — a spoon dish thickened by the noodles and chickpeas, coloured and seasoned by a sofrito with paprika and saffron, thyme and bay. Hearty and inexpensive, it is everyday cold-weather food across the islands.
A humble traditional dish of the Canary Islands, built like many island stews on whatever was at hand — chickpeas, potatoes, thick noodles and a little meat, whether chicken, pork or beef. In times of scarcity the meat was dropped and it was cooked with vegetables alone. It is a classic plato de cuchara (spoon dish) of the islands and appears in Canarian regional cooking as a staple cold-season one-pot, promoted today by the islands' own tourism and food authorities as a traditional recipe.
A thick, comforting bowl: soft thick noodles and creamy chickpeas in a golden-orange broth tinted by paprika and saffron, with tender shreds of meat and soft potato throughout. The texture is somewhere between a brothy soup and a loose stew, warming and filling rather than refined. Thyme and bay give a herbal backbone; eaten hot, with a spoon.
The base is a sofrito — onion, garlic and tomato fried in oil with paprika bloomed in the warm fat to set the colour and depth — combined with chickpeas and meat that have been simmered until tender. Potatoes are added and cook until they soften and shed a little starch into the broth; the thick noodles go in last and cook only a few minutes, releasing more starch that thickens the liquid into a hearty, spoonable consistency. Saffron, thyme and bay perfume the broth, and the whole pot is left to rest briefly so the noodles drink up the flavour.
Variations
The meat is interchangeable — beef and chicken together, or just pork, depending on the household; a leaner version drops it entirely. Some cooks add chorizo for smokiness, others a splash of white wine. Noodle thickness varies from fine to fairly thick, and the chickpeas are occasionally part-supplemented with other beans. Karlos Arguiñano and other Spanish cooks have popularised mainland versions, but the paprika-saffron Canarian one-pot is the original.
On the Palate
Where Rancho Canario sits in the Spanish flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 4
How it's made
7 steps · 20 min
- 1480 min
Soak the chickpeas in cold water overnight.
- 290 min
Simmer the beef and chicken with the drained chickpeas in salted water until both are tender.
- 312 min
Make a sofrito: fry chopped onion, garlic and tomato in oil, then bloom paprika in the warm fat.
- 45 min
Stir the sofrito into the pot with saffron, thyme, bay and a splash of white wine.
- 520 min
Add the diced potato and simmer until soft, lightly crushing a few pieces to thicken the broth.
Watch outLightly crush a few potato pieces into the broth — that released starch is what thickens the pot to a hearty, spoonable body.
- 68 min
Add the thick noodles and cook just until tender, a few minutes, stirring so they don't stick.
Watch outAdd the thick noodles last and cook just a few minutes — they release more starch and drink up the broth, so don't overcook them slack.
- 75 min
Season to taste, rest briefly off the heat, and serve hot in deep bowls.
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