Easy Dominican Sancocho Recipe

If you love stew you’re in for a treat! Sancocho is one of my favorite island dishes. This delicious meat and vegetable stew is popular across the Caribbean and Latin America, with each country adding their own twist. The rich broth gets its flavor from a variety of meats and its satisfying texture from víveres—starchy root vegetables like yuca, yautía, and plantains.

Growing up in Providence, I lived side by side with Dominicans and noticed how similar our foods are, just with different names and slightly different ingredients. I grew up eating modje, a Cape Verdean dish, so sancocho always felt familiar to me. For this reason, it’s become one of my favorites.

What is Sancocho?

Sancocho is a meat and vegetable stew, eaten throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. It’s made with a variety of root vegetables—known as viveres in Spanish—along with squash, plantains, and corn. Dominican sancocho can include up to seven different types of meat, but for this recipe, we’re keeping it simple with just three: beef chuck, chicken thighs, and pork ribs.

Dominican-style sancocho is typically served with white rice or dumplings, and slices of avocado. It’s a dish for any season, and goes great with a cold beer in the warmer months.

Why you’ll love this recipe

• So delicious and flavorful — Sancocho gets its taste from chicken, pork, and beef, combined with root vegetables that build a rich, smooth broth. Honestly, it’s a flavor I can’t even begin to describe—you just have to try it.

• Easy to follow — I’ve included photos to show you each ingredient with their English and Spanish names to help while you shop.  Clear, step-by-step instructions with photos will guide you through the cooking process.

• Feeds 4-6 people — A lot of us islanders grew up in large households where a lot of food was cooked at once. Now that I have my own household, I don’t need to cook as much food, or else it will go to waste. I’ve scaled this recipe so a family of four can have seconds plus leftovers.

• Great for weekends (or weekdays if you plan ahead): Sancocho is perfect for a cozy weekend meal, but it can work on a weeknight too if you prep the night before or start dinner early.

Ingredients 

Just like with most recipes, everyone makes Sancocho a little differently. You’re free to adjust this list based on your preferences and what feels familiar:

• Starchy vegetables are the backbone of sancoch0. Island staples like auyama (Caribbean pumpkin) yuca, green plantains, batata (white sweet potato) and yautía (taro) add texture and flavor that complement the meat.
• Meats: You’ll need about 1.5 lbs each of beef round or chuck, boneless skinless chicken thighs, and boneless pork ribs — all available at your local grocery store. Some places sell the beef already cubed, but I prefer to cut everything into 1–2 inch pieces myself.
• Seasonings:Sazón and adobo are staples in a lot of Latin cooking, you can usually find them at most grocery stores or Latin markets. Dominican oregano and the large bouillon cubes can be harder find, feel free to use regular oregano and standard bouillon. I make my own sofrito at home, but store-bought is also fine.
• Other vegetables: You’ll need 3 ears of corn, each cut into 3-4 pieces, cilantro for freshness and avocado to serve on the side. The corn is my favorite part, so I like to make sure there’s enough for each serving. Fresh corn is best but frozen is fine too, just make sure it’s on the cob.

Recipe steps with photos

Each step is listed with photos to guide you through the process. Sancocho is traditionally cooked in a wide, shallow aluminum pan called a caldero — its large surface area cooks everything evenly, makes stirring easier, and is great for browning all the meat at once.

Prepare the meat

Step 1: Soak the cubed beef, pork, and chicken in a large bowl with water and vinegar for 10–15 minutes. Drain, rinse well, and pat the meat dry with paper towels.

Step 2: In a clean bowl, season the meat with sofrito, adobo, sazón, and black pepper. Cover and let marinate in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to an hour or overnight.

Step 3: Heat the oil and sugar in a large aluminum pan, and heat it until the sugar turns deep brown. Sear the meat on all sides.

Cook the vegetables

Step 4: Add the squash and one whole plantain to the pan with the meat. Pour in 4 to 6 cups of water—just enough to cover everything—then add the bouillon cubes. Bring everything to a boil, then cover and simmer for 40 minutes.

Step 5: While meat, squash and plantain simmer, peel and slice the remaining plantains into ½-inch rounds. Then peel and cut the yuca, yautía, and batata into 1-inch pieces and set them aside (soaking them in cold water keeps them from turning brown).

Tip: Soak the batata separately. It’s added closer to the end since it cooks faster than the other root vegetables.

Thicken the broth and add remaining ingredients

Step 6: Once the squash and whole plantain are soft, remove them from the pot with a few tablespoons of the cooking liquid. Mash by hand until smooth (you can use a food processor for this step if you’d like).

Note: Depending on the cut of beef, you may want to skim some of the fat/oil that forms on the the top using a large spoon. When doing this, be careful not to spoon off too much broth.

Step 7: Add the mashed squash and plantain back to the pot and stir well. Drain the yuca, yautía, and sliced plantains, then add them in. Stir everything together, lay the cilantro on top, cover, and cook for 20 minutes. Add the corn and batata last, cover again, and cook for another 15–20 minutes.

Step 8: Once all of the vegetables are tender, turn off the burner, discard the cilantro, and add 1–2 squeezes of fresh lime juice. Cover and let the sancocho rest for 10–15 minutes. 

Serving suggestions

• Dominican Sancocho is traditionally served plain white rice (arroz blanco) and slices of avocado on the side. 
• During the warmer months, serve it with something cold like an ice cold beer
• You can also serve sancocho with a side of tostones (fried plantains)

Storing and reheating leftovers

I’d argue that Sancocho tastes even better the next day, once the broth thickens and the flavors have time to develop. To make the most of your leftovers:

• Store them in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
• Warm leftovers in a pan, adding a splash of water if the broth has thickened too much.
• Serve again with reheated white rice and fresh avocado.

More recipes you’ll enjoy

• Arroz Blanco (plain white rice)
• Mangu con Los Tres Golpes (Dominican Breakfast)
• La Bandera (Traditional Dominican Lunch)
• Pollo Guisado (Dominican Stewed Chicken)
• Carne Guisada (Dominican Stewed Beef)
• Pastelon de Platano Maduro (Ripe Plantain Lasagna)

 

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