Sancocho Dominicano Recipe

Sancocho Dominicano is a traditional meat and root stew from the Dominican Republic. This stew traditionally is made for special occasions or large get-togethers but can be enjoyed any time of the year. When it comes to sancocho, this dish is made with a tone of love and patience that brings people together and is usually made in a group setting like with your loved ones.

Sancocho Dominicano Ingredients

Meats:

• Chicken 1 lb – drumsticks preferred 
• Pork Meat 1 lb – cubed for stew
• Pork Ribs 1 lb – sliced
• Beef Meat 1lb – cubed for stew
• Goat Meat 1lb – optional and cubed for stew 

Roots:

• 3 to 4 Plantains – sliced
• 3 lb of Yuca (cassava) – peel and cubed
• 2 lb of Yautia (Malanga root) – peel and cubed
• 4 lb Auyama (West Indian Pumpkin) – peel and cubed
• 3 lb Yautia Coco (Cocoyam) – optional, peel, and cubed
• 1 lb Name (yam) – optional, peel, and cubed
• 1 lb of Potatoes – peel and cubed

Other Ingredients:

• 2 cups of Sazon
• 2 Corn on the cobs – sliced in 1 inch
• 1 bundle of Cilantro (removed once fully cooked)
• ½ tbs of Oregano
• ½ tbs of Garlic – crushed or blended
• 2 Lime Juices
• 1 to 2 tbs of salt (to taste)

Sancocho Dominicano Recipe

Cleaning & Seasoning Meats: 

1. Cut stew meats into cubed chunks, cut ribs into slices, and lather all the meats separately with water, lemon, and apple cider vinegar to cleans.
2. Marinate meats in 2 tbs of Sazon and 1 tsp of salt and pepper to taste
3. Add individual meats into ziplock bags and let sit for 1- 4 hours before cooking.

Cooking Meats:

1. Since all meats have different cooking times, my family cooks the like-kind meats together and separately cooks the others. For example, we cook the ribs and pork stew meat together in a large pot while cooking the chicken in a completely different pot.
2. Add about 1 tbs of oil in preferably a medium to a large pot and turn the heat on high. 
3. Add the seasoned like-kind meat to each pot and stir until browned and fully cooked.

Cooking Roots and Vegetables:

1. Peel the plantain and cut it into cubes. You can also use a grater to grate the plantain and pat the shredded plantain into little circles with some oil and salt to hold the shape. This is called Bollito de Platano for sancocho. You can set these aside and add these to the soup.
2. For the rest of the roots, you can peel and cut into 2 inch cubes and put to the side until ready to put into the soup.
3. Cut corn into 1 inch cubes.

Sancocho Directions

1. In a very large pot add about 1 ½ to 2 gallons of water to boil on medium heat. This is going to be the pot that you’re going to cook the sancocho. 
2. Add 2 cups of sazon to the sancocho, with the bundle of cilantro, oregano, garlic, dash of salt, and cubed corn.
3. Add half of the yautia and auyama to get the sancocho going and thickened up.
4. While the sancocho base is cooking, you cook the meats.
5. Then you add the cooked red meats, like the ribs, beef stew, pork stew, and goat meat to the sancocho.
6. While that cooks for about 30 minutes you peel and cut all of the roots.
7. You then add the roots, except the potatoes, and platanos.
8. After another 30 minutes you can add the chicken and the potatoes and bollitos of platanos to the stew.
9. This sancocho will continue to cook for about 2 more hours for a total of 4 hours to complete the sancocho.

Pairing the Sancocho

• White rice
• Sliced Avocado
• Hot sauce (optional for taste)