Discovering Paradise
Discovering Paradise
The magnificent stew that unites a nation
Sancocho is the Dominican Republic's most celebrated communal dish — a rich, hearty stew of multiple meats and root vegetables simmered for hours into a thick, deeply flavorful broth. It is the dish that brings families together on Sundays, the centerpiece of holiday celebrations, and the cure-all remedy Dominicans swear by for hangovers, colds, and broken hearts alike.
A proper Dominican sancocho typically contains seven different meats (sancocho de siete carnes), though simpler versions with two or three are common for everyday cooking. The root vegetables — yuca, plantain, yautia, potato, and more — break down during the long simmer to thicken the broth into a velvety, nourishing soup-stew. Served over white rice with a squeeze of lime and sliced avocado on the side, sancocho is the ultimate comfort food and one of the most important dishes in the Dominican culinary canon.
Sancocho is a product of the rich cultural mixing that defines Dominican cuisine. The word "sancocho" comes from the Spanish verb sancochar, meaning to parboil, and the dish has roots in the Canary Islands' puchero and the broader Spanish tradition of cocido — multi-ingredient stews that were staple fare across the Iberian Peninsula.
When Spanish colonizers arrived on Hispaniola, they encountered the Taino people already making stews with indigenous root vegetables like yuca and yautia. Enslaved Africans brought their own stewing traditions and ingredients. Over centuries, these three culinary threads wove together into the sancocho we know today — a dish that literally embodies Dominican cultural fusion. Sancocho is found throughout Latin America in various forms, but the Dominican version, with its distinctive combination of root vegetables and multiple meats, is uniquely its own.
A traditional Dominican sancocho is a symphony of meats and root vegetables:
The long cooking time — typically 2 to 4 hours — allows the flavors to meld and the vegetables to thicken the broth naturally without any added starch.
Sancocho holds a special place in Dominican culture that goes far beyond mere sustenance:
There is even a popular Dominican saying: "Un sancocho lo arregla todo" (A sancocho fixes everything), reflecting the dish's almost mythical status as a source of comfort and healing.
Savor your sancocho experience with these recommendations:
Meal Type
Dinner
Difficulty
Hard
Total Time
165 minutes
Servings
12
Spice Level
Mild
Region
National
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