Sancocho is one of the most popular soups in Colombia. It prepares in all regions of the country. Among the versions of sancocho, you should try the delicious sancocho trifásico. You can enjoy at the same time three types of meat, such as beef, pork, and chicken, which give the flavor of the sancocho "trifásico."
The sancocho goes back to the Christmas season in which it is quite common on holidays to gather the whole family and enjoy this delicious dish on this occasion three-phase sancocho. I also remember it as the preparation that cannot be missing in the river walks or as it is popularly known in Colombia, especially in the departments of the Andean region "the Paseo de Olla".
During the walks, family, or friends groups set up a rustic stove next to the river. Place a pot large enough to add all the ingredients. Then everyone takes care to peel plantains, cassava, potatoes, corn on the cob and chop the condiments and prepare the meat. After cooking for a while, it begins to thicken, and it is what gives the trifásico steak an exceptional flavor like the delicious flavor of cooking with wood.
This type of sancocho is quite delicious if it prepares with three types of meat, such as pork, beef, and chicken, which relates to the traditional name, the famous sancocho trifásico. It may sound too exaggerated to prepare it with three different meats since this type of preparation has different ingredients. However, each of these brings a flavor that makes you want even to repeat several portions.
The three-phase sancocho has different variations depending on where you prepare it. Some people use pork or beef ribs, which add aroma to the broth. They also use chunks of beef and chicken.
When I prepare this recipe, I first add the meat or the rib. While the water begins to heat, I continue to add each of the ingredients. They are starting with the toughest ones like the plantain or the corn on the cob. Potatoes cooked in less time than the rest of the ingredients.
How to make Sancocho Trifásico
Accompany this sancocho trifásico with white rice and mango salad.
Receta original en EspañolSancocho Trifásico FAQ
Three-phase, meaning three meats in the same pot: pork, beef and chicken. It is the biggest of the sancochos and the one made for a crowd. The other versions use one protein each, which is what separates this recipe from sancocho valluno, de gallina or de pescado.
A Colombian tradition: a group goes out to a river for the day, takes a big pot, and cooks sancocho there over a wood fire. The soup is the excuse and the point at once. Sancocho trifásico is the classic paseo de olla dish because it feeds a lot of people from one pot.
A small yellow Colombian potato that half dissolves as it cooks, thickening the broth. In the United States it sells frozen in Latin groceries as papa criolla. Baby yellow potatoes are the closest fresh substitute, though they hold their shape more.
They do different jobs. The white potato stays in pieces and gets eaten; the papa criolla breaks down and gives the broth its body and colour. Using only one gives you either a thin sancocho or one with nothing to spoon out.
Then it is a different sancocho, and the site has those: valluno with chicken, or the beef version. The three together is the whole idea here. If you want to reduce it, drop the pork rather than the beef bones, which are what make the broth.
White rice, avocado and often an arepa, with the broth sometimes served separately in a cup. Each bowl should get a piece of each meat and each vegetable, which is why the recipe says to serve it deliberately rather than just ladling.
📖 Recipe
Ingredients
- 5 chicken pieces (bone-in)
- 6 pieces of meaty pork spine (sold as espinazo at Latin butchers)
- 1 pound beef, cut into pieces (about 450 g)
- 12 cups water (about 2.8 liters)
- 6 medium white potatoes, peeled and halved
- 4 papa criolla, quartered (small yellow Colombian potatoes, sold frozen in US Latin stores; they break down and thicken the broth)
- 4 pieces of corn on the cob
- 6 pieces of cassava, peeled and cut (frozen yuca works)
- 2 green plantains, cut into pieces (green, not ripe)
- 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
- ½ onion, finely chopped
- ½ tomato, finely chopped
- 1 medium carrot, grated
- 1 bouillon cube, optional
- Salt, achiote colouring, cumin and pepper, to taste
- Fresh cilantro, finely chopped, to serve (the leaf, not the seed)
Instructions
- In a large pot, put the water, the pork spine, the beef, the chicken, the corn, the plantains, the onion, the tomato, the carrot, the garlic, the bouillon cube if using, and salt to taste.
- Cover and bring to a boil over high heat for 20 to 25 minutes.
- Add the cassava, both kinds of potato, the colouring, the cumin and the pepper, and carry on cooking for 30 to 35 minutes, until everything is soft and the papa criolla has started to break down and thicken the broth. Stir in the cilantro at the end.
- Serve hot in deep bowls, making sure each one gets a piece of each meat and each vegetable. Serve with a slice of avocado and a portion of white rice.
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