This traditional dish, originally from the Tolima department of Colombia, is often served on special occasions. This popular dish consists of a whole pork stuffed with rice, peas, potatoes and spices , cooked in a brick oven for about ten to twelve hours.
Lechona was Mamita’s favorite Colombian dish and it was the main course at our New Year’s Eve celebrations and at her birthday parties. The most important thing for Mamita was that the skin was reallly crispy.
Lechona Tolimense is a delicious meal. My mom has a recipe to make a small lechona at home using pork skin and I want to share it with you. Sorry, but I could not afford a whole pig and besides, my vegetarian husband would have had a fit if I brought home a pig 
Enjoy it!
Ingredients
(6 -8 servings)
2 pounds pork fatback skins
Filling:
1/4 cup pork fat
3 scallions, chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon sazon goya with azafran
3/4 cup peas
1 1/4 cups cooked white rice
Salt and pepper
1 pound pork meat, cut into small pieces
2 potatoes, peeled and diced
Directions
1. In a medium sauce pan melt the pork fat. Add the scallions and garlic. Cook for about 3 minutes.
2. In a large bowl mix the pork meat, cooked rice, ground cumin, sazon goya, peas, potatoes, salt and pepper.
3. Add the pork fat and onion mixture to the bowl. Cover and place in the refrigerator for 1 hour.
4.To assemble: Rinse the pork fat skin under cold water and pat dry. Lay the pork fat skin on a work surface, top with rice mixture. Start rolling the pork skin to enclose the rice and pork mixture completely. Tie with kitchen string to hold the roll together.
5. Preheat the oven to 325 F.
6. Cover the lechona with aluminium foil and place on a baking dish. Bake for about 40 minutes uncovered and turn the lechona, cover again and cook for 30 minutes more.
7. Uncover and cook for 25 minutes more, to allow the skin to brown.
8. Remove from the oven and transfer it to a cutting board. Carve the lechona after it has rested for at least 15 minutes. Serve with arepa and lime wedges on the side.
Note: If you want to see pictures of a traditional lechona made with a whole pig you can visit Nika’s blog here. If you are a vegetarian, I don’t recommend the pictures.
Related posts:
{ 33 comments… read them below or add one }
DELICIOSO , ME ENCANTAN TODAS SUS RECETAS , SOY FAN SUYO UN SALUDO
OMG! that looks amazing. can’t wait to make it. i’ve made many of your recipes and they have all been great and perfect. where can i purchase the Rumba product? thanks so much for sharing your recipes with us. =o)
Claudia- You can find pork skin at a Latin market.
This is great to eat for breakfast……:)
It looks amazing! I agree with Claudia. I love your recipes and have made many! Thanks!
Sabroso — but only in small portions and definitely with a squeeze of lime juice.
WOW! I’m imagining a whole pig roasted with all these goodies. I’ve never known that you can buy pork skin alone. This dish is quite a treat, and like your mom I love pork skin to be very crisp.
Won’t the skin be tough? Looks good from the photos!
Jeannie- It is really crispy and delicious!!!
i love the way you cook the pork !! thanks for the sharing !!pierre de Paris
This sounds like one delicious stuffed pork! Thanks for scaling it down…I can’t see myself bringing home a whole pig either
Love the photos, Erica. The one of the dish coming out of the oven made my mouth water.
Funny comment about your vegetarian hubby!
Mmmmmmmmmm looks wonderful (and pork skin sounds pretty darn good too).
Oh my. Not too pretty to start out, but the end result is beautiful. I can just imagine all of the flavor from being tied in pork fat skins.
welcome home, honey–here’s a pig! yeah, that might not go over so well.
this dish, on the other hand, would be an absolute pleasure to behold upon arriving home–well done!
I love how crispy the skin got! It must have given so much flavor to this dish!
Se ve delicioso!!
Thank you guys!
Oh my, another incredible looking dish. My husband just looked over my shoulder and asked when he was getting this. Soon I hope!
This sounds delicious! I just emailed it to my Aunt who was looking for a recipe like this!
Give me all that skin…..que rico s e ve…
My grandmother used to make me fatback as a kid on summer vacation but she never got fancy like this! Spectacular cooking and presentation, Erica.
How interesting Erica; I doubt I will find this here in Lebanon but I am fascinated with the process! Sounds so good too!
Se ve muy rica pero yo soy del Tolima y en ese departamento se hace con puras carnes, papa, arveja, no se le agrega arroz. En Cundinamarca y otros departamentos es donde le agregan arroz.
I wonder how it would be if I did this recipe with bacon instead of pork skin because I could not find the skin anywhere where I live? Has anyone tried that?
Erica… Quick question. Where do you find pork fat, or how do you make it?
Thanks this looks delishhhh!!!
Karen- I find pork fat at the meat department at my local market or you can ask the butcher.
Hi Erica –
Thank you for your great recipes! My husband is Colombian and I have really wanted to learn how to cook some of his favorites for him when we are in the states, but since my spanish is not fluent enough it was difficult to learn from his mother. I have been using your recipes while I am living in Bogota and so far they all have turned out delicious!
Lechona is one of his favorites so I am excited to try this one when we return to the states, especially since we just ate some in Tolima this past weekend!
Thank you! I’ve been looking for a version of this recipe that I could make at home for just two people. This is perfect!
Thank you so much for this! My family has always wanted to make Lechona but it’s difficult to find a whole pig and also quite expensive. We’re making this for Christmas, you saved us!!
Dear Erica, you have saved Christmas this year for our family. See we ordered lechona from a local Colombian Restaurant and it was ok tastewise, but it had no pork skin. You know lechona is not lechona without the skin, I just came back from my very american store and they had the pork skin to my surprise. I am about to sfuff it with the “semi-lechona” we ordered. Thanks! I would’ve never thought of buying pork skin! Merry Christmas.
Genial!
nunca pense en poder hacer lechona en mi casa. Tambien soy vegetariana por salud
Pero, el solo cuarito le va a dar ese sabor delicioso q’ es lo q’ mas me gusta…. uy q rico!
Where can I find the skin? I’ve never seen it!
Me encantan tus recetas, he tratado algunas y me han salido bien. Me encanta este blog porque mi hijo (un futuro chef) tiene la oportunidad de conocer mas de nuestra comida tradicional. Gracias.