Sancocho de Pollo o Gallina is a popular dish in Colombia. It's a hearty and filling chicken soup made with potatoes, plantain, corn, yuca, herbs and chicken or hen. This one pot meal is delicious served with avocado on the side.
What is Sancocho?
Sancocho is a common Colombian and Latin dish that you can make with fish, plantain, beef, chicken, pigeon peas or pork. Sancocho de Gallina or Sancocho Valluno is originally from the Colombian Region El Valle. Traditionally this soup is made with hens, but you can use chicken too.
I have a lot of good memories associated with this dish. One memory is of my grandmother cooking a big pot of sancocho de pollo and having all of her nine children with their families for lunch on Sundays. I would wait all week for that day to come to see all of my cousins and let me tell you, that was a party. In Colombia when we get together it is always a reason to dance and drink, no matter what time of the day. Another great memory I have associated with this dish is going with my friends from high school on a weekend to a farm or country house and cooking this soup outside on the fire. The smoky flavor from cooking over an open fire is amazing and this is a popular way to cook beans and sancocho in Colombia. Serve it with avocado, white rice and ají on the side.
Sancocho de Pollo Ingredients
This soup recipe calls for basic ingredients you may have on hand and it's easy to make. The full printable recipe card with ingredients list and directions is below.
Corn: I like to use fresh corn on the cob, but if you can't find it use frozen corn.
Liquid: I recommend using chicken or vegetable broth if you prefer more flavor.
Aliños: Here is my recipe for Colombian style aliños
Chicken: I like to use a whole chicken, but you can use just legs, thighs o breast. Use your favorite chicken pieces.
Spices: Cumin, salt and pepper
Vegetables: Green plantains, potatoes and yuca.
Herbs: Fresh cilantro, if you don't like cilantro use parsley.
This Chicken Sancocho is a warming and soothing soup that is hearty and satisfying. This recipe also reheats well so you’ll love having leftovers. Once the soup has cooled to room temperature, cover leftover soup and store in the fridge for 3-4 days.
Other Popular and All-Time Favorite Traditional Colombian Dishes: Arroz con Pollo (Chicken and Rice), Empanadas Colombianas (Colombian Empanadas), Ajiaco Bogotano (Chichen and Potato Soup), Bandeja Paisa (Paisa Tray), Pandebono (Cheese Bread), Buñuelos (Cheese Balls) and Arepas Rellenas de Queso.
More Soup Recipes
Crema de Alcachofas (Artichokes Soup)
Caldo de Pollo y Papas (Chicken and Potato Broth)
Crema de Aguacate (Avocado Creamy Soup)
Receta Sancocho de Pollo o Gallina
Ingredients
- 3 ears of fresh corn cut into 3 pieces
- 12 cups chicken broth
- ½ cup of aliños
- 1 large whole chicken
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 green plantains peeled and cut crosswise into 2-inch pieces
- 6 medium potatoes peeled and cut in half
- 1 pound frozen yuca cut into large pieces
- ¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro
- ¼ teaspoon ground pepper
Instructions
- In a large pot, place the chicken, corn, aliños, salt and green plantain. Add the broth and bring to a boil, then cover and reduce the heat to medium and cook for about 30 to 35 minutes.
- Add the potatoes, cassava and bell pepper and continue cooking for 30 more minutes or until the cassava and potatoes are tender. Add the cilantro.
- Test and adjust the seasoning. Serve in large soup bowls, dividing the chicken and vegetables evenly.
Gregorio
I live in a small pueblo in Antioquia, Colombia, and the locals here ALWAYS cook sancocho over an open fire to get that smokey flavor. If it isn't cooked over a fire it ain't proper sancocho, at least here Even the roadside restaurants all cook sancocho over a wood fire. Obviously back in the States in the suburbs or an apartment that may not be possible, but I love the mild smokey background flavor. Around New Years you can't drive down most of the narrow streets in town because everyone has bonfires going in front of their homes with huge pots big enough to cook missionaries in bubbling away with sancocho all afternoon, along with music blasting at full volume and plenty of drinking. Even in the main plaza around the church there are dozens of plumes of smoke wafting up into the air along with the smell of each family's sancocho. It's great for a New Year's hangover... I couldn't ever imagine this taking place back home, you'd have the cops, the fire department, CalTrans, the city council, and Homeland Security all over you. That's why I live in Colombia!
George
EricaI I learned this formula to prepare sancocho from Olivia a great cooker from Ginebra, Valle. It is recommend it to other soup tipe dishes like lentejas, frijoles, garbanzos. I guess some ingredients like cilantro loose flavor after much cooking: First cook yuca, green platano, corn or potato cut in bite size pieces (Sancocho from Valle uses just yuca and green platano) with salt and half of basic spices. After 15 minutes, add the beef, and finally 15 minutes before turning heat off, add a lot of cilantro(tide with a cord to keep the strings together), sofrito and the rest of spices. Allow to rest for other 15 minutes. Beautiful!!!.
clara
Hey Erica Iam really happy to find you. I am a student living in Atlanta and my homework is to find some recipes from Colombia to bring to my school . Although I cook food from Colombia I forget the other recipes but now I know how to cook them. My husband is american and he loves ours costume and food. Thanks for you blog
Annie Lazala
This looks delicious! I can't wait to make it. I was very happy to find this website, especially in English. My mother is Dominican and I cook mostly Dominican food, but my father was Colombian. It feels great to be able to cook Colombian food when I visit my family in Colombia. Thank you!
Jackie
This looks amazing! Does this recipe freeze well?
Sebastian
I made this soup last night, it was fabulous, hearty and delicious.
Kim
I just tried your recipe. Delicious!! I blogged it here with some tweaks: cookieloveseating.blogspot.com/2011/01/colombian-sancocho-chicken-yucca-corn Thank you for sharing!
kittie
so close to my moms sancocho that it just about had me to tears- I love this stuff!!!
Kim
I just got back from a trip to Bogota & Cali. I had some of this soup there and am now very excited to try to make it at home! Will let you know how it goes. Thanks for sharing!
Lauren Ochoa
I finally found an English language website with all my husbands favorite recipes! He loved this sancocho...he went back for seconds and thirds. He's from Colombia, I am from Connecticut. While he is always appreciative of my cooking, I know this dinner was special to him because it was delicious, authentic, and reminiscent of happy childhood times in Colombia. I made the pandebono from your blog to go with it and it was a scrumptious meal. I cut the sancocho recipe in half though, I don't have a soup pot big enough to fit a whole chicken! The butcher cut up a friar for me and I saved the other half for another meal. Thank you for a great recipe that I will be making again!!!
Angela Cadena-Little
Hola!! Quiero dejarte saber que en este momento estoy cocinando el sancocho y mi casa huele delicioso!! .... casi ni puedo esperar para que termine de cocinar!! Yo soy Colombiana y gracias a ti, le puedo ensenar a mis tres hijas como cocinar estas recetas tan deliciosas!! Mi esposo es Americano y le fascinan también. me faltan 10 minutos!! =)
Erica
Que lo disfruten!!!
Angela Cadena-Little
No quedo ni un sorbito! ahora mismo estoy preparando el sancocho otra vez... mis hijas y esposo están rogándome por mas !! Quedo delicioso Erica! Hasta llame a mi madre para dejarle saber lo bueno que quedo. Que alegría que estos sabores me llevan a mi infancia y me traen tan lindos recuerdos. Gracias por tu blog!! =) <3
Erica
Que bueno que te gusto!!!
Theresa
hi - if i wanted to make this recipe using a SLOW COOKER/CROCK POT - can I ?? and would you know how long i should do so for???? thanks
Erica
Theresa- I didn't make this recipe using the slow cooker, so I don't know the cooking time.
Vanessa
Thank you for this recipe!! I grew up in Venezuela and we share a lot of the customs and food choices, the scene you described completely brought me back to my early teen years playing in the country while the enormous pot of Sancocho was being cooked over a fire pit! Thanks again!
Maryut
Great sancocho recipes Erica. I make sancochos up here in Sweden on my wood-burning stove and they taste pretty ok, my family loves them, but sometimes it's hard to find fresh green plantains.
I have a question: my in-law family in Cali says thatyou should not cut plantain with knife but use your hands (fingers) instead to break the platano in small pieces, because platano reacts to the metal of the knife. Superstitions? Any truth in it?
There's a special sancocho in the Valle called Sancocho de uña, the green plantain is broken by hand to small chips not larger than your nails, They also don't add potato to the sancocho.
Great blog on Colombian food Erica, felicitaciones! I had started collecting Colombian recipes planning to put together a ciik book but gave up immediately, you have already done all the work!
Erica
Maryut-When you make Sopa de Uña......You should use your nails, but with regular sancocho I usually use a knife.
paola
this is a traditional soup made with almost any kind of meat, along with large pieces of plantain, potato, yuca (cassava) and/or other vegetables depending on the region. It is usually served with a plate of white rice on the side. Some people take the meat out of the sancocho and put it on the plate of rice, and others put the rice inside the sancocho.
Chris
Awesome job Erica. I definately plan on making lots of these recipes in the future, money is tight right now with a newborn so unfortunately our food budget is limited, BUT it should change soon. =)
Plus I need my little girl to know about her rich cultural background, I've got like half the world covered with all my ethnicities LOL
Beatriz
I made this Sancocho for my mom and it brought back memories of when we used to gather with the family and make this over a coal barbecue. I've tried many of your recipes in search of going back to my Colombian roots in terms of just the food and it has definitely come close to home. I make sure at least once a week I try a recipe from your website. Thanks so much for the recipes, my family thanks you too.