Fabada Asturiana

Don't Make These Mistakes

Shake, never stir. Broken beans give a cloudy fabada and Asturians will notice.

Salt only at the very end, once you know how much the cured meats have contributed.

It is significantly better the next day, which is how it is traditionally eaten.

Making Fabada Asturiana

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1. Drain the soaked beans and put them in a wide, heavy pot. Cover with cold water by 4 cm.

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2. Add the chorizo, morcilla, lacón, pancetta, onion, garlic and bay leaf. Do not add salt yet — the meats are heavily salted.

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3. Bring slowly to the boil and skim off the foam thoroughly for the first 10 minutes.

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4. Add the olive oil, reduce to the barest simmer, and cook uncovered for 2½ to 3 hours.

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5. Never stir with a spoon. To move things around, take the pot by the handles and shake it in a circular motion.

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6. Twice during cooking, add a small glass of cold water to shock the beans and stop them bursting.

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7. After 90 minutes, lift out a ladleful of broth and dissolve the saffron and pimentón into it, then return it to the pot.

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8. When the beans are completely creamy and the broth has thickened and turned orange, taste and add salt if needed.

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9. Lift out the meats, slice them, and return them to the pot. Rest 20 minutes off the heat before serving.

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Related guide: Prep, cook and total time.

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Why It Works

The beans are never stirred with a spoon — the pot is shaken instead — because stirring breaks their delicate skins and clouds the broth. Adding a splash of cold water twice during cooking, the technique called asustar, shocks the beans and helps them cook evenly without bursting.

Storage and Reheating

Refrigerate up to 4 days and freeze 3 months. Reheat very gently, shaking rather than stirring.

If You're Missing Something

• An eighth of a teaspoon of garlic powder per clove is the stand-in usually given when you are out of fresh garlic; it will not brown the same way, and it burns easily, so add it with the liquid.

Good With

• Asturian cider, poured from a height
• Crusty bread
• Rice pudding (arroz con leche) afterwards

Sides from the same cuisine on this site: Patatas a lo Pobre, Pisto, Escalivada.

Common Questions About Fabada Asturiana

What's in a Serving

No nutrition figures are given for this recipe: they cannot be worked out reliably from its ingredient list (some ingredient lines cannot be read). Why some recipes have none.

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