Chilean Porotos Granados

Recipe for Chilean Porotos Granados

Porotos Granados is a light summer soup popular in the country of Chile that embraces the fresh summer harvest of cranberry beans, corn, tomatoes, and squash, which are all indigenous to Chile and available in abundance in the late summer months.

With all the wonderful, garden-fresh corn, tomatoes, and squash this time of year, I thought Chilean Porotos Granados the perfect dish.

The typical squash of Chile are much larger than those grown in the average American garden.  Since I didn’t have any 20-pounders handy, I used butternut squash in this recipe, because it’s similar in taste and texture to the giants grown in Chile.

Beans are a very common food in this South American country. In fact, there’s even a saying there that goes something like, “just as Chilean as beans”.

Cranberry beans are the legumes traditionally used in this luscious stew. In fact, I think that “porotos grandados” means shelling cranberry beans. (Any Chileans reading?)

** Edit: Apparently, there was at least one Chilean reading.  Please see the first comment below for what Granados really means. 🙂 Thank you, Ignacio!

Chileans use fresh, rather than dried beans to make Porotos Granados.  Since I didn’t have fresh cranberry beans (and I’ve never even been to Chile), my rendition can’t technically be called traditional Chilean Porotos Granados. But it still tastes fabulous!! I hope you enjoy!

Chilean-Porotos-Granados

Chilean Porotos Granados

Porotos Granados is a popular dish from Chile. It’s served in late summer when cranberry beans and squash are fresh.
Cook Time 45 minutes
Course Main Course, Soup
YIELD 4 servings
All recipes on jenniferskitchen.com are property of jennifer’s kitchen and cannot be republished without written permission.

Ingredients

Instructions

  • In a large soup pan, sauté onion in oil over medium heat until they begin to look translucent.
  • Add garlic and sauté for 1 additional minute.
  • Stir in tomatoes and seasonings and continue cooking for another 5 to 10 minutes, stirring often.
  • Meanwhile, peel squash. Remove seeds and cut into 1-inch cubes (approximately).
  • Stir in cubed squash, water (or vegetable stock or broth), and beans. Bring to boil, then reduce heat, and simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes or until squash is very soft and has begun to fall apart.
  • Add corn and salt to taste. Cook until heated through.
    Serve hot.

Notes

1. If you don’t have cranberry beans, you can get them here. (It’s worth it!!). Or you can use red beans, or pinto beans.
2. If you like a more tomato-y soup, increase diced tomatoes to 1 1/2 cups.

>> One quick request: if you like this recipe, please leave a rating and a comment. Ratings help more people find these healthy recipes!

Print Recipe

Want More?

For more healthy and delicious recipes like this one that will simplify your journey to a healthier and thinner you, check out my

Healthy Weight Loss Program!
Did you make this recipe?Mention @JennifersKitchn or tag #JennifersKitchn!
How to cook beans in a slow cooker or crock pot

You my also like:

Before you go . . .

Did you know that you can eat all this delicious food AND lose weight? You can!

No calorie counting. No portion sizes.

Join my online weight loss program today!

Please consider leaving a star rating and a comment. This helps others discover my recipes. Thank you! 🙂

19 Comments

  1. 5 stars
    Hi, i loved your recipe. I am Chilean.
    Everything you say is correct, except de part of Cranberry beans. Granados comes from the verb Granar (to split bean or seeds). Because we took the beans pods and split them before starting to cook.

    When i was a child, my whole family participated from the process. Boiling the corn and after cut the corn teeth. Splitting the pods and extracting the beans.

    Nowadays you can buy the beans and the corn in the supermarket, but traditionally you HAVE to buy it at the farmers market, which we have everywhere. (It´s called Feria, (market)) and there are everywhere.

    Greetings from Chile

  2. Porotos granados referrs to taking the fresh beans, opening the pods and removing the beans (granar is to remove the grano or seed). It doesn’t mean cranberry beans.

  3. Oregano? Cumin? I’m from Chile never heard of using these two spices nor tomatoes in it my mum always served this soup with fresh tomatoes salad & used fresh basil, sorry but this soup sounds more like a southwest soup not the original Chilean porotos granados which I absolutely adore…..

    1. Hi Anna,
      Good to hear from a Chilean. I would love to try some of the soup that your mother served. It sounds delicious!

      As I mentioned in my post, this is certainly not traditional Porotos Granados, but rather my version
      of it using ingredients that I have available to me here in the U.S., with a few additions to make it attractive to my American readers. (I’m a weight loss consultant from the U.S., not a Chilean chef 🙂 )

      Even if it isn’t traditional, we still greatly enjoy the flavor and are thankful toward the Chileans who introduced the idea to us.

      If you ever want to share some authentic Chilean recipes with me, I would consider it an honor and would enjoy trying them.

      Jennifer

  4. Hi Jennifer, thanks for sharing this delicious recipe. I’m Chilean and I live in the US and this week I found in a supermarket beans to make my “porotos granados” . The recipe that you share is similar to my family recipe.
    If other ingredients are added to give more flavor it is welcome. What can this not be absent is the fresh basil because it is the characteristic flavor of this dish and reminds me of summer.

    You know what is best for this dish? The whole family is involved in the process of “shelling” beans before cooking it is typical of summer. And if you want to do even more Chilean, you can prepare a Chilean Salad or “Ensalada a la Chilena” which is chopped tomatoes with onion and cilantro.

    Thank you very much for sharing this typical recipe for Chile.
    I have curious, you have a relationship with Chile and his food? Usually people do not know much about our food.

    A hug and thank you! You bring me good memories
    Fran

    1. Hi Fran,
      Thank you so much for your great comment. What a beautiful tradition – the whole family shelling the beans together. : )

      That’s good to know about the fresh basil. I’m looking forward to warmer weather so we can have fresh basil again.

      To answer your question, I don’t really know much about Chile or Chilean food; although I would love to learn. Me encanta el idioma español.

      Jennifer

  5. Hi Jennifer,

    I too am Chilean-American and this is what I would call Chilean comfort food. Definitely agree with Fran that it must have fresh basil and that it pairs extremely well with “ensalada a la Chilena”. In fact, we put some of this salad on top of the porotos in summer. The tanginess of this tomato salad contrasts so well with the mild sweetness of the porotos.

    If you ever get a chance to go to Chile, it’s worth going just for the food! They have the best fruits, vegetables and meats… And don’t even get me started on the seafood!…

    1. Hi Caroline,
      Thank you for your comment. The ensalada a la Chilena sounds delicious. I would love to try it … and I would loooove to go to Chile to try the food … maybe some day. 🙂

  6. 5 stars
    This was one of my favorite dishes when I first visited my Chilean relatives (by marriage). Now you can get fresh cranberry beans in farmer’s markets and even grocery stores in California. I make it with fresh tomatoes, fresh basil, fresh corn, and banana squash. So good!

  7. Hi Jennifer,
    I’m planning to prepare porotos granados tomorrow and was looking for a recipe. I see yours has other ingredients like tomatoes, garlic, cumin, sweet paprika and granulated onion that I had not put in my recipe before. I will try some of these and see.
    I eagerly wait till my vegetable grocer brings cranberry beans once per year and get excited to make porotos granados.
    My late husband, a Chilean from Viña del Mar, where we lived together for one year loved this dish. Tomorrow we’ll remember him on another anniversary of his passing eating this wholesome dish.
    Thank you for sharing this recipe.
    Ximena

    1. Aw, Ximena, your comment so touched my heart. What a beautiful way to remember him.

      I hope you like this recipe. I’m wondering if you may want to cut the tomatoes, cumin, etc. in half so the dish is more like what you are used to. I’m guessing that the authentic Porotos Granados is much better than my Americanized version.

      Thank you for your comment. Blessings to you at this special time.

  8. Dear Jennifer,
    Your recipe was a success!
    I only added a bit of ginger, which I always add to my everything.
    Thank you for your message.
    It was a nice, serene day of remembrance.
    Happy Thanksgiving!
    I wonder what wonderful vegetarian dishes you prepare for this celebration.
    With appreciation,
    Ximena

    1. That’s great to hear, Ximena!

      Happy Thanksgiving to you too. I just sent out an email with some delicious Thanksgiving recipe suggestions for all my subscribers. It included dishes like
      chickpea loaf,
      Herb Gravy,
      Healthy Mashed Potatoes,
      Vegan Veggie Balls, and
      Cranberry Apple Crisp.

      If you would like to subscribe to my email list, please feel free to do so. You can find a subscribe form on the bottom of each page of my website.

      Many blessings to you,
      Jennifer

  9. Dear Jennifer,
    Thank you for your comment.
    Will do, subscribe to your email list.
    I’m searching for a recipe for ube for Thanksgiving.
    How would you prepare a dish with this colorful tuber?
    Best regards,
    Ximena

    1. Ximena,
      That’s a great question. The only way I’ve ever had ube is simply baked. I’d be interested in knowing of other ways to prepare it.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.