As Puerto Rican Day and its famed parade approach on June 14, few dishes capture the island’s spirit more completely than sancocho. The hearty stew—built from root vegetables, corn, and a mix of meats—is a staple of family gatherings and celebrations, a meal designed as much for sharing as for sustenance. The recipe is taken from Omi Hopper’s debut cookbook, Cooking con Omi: A Love Letter to Puerto Rican Home Cooking, which comes out in August and features a collection of 100 recipes that weaves together food, family stories, and cultural history.
Hopper, a Puerto Rican content creator, entrepreneur, and Next Level Chef semifinalist, has built a devoted audience by celebrating the flavors and traditions she grew up with. Her videos are often presented in Spanish, a deliberate choice that reflects her mission. “Spanish is the language of my childhood, and the language in which I learned to cook all my dishes,” she says. “It’s the language I heard in my grandmother’s kitchen, the language that carries so many of our traditions and stories.” For Hopper, preserving language is inseparable from preserving culture.
That culture is enjoying a moment of renewed visibility. “Between music, food, and artists like Bad Bunny bringing global attention to Puerto Rico, more people are curious about who we are,” Hopper notes. Yet she is quick to remind audiences that Puerto Rico is “not just a tropical destination,” but a place shaped by multicultural influences. “Our food, our music, our traditions, our way of speaking, even our sense of humor, all come from our Indigenous Taíno roots, African heritage, and Spanish influence blend,” she says. “It’s a people with a rich history, resilience, and a cultural identity that stands on its own.”
If mofongo is Puerto Rico’s comfort food, Hopper sees sancocho as “something even deeper,” inseparable from the context in which it is prepared and consumed. “It’s the kind of meal that appears when there’s a celebration, a family gathering, or someone who needs to be cared for,” she says. “Sancocho is a symbol of Puerto Rican community. It’s a dish that says, ‘Pull up a chair, there’s enough for everyone.’ It’s the meal that will feed the family for a couple of days and the ingredients are easily found on the land.”
That generosity—and the belief that food should make people feel “welcome, cared for, and connected”—runs through every page of Cooking con Omi and every spoonful of this classic stew.
Ingredients
Method
- Season the beef and chicken chunks with 1 tablespoon of the adobo.
- In a large pot over medium-high heat, add the olive oil and heat until it shimmers. Add the seasoned beef and chicken and cook for 20 minutes, until the meat is browned on all sides and has released its liquids.
- Add the ham or smoked pork chops and continue to cook for another 20 minutes, until the pork is tender and most of the liquid has been absorbed.
- In the same pot, add the onion, bell pepper, and garlic paste and cook for about 5 minutes, until the vegetables begin to soften. Stir in the sofrito, mojo, sazón, the remaining 2 tablespoons of adobo, the cumin, tomato paste, bouillon, and bay leaves and cook for another 2 to 3 minutes.
- Pour in the broth or water, bring to a boil over medium-high heat, and simmer for about 10 minutes. Add broth or water as needed along the way to replace what evaporates.
- Add the plantains, yautía, yuca, batata, calabaza, and carrots to the pot. Continue to simmer for another 30 minutes, or until the vegetables are tender. Add the corn during the last 15 minutes of cooking.
- Make the bolitas: Using the finest part of a grater (or a food processor), grate the green bananas and season with salt. Using a spoon, form the grated banana into roughly 1-tablespoon-size dumplings and add to the center of the pot one at a time. Cook for 10 minutes, until the bolitas turn light golden and slightly increase in size.
- Taste the sancocho and adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper. Remove and discard the bay leaves before serving. Garnish each bowl with cilantro and serve with lime wedges on the side.
Reprinted with permission from Cooking con Omi: A Love Letter to Puerto Rican Home
Cooking. Text © 2026 by Cooking con Omi, LLC Photographs © 2026 by Elizabeth Fuller. Published by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York.
