Asturian pote: traditional recipe step by step
Asturian pote
Ingredients for 4 people
- 300 g Asturian white beans (fabes).
- 1 large bunch of collard greens.
- 500 g potatoes.
- 1 Asturian chorizo.
- 1 Asturian blood sausage (morcilla).
- 150 g cured pork shoulder (lacón).
- 150 g pork belly or bacon.
- 2 garlic cloves.
- 1 teaspoon sweet paprika.
- Olive oil.
- Salt.
How to make Asturian pote step by step
1. Soak the beans
The night before, place the fabes in a large bowl and cover them generously with cold water. Leave them to soak for about 10–12 hours so they can rehydrate.
2. Start cooking
Drain the beans and place them in a large pot. Add the chorizo, blood sausage, cured pork shoulder and pork belly. Cover with cold water by a couple of centimetres and slowly bring to the boil. Skim off any foam that rises to the surface, then continue cooking over low heat.
3. Prepare the collard greens
Wash the collard greens thoroughly, remove the thickest stalks and cut the leaves into strips. Blanch them for a few minutes in boiling water and drain. This helps soften both their flavour and texture.
4. Add the collard greens
When the beans have been cooking for about an hour, add the collard greens to the pot. Mix carefully without stirring the beans too much, and allow everything to continue cooking gently.
5. Add the potatoes
Peel and wash the potatoes, then cut them into medium-sized pieces by partially slicing and snapping each piece away with the knife. Add them when the beans are already fairly tender. The starch they release will help thicken the broth naturally.
6. Prepare the garlic and paprika sauté
Heat a little olive oil in a small frying pan and gently brown the chopped garlic. Remove the pan from the heat, add the sweet paprika so it does not burn, and immediately pour the mixture into the pot.
7. Finish cooking
Continue cooking over low heat until the beans and potatoes are tender and the broth has become slightly thick. If you need to add water during cooking, add small amounts of cold water.
8. Rest and serve
Taste the broth and adjust the salt only at the end, as the cured pork and compango already add plenty of flavour. Remove the chorizo, blood sausage, cured pork shoulder and pork belly, cut them into portions and serve them with the stew. Let the pote rest for a few minutes before serving.
Tips for a good Asturian pote
Always cook over low heat. The beans should cook slowly so that they become tender while remaining whole. A vigorous boil can cause them to break apart.
Use good-quality collard greens. They are one of the ingredients that distinguish Asturian pote and give it its characteristic flavour. Remove the toughest parts before cooking.
Crack the potatoes rather than cutting them cleanly. Snapping the end of each cut releases more starch during cooking and helps thicken the broth naturally.
Be careful with the salt. The cured pork shoulder, chorizo, blood sausage and pork belly already season the stew, so it is best to taste and adjust the salt at the end.
Let it rest. Like many traditional stews, pote develops more body and flavour after resting. It can be even better the next day, reheated slowly.
Pote in Asturian cuisine
Asturian pote, also known as pote de berzas, is one of Asturias’ great traditional stews. Its base combines white beans, collard greens and potatoes with the pork products collectively known as compango.
It is a dish particularly associated with the colder months and traditional home cooking. Although there are local and family variations, collard greens and potatoes are two of the ingredients that give it its distinctive character and set it apart from Asturian fabada.
If you would like to discover more dishes, cheeses, desserts and culinary traditions from Asturias, see our guide to the gastronomy of Oviedo and Asturias.