We Made Sancocho 3 Ways to Find Out Which Worked Best

If you’re like me and you usually pick dinner recipes based on how short the ingredients list is, sancocho can look pretty intimidating. Most recipes require at least three different cuts of meat, plus a long list of vegetables that include plantains, yuca, yam, squash, corn, and more. 

For the meat, my mom’s recipe uses pork neck bones, beef short ribs, and chicken drumsticks. Gomez’s recipe uses chicken thighs, beef stew meat, and beef ribs. The recipe on My Dominican Kitchen uses three different cuts of pork. Other recipes can include as many as seven different cuts of meat from goat, pork, chicken, and beef.

All this to say, sancocho is highly customizable. There are no rules for what cuts of meat you use, and the same goes for the root vegetables in the recipe. According to Gomez, there are a few nonnegotiables, though: A sancocho should never have noodles or potatoes in it.