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Charquicán, a Chilean home-style dish, topped with a fried egg
Prep20 min
Cook40 min
Serves4 servings
CuisineChilean
Latin America & Caribbean

Charquicán: Chile's Squash and Potato Stew with Ground Beef

A recipe for charquicán, a Chilean home-style dish. Potatoes, squash, and green beans are boiled and coarsely mashed, combined with sautéed onion and ground beef, and topped with a fried egg. Covers the story of the name from dried meat (charqui), how it is eaten at the winter table, and how to judge the mash.

Total: 1 hrLevel: Beginner

Cooking flow

Cooking steps

STEP 11 / 7

Cut the vegetables

Cut potatoes and squash in 2 cm cubes, carrots, and green beans laid out
Potatoes and squash in 2 cm cubes, carrot in 1 cm cubes

Peel the potatoes and squash and cut them in 2 cm cubes, cut the carrot in 1 cm dice, and the green beans in 2 cm lengths. Finely chop the onion and garlic. Carrot is slow to cook, so cutting it smaller than the potatoes means that when they cook together in the next step they soften in the same time. Soak the cut potatoes in water for 5 minutes to remove surface starch.

STEP 22 / 7

Boil the vegetables

Boiling potatoes, squash, carrot, and green beans in a pot
A skewer slips in easily and the corners of the squash begin to crumble

Put the potatoes, carrot, green beans, squash, and 1.2 L water in a pot over high heat. Once boiling, reduce to medium and boil for 15–18 minutes. It is done when a skewer goes easily into the potato and the corners of the squash begin to crumble. Squash softens quickly, so if it worries you, you can add it 5 minutes after boiling begins.

STEP 33 / 7

Sauté the onion and garlic

Sautéing onion and garlic in a skillet and turning the oil red with paprika
The onion is translucent and the oil has turned red

While the vegetables boil, heat 2 tbsp oil in a skillet over medium heat and sauté the onion and garlic. After about 5 minutes, when the onion is translucent and lightly colored at the edges, add 2 tsp paprika and stir for 30 seconds. It is enough when the oil turns red and a toasty aroma rises. Paprika scorches easily, so do not cook it too long.

STEP 44 / 7

Sauté the ground beef

Sautéing paprika-reddened onion and ground beef
No red parts left, crumbled apart

Add 300 g ground beef and cook over medium heat for 5–6 minutes, breaking it up with a wooden spoon. When the meat changes color and turns brown all over, sprinkle with 1 1/2 tsp salt. When no red remains in the meat and it crumbles apart, turn off the heat. Keeping the fat that came out of the meat rather than discarding it helps the flavor settle into the potatoes at the finish.

STEP 55 / 7

Remove the cooking liquid and coarsely mash

Coarsely mashing the boiled potatoes and squash with a potato masher
Everything comes together with some corners of potato still showing

From the pot of cooked vegetables, remove the cooking liquid with a ladle, leaving about 1 cup (200 ml) at the bottom. Do not discard the liquid you took out; set it aside. With a wooden spoon or potato masher, coarsely mash the potatoes and squash over 2–3 minutes. The guide is that everything comes together and some corners remain here and there. Add the corn and green peas here.

STEP 66 / 7

Combine with the meat and heat through

Mixing the mashed vegetables and meat sauté in the pot
Everything comes together in orange, thick enough that a path forms for a moment on the bottom of the pot

Add the meat sauté to the mashed vegetables and warm over low heat for about 5 minutes, mixing by turning from the bottom of the pot. It is done when everything comes together in orange and is thick enough that stroking the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon leaves a path for a moment. If it is too stiff, add the reserved cooking liquid 2 tbsp at a time; if it is loose, mix for 2–3 more minutes to drive off moisture. Finally adjust with salt.

STEP 77 / 7

Top with a fried egg

Topping a plated charquicán with a fried egg
The edge of the white is browned and the yolk stays soft

Heat 2 tsp oil in another skillet over medium heat and crack in the eggs. Turn off the heat when the edges of the whites are crisp and brown and the yolks are still soft. Plate the charquicán and top each with one fried egg. The Chilean way is to break the runny yolk and mix it into the potatoes as you eat.

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Ingredients

Ingredients

1 / 3

Vegetables to boil

Ingredient Amount Substitutes & notes
Potatoes 1 kg (6–7 medium) Peeled and cut in 2 cm cubes. Starchy potatoes break down well; waxy potatoes keep their shape
Squash 300 g Peeled and cut in 2 cm cubes. Winter squash stands in for Chilean zapallo
Carrot 1 1 cm dice
Green beans 1/2 cup (about 60 g) 2 cm lengths
Water 1.2 L Enough to cover the vegetables. You can dissolve 2 tsp granulated bouillon in it
2 / 3

Meat sauté

Ingredient Amount Substitutes & notes
Ground beef 300 g A beef and pork mix also works
Onion 1 Finely chopped
Garlic 1 clove Finely chopped
Vegetable oil 2 tbsp
Paprika 2 tsp Stands in for Chilean ají color. A mild one
Salt 1 1/2 tsp Adjust to taste
3 / 3

To finish

Ingredient Amount Substitutes & notes
Whole-kernel corn 1/2 cup (about 80 g) Frozen or canned. Drain canned
Green peas 1/2 cup (about 70 g) Frozen is fine
Eggs 4 Fried
Vegetable oil (for frying eggs) 2 tsp
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In the pot, the potatoes and squash crumble softly into an orange mottle. Fold in the onion and ground beef stained red with paprika, plate it, and top it with a fried egg in the center. Break the yolk and it runs and soaks into the potatoes. This is charquicán, the potato, squash, and meat stew that Chilean households often make in winter. The "charqui" in the name means dried meat. Today it is generally made with fresh ground beef, and you can reproduce it with ordinary supermarket ingredients.

From a Travel Meal of Dried Meat to a Chilean Household Staple

Charquicán and bread on a Chilean family table

The "charqui" in charquicán is meat that has been salted and dried. In the days before refrigerators, light, long-keeping dried meat was an essential food for people on long journeys. An article in Chile's La Tercera says charquicán was originally a cattle drover's packed meal, the portable food of people called arrieros. Dried meat was simmered with vegetables found along the way. That kind of travel meal later became a staple of Chilean cooking.

Memoria Chilena, run by Chile's National Library, in introducing the diet of colonial Chile, names charquicán alongside squash and corn dishes and empanadas. According to the same page, the center of the common people's diet then was charqui, wheat flour, and beans, with dried chile and salt. Charquicán is a dish that has continued from the common people's kitchen.

Good to know

There are two theories about the origin of the name. One is that it comes from the Quechua charquikanka, meaning a stew or mixture of charqui. The other, from Mapuche, combines "charqui" (dried meat) and "can" (roasted meat). Neither is settled.

Today's charquicán is normally made with fresh beef rather than dried. An article from the Chilean weather site Meteored describes charquicán as a stew of potatoes, squash, vegetables, and dried meat, and says it has changed into a form made with fresh ingredients. The most popular way is topped with a fried egg, and it is often made in the Chilean winter as a dish to warm you on cold days. It is also reportedly served as a time-honored plate at the eateries of Santiago's central market, La Vega Central.

The Fillings Change by Household: Chile's "Everything Mixed Together"

Charquicán made with ground beef, chicken, and the seaweed cochayuyo compared

The basic ingredients are meat, squash, and potatoes. To that are added whatever vegetables are at home, such as corn, carrot, green beans, and peas. There is no fixed formula, and it is typical of this dish that how much it is mashed also differs by household. Some homes leave the potatoes about half in shape, and others make it nearly as smooth as a puree.

A meatless version is also well known. The best known is charquicán de cochayuyo, in which cochayuyo, a large brown seaweed from the Chilean coast, is rehydrated in water and finely chopped to replace the meat. There is also a lighter version with boiled and shredded chicken.

Good to know

In Machalí, in Chile's central O'Higgins region, the city holds a Fiesta del Charquicán. In 2025 it was held on 31 October and 1 November, with events such as folk games and horseback riding alongside traditional food.

The accompaniments also show Chilean character. Pebre, a Chilean salsa of chopped tomato, onion, and cilantro, toasted bread, and the fried bread sopaipilla are listed as traditional sides. Outside Chile, just serving a quick tomato and onion salsa gives the feeling.

Ingredients (serves 4)

Charquicán ingredients: potatoes, squash, ground beef, onion, carrot, green beans, corn, peas, and eggs

This formula is adapted for home cooks from a recipe by the Chilean home-cooking YouTube channel "Silvana Cocina." With a generous 1 kg of potatoes, it is a complete one-plate dinner that doubles as a staple.

Tip

Ají color, commonly used in Chilean homes, is a chile powder that gives dishes a red color, and its job is color and toasty flavor more than heat. Mild paprika is the closest, and frying it in oil brings out a strong red.

How to Make Charquicán

Allow about 20 minutes for prep and about 40 minutes for boiling, sautéing, and finishing. If you make the meat sauté while the vegetables boil, things move quickly.

Warning

A fried egg with a soft yolk is undercooked. When serving to small children, older people, pregnant women, or people who are unwell, cook the yolk through until firm.

The Mash and the Liquid Change the Result

Coarsely mashed charquicán compared with smoothly mashed charquicán

What decides charquicán's texture is how much cooking liquid you leave and how far you mash. Leave a lot of liquid and it is closer to a stew you scoop with a spoon. Leave less and it is a mash that holds a mound on the plate. Start by leaving 1 cup of cooking liquid, then add the liquid you set aside to move toward the firmness you like, and you will not fail.

Tip

If you mash too much, the potato's starch comes out and it turns paste-like. Just press the masher down and lift; do not knead it in circles. The force of breaking it up with a wooden spoon is about right.

Winter squash tends to give a stronger sweetness. If the sweetness bothers you, reduce the squash to 200 g and increase the potatoes by that amount. Setting the salt firmly at the end balances the squash's sweetness with the meat's saltiness.

Tip

Leftover charquicán absorbs moisture and firms up by the next day. Move it to a small pot, add 2–3 tbsp water, and reheat over low heat, mixing. Top each serving with a freshly fried egg.

Made with Chicken or Seaweed: Variations

Charquicán made with shredded chicken and charquicán with extra corn

Replacing the ground beef with boiled, shredded chicken breast or thigh gives a lighter taste. Using the chicken's cooking liquid as the vegetable cooking liquid adds savoriness too. For a meatless version, increase the corn to 1 cup and drizzle on more paprika oil at the finish, and it is less likely to feel lacking.

In a home kitchen, finely chopping beef scraps is another option. It is not as much as dried meat, but it keeps more meat presence than ground beef and gives a chewy result. Cochayuyo is a seaweed hard to find outside Chile, so for a meatless version it is realistic to build it from vegetables alone.

How to Eat It

Charquicán topped with a fried egg, with tomato salsa and bread
Topped with a fried egg, with tomato and onion salsa and bread alongside

Pile it high on a plate, top with a fried egg, and eat while breaking the yolk. A simple salsa of chopped tomato and onion tossed with salt and lemon juice refreshes the mouth like pebre. If you serve bread, toasted bread goes well. If you are interested in Chilean bread culture, see also how to make Chile's round flatbread hallulla (in Japanese).

For another Chilean home dish, pastel de choclo (in Japanese), in which a corn paste covers a meat filling and is baked, is also a plate loved in Chilean homes. Where charquicán mashes potato and squash, this one grinds corn and bakes it in the oven. Even among dishes that "mash," change the star vegetable and the face of the table is completely different.

FAQ

A cross-section of charquicán with coarsely mashed potatoes and squash

Can I make it with dried meat (beef jerky)?

Commercial beef jerky is often heavily seasoned and sweet, and is a different thing from local charqui. This recipe uses fresh ground meat, as is common in Chilean homes now. Even if you want to add the flavor of dried meat, it is safest to avoid adding a lot of seasoned jerky.

What if I don't have squash?

You can leave out the squash and increase the potatoes and carrot. But the color and sweetness change a lot. Squash is a basic ingredient of charquicán, so please include it if you can.

Do I have to top it with a fried egg?

You do not have to, but it is the most popular way in Chile. If you leave it off, setting the salt a little stronger keeps the flavor from blurring.

Can I make it spicy?

Replace part of the paprika with cayenne or red pepper flakes, or add hot sauce at the table to adjust.

Can I make it ahead?

You can refrigerate it and reheat it the next day to eat. We cannot give a firm number of storage days, so finish it soon. When reheating, add a little water and heat until hot at the center.

Sources

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