Recipe
🥙 LUNCH
Escudella
A mountain stew of meats, beans, and pasta with a big pilota meatball, the winter soul-food of Andorra.
Andorran · medium · serves 6
prep 30 min · cook 120 min
~638 cal · 53g protein · 72g carbs · 14g fat · 7g fiber · 6g sugars · 3g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Escudella is the great winter stew of Andorra and Catalonia, a one-pot that has warmed people through Pyrenean winters for centuries. In Andorra it is essentially the national dish, cooked whenever the cold sets in.
It is a substantial affair: various meats and bones simmered into a rich broth with chickpeas or white beans, potato, cabbage, and pasta, and crowned with a large seasoned meatball called a pilota. Often eaten in two courses, the broth and pasta first, then the meats and vegetables, it is filling, generous mountain food built to sustain.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally dairy- and nut-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 6
2 lb mixed meats (chicken, pork, sausage)
2 cups cooked chickpeas or white beans
3 cups potato, cabbage, and carrot, chunked
1 cup small pasta (galets or shells)
8 oz ground meat and breadcrumbs (for the pilota)
1 egg (for the pilota)
1 handful garlic and parsley
Instructions
1
Simmer the meats and bones in plenty of water to a rich broth, skimming, for about an hour.
2
Shape the pilota by binding the ground meat with breadcrumbs, egg, garlic, and parsley into one large meatball.
3
Add the beans, potato, cabbage, and the pilota and simmer until everything is tender.
✎ Chef’s note
Cook the big pilota gently in the broth so it stays intact. A hard boil breaks it apart into the soup.
4
Cook the pasta in the broth, then serve the broth and pasta first, the meats and vegetables after.
Andorran and Catalan tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Andorra la Vella. Andorra la Vella is Europe's highest capital, warming itself with trinxat, cabbage and potato crushed together and fried with bacon. Pyrenean cooking here means mountain charcuterie, escudella stew, wild mushrooms, and grilled lamb.
🗺️
Andorra. Escudella is winter and festival food, tied to the January feasts of Sant Antoni and Sant Sebastia, a long-simmered pot of meat, vegetables and pasta served as broth first and solids after. Andorra la Vella is the highest capital in Europe, and the growing season is short enough that cured sausage, mountain cheese and foraged mushrooms fill the gap.
🌍
Europe. A surprising amount of European cooking is under five hundred years old. Tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, maize, beans and chocolate all crossed from the Americas after 1492, and none of them was trusted quickly: the potato took most of the eighteenth century to be accepted as food rather than animal fodder across much of the north.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Andorra
TrinxatMountain cabbage and potato mashed together, then crisped in a pan with bacon like a rustic Pyrenean rösti.
Pa amb TomàquetRustic bread rubbed with ripe tomato and garlic, drizzled with olive oil and salt.
CocaA sweet flatbread scented with anise and topped with sugar and candied fruit, an Andorran festival bake.
Browse all Andorra recipes →
Good to know
Storing it: Stews and braises keep 3 to 4 days refrigerated and often taste better the next day. Reheat gently, adding a splash of water if it has thickened.
Make it a Andorra meal
CocaDessert
CunilloDinner
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Frequently asked questions
What is Escudella?
A mountain stew of meats, beans, and pasta with a big pilota meatball, the winter soul-food of Andorra.
Where does Escudella come from?
Escudella is a Andorran dish from Andorra la Vella, Andorra.
Can Escudella be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Escudella recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Escudella safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Escudella take to make?
About 150 minutes total (30 minutes prep, 120 minutes cooking), serving 6.
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