Recipe

Europe → 🇪🇸 Spain → Basque Country
Marmitako
Spanish (Basque) · easy · serves 4
prep 20 min · cook 40 min
~721 cal · 102g protein · 43g carbs · 8g fat (estimated, per serving)
🍽️
Rustic tuna and potato stew in a red broth
🇪🇸 Basque Country
Marmitako ("from the pot") was cooked by Basque tuna fishermen at sea, thickening potatoes with the sweet pulp of dried choricero peppers. The one rule that separates a good one: the potatoes are cracked, not cut, so they release starch and thicken the broth.
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Ingredients
Serves 4 —
•
1.25 lbs fresh tuna (or bonito), cubed
•
1.5 lbs potatoes, cracked into chunks
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3 tbsp choricero pepper pulp (or 1 tbsp sweet paprika + a roasted red pepper, blended)
•
2 onions
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1 green pepper
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3 cloves garlic
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2 tomatoes, grated
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1/2 cup white wine
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1/4 cup olive oil
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a handful parsley, to finish
Instructions
1
Soften the onions, pepper, and garlic slowly in olive oil, 10 minutes.
2
Add the grated tomato and choricero pulp; cook 5 minutes.
3
Crack in the potatoes (snap rather than slice), add the wine and water to cover, and simmer 20 minutes until the broth thickens from the potato starch.
4
Kill the heat and slip in the tuna (or mushrooms and beans); the residual heat cooks it in 3–4 minutes — overcooked tuna is the only way to ruin this.
5
Rest 5 minutes, finish with parsley, and serve with bread.
Basque fishermen’s tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers — know your destination
📍
Basque Country. The green north with the fiercest seafood pride in Spain.
🗺️
Spain. Rice fields, olive groves, and a coastline of seafood.
🌍
Europe. Village recipes guarded for generations.
The story behind this dish is up top — worth a read while the pot works.
👩‍🍳
Richard Moore & Kelsey Tucker
Recipes cooked, tested, and researched by the creators of Spin the Globe. How we build our recipes →
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