South America → Bolivia → La Paz
🍽️ DINNER
Pique a lo Macho
A big shared platter of seared beef and sausage over fries, with onion, tomato and fiery locoto, crowned with egg.
Bolivian · medium · serves 4
prep 25 min · cook 30 min
~776 cal · 48g protein · 49g carbs · 41g fat · 6g fiber · 6g sugars · 12g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
↓ Jump to Recipe
AI-generated illustration
Pique a lo macho, usually just called pique macho, is a big shared platter from Cochabamba that has become popular across Bolivia. It piles seared beef and browned sausage over a bed of fried potatoes, scattered with onion, tomato and fiery locoto pepper and finished with hard-boiled or fried egg.
The name suggests a dish for the brave, a nod to both its generous size and its heat. The meat and sausage are tossed with a quick sauce of beer, a little vinegar and, in many kitchens, soy sauce, then spooned juices-and-all over the crisp potatoes so they soak up the flavour.
It is eating-and-drinking food, meant to be shared straight from the platter, with llajua (Bolivian chilli salsa) on the side and cold beer to match the locoto.
Saved recipes and passport stamps are kept on this device. Sign in to keep them across your devices and leave reviews.
Make it yours
✓ Naturally dairy-, nut- and pork-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 4
- 1 lb beef sirloin or top round, in strips
- 4 beef frankfurters (salchichas), sliced
- 2 lb potatoes, cut into chips
- 3 cups , for frying
- 1 red onion, sliced
- 2 tomatoes, in wedges
- 2 locoto or jalapeno, in rings
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 cup lager beer
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 4 eggs, fried or hard-boiled
- to taste salt and black pepper
- to taste llajua (Bolivian chili salsa), to serve
Instructions
- 1Fry the potato chips until deep golden and crisp, drain, salt them, and keep warm.✎ Chef’s noteKeep the fries uncovered so they stay crisp until the moment you pile everything on.
- 2Sear the beef strips in a little hot oil until browned, season with cumin, salt and pepper, then add the sliced frankfurters and brown their edges.
- 3Add the garlic, then pour in the beer, soy sauce and vinegar and let it bubble a couple of minutes into a light pan sauce.
- 4Toss in the onion, tomato and locoto and warm through for a minute so they keep some freshness.
- 5Pile the fries on a large platter, spoon the meat, sausage and pan juices over the top, and scatter the vegetables.
- 6Crown with the eggs, and serve at once with llajua on the side.
Cochabamba, popular across Bolivia.
Ratings & reviews
Cooked it? Rate this dish:
No account needed. Sign in to leave a full review with a comment.
Cooked it?
Kept on this device, no account needed. Sign in to leave a review and keep your passport across your devices.
No reviews yet, be the first to cook it.
🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
La Paz. Mid-morning belongs to the saltena, a baked pastry holding a stew so juicy it has to be eaten standing and at an angle. Chuno is the older technology: potatoes left out to freeze on altiplano nights, trodden to press the water out and dried in the sun, after which they keep for years.
🗺️
Bolivia. The saltena is a mid-morning institution rather than a lunch. It is a baked pastry with a sweet-edged crust holding a filling so juicy it is nearly soup, which is why it is eaten standing up, held upright, and bitten at the corner. Llajua, the table sauce, is raw locoto chilli blitzed with tomato and quilquina herb.
🌍
South America. The Andes are the potato's homeland and still hold something like four thousand native varieties, selected over thousands of years for altitude, colour and texture. The high plateau also worked out how to keep them: frozen overnight in the cold, trodden to press the water out, then dried in the sun into chuno, which stores for years.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Bolivia
SilpanchoA Cochabamba plate of rice, potato, a thin breaded beef cutlet, and a fried egg over chopped salad.
Api con PastelA hot, spiced purple-corn drink thick with cinnamon and clove, served with a crisp fried cheese pastry dusted in sugar.
Thayacha (Andean Frozen Oca)An ancient Bolivian altiplano treat: sweet oca tubers boiled with cinnamon, then frozen overnight into a natural ice, sold in the winter markets of La Paz and El Alto.
Browse all Bolivia 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 Bolivia meal
Api MoradoDrink
Thayacha (Andean Frozen Oca)Dessert
Fricasé PaceñoLunch
Similar dishes from around the world
ZigniEritrea
Jarret de Boeuf au Gombo (Beef and Okra Stew)Chad
Bunny ChowSouth Africa
HaleemPakistan
Mloukhia (Jute Leaf Beef Stew)Tunisia
Asado Negro (Black Roast)Venezuela
Cuisine
Diet
Frequently asked questions
What is Pique a lo Macho?
A big shared platter of seared beef and sausage over fries, with onion, tomato and fiery locoto, crowned with egg.
Where does Pique a lo Macho come from?
Pique a lo Macho is a Bolivian dish from La Paz, Bolivia.
Can Pique a lo Macho be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Pique a lo Macho recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions. Treat the substitutions as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Pique a lo Macho 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 still count coconut as a tree nut to be cautious, although the FDA stopped listing it as one in 2025), 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 Pique a lo Macho take to make?
About 55 minutes total (25 minutes prep, 30 minutes cooking), serving 4.
Get the Sunday Spin
One dish from somewhere in the world, in your inbox every Sunday. No spam, just dinner inspiration you can cook that day.