Recipe
🍽️ DINNER
Cachupa
The slow-simmered national stew of hominy corn, beans, and meats, endlessly reboiled and always improving.
Cape Verdean · medium · serves 8
prep 30 min · cook 150 min
~441 cal · 29g protein · 45g carbs · 16g fat · 8g fiber · 4g sugars · 5g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Cachupa is the slow-simmered national dish of Cape Verde, a stew of corn, beans, and whatever meats or fish are on hand, sausage, pork, tuna, cooked for hours until everything melds.
There's a saying that cachupa only gets better the more it's reboiled, and leftovers are prized: 'cachupa refogada,' the fried-up next-day version topped with an egg, is a favourite breakfast. The dish's thriftiness and endurance mirror the resilience of Cape Verdean island life.
Every island and family has its own version, from the humble everyday 'cachupa pobre' to the meat-rich 'cachupa rica' of celebrations. Slow, generous, and endlessly adaptable, it is the flavor that binds Cape Verdeans at home and across their vast diaspora.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally gluten-, dairy-, egg- 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 8
2 cups dried corn (or ), soaked overnight
1.5 cups dried beans (pinto and lima), soaked overnight
1 lb pork
2 links chorizo or linguiça
1/4 head cabbage
1 sweet potato
1
2 onion
4 cloves garlic
2 leaves bay
1 tbsp paprika
Instructions
1
Simmer the drained hominy corn and beans in fresh water with the bay leaves for about 90 minutes, until nearly tender.
✎ Chef’s note
Cachupa is a slow pot. The corn and beans need the full time to soften, so start early and do not rush the simmer.
2
Add the pork (or smoked tofu), sausage, onion, garlic, and paprika, and cook 30 minutes.
3
Add the cabbage, sweet potato, and cassava, and simmer 30 minutes more, until everything is soft and the broth has thickened.
4
Season well and let it rest a while, as cachupa deepens in flavour after sitting.
5
Serve in deep bowls. Any leftovers can be fried up with an egg the next morning (cachupa refogada).
Santiago island tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Santiago (Praia). Cachupa has two names for two circumstances: cachupa rica, made with several meats for an occasion, and cachupa pobre, grains and vegetables alone. The refried version the next morning, cachupa refogada, comes with a fried egg and sausage or mackerel, and Saturday is the unofficial day for the whole cycle.
🗺️
Cape Verde. Cachupa is a hominy stew and it has a class system: cachupa rica with several meats and sausage, cachupa pobre with what there is. The best-known version is neither, but the leftovers refried the next morning as cachupa refogada with a fried egg on top, which is what most Cape Verdeans mean when they talk about it.
🌍
Africa. The structure repeats across most of the continent: one starch and one sauce. A grain or root is cooked stiff, torn or rolled by hand, and used to carry a stew of leaves, groundnut, okra or fish, usually from a shared bowl and with the right hand. UNESCO listings have followed that logic, inscribing couscous in 2020 as a shared Maghreb tradition and Ivorian attieke in 2024.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Cape Verde
Cuscuz DoceA steamed cornmeal cake, faintly sweet, eaten warm with butter, honey, or milk for breakfast.
Pastel com Diabo DentroA crisp corn-dough pastry with a spicy tuna filling, whose fiery name means 'pastry with the devil inside'.
Pudim de Leite (Milk Flan)A silky baked milk custard under a dark caramel, one of Cabo Verde's most popular desserts.
Browse all Cape Verde 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 Cape Verde meal
PoncheDrink
Pudim de Leite (Milk Flan)Dessert
Canja de GalinhaLunch
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Frequently asked questions
What is Cachupa?
The slow-simmered national stew of hominy corn, beans, and meats, endlessly reboiled and always improving.
Where does Cachupa come from?
Cachupa is a Cape Verdean dish from Santiago (Praia), Cape Verde.
Can Cachupa be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Cachupa 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 Cachupa 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 Cachupa take to make?
About 180 minutes total (30 minutes prep, 150 minutes cooking), serving 8.
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