Recipe
🍽️ DINNER
Kak'ik (Q'eqchi' Turkey Soup)
A clear, deep-red Maya turkey soup built on a charred recado of tomato, tomatillo, and smoky cobanero chile, finished with mint and cilantro.
Guatemalan (Q'eqchi' Maya) · medium · serves 6
prep 30 min · cook 90 min
~487 cal · 68g protein · 12g carbs · 16g fat · 3g fiber · 6g sugars · 5g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Kak'ik is a pre-Hispanic turkey soup of the Q'eqchi' Maya of Alta Verapaz, in the misty highlands around Coban, and one of four dishes Guatemala has declared part of its national intangible cultural heritage. The name is Q'eqchi': kak means red, ik means chile, and the soup is exactly that, a clear, brothy, deeply red broth rather than a thick stew.
Its colour and flavour come from a recado, a sauce of tomatoes, , onion, and garlic charred on a dry comal, then blended with dried guaque and pasa chiles and the smoky chile cobanero that is native to the region, all warmed with , cinnamon, and clove. This is strained thin into the broth of long-simmered turkey, so the soup stays clean and forward rather than heavy.
Finished off the heat with fresh mint, cilantro, and culantro, and served with white rice and small tamalitos steamed in banana leaf, kak'ik is ceremonial food, cooked to mark a new home or a celebration. It is the Q'eqchi' flagship dish, and a taste of highland Guatemala that predates the Spanish entirely.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally gluten-, dairy-, nut-, egg- 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 6
3 lbs bone-in turkey legs and thighs, in pieces
1 onion, halved (for the broth)
4 garlic cloves (for the broth)
4 ripe tomatoes
8 , husked
1 onion (for the recado)
3 garlic cloves (for the recado)
6 total dried guaque, pasa, and cobanero chiles, stemmed
Hard to find? dried guajillo chiles with a little chipotle for smoke - cobanero is smoked over wood and grown only around Coban; chipotle borrows the smokiness while guajillo carries the mild base heat
1 tsp (), ground
1 small piece and 2 cinnamon stick and whole cloves
a small bunch each fresh mint, cilantro, and (to finish)
to taste salt
Instructions
1
Cover the turkey pieces with water, add the halved onion, garlic, and salt, and simmer gently for about an hour until tender, keeping the broth, which is the foundation of the dish.
2
On a dry comal or heavy pan, char the tomatoes, tomatillos, and the recado onion and garlic until blackened in spots and soft, and toast the dried chiles briefly until fragrant, then soak them in a little warm broth.
3
Blend the charred vegetables, soaked chiles, achiote, cinnamon, and cloves with enough broth to make a smooth, pourable red recado.
✎ Chef’s note
The seeds and thick pulp are strained out so the finished soup stays a clean, brothy red rather than a thick stew; that clarity is what makes it kak'ik.
4
Strain the recado into the pot with the turkey and its broth, bring to a gentle simmer, and cook 20 to 30 minutes so the flavours marry, keeping it brothy and adjusting the salt.
5
Off the heat, stir in chopped mint, cilantro, and scallion, and serve in deep bowls with white rice and tamalitos.
Q'eqchi' Maya tradition of Alta Verapaz, Guatemala.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Sacatepéquez (Antigua). Sacatepequez is colonial Antigua under its volcanoes, where pepian, a stew thickened with toasted seeds and dried chiles, is cooked for saints' days and family gatherings. Corn tortillas, black beans, and tamales wrapped in banana leaf are the everyday foundation.
🗺️
Guatemala. Guatemalan food rests on Maya foundations, corn tortillas, black beans, and rich stews called recados like pepián and jocón. Chiles, tomatoes, and pumpkin seeds thicken a deeply Indigenous, comforting table.
🌍
North America. Almost every regional cooking here records who arrived and on what terms. Enslaved West Africans brought rice, okra, black-eyed peas and the techniques behind Lowcountry and Creole food; Chinese railway labour and later Italian, Jewish, Mexican and Vietnamese arrivals built the way the cities eat; and Indigenous foodways sit underneath all of it.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Guatemala
Pepián de PolloChicken in a deep, toasty sauce of charred tomatoes, chiles, and ground seeds, Guatemala’s Mayan-rooted national stew.
Desayuno ChapínThe full Guatemalan breakfast plate: eggs, soupy black beans, fried sweet plantain, fresh cream, and warm corn tortillas.
Tostadas GuatemaltecasCrisp fried tortillas topped three ways, with guacamole, tomato salsa, or black beans, a light Guatemalan street lunch.
Browse all Guatemala recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Griddle or flat pan, Pot or saucepan, Blender.
Storing it: Soup keeps 3 to 4 days refrigerated and freezes well. Reheat gently and loosen with a little water or stock if needed.
Make it a Guatemala meal
Atol de EloteDrink
Rellenitos de PlátanoDessert
Tostadas GuatemaltecasLunch
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Frequently asked questions
What is Kak'ik (Q'eqchi' Turkey Soup)?
A clear, deep-red Maya turkey soup built on a charred recado of tomato, tomatillo, and smoky cobanero chile, finished with mint and cilantro.
Where does Kak'ik (Q'eqchi' Turkey Soup) come from?
Kak'ik (Q'eqchi' Turkey Soup) is a Guatemalan (Q'eqchi' Maya) dish from Sacatepéquez (Antigua), Guatemala.
Can Kak'ik (Q'eqchi' Turkey Soup) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Kak'ik (Q'eqchi' Turkey Soup) 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 Kak'ik (Q'eqchi' Turkey Soup) 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 Kak'ik (Q'eqchi' Turkey Soup) take to make?
About 120 minutes total (30 minutes prep, 90 minutes cooking), serving 6.
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