South America → Paraguay → Asunción
🍽️ DINNER
Pira Caldo (Paraguayan River Fish Soup)
A creamy Paraguayan soup of surubí river catfish simmered with a sofrito of onion, peppers, tomato, leek and celery, then enriched with milk and melted Paraguay cheese and finished with fresh coriander.
Paraguayan · easy · serves 4
prep 20 min · cook 35 min
~881 cal · 55g protein · 79g carbs · 36g fat · 7g fiber · 16g sugars · 14g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Pira caldo joins a Guaraní word and a Spanish one: pira means fish and caldo means broth. The Guaraní peoples of the region were great eaters of river fish long before the Spanish arrived, and the soup is usually tied to the hard years after the Paraguayan War of 1864 to 1870, when families needed filling, nourishing meals from very little.
The older versions were made with small river catfish such as mandi'y and tare'y, fried vegetables, fat and water. Today the fish of choice is surubí, the big spotted catfish of the Paraguay and Paraná rivers, cooked in a sofrito of onion, locote (bell pepper), tomato, leek, celery and carrot. Modern home recipes then enrich the pot with milk and a crumble of queso Paraguay, the country's fresh cow's-milk cheese, which melts into a creamy, pale orange soup.
It is served as a meal in itself rather than a starter, piping hot with chunks of boiled mandioca () on the side, and finished with kuratu, as coriander is called in Paraguay.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally gluten-, egg-, 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
- 700 g firm white river fish (surubí or another large catfish), in large chunks
- 3 tbsp sunflower oil
- 2 onions, finely chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1 green bell pepper (locote), diced
- 1 red bell pepper (locote), diced
- 1 leek, thinly sliced
- 2 celery stalks, finely diced
- 1 carrot, grated
- 3 tomatoes, peeled and chopped
- 1 bay leaf
- 750 ml hot water
- 400 ml whole milk
- 150 g queso Paraguay (or a mild fresh melting cheese such as queso fresco), crumbled
- 4 tbsp fresh coriander (kuratu), chopped
- 1 tbsp fresh oregano, chopped
- to taste salt and black pepper
- 600 g (mandioca), peeled and boiled, to serve
Instructions
- 1Season the fish with salt. Heat the oil in a large pot and brown the fish chunks lightly on all sides, then lift them out and set aside.
- 2In the same pot soften the onion, garlic, peppers, leek, celery and carrot with the bay leaf over medium heat for about 10 minutes, stirring often, until the vegetables are soft and starting to release their juices.
- 3Add the tomatoes and cook 3 to 4 minutes, then pour in the hot water, season with salt and pepper and simmer 5 minutes.
- 4Return the fish, pour in the milk and simmer very gently for 8 to 10 minutes, until the fish is cooked through and just flaking.✎ Chef’s noteKeep it at a bare simmer once the milk is in; a hard boil can split the soup and break the fish into shreds.
- 5Take the pot off the heat, stir in the cheese until it melts into the soup, then add the coriander and oregano and check the seasoning.
- 6Serve hot in deep bowls, with boiled mandioca on the side.
Paraguayan river-fish tradition, Asunción and the Paraguay River.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Asunción. Asuncion is the home of sopa paraguaya, a dense cornbread of cheese, onion, and milk that is famously a soup you can slice. Cassava is the daily starch, mate is drunk cold as terere through the heat, and beef from the surrounding grasslands is grilled at every gathering.
🗺️
Paraguay. Paraguay's cuisine leans on corn, cassava, and cheese, with Guaraní roots in dishes like chipa bread and the cornbread sopa paraguaya. Terere (iced yerba mate) is drunk all day in the subtropical heat.
🌍
South America. Migration reworked the plate within living memory. Japanese arrivals in Peru and Brazil produced Nikkei cooking, Italians made pasta and pizza entirely ordinary in Argentina, Uruguay and Sao Paulo, and West African cooking carried into Bahia by the slave trade gave Brazil dende palm oil, okra and a whole ritual repertoire.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Paraguay
MbejúA chewy, crisp-edged starch-and-cheese griddle cake, gluten-free and pan-cooked to order, eaten with cocido at daybreak.
Vori VoriA golden chicken broth thick with little cornmeal-and-cheese dumplings, Paraguay's warming everyday soup.
Dulce de MamónGreen papaya slow-cooked in clove-and-cinnamon syrup until translucent and jammy, a Paraguayan pantry sweet.
Browse all Paraguay recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Pot or saucepan.
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 Paraguay meal
TereréDrink
Dulce de MamónDessert
Bife Koygua (Paraguayan "Hidden" Steak with Eggs)Lunch
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Frequently asked questions
What is Pira Caldo (Paraguayan River Fish Soup)?
A creamy Paraguayan soup of surubí river catfish simmered with a sofrito of onion, peppers, tomato, leek and celery, then enriched with milk and melted Paraguay cheese and finished with fresh coriander.
Where does Pira Caldo (Paraguayan River Fish Soup) come from?
Pira Caldo (Paraguayan River Fish Soup) is a Paraguayan dish from Asunción, Paraguay.
Can Pira Caldo (Paraguayan River Fish Soup) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Pira Caldo (Paraguayan River Fish Soup) 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 Pira Caldo (Paraguayan River Fish 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 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 Pira Caldo (Paraguayan River Fish Soup) take to make?
About 55 minutes total (20 minutes prep, 35 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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