Recipe
🍽️ DINNER
So'o Yosopy
A thick Guarani beef soup of finely ground meat and a little rice, stirred constantly into a smooth, savoury broth and served with cassava.
Paraguayan · medium · serves 4
prep 20 min · cook 30 min
~418 cal · 31g protein · 16g carbs · 24g fat · 2g fiber · 3g sugars · 8g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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So'o yosopy, often shortened to soyo, is one of the oldest dishes of the Paraguayan table, its name pure Guarani: so'o for meat and yosopy for pounded. It goes back to a time when beef was crushed in a wooden mortar called an angu'a before being cooked into a nourishing broth.
The technique is what defines it. Lean beef is ground very fine, sometimes together with a little rice, then whisked into cold water so the meat disperses evenly rather than clumping. Poured into a pot of sauteed onion, pepper and tomato and brought slowly to the boil with constant stirring, it thickens into a smooth, deeply beefy soup. A little rice or in it to round it out.
Once thought of as food for hard times, soyo is now a beloved everyday classic, ladled out steaming and eaten with boiled or a slab of sopa paraguaya. Paraguayan cooks will tell you the stirring is everything, and that the soup should never be rushed.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally dairy-, 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
1 lb lean beef (top round), very finely ground
3 tbsp white rice
8 cups cold water
1 large onion, finely diced
1 red bell pepper (locote), finely diced
1 large tomato, finely diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 , chopped
1 tbsp all-purpose flour
2 tbsp oil
1 tsp dried oregano
2 tbsp flat-leaf parsley, chopped
to taste salt
Instructions
1
Grind or blend the beef with the rice and a cup of the cold water until very smooth, then whisk in the rest of the cold water so the meat is evenly dispersed and the mixture looks milky.
✎ Chef’s note
Blending into cold water, never hot, is the trick that keeps the meat from seizing into lumps, so the finished soup pours smooth.
2
In a large pot, soften the onion, locote, garlic and scallions in the oil, then add the tomato and cook a few minutes until it breaks down.
3
Stir in the flour and let it cook for a minute, then slowly pour in the cold meat mixture in a steady stream, stirring the whole time.
4
Keep stirring with a wooden spoon as you bring the soup to a gentle boil, then simmer, still stirring often, until the rice is tender and the soup has thickened, about 15 to 20 minutes.
✎ Chef’s note
Salt goes in only near the end; added early it can make the meat and liquid separate instead of staying smoothly blended.
5
Season with salt, stir in the oregano and parsley off the heat, and serve piping hot with boiled cassava.
Paraguayan Guarani home cooking.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Asunción. The story that a president's cook added too much corn flour and renamed the accident is a good one, but historians dispute it. What is documented is older and duller: Cario-Guarani breads of corn and cassava meeting the dairy and eggs that arrived once Spanish cattle reached Asuncion in 1556.
🗺️
Paraguay. Terere is mate served cold. Yerba is packed into a guampa, iced water poured over it, often infused first with medicinal herbs called yuyos crushed to order, and the thermos is carried everywhere through the subtropical heat. Paraguayan terere practice, with its yuyos, was inscribed by UNESCO in 2020.
🌍
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 Paraguay
Sopa ParaguayaThe famous "soup you can slice": a rich cornbread of onions, cheese, and corn flour, born of a happy kitchen accident.
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.
Browse all Paraguay recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Pot or saucepan, Blender, Whisk.
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
Chipa GuasúLunch
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Cuisine
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Frequently asked questions
What is So'o Yosopy?
A thick Guarani beef soup of finely ground meat and a little rice, stirred constantly into a smooth, savoury broth and served with cassava.
Where does So'o Yosopy come from?
So'o Yosopy is a Paraguayan dish from Asunción, Paraguay.
Can So'o Yosopy be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This So'o Yosopy 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 So'o Yosopy 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 So'o Yosopy take to make?
About 50 minutes total (20 minutes prep, 30 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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