Recipe
🥙 LUNCH
Vori Vori
A golden chicken broth thick with little cornmeal-and-cheese dumplings, Paraguay's warming everyday soup.
Paraguayan · medium · serves 4
prep 25 min · cook 45 min
~990 cal · 79g protein · 70g carbs · 43g fat · 7g fiber · 6g sugars · 18g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Vori vori is one of Paraguay's most comforting dishes, a substantial chicken soup studded with small dumplings of cornmeal and cheese. The doubled name, from the Spanish bola, little ball, is typical of Guarani-influenced Paraguayan speech, where repetition signals plurality.
The dumplings are the heart of it: cornflour and grated Paraguay cheese rolled into marble-sized balls and dropped straight into the simmering broth, where they cook through and thicken the soup around them. Corn and cheese, the twin pillars of Paraguayan cooking, meet here in the simplest way.
It is winter food and sick-day food, made on the bone for depth and seasoned with a herb-and-onion sofrito. A bowl of vori vori is the Paraguayan idea of being properly looked after.
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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
2 lb chicken pieces on the bone
2 cups fine cornmeal (harina de maiz)
1 cup grated hard cheese
1 onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper (locote), chopped
1 tomato, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 carrot, sliced
8 oz pumpkin or butternut squash (zapallo), cubed
3 , chopped
1 bay leaf
1 tsp dried oregano
to taste salt and pepper
2 tbsp oil
Instructions
1
Fry the onion, locote, tomato, garlic, and scallions in oil, then add the chicken and brown lightly.
2
Add the carrot, pumpkin, and bay leaf, cover with water, and simmer until the chicken is tender, 30 to 40 minutes.
3
Meanwhile, mix the cornmeal and cheese with a little warm broth to a firm dough and roll into marble-sized balls.
4
Drop the dumplings into the gently simmering broth and cook until they float and firm up, about 10 minutes.
✎ Chef’s note
Keep the broth at a bare simmer when the dumplings go in. A hard boil knocks them apart before they set.
5
Season well, stir in the oregano right at the end, and serve piping hot.
✎ Chef’s note
The oregano goes in last, off the boil. Added early it cooks away, and that late hit is exactly what makes the soup smell Paraguayan.
Paraguayan 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. Sopa paraguaya is not a soup and never was: it is a dense cornbread with cheese and onion, baked in a tray and cut into squares, and its name is one of the reliable traps for outsiders. Chipa, the cheese-and-cassava-starch ring, is the other everyday bread, sold from baskets on buses and long-distance roads.
🌍
South America. South America's cooking follows its dramatic geography, potatoes and quinoa in the high Andes, cassava and river fish in the Amazon basin, and grass-fed beef on the pampas. Indigenous ingredients like maize, ají peppers, and cacao meet Spanish, Portuguese, African, Italian, and Japanese influences brought by five centuries of migration. Ceviche, feijoada, arepas, and the smoke of the asado are its most beloved icons.
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.
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: Rolling pin.
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
So'o YosopyDinner
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Cuisine
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Frequently asked questions
What is Vori Vori?
A golden chicken broth thick with little cornmeal-and-cheese dumplings, Paraguay's warming everyday soup.
Where does Vori Vori come from?
Vori Vori is a Paraguayan dish from Asunción, Paraguay.
Can Vori Vori be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Vori Vori 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 Vori Vori 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 Vori Vori take to make?
About 70 minutes total (25 minutes prep, 45 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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