Recipe
🍽️ DINNER
Chivito al Plato
Uruguay’s glorious everything-plate: thin steak under ham, cheese, olives, and a fried egg with ensalada rusa.
Uruguayan · easy · serves 2
prep 20 min · cook 20 min
~1187 cal · 66g protein · 41g carbs · 83g fat · 7g fiber · 6g sugars · 24g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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The chivito is Uruguay's glorious national sandwich-plate, an unabashed pile of steak and toppings, born of the country's deep beef culture. Born in the resort town of Punta del Este in the 1940s, it has since conquered the whole nation.
At its heart is a thin, tender slice of beef, but the chivito never stops there: it is layered with ham, melted cheese, bacon, olives, lettuce, tomato, and a fried egg, either stacked into a roll or served al plato, on a plate, surrounded by fries and ensalada rusa.
Generous to the point of excess, it is indulgent, satisfying food meant to be tackled with both hands or a knife and fork. The chivito is a monument to the country's love of good beef.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally nut- and gluten-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 2
2 thin beef steaks (churrasco cut)
4 ham slices
4 mozzarella slices
2 eggs
4 slices panceta (streaky bacon), sliced
4 lettuce leaves
1 tomato, sliced
1/4 cup green olives
a few roasted red pepper strips
2 potatoes
1 carrots
1/2 cup peas (ensalada rusa)
1/3 cup mayonnaise (for the salad)
as needed
as needed salt
Instructions
1
Make the ensalada rusa: boil the diced potatoes and carrots, cool them with the peas, and dress with mayonnaise and salt.
2
Sear the steaks (or portobellos) hard and fast on a hot plancha or skillet.
3
In the last minute, layer ham and cheese on each steak and cover the pan so the cheese melts.
4
Griddle the panceta in a dry pan until browned on both sides, and fry the eggs with crisp edges.
5
Stack each plate: lettuce and sliced tomato, then the steak with its melted ham and cheese, the panceta, and a fried egg on top, with olives and roasted peppers over and the ensalada rusa beside.
✎ Chef’s note
This is the chivito al plato. For the original chivito al pan, put a smear of mayonnaise on the base of a soft roll, then the olives, lettuce and tomato, then the panceta, the cheese-topped steak, the ham and the egg, and close it. The sandwich came first: it was improvised in a Punta del Este restaurant in the 1940s for a customer who asked for goat, which is what chivito means and what the dish has never contained.
Montevideo parrilla tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Montevideo. Mate is a routine with rules. One person prepares it and keeps hold of the gourd, refilling and passing it round in a fixed order, and each drinker finishes the whole thing before handing it back. The thermos carried under one arm is a national posture, and Uruguay is usually reckoned the heaviest consumer per head anywhere.
🗺️
Uruguay. Uruguay eats more beef per head than almost anywhere, roughly fifty kilos a person a year, and exports about three quarters of what it produces. The grill it goes on is a parrilla with an adjustable brasero at the side, where wood burns down to embers that are raked under the grate as needed, so the cook controls heat by moving coals rather than the meat.
🌍
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 Uruguay
Torta FritaGolden discs of fried dough with a slit in the middle, crisp-edged and pillowy, the treat Uruguayans make whenever it rains, dusted with sugar and dunked in mate.
Tarta PascualinaA flaky double-crust pie of chard and ricotta with whole eggs baked inside, an everyday River Plate lunch.
ChajáAiry sponge layered with whipped cream, peaches, and crushed meringue, Uruguay's cloud-light celebration cake.
Browse all Uruguay recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Skillet or frying pan, Griddle or flat pan.
Storing it: Best straight off the heat. Leftovers keep 2 to 3 days refrigerated and reheat well in a hot oven rather than the microwave.
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MilanesaLunch
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Frequently asked questions
What is Chivito al Plato?
Uruguay’s glorious everything-plate: thin steak under ham, cheese, olives, and a fried egg with ensalada rusa.
Where does Chivito al Plato come from?
Chivito al Plato is a Uruguayan dish from Montevideo, Uruguay.
Can Chivito al Plato be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Chivito al Plato 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 Chivito al Plato 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 Chivito al Plato take to make?
About 40 minutes total (20 minutes prep, 20 minutes cooking), serving 2.
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