1 Secret to the Best Fabada Asturiana You’ll Ever Taste
You won’t find Fabada Asturiana on a fast-food menu. You won’t see it on a 15-minute TikTok recipe. But if you’ve ever sat around a wooden table in northern Spain, steam rising from a deep earthenware pot, the scent of smoked paprika and slow-cooked pork curling through the air — then you know: this is what food should taste like.
Ingredients
- 450 g 1 lb dried fabes de La Granja (the real ones — if you can’t find them, use cannellini or Great Northern beans)
- 150 g 5 oz chorizo asturiano (not spicy — sweet-smoked, with visible fat)
- 150 g 5 oz morcilla de Asturias (the kind with rice and onion inside — never the dry, crumbly kind)
- 100 g 3.5 oz tocino de cura or cecina (cured pork belly or air-dried ham fat — the secret to the broth’s silkiness)
- 1 large bay leaf just one — don’t overdo it
- 1 tsp sweet smoked paprika pimentón de la Vera
- 1.5 liters 6 cups cold water (never hot — never broth)
- A pinch of coarse sea salt added only at the end
Optional but traditional:
- A single strand of saffron steeped in warm water and added at the end — just for color and soul
- A splash of dry white wine 2 tablespoons, added when searing the meats
Instructions
- Soak: 450g dried fabes (or cannellini) overnight in cold water.
- Sear: In a heavy pot, gently render 150g chorizo and 100g tocino. Add 150g morcilla; brown lightly.
- Simmer: Drain beans, add to pot with 1.5L cold water, 1 bay leaf, 1 tsp smoked paprika. Bring to a bare simmer. Cook 3–4 hours — do not stir.
- Finish: Salt only in the last 15 minutes. Optional: add saffron infusion.
- Rest: Turn off heat. Cover. Let sit 30+ minutes before serving.
- Serve with rustic bread and sidra. Better the next day.