Chef Isabel
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Caparrones Riojanos
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Caparrones Riojanos are La Rioja's red bean stew from Anguiano: small caparrón beans, pork rib, chorizo, and morcilla cooked low until the broth turns thick and red.
Soups & Stews
Spanish
Comfort Food
Budget Friendly
Batch Cooking
25 min
Active Time
2 hr 45 min cook•3 hr 10 min total
Yield6 servings
Caparrones Riojanos belong to La Rioja, and more exactly to the red bean country around Anguiano, where the small caparrón bean cooks into a thick, brick-red stew with chorizo, morcilla, and pork rib. This is cocina de cuchara, spoon food, made for a table that wants warmth and substance without fuss. It is not fabada, and it is not a generic bean pot. The bean is smaller, darker, and earthier, and the Riojanos give it the taste of choricero pepper and pimentón.
The method that decides it is the simmer, then the salt. Start the soaked beans in cold water with the pork, bring them up slowly, and keep them at a quiet tremble. Hard boiling breaks the skins and clouds the broth. Salt waits until the beans are tender, because the skin of a caparrón is part of its charm and you don't need to toughen it before it has done its work.
The sofrito, the slow onion base, comes in once the beans are underway: onion, green pepper, garlic, tomato, pimentón, and choricero pepper cooked low until sweet and dark. That is where the stew gets its Rioja depth. Rush it and you get red water with sausage in it, which is dinner, yes, but not this dinner.
If you can't find caparrones where you are, use small dried red kidney beans or good dried cranberry beans. The broth will be a little less creamy and the flavor a little less chestnut-deep, but the dish still knows where it is going if you keep the chorizo Spanish, use real morcilla, and salt at the end. No hace falta haber pisado España. My Margin says the same thing every time beside this one: watch the boil, then leave the pot alone.
Caparrones are tied to the upper Najerilla valley of La Rioja, especially Anguiano, where the small red bean became a local marker as much as an ingredient. The stew belongs to the same preserving logic as many northern bean pots: the household pig supplied chorizo, morcilla, rib, and panceta, and the dried bean carried that flavor through cold months. In Anguiano, caparrones are also linked to feast tables and local pride, served as a dish that names the place before it names the country.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
dried caparrón beans
Quantity
500g
soaked overnight
pork ribs
Quantity
300g
cut into individual ribs
Spanish chorizo for cooking
Quantity
200g
left whole or in 2 pieces
Spanish morcilla for cooking
Quantity
200g
left whole
panceta or tocino
Quantity
100g
in one piece
bay leaf
Quantity
1
onion
Quantity
1 medium
finely chopped
green pepper
Quantity
1
finely chopped
garlic cloves
Quantity
3
2 minced and 1 left whole
olive oil
Quantity
2 tablespoons
sweet pimentón de la Vera
Quantity
1 teaspoon
dried choricero pepper (optional)
Quantity
1
soaked and flesh scraped
choricero pepper paste (optional)
Quantity
1 teaspoon
tomato
Quantity
1 small
grated
cold water
Quantity
1.8 litres, plus more as needed
salt
Quantity
to taste
added at the end
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| dried caparrón beanssoaked overnight | 500g |
| pork ribscut into individual ribs | 300g |
| Spanish chorizo for cookingleft whole or in 2 pieces | 200g |
| Spanish morcilla for cookingleft whole | 200g |
| panceta or tocinoin one piece | 100g |
| bay leaf | 1 |
| onionfinely chopped | 1 medium |
| green pepperfinely chopped | 1 |
| garlic cloves2 minced and 1 left whole | 3 |
| olive oil | 2 tablespoons |
| sweet pimentón de la Vera | 1 teaspoon |
| dried choricero pepper (optional)soaked and flesh scraped | 1 |
| choricero pepper paste (optional) | 1 teaspoon |
| tomatograted | 1 small |
| cold water | 1.8 litres, plus more as needed |
| saltadded at the end | to taste |
Equipment Needed
- •Large heavy pot or olla, 5 to 6 litres
- •Small frying pan for the sofrito
- •Wooden spoon
- •Skimming spoon
Instructions
- 1
Soak the beans
Rinse the caparrones, cover them with plenty of cold water, and soak them overnight. Drain them before cooking. Pésalo, no lo adivines: with dried beans, the weight and the soak are what make the timing honest.
- 2
Start the pot
Put the drained beans in a heavy pot with the pork ribs, chorizo, panceta, bay leaf, and the whole garlic clove. Add 1.8 litres cold water, enough to cover everything by about 3cm. Bring it up slowly to a gentle simmer, skimming the grey foam from the surface.
- 3
Cook low
Lower the heat and keep the beans at a quiet tremble, not a hard boil. Cook for about 1 hour and 30 minutes, shaking the pot by the handles now and then instead of stirring hard with a spoon. If the beans show above the liquid, add a small splash of cold water.
- 4
Make the sofrito
While the beans cook, warm the olive oil in a small pan. Add the onion, green pepper, and minced garlic with a pinch of patience, not salt, and cook low for 18 to 22 minutes until the onion is dark gold and sweet. Stir in the grated tomato and cook until the water is gone. Pull the pan off the heat, stir in the pimentón and the choricero pepper flesh or paste, and let it smell warm and red without scorching.
- 5
Join and finish
Scrape the sofrito into the bean pot and shake the pot gently to settle it through the broth. Add the morcilla now so it warms through without bursting. Cook 35 to 50 minutes more, until the beans are tender all the way through and the broth has turned thick, red, and glossy. Salt only when the beans are tender; salt too early and those small skins can tighten before the inside softens.
- 6
Rest and serve
Lift out the chorizo, morcilla, and panceta, slice them thickly, and return them to the pot with the ribs. Rest the stew off the heat for 15 minutes so the broth settles. Serve in deep bowls with a piece of each meat. Siempre sale, si lo sigues.
Chef Tips
- •Buy true caparrón de Anguiano if you can. If not, use small dried red kidney beans or cranberry beans, never canned for this version; canned beans can't take the long cooking that gives the broth its body.
- •Use Spanish chorizo for cooking, not a dry slicing chorizo, and a morcilla that can simmer without falling apart. Morcilla de Burgos is easy to find abroad and works well, though it brings rice into the sausage and makes the stew a little softer.
- •Salt only at the end, when several beans are tender all the way through. This is not superstition. Small red beans can tighten if salted hard at the beginning, and then you wait and wait while the skins stay stubborn.
- •This stew is better the next day. Chill it overnight, lift off excess fat if you like, and reheat it gently with a splash of water. Don't thin it with stock; the cured meats have already seasoned the pot.
Advance Preparation
- •Soak the beans 12 hours ahead in plenty of cold water. If your kitchen is warm, soak them in the refrigerator.
- •The stew can be cooked one day ahead and reheated gently. It thickens overnight, so loosen it with 100 to 200ml water as needed.
- •The sofrito can be made up to 2 days ahead and kept covered in the refrigerator.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 500g)
Calories
765 calories
Total Fat
42 g
Saturated Fat
14 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
25 g
Cholesterol
100 mg
Sodium
1450 mg
Total Carbohydrates
58 g
Dietary Fiber
22 g
Sugars
5 g
Protein
39 g
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