Chef Isabel
Cigrons a la Catalana
Cigrons a la Catalana are Catalonia's chickpeas cooked in a dark sofregit, loosened with their own broth, then thickened with almond-garlic picada while pine nuts and raisins give the sweet Catalan note.
Culinary Explorer
A cooking platform built around craft, culture, and the stories behind what we eat.
Potaje de Garbanzos con Panecillos Granadino
Created by
This Granada potaje is cocina de cuchara, spoon food: soaked chickpeas, greens, a slow sofrito, and little fried bread panecillos that drink up the broth.
Soups & Stews
Spanish
Comfort Food
One Pot
Make Ahead
35 min
Active Time
2 hr 20 min cook•2 hr 55 min total
Yield6 servings
Potaje de garbanzos con panecillos is Granadino, from Granada's inland Andalusian kitchen, and the panecillos are what make it itself. Not croutons. Not dumplings from somewhere else. They are little fried rolls of bread, egg, garlic, and parsley, stirred in whole so they soften at the edges and stay tender in the middle.
The chickpeas decide the stew before the pot ever goes on the fire. Soak them overnight, then start them in hot water and let them simmer gently until creamy. A hard boil roughs them up and clouds the broth. The sofrito, the slow onion and tomato base, goes low until sweet and dark before the pimentón touches it. Rush that and the potaje tastes thin, and no panecillo can fix it for you.
If you are far from Granada, no hace falta haber pisado España. Use good dried chickpeas from a shop with turnover, frozen spinach if the market greens are tired, and pimentón de la Vera if you can get it. For the bread, use day-old country bread or a plain baguette with the crust trimmed. It changes the crumb a little, but the panecillos still do their work.
This is Lenten food with a full stomach, not a punishment. The Margin in my notebook says only: "panecillos al final," panecillos at the end. Put them in too early and they disappear. Put them in for the last few minutes and the potaje comes to the table as it should. Siempre sale, si lo sigues.
Potajes de vigilia, meatless Lenten stews, are part of the inland Andalusian table, especially around Granada where chickpeas, greens, bread, garlic, and oil could make a serious meal without meat. The panecillos are a home-kitchen answer to scarcity: stale bread enriched with egg, fried, then returned to the pot so nothing useful is wasted. Some Granadino versions add bacalao, salted cod, while others keep the stew plain with greens and panecillos, both belonging to the same abstinence table.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
dried chickpeas
Quantity
400g
soaked overnight
bay leaf
Quantity
1
small onion
Quantity
1
halved, for cooking the chickpeas
garlic cloves
Quantity
2
lightly crushed, for cooking the chickpeas
water
Quantity
1.8 litres, plus more as needed
spinach or chard
Quantity
300g
washed and chopped
waxy potatoes
Quantity
300g
peeled and cut into 3cm pieces
extra virgin olive oil
Quantity
60ml
medium onion
Quantity
1
finely chopped
green Italian frying pepper
Quantity
1
finely chopped
garlic cloves
Quantity
3
finely chopped
ripe tomatoes
Quantity
250g
grated
canned crushed tomato (optional)
Quantity
200g
sweet pimentón de la Vera
Quantity
1 teaspoon
saffron threads (optional)
Quantity
1 pinch
fine sea salt
Quantity
1 teaspoon, plus more to taste
large eggs
Quantity
2
day-old bread crumb
Quantity
90g
crust trimmed and crumbled
garlic clove
Quantity
1
minced, for the panecillos
parsley
Quantity
2 tablespoons
chopped
fine sea salt
Quantity
1/4 teaspoon
for the panecillos
olive oil
Quantity
as needed
for shallow-frying
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| dried chickpeassoaked overnight | 400g |
| bay leaf | 1 |
| small onionhalved, for cooking the chickpeas | 1 |
| garlic cloveslightly crushed, for cooking the chickpeas | 2 |
| water | 1.8 litres, plus more as needed |
| spinach or chardwashed and chopped | 300g |
| waxy potatoespeeled and cut into 3cm pieces | 300g |
| extra virgin olive oil | 60ml |
| medium onionfinely chopped | 1 |
| green Italian frying pepperfinely chopped | 1 |
| garlic clovesfinely chopped | 3 |
| ripe tomatoesgrated | 250g |
| canned crushed tomato (optional) | 200g |
| sweet pimentón de la Vera | 1 teaspoon |
| saffron threads (optional) | 1 pinch |
| fine sea salt | 1 teaspoon, plus more to taste |
| large eggs | 2 |
| day-old bread crumbcrust trimmed and crumbled | 90g |
| garlic cloveminced, for the panecillos | 1 |
| parsleychopped | 2 tablespoons |
| fine sea saltfor the panecillos | 1/4 teaspoon |
| olive oilfor shallow-frying | as needed |
Equipment Needed
- •Heavy 5 litre pot or olla
- •Wide frying pan for the sofrito
- •Small frying pan for shallow-frying panecillos
- •Slotted spoon
Instructions
- 1
Soak the chickpeas
Put the chickpeas in a large bowl, cover them with at least three times their volume of cold water, and leave them overnight, 10 to 12 hours. Drain them well. Pésalo, no lo adivines: old chickpeas and a short soak are why this stew turns grainy instead of creamy.
If your kitchen is very warm, soak the chickpeas in the refrigerator. They should swell, not ferment. - 2
Start the pot
Bring 1.8 litres water to a boil in a heavy pot. Add the drained chickpeas, bay leaf, halved onion, and 2 crushed garlic cloves. The water should cover the chickpeas by about 4cm. Skim the foam, lower the heat, and simmer gently for 1 hour, with the surface only moving quietly.
- 3
Cook the sofrito
While the chickpeas cook, warm 60ml olive oil in a frying pan over medium-low heat. Add the chopped onion and green pepper with a pinch of salt and cook 15 minutes, stirring now and then, until soft and dark gold. Add the chopped garlic for 1 minute, then the grated tomato. Cook 12 to 15 minutes more, until the oil separates and the tomato looks thick. Take the pan off the heat, stir in the pimentón and saffron if using, and keep it aside.
- 4
Add potatoes and greens
After the chickpeas have simmered for 1 hour, remove the halved onion and crushed garlic. Stir in the sofrito, potatoes, greens, and 1 teaspoon salt. Keep the stew at a gentle simmer for 35 to 45 minutes, until the chickpeas are tender and the potatoes give when pressed with a spoon. Add hot water if the stew thickens before the chickpeas are ready.
- 5
Mix the panecillos
Beat the eggs in a bowl. Add the bread crumb, minced garlic, parsley, and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Mix until you have a soft paste that holds on a spoon. Let it stand 10 minutes so the bread drinks the egg. If it is loose, add a spoonful more bread crumb; if it is dry, beat in a teaspoon of water.
- 6
Fry the panecillos
Pour olive oil into a small frying pan to a depth of 1cm and warm it over medium heat. Shape the bread mixture into 14 to 16 small oval panecillos with two spoons, each about the size of a walnut. Fry them in batches, turning once, until golden on both sides, 2 to 3 minutes total. Drain on a plate.
- 7
Finish the stew
When the chickpeas are creamy, taste the broth and correct the salt. Lay the fried panecillos whole on top of the potaje and nudge them under the broth. Simmer 5 minutes, no more, so they soften without falling apart. Rest the pot off the heat for 10 minutes before serving.
- 8
Serve deep bowls
Serve in deep bowls with chickpeas, greens, potato, and two or three panecillos in each portion. The broth should be thick enough to coat the spoon but still move like a stew. This is not a dry pot of chickpeas. It is cocina de cuchara, and it wants bread beside it.
Chef Tips
- •Use dried chickpeas and soak them overnight. Canned chickpeas will make a meal, yes, but not this same potaje; add them only after the sofrito and potatoes have cooked, and expect a looser broth and less depth.
- •For greens, spinach is common and easy, but chard is just as at home in Granada's inland cooking. If using frozen spinach, thaw it and squeeze it lightly first or it will water down the stew.
- •Do not add the panecillos early. They are bread and egg, not stones. Five minutes in the broth is enough for them to drink the potaje and keep their shape.
- •Some Granadino homes add soaked bacalao to this kind of Lenten potaje. If you use it, add 250g desalinated cod in large pieces for the last 8 to 10 minutes, and be careful with the salt.
Advance Preparation
- •Soak the chickpeas 10 to 12 hours ahead in plenty of cold water.
- •The potaje can be made one day ahead without the panecillos; cool it, refrigerate it, and reheat gently with a little water if needed.
- •Mix and fry the panecillos up to 2 hours ahead, then add them to the reheated stew for the final 5 minutes.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 520g)
Calories
515 calories
Total Fat
20 g
Saturated Fat
3 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
17 g
Cholesterol
60 mg
Sodium
700 mg
Total Carbohydrates
66 g
Dietary Fiber
16 g
Sugars
11 g
Protein
21 g
Where cooking meets culture.
Culinary guides, cultural storytelling, and the editorial depth that makes cooking meaningful.
Discover Culinary ExplorerMore from Lentejas, Garbanzos & Potajes
Browse the full collection
Chef Isabel
Espinacas con Garbanzos
Sevilla's espinacas con garbanzos keeps chickpeas and spinach thick, dark, and spoonable, with a majado of fried bread, garlic, cumin, pimentón, and sherry vinegar doing the real work.
Chef Isabel
Garbanzos Andaluces con Rape y Almejas
Garbanzos con rape y almejas belong to the Andalusian coast: chickpeas, monkfish, clams, and a prawn-head fondo, cooked gently so the sea carries the pot.
Chef Isabel
Garbanzos con Jamón a la Castellana
Garbanzos con jamón are Castilian spoon food: chickpeas, serrano ham, pimentón, and a slow sofrito cooked dark enough to make a simple pot taste full.