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Salvadoran · Central American

Yuca frita con chicharrón

Non-vegetarian

Boiled then fried cassava, crisp outside and fluffy inside, topped with crunchy morsels of pork, curtido and a thin tomato salsa — a favourite Salvadoran street snack.

Yuca frita con chicharrón is a Salvadoran street food from El Salvador, ready in about 1 hour 20 minutes and made with cassava and pork belly. It serves 4 and is rated intermediate to cook.

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Prep
20 min
Cook
1 h
Total
1 h 20 min
Serves
4
Level
Intermediate
Calories
730

Ingredients

4 servings

Chicharrón

Salsa

To serve

Equipment

Method

  1. Step 1

    Boil the cassava (opens in a new tab) in salted water until tender but not falling apart, 20–25 minutes. Drain well and let it steam dry.

  2. Step 2

    For the chicharrón, put the pork, water and salt in a frying pan and simmer until the water evaporates. Keep cooking in the rendered fat, stirring, until the cubes are deep golden and crisp, about 30 minutes in total.

    Food safety: Spitting fat: use a splatter screen.

  3. Step 3

    Blend the tomato (opens in a new tab), onion (opens in a new tab), garlic (opens in a new tab) and salt and simmer for 5 minutes, until it loses its raw taste, to make a thin salsa.

  4. Step 4

    Heat the oil to 180 °C and fry the cassava (opens in a new tab) in batches until crisp and golden, 4–5 minutes. Drain.

    Food safety: Dry the yuca well before frying and never fill the pot more than half full of oil.

  5. Step 5

    Pile the yuca (opens in a new tab) on plates, top with chicharrón, curtido and salsa.

    About this dish

    Origin
    El Salvador · Commonly attributedFried yuca with pork is popular across Central America; this topping style is typical of El Salvador.Also popular in HondurasMore food from El Salvador
    Dish
    Lunch · Snack · Street food · Side dishes
    Cooking method
    Boiled, Deep-fried
    Taste
    savoury, salty, tangy
    Diet
    No gluten ingredients · Dairy-free · No nut ingredients
    All labelsNon-vegetarian · No gluten ingredients · Dairy-free · Egg-free · No nut ingredients · No added sugar · Alcohol-free · Beef-free
    Worked out from the ingredients. How labels work
    Good for
    Street food
    Cook more with
    Cassava · Pork belly · Tomato · Onion · Garlic
    Techniques
    Deep-frying · Boiling · Simmering

    Allergens

    None of the 14 major allergens appear in the listed ingredients.

    Based on typical versions of these ingredients and not verified allergen-free. Brands differ and cross-contact happens, so always check labels. For severe allergies, follow your clinician’s advice.

    Nutrition

    730 kcal per serving

    Calculated

    1 serving ≈ 401 g · recipe makes 4

    Where the energy comes from

    • Protein 5%
    • Carbohydrate 43%
    • Fat 52%
    Nutrition per serving and per 100 g
    NutrientPer servingPer 100 g*
    Energy730 kcal182 kcal
    Protein8.5 g2.1 g
    Carbohydrate79.4 g19.8 g
    Net carbohydrate75 g18.7 g
    Sugars5.3 g1.3 g
    Added sugars0 g0 g
    Fibre4.5 g1.1 g
    Fat42.3 g10.6 g
    Saturated fat11.7 g2.9 g
    Trans fat——
    Cholesterol40 mg10 mg
    Sodium1070 mg267 mg
    Salt equivalent2.7 g0.7 g
    Vitamins & minerals per serving
    Potassium
    800 mg
    Calcium
    51 mg
    Iron
    1 mg
    Magnesium
    53 mg
    Vitamin A (RAE)
    29 µg
    Vitamin C
    50 mg
    Vitamin D
    —
    Vitamin B12
    0.5 µg
    Folate (DFE)
    65 µg

    How these numbers were made

    • Calculated from USDA FoodData Central (SR Legacy) per-100 g values and the listed quantities.
    • *Per 100 g of combined raw ingredients; the cooked dish may weigh more or less.
    • Optional ingredients are not included: cabbage.
    • “—” means the value isn’t known for enough of the ingredients; it is never zero by default.
    • Values are estimates for guidance, not for medical dosing. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. fdc.nal.usda.gov.

    Good to know

    Tips

    • Frozen peeled yuca saves a lot of preparation.

    Common mistakes

    • Leaving in the fibrous core, which is stringy and inedible.

    Food safety

    • Never eat raw cassava; it must be fully cooked.
    • Fry the pork until crisp and cooked through.

    Storage

    • Best eaten immediately; boiled yuca keeps 3 days before frying.

    Variations

    • Yuca con pepesca: Topped with small fried fish instead of pork.

    Original editorial recipe · FriendsPantry editorial · Not yet independently reviewed · Added · Updated

    Sauces, chutneys & dips for this dish

    Recipe DNA

    How this dish is built

    Built from the recipe’s own sections. Each band’s width is its share of the dish by weight. Choose a component to see what it does.

    What the dish is built around

    Main ingredient

    • Cassava, peeled, in 8 cm batons, woody core removed800 g
    Used in step 1

    Reviews & corrections

    Reviews come from signed-in cooks and appear after a moderator checks them. We never show made-up ratings.

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