Encebollado (en-seh-boh-YAH-doh) is the fish soup of Ecuador’s coast, often eaten in the morning: chunks of tuna poached in a tomato, cumin and ginger broth, served with soft boiled yuca (cassava) and finished with a pile of red onion pickled in lime juice. That onion (cebolla in Spanish) is what makes the bowl taste bright instead of heavy. This version serves 6 and is built for a US or UK kitchen, with the tuna cuts to ask for, frozen yuca and a broth that gets its body from blended cassava, not cream.
What encebollado tastes like, and how long it takes
How do you make encebollado? Boil 2.2 lb (1 kg) of peeled yuca separately. Sauté onion, tomato, bell pepper, garlic and cumin, add 10½ cups (2.5 liters) of water with ginger and cilantro, and poach 2.2 lb (1 kg) of tuna in it at a gentle simmer for 12 to 15 minutes, to 145°F (63°C). Flake the fish, blend the vegetables with a little yuca to thicken the broth, and serve with the yuca, tuna and lime-pickled red onion on top. 90 minutes for 6 servings.
Expect a thick but not creamy broth, savory with cumin and tomato, plus large, tender flakes of fish and starchy yuca that soaks up the liquid. The pickled onion adds crunch and acid. It isn’t spicy unless you add hot sauce, and in Guayaquil, where it’s sold from early morning, it has a reputation as the cure for a rough night.
90 minutes total, of which about 30 are hands-on prep (peeling yuca takes the longest). The yuca boils in its own pot while the broth cooks, so the stove time overlaps. Easy: the only thing to watch is that the tuna never boils hard.
Ingredients and what to buy in the US and UK
| Ingredient | In the US | In the UK | What changes if you swap |
|---|---|---|---|
| Albacore tuna, 2.2 lb (1 kg) | Albacore or yellowfin (ahi) loin or thick steaks, fresh or vacuum-packed frozen | Yellowfin tuna steaks, fresh or frozen | Any thick tuna loin works. Thin steaks overcook. |
| Yuca, 2.2 lb (1 kg) | Fresh in many produce sections, frozen in 24 oz (680 g) and 5 lb (2.3 kg) bags in the Latin freezer aisle | Cassava, fresh or frozen, in African, Caribbean and Asian grocers | Floury potatoes make a lighter, thinner soup that’s no longer quite encebollado. |
| Ají amarillo powder, 1 tbsp | Latin aisle or online | Online | Sweet paprika gives the same color; neither is hot. |
| Plantain chips | Snack aisle, often next to tortilla chips | World food aisle | Popcorn or corn nuts are the other classic sides. |
Which tuna, and how much
Ecuadorians use albacora, a tuna. Outside Ecuador, buy any tuna loin you’d be happy to cook through, in one thick piece rather than thin steaks, so it can poach without drying. Allow about 6 oz (165 g) per person. Frozen tuna should thaw in the fridge overnight, never in the sink at room temperature. If it’s vacuum-packed, take it out of the package, or cut the package open, before thawing.
Canned tuna is already cooked and breaks into shreds. I don’t use it, because the broth gets much of its flavor from the raw fish cooking in it. If it’s all you have, drain it and stir it in during the last minute.
Tuna is nearly the whole cost of the pot. The yuca, onions, tomatoes and spices are cheap, so if you need to cut back, use a little less tuna rather than a soft white fish.
Yuca, fresh or frozen
I use frozen yuca most of the time: it comes peeled and cooks just as soft. Fresh yuca needs the brown bark and the pink layer underneath removed completely, and it must never be eaten raw. After boiling, every piece has a woody string down the middle that pulls out easily while it’s hot.
The pickled red onion
Call it curtido. 10½ oz (300 g) of red onion sliced paper thin, soaked 10 minutes in salted water to take the harsh edge off, then tossed with ½ cup (120 ml) of lime juice, salt and tomato strips. In 15 minutes it turns pink, crisp and tangy. Add the cilantro right before serving so it stays green.
Equipment: a 5 qt (5 liter) soup pot, a second pot for the yuca and a blender. No blender? Push the cooked vegetables and yuca through a sieve or food mill; the broth is less smooth but just as thick.
Make-ahead plan
- Day before: make the broth through step 4 (without the fish), boil and core the yuca, and refrigerate both. Slice the onions and keep them in a covered container.
- On the day, 40 minutes before eating: bring the broth back to a boil, poach the tuna 12 to 15 minutes, blend and simmer 10 minutes, and dress the onions with lime while the broth simmers.
- Last 5 minutes: reheat the yuca in the broth with the flaked tuna.
Cooking for 12, double everything and use a 10 qt pot, poaching the tuna in two batches. For 20, multiply by 3.3 (about 7¼ lb / 3.3 kg of tuna, 7¼ lb / 3.3 kg of yuca and about 8 liters / 34 cups of water) and split the broth between two pots.
Getting the tuna right
Tuna has almost no fat, so the window between done and dry is short. Lower it into broth that has already boiled for 10 minutes, then drop the heat until you see only small bubbles. In 12 to 15 minutes the 2 in (5 cm) chunks lose their red color, turn opaque all the way through and flake under light pressure; an instant-read thermometer should show 145°F (63°C) in the thickest piece. Take them out right away and flake them by hand into large pieces.
Buying it safely. Tuna can build up histamine if it sits warm after it’s caught or bought, and cooking or freezing doesn’t remove it. Buy it last, refrigerate it at 40°F (4°C) or below and cook fresh tuna within 1 to 2 days. It should be firm and glossy and smell mildly of the sea, never of ammonia; that tells you it’s fresh, but not that it’s histamine-free, which only an unbroken cold chain ensures. If a spoonful leaves a peppery, burning feeling in your mouth that isn’t from hot sauce, stop eating it.
Allergens: fish. It’s gluten-free served with plantain chips or popcorn; bread is not.
Common problems and how to fix them
- Dry, stringy tuna. It boiled hard or stayed in the pot after it was done. Simmer gently, remove it at 12 to 15 minutes and add it back only at the end.
- Thin, watery broth. Not enough yuca was blended in. Blend another chunk with a ladle of broth and simmer 5 minutes more.
- Bland broth. The fish went into plain water. Give the broth its 10 minutes of boiling first, and salt at the end, after blending.
- Hard yuca. If a chunk is still chalky white and firm in the center, it isn’t done. Don’t serve it underdone.
- Soggy, dark onions. They were dressed hours ahead or the cilantro went in early. Dress them the same day and add herbs at the last minute.
Serving, storing and reheating
Serve in deep bowls: yuca first, then tuna, then broth almost to the rim, with a mound of drained onion in the middle. Put out plantain chips, popcorn or toasted corn nuts, bread, sliced avocado, lime wedges and hot sauce. Leftover yuca makes excellent fried yuca the next day.
Fridge: refrigerate within 2 hours of serving, in a covered container, for 3 to 4 days. Keep the onions in a separate jar.
Freezer: the broth with the tuna keeps 2 to 3 months. I freeze it without the yuca, which turns watery when thawed, and boil fresh yuca on the day. Thaw in the fridge.
Reheat in a pot over medium heat, stirring gently so the flakes stay whole, until it simmers and reaches 165°F (74°C), or in the microwave in 1-minute bursts. The onions always go on cold.
Encebollado FAQs
Is encebollado the same as liver and onions? No. Several Latin dishes are called encebollado because they come with onions. The Latin liver and onions dish is beef liver in an onion and tomato sauce; this is a fish soup.
Can I make it with salmon or cod? Salmon works but gives a richer, oilier broth. Cod and other soft white fish fall apart in the pot, so cook them only until they flake and add them straight to the bowls. For a white-fish soup built around that texture, try the Venezuelan fish soup or the coconut Colombian fish sancocho.
Does it have cream or coconut milk? Neither. The 5 oz (150 g) of blended yuca and the cooked vegetables give it body. If the broth turns pale and creamy, too much yuca went into the blender.
Can I use shrimp? Yes. Swap half the tuna for 1 lb (500 g) of peeled shrimp and add them for the last 3 minutes, until pink.
Nutrition per serving
One sixth of the pot, with about 6 oz (165 g) of tuna and 6 oz (165 g) of yuca, without chips or bread:
- Calories: 550 kcal
- Protein: 45 g
- Carbohydrates: 77 g
- Fat: 7 g (1 g saturated)
- Fiber: 6 g
- Sugar: 9 g
- Sodium: 1080 mg
Yuca supplies about 267 of the calories and tuna about 182. Most of the sodium is the salt in the broth and onions; cut ½ tsp from the broth and salt at the table if you’re watching it. A 1 oz (30 g) handful of plantain chips adds about 160 kcal.
I always make twice as much pickled onion as looks reasonable, because it’s the first thing to run out at the table, and I set some aside without tomato for anyone who only wants the onion. Josnaisis.