What Spanish stew from Madrid is made with chickpeas, meat, and vegetables?

What Spanish stew from Madrid is made with chickpeas, meat, and vegetables? The answer is cocido madrileño. This hearty chickpea-based stew is strongly associated with Madrid and is especially popular as a warming winter meal. Its ingredients commonly include garbanzos, potatoes, cabbage, carrots, pork, beef, chicken, chorizo, and sometimes morcilla.

The dish belongs to Spain’s wider cocido tradition of long-simmered one-pot meals. Its deeper origins are often linked to adafina, a Sephardic Jewish stew prepared slowly for the Sabbath during the Middle Ages. Over time, pork, cured meats, and lard became characteristic additions to the Madrid version, which developed into a staple of the city’s taverns and home cooking.

Cocido madrileño is traditionally served in separate stages, called vuelcos. First comes the broth, often with noodles; next come the chickpeas and vegetables; finally, the meat is served. It is therefore more than an undifferentiated stew. Leftovers may be transformed into croquettes or ropa vieja, making the dish economical as well as filling.