Chuno (Freeze-Dried Potato) substitute

Substitutes for Chuno (Freeze-Dried Potato) with ratios

1. 2Waxy potatoes, parboiled and chilled

   Taste and texture differ

   Use About 3 to 4 times the dry weight of chuno, so 200 g potato for every 50 g chuno

   The least-bad fresh option, with one preparation step that makes a real difference.

   What changes

   Best for

   chairo, soups, stews, hearty dishes

   Cut waxy potatoes such as Charlotte, new or red potatoes into two-centimetre chunks, boil until barely tender, then cool them completely before adding them to the soup near the end. Chilling firms the starch and stops them collapsing, which is the main failure people hit when they use fresh potato in place of chuno. The chunks still go softer and creamier than chuno ever does, and the stew loses the slightly chewy resistance that makes chairo interesting. Never use floury baking potatoes here, which will disintegrate into the broth.

2. 3Dried cassava or dried yuca chunks

   Different taste

   Use the same amount by dry weight, soaked several hours

   A different tuber but the right idea: a dried starchy root that stays firm and slightly chewy after long cooking.

   What changes

   Best for

   chairo, stews, soups, braises

   Dried yuca holds its shape better than any fresh potato and gives that dense, almost waxy bite chuno has. The flavour is sweeter and more neutral, and the texture is more fibrous and stringy, so the stew reads as a cassava stew rather than a potato one. Soak thoroughly and boil until fully tender, and discard the soaking water. Cassava must always be cooked fully through and never eaten raw or undercooked.

3. 4Frozen grated potato or hash browns, for chuno phuti

   Different taste

   About 3 times the dry weight of chuno

   Specifically for chuno phuti, the dish where soaked chuno is crumbled and scrambled with egg, onion and cheese.

   What changes

   Best for

   chuno phuti, scrambles, breakfast dishes, fried potato dishes

   This one is better than it sounds. Potato that has been frozen and thawed loses water and develops exactly the slightly rubbery, separate-grained texture that crumbled chuno has in a scramble, which fresh grated potato never does. Squeeze the thawed potato dry in a tea towel first, then fry hard before the egg goes in. The flavour is plain potato rather than fermented, so be generous with the onion, the cheese and the salt.

4. 5Hominy or dried mote corn

   Different taste

   Use the same amount by dry weight, cooked until tender

   A traditional Andean pantry item that fills the same structural role, holding shape through hours of simmering.

   What changes

   Best for

   chairo, soups, stews, hearty broths

   Chairo often contains mote alongside chuno already, so adding more of it is a plausible move rather than a compromise. Hominy is chewy, holds up indefinitely and gives the soup real substance. The flavour, though, is unmistakably corn: sweet, nutty and lime-treated, so the finished soup tastes like a corn soup with lamb rather than a potato one. Use this when you want the right mouthfeel and are relaxed about the flavour changing.

5. 6Potato flakes, for thickening only

   Different texture

   Use 1 to 2 tbsp flakes for every 50 g chuno, stirred in at the end

   Not a replacement for the pieces, but a way to recover the body chuno gives a broth.

   What changes

   Best for

   thickening soups, chairo, rescuing a thin stew

   Chuno slowly sheds starch into a soup and gives chairo a slightly thick, clinging broth. If you leave the chuno out entirely, that body disappears and the soup tastes watery. Stirring a spoonful of potato flakes in at the end fixes the consistency without pretending to be chuno. It adds nothing textural, so pair it with one of the chunky options above rather than using it alone.