Pastel de Choclo (Chilean Corn and Beef Casserole)

In Chile, we say that you haven't really had a complete summer until you’ve eaten pastel de choclo. Served family style or in individual clay bowls, the layers of this beloved Chilean summer casserole remain the same: a generous base of pino (traditional Chilean savory beef and onion stew), a scattering of poached chicken pieces, slices of hard-boiled eggs, raisins, and, traditionally, precisely one large pitted black olive per serving. All of that is topped with a thick layer of pastelera, a basil-kissed corn puree made from a less sweet Chilean corn called humero, though this recipe is designed to work with sweet corn since humero is so hard to find in the States. The stew, chicken, and corn puree are all fully cooked prior to assembly, then layered, baked until hot, bubbling, and lightly browned on top. 

Pastel de choclo is by far the heartiest dish we Chileans eat in summer, often on weekends in restaurants or at family gatherings, both in cities and out in the countryside. It's a heavy and rich dish, and is usually served as a main course accompanied by little more than a light tomato and onion salad. It should be enjoyed leisurely, taking no less than half an hour to finish, at which point all should be ready for a nap.

There are a few key requirements to success here: The beef stew needs to be thickened to a velvety consistency and studded with juicy pieces of beef, the chicken must be tender, and the corn puree should come out sweet and sliceable after baking. Here I’ve broken down the recipe into its key components to teach you how cook and assemble a nap- and accompanying dream-worthy pastel de choclo at home.

Perfecting the Pino (Beef Stew)

It’s common to find pastel de choclo with beef stew made with either finely diced beef or ground beef. The first option is what is usually found in homemade versions, while ground beef versions are more often served in small restaurants and food markets. Ground beef is, without a doubt, the less laborious option (probably why time-strapped small restaurants opt for it), and the results are still great. Given that you also have to prep the chicken, corn puree, and more, I also opt for ground beef in my recipe to keep the process manageable (but also explain how to use minced, if you prefer).

In my opinion, using 80% lean ground beef yields a filling that is not only easier to prepare (no knife work required), but with its higher fat content it’s also more flavorful than the lean cuts of meat typically used as mince in the stew. One drawback to using ground beef is that it's more prone to drying out after first searing it and then simmering and baking it; in the worst cases it came come out with a texture like sandy gravel. To avoid this, I add baking soda to the beef by whisking it with water and tossing it with the meat before browning. The technique is a game changer: The baking soda raises the meat’s pH so that it stays moist and bouncy during cooking and browns beautifully.

As I mentioned, you can still make the recipe with diced beef, and I’ve given guidance for how to do so below the recipe in the notes. If making pino with diced beef at home, I recommend using a cut of meat such as flat iron or top blade steak. This differs from most Chileans, who prefer even leaner cuts like top or bottom sirloin butt, sirloin tip, or top or eye of round. I find the higher fat content in flat iron and top blade steak results in a juicier, more tender filling, whereas leaner cuts produce tough and dry morsels of meat that lack flavor.

The Add-Ins

The most common versions of this casserole include a piece of poached or roasted chicken in every portion, and while I prefer to include them those additions aren't mandatory. I opt for boneless, skinless chicken thighs since they're flavorful, remain juicy even with long cooking, and require no deboning. Poaching is also my preferred cooking method for the chicken, since it yields the most tender and juicy meat. I like seasoning the poaching water with basic aromatics like onion, carrot, oregano, garlic, and bay leaf to build a flavorful broth that comes in handy for the pino. 

The egg should be perfectly hard-boiled and olives black and as big as possible; look for the more salty and neutral varieties, like a Nyon,Niçoise, or Liguiria olive, not bitter or acidic varieties like kalamatas. It’s traditional in Chile to add just one olive per portion—finding the olive is like a fun, salty little surprise. Lastly, don’t skip the raisins, they are also part of the classic recipe and echo the sweetness of the corn topping.

The Corn Puree (Pastelera)

By the end of spring, when the first ears of humero corn start appearing in the markets, a common scene unfolds across Chile: Ears of the thick and milky corn are shucked, then grated or ground to make either pastel de choclo or humitas (the name of Chilean tamales).

The usual technique is to grate the peeled ears against a big, homemade grater, which removes most of the kernel skins. Humero corn is unique to Chile. It is starchier, less sweet, and has larger, more fibrous corn kernels than the sweet corn used for cooking in the US. Unless you are in Chile, you won’t find humero corn at your local market, so I call for sweet corn here, and have made a few adjustments described below to the puree to ensure the texture and flavor of pastelera is similar to the original.  

Start with browned butter. In one of my tests, I accidentally browned the butter in which the corn is cooked. I decided to proceed anyways and then, when I tasted it, I yelled the equivalent to eureka! in Chilean slang: “chanfle!” I live for these happy accidents in the kitchen. It’s no big secret that browned butter improves the flavor of well, almost everything, but here the nutty, caramelized milk solids in the butter deepened the flavor of the puree, actually mimicking the more complex flavor of the humero corn variety used in Chile. 

Use a Blender. Since American sweet corn is more delicate and its skin considerably thinner, there was no need to grate the corn to cut and separate the kernel skins, like when using humero corn. Simply processing it in a high potency blender yields a perfect result with a lot less effort and mess. 

Add cornstarch. As mentioned, humero corn has more starch than sweet corn, and when it is pureed and cooked that extra natural starch thickens it more. Adding a small amount of cornstarch will make up for the lack of it in American sweet corn. I added the smallest amount needed, but if you are using fresh corn at the beginning of the season that has higher water content, you may need to thicken the puree with a tiny bit more cornstarch than the recipe calls for. 

Top with sugar before baking. In Chile, pastel de choclo can be cooked dulce o salado—sweet or savory—or any level in between. This depends mostly on the sweetness of the corn, but also on the cook's tastes. I prefer the puree slightly sweet to balance the savory beef pino and chicken. Starting with sweet corn helps achieve this, but I finish the casserole with a sprinkle of sugar before it goes into the oven to promote a golden, sweet caramelized top.

Use fresh or frozen sweet corn. There are obvious pros and cons to using each. As expected, the puree made with fresh corn has a more complex flavor (closer to when made with humero corn), but it requires more work (shucking and cutting 10 ears of corn), and the final flavor and thickness of the puree is less predictable due to corn's water, sugar, and starch content, which can vary more with fresh in-season corn. If using frozen corn, the flavor won’t be as bright, but less prep is required, it’s available year-round, and it's a consistent product that produces the same results every time.

Assembling and Serving

When ready to assemble, I recommend having the stew and chicken cold or at least at room temperature for easier handling, but keep the corn puree hot or at least warm so it spreads readily over the top. You’ll know the casserole is ready when the saucy beef filling bubbles up around the edges of the pastelera layer and the sweet aroma of corn fills the house. It smells exactly like a Chilean celebration at the peak of summer. Serve it as we Chileans do, with a simple tomato and onion salad and a medium-bodied Chilean red wine.