- Country of origin
- 🇺🇾 Uruguay
- Category
- Main Course
- Difficulty
- ●●○ Medium
- Preparation
- 20 min
- Cooking
- 1h30
- Servings
- 6 servings
History
Uruguayan asado refers to both the ember-grilling technique and the Sunday meal that results from it, a social ritual deeply rooted in the country’s culture, inherited from the cattle-ranching traditions of the pampas gauchos.
Unlike Argentine asado, often cooked more quickly over an open flame, the Uruguayan version favors slow cooking over embers already formed in a parrilla, allowing different cuts of meat and offal to cook together at a controlled temperature. A know-how passed down through generations, around which the whole family gathers.
The two countries’ asado traditions share the same pampas cattle culture and the same parrilla grill, but diverge in pace and formality: Uruguay leans toward longer, lower-heat cooking and a wider mix of offal on the same grill, while Brazilian churrasco, the other major South American grilling tradition, is built instead around skewered cuts turned over an open flame rather than a bed of embers.
Ingredients — serves 6
- 1.5 kg (3.3 lb) beef (short ribs, rib eye, flank)
- 500 g (1.1 lb) assorted offal (chorizo, morcilla, sweetbreads)
- Coarse salt
- Chimichurri (parsley, garlic, vinegar, oil, oregano)
- Charcoal or hardwood
Step-by-step Uruguayan asado recipe
- Light the charcoal well in advance to get glowing, stable embers, with no open flame.
- Salt the meat generously with coarse salt just before cooking.
- Arrange the meat and offal on the parrilla grill, starting with the cuts that need the most time.
- Cook slowly, turning infrequently, adjusting the grill height to the intensity of the embers.
- Prepare the chimichurri by mixing parsley, garlic, vinegar, oil and oregano.
- Serve the carved meat at the table with chimichurri and bread, in the spirit of sharing proper to the Sunday ritual.
Cooking method
Technique: slow, indirect cooking over already-formed embers, never over an open flame, with constant adjustment of grill height.
Traditional equipment: parrilla (adjustable ember grill), quality hardwood or charcoal.
Tips: the embers should be uniformly glowing and covered with a fine gray ash before the meat goes on.
Nutrition, per serving
Calculated from the raw ingredient quantities above, divided by six servings.
Asado is essentially meat and fire, with almost no carbohydrate contribution of its own — the mixed cuts and cured sausages together push protein to 61 g per serving, alongside 63 g of fat, a figure that reflects the fattier cuts and offal traditionally included on the grill.
Economic context
Uruguay has one of the highest per-capita beef consumption rates in the world, which keeps quality cuts more affordable there than in most countries — asado is Sunday tradition rather than luxury dining, even with 2 kg of meat and offal on the grill for six people.
Source: World Bank / FAO, Food Prices for Nutrition database (Cost and Affordability of a Healthy Diet) v4.0, 2024 data, CC BY 4.0, DOI 10.57966/41AN-KY81. Retrieved 29 July 2026. This figure describes the cost of a healthy diet in Uruguay generally — it is not a costing of this specific recipe.
Who this dish suits
Fits well with
- High-protein eating patterns — 61 g per serving
- Low-carbohydrate approaches, since the dish is essentially meat, salt and chimichurri
Worth knowing
- 63 g of fat per serving, including 23 g saturated, from the mix of cuts and offal
- Offal (sweetbreads, blood sausage) carries a different nutrient profile than the muscle cuts and is not to everyone’s taste
- Traditionally a long, multi-hour social occasion rather than a quick weeknight meal
What about you?
In your opinion, where’s the best place or restaurant to enjoy good Uruguayan asado?