Chilean picarones with chancaca are traditional pumpkin dough donuts — fried golden and bathed in a spiced brown sugar syrup of chancaca, cinnamon, cloves, and orange peel — ready in 45 minutes. A beloved winter dessert across Chile, each serving provides around 400 calories and the deeply comforting warmth of fried dough and aromatic syrup shared with family.
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How to Make Chilean Picarones?
Chilean picarones are a traditional sweet fried dough made with cooked pumpkin, flour, and baking powder — shaped into rings and fried until golden, then bathed in chancaca syrup. The dough should be semi-liquid and sticky, not stiff — a thick dough produces dense, heavy picarones rather than the light, airy result that defines the best version of this dessert.
Nutritional Information
Each serving of Chilean picarones with chancaca syrup contains approximately 400 calories, 70 g of carbohydrates, 12 g of fats, 6 g of protein, 3 g of fiber, 35 g of sugars, and 150 mg of sodium.
Homemade Chilean Picarones Recipe
Preparation: 45 minutes
Cooking: 60 minutes
Servings: 4 people
Ingredients
1. Picarones dough
- 500 g flour
- 250 g cooked and mashed pumpkin
- 200 ml milk
- 6 tablespoons sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 2 teaspoons lemon zest
- Vegetable oil for frying
- Powdered sugar (optional)
2. Chancaca syrup
- 500 g chopped chancaca
- 200 g sugar
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
- 2 pieces of orange peel
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1 clove
- 1 liter of water
Instructions
- In a large bowl, add the cooked and mashed pumpkin, sift in the flour and baking powder, add the lemon zest, sugar, and milk. Mix and incorporate all the ingredients until a semi-liquid and homogeneous dough forms.
- In a large pot or deep frying pan, add enough oil and heat to 160°C (320°F).
- Moisten your hands and take a portion of the pumpkin mixture, shape gently into a donut ring, adding more flour if necessary to handle. Alternatively, use a donut mold for a more consistent shape.
- Carefully place the picarones in the hot oil without overlapping. Fry for a few minutes until golden on both sides. Drain on absorbent paper and keep warm.
- In a medium pot, add the water, crumbled chancaca, sugar, cinnamon, clove, and orange peel. Bring to a boil over medium heat and stir constantly until the ingredients are fully dissolved.
- Add the cornstarch dissolved in a little cold water and continue cooking over low heat until slightly thickened.
- Serve the picarones immediately, hot, generously bathed in chancaca syrup and optionally dusted with powdered sugar.
Additional Tips
The dough must be semi-liquid — too thick produces dense, heavy picarones
The correct picarones dough should be sticky and flow slowly when spooned — similar in consistency to a thick pancake batter. If the dough is stiff enough to be kneaded by hand without sticking, it has too much flour. Add a splash of milk and mix again. The semi-liquid dough is harder to shape but produces the characteristic light, airy interior that defines good picarones. Moisten your hands generously with water before shaping each ring.
Fry at exactly 160°C — temperature is the difference between light and greasy
Oil that is too hot (above 180°C) browns the exterior quickly while leaving the center raw. Oil that is too cool (below 140°C) produces picarones that absorb excessive oil and come out heavy and greasy rather than crispy. Use a kitchen thermometer if possible. A practical test: drop a small piece of dough into the oil — it should sink briefly, then rise to the surface and begin frying steadily without violent bubbling or slow sinking.
Prepare the chancaca syrup first — it needs time to thicken and infuse
The syrup requires 20 to 30 minutes of slow simmering to dissolve the chancaca completely and allow the cinnamon, clove, and orange peel to infuse. Prepare it before starting the dough so it is ready and warm when the first picarones come out of the oil. Syrup applied cold to hot picarones does not absorb well. Keep the finished syrup over very low heat or in a warm bain-marie while frying.
| Ingredient | Substitution and result |
|---|---|
| Chancaca (panela) | Dark brown sugar — use ¾ of the quantity; less complex, less molasses flavor |
| Pumpkin | Sweet potato (camote) — traditional Peruvian variation; slightly denser, sweeter dough |
| Lemon zest | Orange zest — sweeter, more floral aroma in the dough |
| Baking powder | Active dry yeast (1 tsp dissolved in warm water) — allow 30 min rise; lighter result |
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
1. What is chancaca and where can I find it?
Chancaca — also known as panela, rapadura, or piloncillo — is unrefined solidified sugarcane juice. It has a deep, molasses-like flavor with caramel notes that refined brown sugar cannot fully replicate. In Chile it is sold in solid blocks or cones in supermarkets and Latin American specialty stores. Outside Chile, panela or piloncillo from Mexican or Colombian grocery stores are identical products. Dark muscovado sugar is the closest supermarket substitute.
2. Why do my picarones absorb too much oil?
The two most common causes are oil that is too cool (below 140°C) and dough that is too wet. Cool oil allows the dough to absorb fat before the exterior crust forms, producing heavy, greasy picarones. Very wet dough also creates a porous structure that acts like a sponge. Ensure the oil is at exactly 160°C before frying and that the dough holds its shape briefly when dropped into the oil before spreading into a ring.
3. What is the difference between Chilean and Peruvian picarones?
Peruvian picarones traditionally use a combination of sweet potato (camote) and pumpkin, while Chilean picarones typically use only pumpkin. Peruvian picarones also tend to be slightly larger and are served with a thinner, more liquid chancaca syrup. The dough technique and the syrup spices (cinnamon, clove, orange) are essentially identical — reflecting the shared colonial and Andean culinary heritage of both countries.
4. Can I make picarones without pumpkin?
Yes. The pumpkin adds color, moisture, and a subtle sweetness to the dough but can be omitted for a plainer version. Replace it with the same weight of cooked and mashed sweet potato, or simply increase the milk by 100 ml to compensate for the lost moisture. The result will be a paler, less sweet dough that is still delicious with the chancaca syrup.
What Are Chilean Picarones?
Chilean picarones are traditional sweet fried dough rings made from a pumpkin-based batter, served bathed in chancaca syrup — a spiced brown sugar sauce infused with cinnamon, clove, and orange peel. Chancaca (also known as panela, rapadura, or piloncillo) is an unrefined solidified sugarcane juice with a deep, molasses-like flavor that defines the syrup. Picarones are one of Chile’s most beloved winter desserts and street foods, sold by picaroneras (street vendors) at markets and fairs across the country, particularly during the autumn and winter months.
History of Picarones in Chile
Picarones are a preparation resulting from the fusion of Spanish cuisine — associated with buñuelos (fried dough) — with the Andean base dough using sweet potato and pumpkin from Inca cuisine. European colonizers contributed wheat flour, sugar, and the technique of frying in deep oil, while the indigenous tradition provided the pumpkin and sweet potato base. The result was a hybrid dessert that incorporated elements from both culinary worlds and became deeply rooted in the popular food culture of Peru and Chile during the Colonial era.
The dish spread from Peru to Chile and Bolivia, where it was adapted to local ingredients and conditions. In Chile it evolved to use primarily pumpkin (rather than the sweet potato and pumpkin combination of the Peruvian original) and became a fixture of winter street food culture.
The oldest record of picarones in Chile was recorded by composer and politician José Zapiola Cortés, who described in his memoirs “Recuerdos de treinta años (1810-1840)” that picarones were sold in the Santiago de Chile Plaza de Armas during the administration of Governor Francisco Antonio García Carrasco:
The Plaza de Armas was not paved. The Plaza de Abasto, a filthy shed, especially in the winter, was on the eastern side. The rest of the square, up to the fountain, which occupied the same place as now, but from where the “rollo,” its inseparable companion, has migrated more than thirty years ago; the rest of the square, we say, was occupied by sellers of mote, picarones, huesillos, etc., etc., and by the horses of the butchers (sic).
Did You Know?
Chancaca — the key ingredient in picarones syrup — is not unique to Chile and the Andes. Identical products exist under different names across three continents: panela in Colombia and Ecuador, rapadura in Brazil, piloncillo in Mexico, jaggery in India and Southeast Asia, and kokuto in Japan. All are forms of unrefined solidified sugarcane juice — one of the oldest sweeteners in human history, predating refined white sugar by thousands of years.
