Amazonian Peanut Chicken Soup (Inchicapi)
A jungle-style soup from the Peruvian Amazon, thickened with ground peanuts and corn until creamy, simmered with tender chicken and a big handful of cilantro. Rich, comforting, and unlike any other Peruvian soup.
Servings
Ingredients
Nutrition
Per serving
Steps
Toast and grind peanuts
Toast the peanuts in a dry skillet over medium heat, stirring constantly, until golden and fragrant, about 4–5 minutes. Let them cool slightly, then grind in a blender with a splash of water into a thick, slightly textured paste (not perfectly smooth butter).
- 200 g raw peanuts
✅ Done when: the peanuts turn golden brown and smell toasted, and the ground paste is thick but still pourable
Blend the corn
Put the corn kernels in the blender with a little water and blend until you get a smooth, pale yellow paste. This, along with the peanuts, is what gives inchicapi its creamy body.
- 300 g corn kernels
✅ Done when: the corn is fully broken down into a smooth paste with no whole kernels left
Build the base
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Simmer the chicken
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Thicken with peanut and corn
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Finish and serve
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Toast and grind peanuts
Toast the peanuts in a dry skillet over medium heat, stirring constantly, until golden and fragrant, about 4–5 minutes. Let them cool slightly, then grind in a blender with a splash of water into a thick, slightly textured paste (not perfectly smooth butter).
- 200 g raw peanuts
✅ Done when: the peanuts turn golden brown and smell toasted, and the ground paste is thick but still pourable
Blend the corn
Put the corn kernels in the blender with a little water and blend until you get a smooth, pale yellow paste. This, along with the peanuts, is what gives inchicapi its creamy body.
- 300 g corn kernels
✅ Done when: the corn is fully broken down into a smooth paste with no whole kernels left
Build the base
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Simmer the chicken
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Thicken with peanut and corn
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Finish and serve
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The Story Behind the Dish
Long before chicken reached the Amazon, native communities along the rivers of what is now Loreto were already thickening soups and stews with ground peanuts and corn, two crops the jungle gave them in abundance. The name inchicapi itself comes from an Amazonian word for peanut, a clue to how central the nut has always been to this dish.
When chicken became common after colonial contact, it slipped easily into the pot, and inchicapi became the everyday soup of riverside towns, cooked in big pots for family gatherings and sold at market stalls across Iquitos and the wider jungle region.
⭐ Why It's Famous
It is the signature soup of the Peruvian Amazon, a rare example of a Peruvian broth thickened with peanuts and corn instead of potatoes or noodles, carrying the deep, nutty flavor of the jungle in every spoonful.
💡 Fun Fact
In several native languages of the Peruvian Amazon, the word for peanut is close to 'inchic,' which is how this soup earned its name.
Peruvian Amazon (Loreto region, around Iquitos)
-3.74°S, -73.25°W
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