The Cebolles Rellenes festival is held in El Entrego (San Martín del Rey Aurelio, Asturias) on the last weekend of November, around San Andrés. The dish is onions stuffed with bonito and stewed in sauce, devised as a Lenten meal. In early December, Blimea celebrates stuffed peppers.
San Martín del Rey Aurelio sees out the autumn with stewed vegetables. Around San Martín, on 11 November, Sotrondio celebrates turnips; at the end of the month, El Entrego celebrates stuffed onions; and in early December, Blimea celebrates peppers. All three festivals have been declared of tourist interest. El Entrego's has behind it a story of meatless fast-day cooking and a cook with a nickname: la Nina.
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A cook with no meat
Turismo Asturias credits the dish to Aniceta Fueyo, “la Nina”, a local cook who came up with it in the 1940s to feed some priests during Lent. Vivir Asturias tells it in more detail: after the war, during Lent, some priests came to the La Laguna bar, and she neither had meat nor could serve it, so she stuffed some onions with bonito and sofrito. The Telecable blog moves the scene back to a Good Friday in 1927, at the La Laguna restaurant, when all she had to hand were onions and tins of bonito.
The sources don't agree on the year, and we're not going to pick one here. They do agree on the rest: a fast day, a bare larder and an idea that went down so well it spread to other kitchens in the town and stayed.
What the dish is like
The recipe given by Vivir Asturias has onions stuffed with flaked bonito in a tomato and pepper sauce, stewed for about three hours in a casserole with white wine, bay leaf and stock, and served three at a time with chopped egg, pepper and parsley. The original is made with bonito, but Turismo Asturias adds that today there are also versions stuffed with meat and even with seafood.
The festival menu: stuffed onions, a portion of callos (tripe stew) and casadielles for dessert.
The festival, around San Andrés
The idea of giving it a festival came in 1972, according to the Telecable blog. It's organised by the town's restaurant and bar owners and its festival society together with the Town Council, and falls on the last weekend of November, around San Andrés, which is on the 30th. In 2025 it ran from 28 November to 1 December: there was the pregón (opening speech) and the presentation of the Cebolla de Oro (Golden Onion) at the theatre, and a competition with two categories, professionals and amateurs, in the marquee in La Laguna park.
Turismo Asturias gives the dates as 27 to 30 November. The programme changes every year, so it's worth checking it before booking a table.
In December, the peppers of Blimea
Blimea, in the same concejo (municipality), has its own festival. According to the programme for the 2016 edition, the forty-first, in 1975 the Sociedad de Festejos de Blimea suggested a food festival to the town's restaurant and bar owners. They chose pimientos morrones (red peppers) stuffed with meat or with bonito, and 8 December as the main day. Turismo Asturias presents it as the only contest in Asturias devoted to stuffed peppers and places it from 4 to 8 December.
In 2025 it ran from the 5th to the 8th: on the Friday, the switching-on of the Christmas lights and the Pimiento de Oro (Golden Pepper) gala; on the Saturday, the competition; on the Sunday, a Christmas market in Plaza del Rosario and Plaza de San José; and on Monday the 8th, a sung Mass. In the town's bars and restaurants, the menu is roasted or oven-baked peppers, callos and frisuelos, with cider or wine.
For anyone staying a few weeks
If your stay is a long one, it's worth knowing that each of these towns has its weekly market: Tuesday in Sotrondio, Wednesday in El Entrego and Friday in Blimea, according to Turismo Asturias. All three have a stop on the Cercanías C-5 line, which links Gijón and Laviana: Sotrondio, El Entrego-La Oscura and Blimea. We've already covered Sotrondio's turnip festival in another guide.
Checked
Facts checked in October 2026 against: Turismo Asturias (the Cebolles Rellenes and Pimientos Rellenos festivals, the 2025 events calendar and the profile of the concejo of San Martín del Rey Aurelio), Vivir Asturias, the Telecable blog, asturias.com, the programme of the 41st Fiesta de los Pimientos Rellenos (2016) and Wikipedia (Línea C-5 de Cercanías Asturias).
Quick questions
What's on the menu at the stuffed onion festival?
Stuffed onions, a portion of callos and casadielles for dessert.
When is the Blimea stuffed pepper festival?
Turismo Asturias places it from 4 to 8 December, with the 8th as the main day; in 2025 it ran from the 5th to the 8th. It is the only contest in Asturias devoted to stuffed peppers.
How do you get to El Entrego and Blimea?
On the Cercanías C-5 line, which links Gijón and Laviana, with stops at El Entrego-La Oscura and Blimea.