Mom’s authentic Puerto Rican Rice and Beans with savory homemade sofrito and sazon! You’ll love this incredibly flavorful, comforting homemade meal that will fill your home with unbelievably delicious smells. The perfect recipe to serve a crowd or just savor leftovers for a few days!OHHHH hi! I’ve been teasing this beautiful recipe for a while now on Instagram stories and I couldn’t be more excited to finally share one of my favorite comfort foods in the entire world: my mom’s Puerto Rican Rice and Beans.As many of you know, my mom is full Puerto Rican, as are my grandparents. My childhood dinner’s were often full of hispanic cuisine — often empanadas, rice and beans, tostones, pazole and ALL THE GOOD THINGS IN LIFE. More recently, I’ve connected with recipes that are from my heritage and started cooking from the soul again. Personally, it feels incredibly rewarding when Puerto Rican soul food fills my home with it’s intoxicating, aromatic spices.And even if you aren’t Puerto Rican, why not try something new?! We could all use a good dose of global inspired creativity and cooking in our lives. These rice and beans are the perfect way to start.
<span style=”color: #0000ff;”>Please continue to Next Page (>) for the full list of ingredients and complete cooking instructions.</span>
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INGREDIENTS
For the beans:
1 pound dry pinto or pink beans, sorted and damaged beans removed (about 2 cups dried beans), soaked overnight for 6-8 hours, no longer
6-8 cups water or vegetarian broth
1-2 bay leaves
For the sofrito (for the beans):
2 teaspoons olive oil
½ cup finely diced yellow onion
½ cup finely diced green bell pepper
¼ cup finely diced cilantro
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup no salt added tomato sauce (from one 15 oz can — reserve extra sauce for rice)
3 teaspoons (2 packets) Sazon Culantro ey Achiote* (see note in recipe for how to make your own)
For the rice:
2 teaspoons olive oil
1/3 cup finely diced yellow onion
1/3 cup finely diced green bell pepper
¼ cup finely diced cilantro
2 cloves garlic, minced
½ cup no salt added tomato sauce
3 teaspoons (2 packets) Sazon Culantro ey Achiote* (see note in recipe for how to make your own)
⅛ teaspoon adobo (or just a pinch)
1 (15 oz) can Goya Green Pigeon peas** (see note in recipe for a sub)
3 cups water
2 cups basmati white rice
INSTRUCTIONS
STEP 1: Soak the beans and bay leaf for 6-8 hours in 6-8 cups of water or broth; you want about 1 inch of liquid on top of the beans. I recommend soaking your beans for no more than 8 hours. You can soak at room temperature.
STEP 2: After you soak the beans, bring beans to boil for 1-2 minutes, then reduce heat to low, cover and simmer gently for 1-2 hours or until beans are tender and soft. The last half hour that your beans are cooking you can begin to make your sofrito (see below), or once the beans are done cooking you can turn the heat off and allow the beans to sit while you cook your sofrito. It’s just up to your advancement level of cooking and preference. REMOVE THE BAY LEAF BUT DO NOT DRAIN THE BEANS. The liquid is essential to the recipe!
STEP 3: How to make Sofrito (for 1 pound beans): Sofrito in spanish means sauce — very traditional in many of the main staple foods in Puerto Rico: Add oil to a medium skillet and place over medium heat. Once oil is hot, add in onion, green pepper, cilantro and garlic. Saute until onions are translucent and green peppers soften, about 3-5 minutes. Bring heat to low and add tomato sauce, sazon and simmer for 2-3 minutes until sauce comes together. Add your sofrito to the beans (remember you were not supposed to drain the beans) and simmer uncovered over medium low heat for 20-30 minutes, stirring occasionally, so that the spices infuse with the beans. After that, turn the bean off and cover so that they keep the heat while you finish making everything else. They should stay hot enough for an hour or so.
STEP 4: While the beans are simmering with sofrito, start making the rice: Add oil to a medium pot and place over medium heat. Once oil is hot, add in onion, green pepper, cilantro and garlic. Saute until onions are translucent and green peppers soften, about 3-5 minutes. Bring heat to medium-low and add tomato sauce, sazon and adobo and simmer for 2 minutes until sauce comes together. Next add in entire can of pigeon peas (with the liquid — DO NOT DRAIN) and 3 cups water, and bring to a boil. Once it boils, stir in 2 cups of rice, cover, reduce heat to low and simmer 20 minutes or until rice is tender.
STEP 5: Once beans and rice are done, taste both and adjust seasonings as necessary, including adding more salt.
How to serve: add rice and beans to a bowl with extra sauce from the beans, garnish with cilantro and a few avocado slices. You can also add hot sauce if you like a little heat. Serves 6.
NOTES
*IF YOU WANT TO MAKE HOMEMADE SAZON:
If you want you can make homemade sazon! This is an excellent, flavorful option to have at home. For this entire recipe you will need the following: 1/2 tablespoon ground coriander, 1/2 tablespoon ground cumin, 1/2 tablespoon ground annatto seeds (or sub turmeric), 1/2 tablespoon garlic powder and 1 1/2 teaspoons salt. Mix together everything in a small bowl. For the beans you’ll need 1 tablespoon and for the rice you’ll need 1 tablespoon of this DIY sazon spice mixture.