Puerto Rican Recipes
Vibrant and soulful Puerto Rican recipes — pernil, arroz con gandules, mofongo, tostones, and island favorites.
★ Dinner
DinnerPuerto Rican rice
Classic Puerto Rican rice with gandules, sofrito, and sazon.
Isabel HembyIngredients
- 3 cup Medium grain rice
- 3 cup Water
- 1 can Gandules
- 1/2 cup Salted pork
- 1/3 cup Vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup Sofrito
- 6 oz Tomato sauce
- 1 packet Sazon culantro y achiote
- 10 olives Spanish olives
- 1 tsp Cumin
- to your liking Salt
Instructions
- 1Set your stove to medium heat, add your vegetable oil to the pot. Add in your chopped salted pork and cook until it is fried. Remove the salted pork and set aside, leave the grease in the pot.
- 2The sofrito, tomato sauce, sazon culantro y achiote, Spanish olives, and gandules should next be added to the pot. For around 3 to 4 minutes, cook and stir. Bring to a boil after adding the water. While you are waiting for the ingredients to come to a boil, you can start prepping the rice. Rinse your medium grain rice to remove the starch (I like to rinse my rice 3 times).
- 3Finally, combine your medium grain rice with the salted pork to the pot and gently toss. The pot should be covered with a foil sheet and cover with the lid. On medium heat, the rice will be cooked for 30 minutes without the lid being lifted. Rice should be fluffed after 30 minutes and tasted to determine whether salt is necessary. Enjoy!
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Open in Pepper →Why Puerto Rican Cooking Is Built on Generosity
Puerto Rican cuisine is defined by sofrito — the aromatic base of recao, ají dulce peppers, onion, garlic, and tomatoes that provides the flavor foundation for countless dishes. Adobo and sazón complete the seasoning profile that makes this cuisine immediately recognizable.
The cuisine's greatest hits are deeply satisfying: slow-roasted pernil with crackling skin, arroz con gandules with its golden pigeon peas, tostones fried twice for maximum crunch, and mofongo — mashed green plantain with garlic and pork crackling — that stands as one of the Caribbean's most distinctive preparations.
On Pepper, home cooks return to these vibrant and flavorful recipes again and again, establishing them as essential Puerto Rican cuisine.
Quick Tips
- 1
Sofrito is the base
Make a big batch of sofrito and freeze it in ice cube trays. Almost every savory Puerto Rican dish starts with a cube or two melted in hot oil.
- 2
Season pernil overnight
Rub pernil with adobo, sazón, garlic, and oregano the night before — or even two days ahead. The longer it marinates, the deeper the flavor penetrates.
- 3
Fry tostones twice
For crispy tostones, fry green plantain slices once to soften, smash flat, then fry again until golden. Skipping the second fry leaves them chewy, not crunchy.
- 4
Toast rice before liquid
For arroz con gandules, toast the rice in sofrito and pork fat for 2 minutes before adding any liquid. It adds a nutty depth and keeps grains from clumping.
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