Arroz con Gandules is the best Puerto Rican rice dish that is filled with FLAVOR.
What is Arroz con Gandules?
Arroz con Gandules is a traditional Puerto Rican dish that is served usually around Christmas season or special occasions. One of the main reasons why this is served for special occasions is because it serves A LOT of people. It is referred as “Puerto Rican Rice” and includes the Puerto Rican Cuisine seasoning sofrito to give it the unique mouthwatering taste.
Gandules, which is pigeon peas in English; is essential to the rice dish and is packed with nutrients. You’ll be surprised how flavorful the little pigeon peas are in combination with the seasoning. You can find these canned at your local market under the brand Goya or if you’re fortunate enough to get them fresh depending on your location.
This rice dish recipe requires a medium sized caldero (cast aluminum cooking pot) to be cooked in which is similar to a dutch oven. It is used throughout the Caribbean Islands for cooking rice, beans, stews, and soups. It is very versatile and durable for kitchenware and helps create pegao! You can purchase a caldero online if you cannot find one at a nearby store.
Sofrito Seasoning
This Puerto Rican rice recipe absolutely requires its signature seasoning – Sofrito. Sofrito; also sometimes called Recaíto, is a green seasoning base that is used in Arroz con Gandules and many other Puerto Rican dish recipes.
Being a Caribbean Island seasoning staple, tomatoes are rarely used in sofrito in Puerto Rico. Homemade sofrito is always the best kind to use and we have a delicious sofrito recipe for you!
Pegao
Pegao, the tasty rice at the bottom of the caldero. It is regular for Puerto Ricans to eat the crusty rice leftovers and it takes practice to get it to the right crispiness.
A tip to making pegao is using coating the inside of the caldero with vegetable oil and making sure you do not cook the rice with high heat. It is a little difficult your first attempt but in due time you will be a pegao pro!
Perfecting water and rice ratio is key to this Arroz con Gandules recipe. Since the ingredients like the sofrito, tomato sauce, and vegetable oil add liquid to the dish; it is difficult to know how much water is enough. A perfect rule of thumb is to use a 1 cup – 1 cup ratio and the liquid should be about 1 inch above the rice before you cook it.
The cured salted pork is optional and can be swapped out with ham or chorizo. However, the cured salted pork grease really complements the rice flavor.
Also, make sure you do NOT open the tightly secured lid during the 30 minute cooking time and also avoid stirring the rice. Let the caldero work its magic!
Arroz con Gandules
Arroz con Gandules is the best Puerto Rican rice dish that is filled with FLAVOR.
Ingredients
- 3 cups medium grain rice
- 3 cups water
- 1 can gandules (pigeon peas) drained
- 1/2 cup cured salted pork chopped
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup sofrito
- 6 oz tomato sauce
- 1 packet sazon culantro y achiote
- 10 whole spanish olives
- 1 tsp cumin
- salt for taste
Instructions
Start by adding the vegetable oil to the caldero or large pot and set the stove heat to medium. Toss in your chopped cured salted pork into the pot and cook until it is fried. Remove the cured salted pork and set aside but keep the grease in the caldero.
Next, add your sofrito, tomato sauce, sazon culantro y achiote, cumin, spanish olives, and gandules to the caldero. Cook and stir the mixture for about 3 to 4 minutes. In addition, add your water and bring to boil. Rinse your medium grain rice to remove starch.
Lastly, add your medium grain rice and the fried cured salted pork and stir everything gently. Place a sheet of foil covering the top opening of the caldero and cover with lid. Cook the Puerto Rican rice for 30 minutes over medium heat without opening the lid at all. Fluff rice and add salt for personal taste.
Recipe Notes
1. For perfect water amount, make sure the rice is below liquid amount by 1 inch before placing the foil and caldero lid.
2. Do not wash the starch off of the rice if you prefer your rice sticky.
Can i use the red sofrito tomato cooking base or should i use the green
I recommend using green sofrito.
Yes 😍
Can this recipe be doubled? I made it according to the directions and it came out perfectly… having a lot of people over and was wondering can I double this recipe?
Yes, the recipe can be doubled. Glad to hear it came out perfectly!
Healthy and tasty thing to eat.
Glad to know about this dish.
I must appreciate your creativity.
Thanks for sharing this amazing recipe with us.
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I just made this recipe,and Omg! Perfect,I am So excited.
thanks for sharing the latest recipe about arrox con gandules.
i loved the video, waiting for next video about new recipe…
This recipe is the closest to my grandma’s 😁
Thank you!
THIS IS THE BEST RICE & BEAN RECIPE I chop ham into tiny pieces instead of the pork & used some onion, not much but I put onion in everything.. yum..the last step.. when you bring everything to a boil and of course, the pork or the ham and onion in my case..i cover the way you said..i only boiled it for 10 minutes this time and it is perfect.. this is a fifth time I have made this recipe and I love it ..thank you for sharing
What kind brand rice do you use? Is basmati rice is okay?
I use Goya brand – Medium Grain for this recipe. Basmati is okay but only if it is medium grain.
is it fine to use a 2.6 quart caldero ? I bought the one that was linked in this blog. Also if I’m not going to be putting meat in it should I just jump to he vegetable oil in the pan and then the sofrito and etc?
Hey, yes it is fine to use the 2.6 qt caldero but I would only do a 2 cup ratio for the rice & water to be safe. Yes, you can skip the meat part as it is not a necessary ingredient.
Will it come out ok if I don’t add sofrito the store bought has pork & my fiance doesn’t eat pork. I want try & make my own doctor I but don’t have the time to do so today.
I’m sorry but this recipe revolves around sofrito. We have a sofrito recipe that you can make within 20 minutes if you have the ingredients.
I used to recipe and it came out sooooo good. I used a few extra olives, also used just a tad more salt pork.
Made this today!!!! Delicious! Very close to my mother in laws!!!!
thank you! great to hear you like the recipe!
Do you use any adobo or bouillon?
Hey, I do not use either. However, you may use a little of both if you would like to.
Can’t wait to make this recipe. Not a lot Puerto Rican restaurants in my area. Can I use the frozen goya sofrito found in the frozen section?
Hey, you may use the Goya Recaito but freshly made will most definitely taste better!
Omg I made this tonight, it came out so delicious
great to hear! 🙂
I am eager to try this recipe. My fiancé is Puerto Rican and I am Italian, but I want to surprise him with something he loves. I’ve tried making this before with a different recipe and it felt like it was missing something. I also have a hard time finding canned pigeon peas. The last time I used a dry bag and boiled them exactly as directed by the instructions on the bag before using them in the recipe and they were crunchy. This time I found frozen Goya brand but it still wants me to boil them before using them. Any recommendations on how to cook them so that they turn out right.
Hey, thank you for reaching out. My recommendation would be to let the frozen pigeon peas thaw for a little and then use them as if they were canned. Since you will be cooking the arroz con gandules for at least 30 minutes, it is more than enough time for the thawed pigeon peas to cook.
Can this be made without meat?
Yes, the recipe can be made without meat.
What if I don’t have the right pan? Would a large pot work ok?
Yes, a large pot will work
I just made this tonight for a pot luck at work tomorrow. Simple recipe and I did without pork because I just didn’t buy any or had any lol. I learned the foil trick from another recipe. I burnt the bottom a little more than the little pegao but I walked a way for long than I should have lol. Some of the burnt parts were bomb. Overall, simple and great recipe and will use again.
lol, well at least everything came out great! thank you for trying out our recipe 🙂