Puerto Rican arroz con gandules, the island's national dish, features fluffy yellow rice and tender pigeon peas. The bold flavors infused into each grain of soft yellow rice are from the sofrito base.
An island staple
Every Puerto Rican party serves arroz con gandules and pernil, with sides of sandwich de mezcla, pinchos, and more. During the holidays, you can find this Puerto Rican rice with pigeon peas on a table with pavochon and coquito!
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Ingredient Notes
- Rice: I choose to use medium-grain rice because, after a lot of trial and error, it's the one rice that does not turn out mushy (some people are pros and can manage to perfect the water-to-rice ratio with any grain -I salute you, rice veteran).
- If you use long-grain rice, follow the bag recipe to ensure you use the right water-to-rice ratio.
- Be sure to rinse the rice at least three times to wash out the excess starch for looser rice. (The starch makes the rice sticky.)
- Bacon: Optional. For an authentic Puerto Rican arroz con gandules recipe, you can replace the bacon with tocino. If neither is on hand, you can use an envelope of pork-flavored bullion.
- Tomato sauce: This one varies from house to house. Some people like to use a full can; my mom prefers tomato paste, and I like to use a small amount of tomato sauce for my pigeon pea rice.
- Neutral oil: I use vegetable, canola, or corn oil. Choose your favorite neutral oil, but be aware of the smoke point and how the flavor will affect your arroz con gandules.
- Sofrito: In my opinion, you need sofrito to make arroz con gandules. You can use homemade or store-bought sofrito, or you can make a quick casero sofrito with onions, peppers, garlic, and cilantro that you can throw into the blender (or finely chop the ingredients and add them to your dish to saute in lieu of the sofrito-or in addition of the sofrito if you enjoy the texture of the added vegetables).
- Bay leaf: Fun fact: Dried bay leaves taste more herbal, with notes of oregano or thyme, compared to fresh bay leaves, which taste stronger and almost minty.
- Have extra bay leaves? Make guineos escabeche (pickled green bananas).
- Seasonings: Oregano, garlic powder, sazon, and chicken bullion seasoning are power players in Puerto Rican cooking!
- Olives: I use jarred sliced green olives. If your family loves olives, feel free to add more. I drain the liquid from the spoon before adding it (or very little makes it in).
- Gandules: I'm using canned gandules (also known as pigeon peas), but you can use frozen gandules if you can access them. (Can't find pigeon peas?
- Cilantro: I love to sprinkle fresh cilantro on top right before I place the lid over the caldero (pot).
- Water: Adding hot water is key! For more flavor, replace the water with hot chicken broth.
Why is my rice mushy?
The reason for mushy rice, also known as "amogollao" in Spanish, is too much water.
Tips to ensure your rice is not mushy:
- Measure everything: There is a certain rice-to-water ratio, which changes with the grain size and type of grain you use. The shorter the grain, the less water you will use. I found that medium-grain rice is the easiest for making arroz con gandules.
- Each bag of rice has an instruction section showing how much water needs to be added.
- With rice with pigeon peas, I find that it's best to add ¼-1/2 cup less water than the bag says since we've added sofrito and tomato sauce, plus a protein that releases liquid to the base of the arroz con gandules, which is an additional amount of liquid.
- Not washing rice: Sticky rice (aka "mushy") is made from starchy rice. The shorter the rice grain, the more starch it has. Rinsing your rice a few times removes any excess starch, which makes it loose and fluffy.
- High heat at first: Before placing the lid over your arroz con gandules, it's important to let the rice absorb as much water as possible by cooking it at a higher temperature. This process ensures that the center of the rice is tender and that the remaining cooking time is entirely steaming.
- This process also makes "pegao", a crunchy layer at the bottom of the pan that is fought for and coveted in most Latin households.
- Wide-bottom pan: Cooking rice in a heavy-bottom and wide-bottom pan is essential, especially when making more than 3 cups. This pan allows for even steaming of the rice.
- Many Puerto Ricans have a treasured "caldero," a popular aluminum pot passed down through the generations and used almost entirely for making rice.
- Tight-fitting lid: Making arroz con gandules is a two-part cooking process. The first part is boiling the rice so that the inside is tender. The second part is steaming to ensure the outside is loose and fluffy, not sticky. Ensure that no steam escapes your pot!
- If your lid does not fit perfectly, line the top of your pot or rice with aluminum foil. Some people also use plantain leaves for a more authentic Puerto Rican arroz con gandules cooking method. (Lined parchment paper can also do the trick.)
Tricks for measuring water!
Latinos are creative, and each family seems to have a measuring system in place.
My mom can make her spoon stand in the rice as a measurement. Some measure the water until the first line of a finger, too!
What are some of your favorite tricks for measuring water to rice? Let us know in the comments section!
Frequently asked questions:
What is arroz con gandules?
Arroz con gandules is a yellow rice with pigeon peas.
What are gandules?
Gandules are translated to "pigeon peas", but despite the name, pigeon peas are part of the legume family, making it a bean, not an actual "pea" (vegetable).
The name behind pigeon peas is because this bean has a similar appearance to a pea.
Can I replace gandules?
Replacing gandules in arroz con gandules is possible. You can use a can of any rinsed small bean instead of pigeon peas.
(In reality, you can use any bean, but it may alter the taste and color -which is fine.)
Do I need to use pork in arroz con gandules?
Although pork is traditionally used in arroz con gandules, you can also make rice with pork-free or even meatless pigeon peas!
You can even replace the bacon with small chunks of chicken if desired.
What to serve with arroz con gandules?
Arroz con gandules pairs with so many dishes. Traditionally arroz con gandules and pernil are always served together!
- Protein: Fried pork chops (chuletas), baked chicken, or fish!
- Sides: I serve Puerto Rican potato salad with apples every time I make arroz con gandules. You can also serve macaroni salad, avocado salad, tostones, or a simple tossed salad on the side.
- Veggies: For a more balanced dinner, serve this rice and pigeon peas with vegetables like buttery green beans, roasted zucchini, or steamed broccoli.
- Drinks: Water is king. On hot summer days, an ice-filled cup of horchata de ajonjoli or agua de jamaica is coveted. During the holidays, a sweet cinnamon coquito calls my name!
Recipe
arroz con gandules | rice with pigeon peas
Arroz con gandules is a savory Puerto Rican dish featuring medium-grain rice cooked with sofrito, a medley of seasonings, and tender pigeon peas-a beloved national favorite.
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Servings: 5 people
Calories: 610kcal
Cost: 7
Equipment
- 1 wide bottom pot
Ingredients
- 4 slices bacon chopped
- 3 tbs oil neutral, like canola, vegetable, or corn oil
- ⅓ cup sofrito
- 2 tablespoon tomato sauce
- ¼ cup green olives sliced
- 1.5 teaspoon sazon seasoning with achiote homemade or an envelope of store bought
- 1 teaspoon oregano dried
- 2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 teaspoon salt or to taste
- 2 tablespoon granulated chicken bouillon or as desired
- 3 cups boiling water or hot chicken broth
- 2.5 cups medium grain white rice rinsed 3 times, and drained
- 15 oz pigeon peas can, drained of gandules (pigeon peas)
- 1 tablespoon cilantro leaves finely chopped
Instructions
Create the base.
- Cook chopped bacon over medium heat until slightly browned. Increase heat to medium-high, push bacon to one side, and add oil to the other. After the oil heats, add sofrito and mix together. Cook for a minute before stirring in tomato sauce, green olives, bay leaf, and seasonings.
- Add hot water, mix together, and safely taste to ensure it's thoroughly seasoned. If needed, add more salt. Raise the heat until the water comes to a rolling boil.
Add in the rice and beans.
- Once the water comes to a boil, stir in rice and lower the heat to medium-high. Do not touch for 4 minutes. After 4 minutes, gently stir in gandules and cilantro. *Note: By this time, most of the water should have evaporated. This is what you want. Adding gandules before the rice absorbs most of the water will cause your gandules to turn mushy. It's best to leave this step for last before lowering covering your pot.
Cook the rice.
- Cover the pot and lower the heat to low (1.5 out of 10). Allow the rice to cook for 27-30 minutes, undisturbed. Do not lift the lid during this time.*Note: To properly steam the rice, ensure the pot is tightly sealed to prevent steam from escaping. If needed, securely cover the pot with aluminum foil before placing the lid to retain moisture.
Let the rice rest before fluffing it.
- Once the timer goes off, carefully remove the pot from the heat and allow it to sit, still covered, for 10 minutes before gently fluffing it with a fork.
Nutrition
Serving: 1g | Calories: 610kcal | Carbohydrates: 96g | Protein: 15g | Fat: 18g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 4g | Monounsaturated Fat: 9g | Trans Fat: 0.1g | Cholesterol: 12mg | Sodium: 1.311mg | Potassium: 515mg | Fiber: 7g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 74IU | Vitamin C: 0.5mg | Calcium: 79mg | Iron: 2mg
