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.
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
Tried this recipe?Please consider Leaving a Review!
