Arroz con gandules
Puerto Rico's rice with pigeon peas, sofrito, olives and annatto-tinted oil, cooked in one pot with a crust on the bottom.
Recipe by I Want Some Food · Reviewed by the editorial kitchen.
- Prep
- 20 min
- Cook
- 40 min
- Rest
- None
- Total
- 1 hr
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Spice
- No chilli
- Cost
- Weeknight budget$8–16 USD · indicative, not a store price
About
Arroz con gandules is yellow-orange rice cooked with green pigeon peas in a base of sofrito, the Puerto Rican blend of onion, pepper, garlic, culantro and coriander, with tomato sauce, olives, capers and oil coloured with annatto. Everything goes into one pot, the rice absorbs the liquid, and the bottom develops pegao, the crisp crust that people fight over. It is the national rice and the partner to pernil at Christmas. This version makes a quick sofrito in a blender, uses tinned gandules, and gives the timing for a heavy pot on the stove. A caldero, the aluminium Caribbean pot, is ideal; a Dutch oven is fine.
What you'll need
17 ingredients. Tap each one once it's out on the bench.
- Ingredients
- Sofrito
Ingredients
Ingredients
- Rice, medium or long grain, rinsed500 g
- Pigeon peas, one tin green gandules, drained400 g
- Neutral oil44 ml
- Achiote, annatto seeds, or 1 tsp ground15 ml
- Bacon, or smoked ham, diced (optional)80 g
- Passata120 ml
- Olives, green, pimento-stuffed if possible12
- Capers15 ml
- Oregano, dried4.9 ml
- Chicken stock, or water with more salt750 ml
- Salt, to taste9.9 ml
Sofrito
- Onion, roughly chopped1 medium
- Bell pepper, green, roughly chopped1 medium
- Garlic5 clove
- Coriander, leaves and stems; add culantro leaves if you have them1 bunch
- Fresh chilli, ají dulce or a sweet mild chilli, no heat (optional)2 small
Scaling multiplies the written quantities. Baking still prefers a scale.
Steps
Step 1
Blend the onion, pepper, garlic, coriander and sweet chilli with a splash of water to a coarse paste. This is a quick sofrito; it will make more than you need and freezes well.
5 min
Step 2
Warm the oil with the annatto seeds in the pot over low heat until the oil is deep orange, 3 minutes. Lift out the seeds. If using ground annatto, just stir it into the oil.
4 min
Watch: Annatto seeds burn and turn bitter if the oil gets hot. Keep it gentle.
Step 3
Add the bacon and cook until the fat runs, then add 6 heaped tablespoons of sofrito and cook 5 minutes until it smells sweet. Add the passata, olives, capers, oregano and bay and cook 2 minutes more.
8 min
Step 4
Stir in the rice and pigeon peas to coat in the orange base. Add the stock and salt, bring to a boil and cook uncovered until the liquid drops level with the rice, about 8 minutes.
10 min
Step 5
Stir once from the bottom, lower the heat to minimum, cover tightly and cook 25 minutes. Do not lift the lid. Rest 5 minutes off the heat, then fluff with a fork and scrape up the pegao from the bottom.
30 min
Tip: A sheet of foil or a banana leaf under the lid keeps the steam in if your lid is loose.
Nutrition
Per serving · estimate
- Calories
- 339 kcal
- Protein
- 13.4 g
- Carbs
- 46.9 g
- Fat
- 10.6 g
- Saturated fat
- 1.9 g
- Fibre
- 6.5 g
- Sugar
- 4.1 g
- Sodium
- 1207 mg
Calculated from canonical ingredient data (USDA FoodData Central averages and equivalent published tables). Estimates only.
Allergens
Informational only. Not a medical guarantee. Cross-contamination happens in real kitchens.
- No major allergens flagged in the structured ingredients.
- Dairy-free
- Gluten-free
Adapt this recipe
The original recipe stays as it is. Personal versions are labelled. Serving changes are simple maths.
Adaptations · 0 / 15 used. Resets 12 November.
Substitutions
Pigeon peas → Black-eyed peas or chickpeas
A different rice, but a common swap when the tin is not in the shop.
Tips
- Rinse the rice until the water runs nearly clear. Starchy rice makes a gummy pot.
- The pegao, the crisp bottom, needs a heavy pot and patience. If yours is sticking rather than crisping, the heat was too high.
- Many cooks drop a spoon of sofrito and a splash of olive brine in at the end for freshness.
History & culture
No Puerto Rican Christmas, Thanksgiving or family party is complete without a caldero of arroz con gandules, usually beside roast pork and pasteles. It is also a Sunday lunch rice and a weeknight dinner with a fried egg. The diaspora in New York, Orlando and Chicago cooks it in the same pots their grandparents brought.
Pigeon peas came from Africa with enslaved people and took to the Puerto Rican hills. Sofrito and the olive-and-caper habit are Spanish; annatto for colour is Taíno. The dish as it stands is a product of the 19th-century plantation island and was formalised in the Puerto Rican cookbooks of the 1950s.
Traditional — Most Puerto Rican kitchens add a sachet of sazón with culantro and achiote, and often a piece of smoked ham or bacon. Here the colour comes from annatto in oil and the smoke is optional bacon. Culantro is replaced by coriander if you cannot find it.
Provenance: Editorial adaptation.
Questions about this recipe
Answers taken from this dish's times, amounts, swaps and tips.
How long does Arroz con gandules take?
1 hr all in — 20 min prep, 40 min cook. Cook and rest follow the method. Leftover storage and optional extra waits are not included.
How many does it serve?
The recipe is written for 6 plates. Scale the ingredient list on the page if you are cooking for a different number.
How hard is it?
Easy.
How spicy is it?
No chilli.
Does it fit a diet?
The published recipe is labelled Dairy-free, Gluten-free.
What does it cost to cook?
Weeknight budget — about $8–16 USD, as a grocery budget for this recipe, not a restaurant price.
6 more questionsFewer questions
What equipment do I need?
Dutch oven, Blender, Chef's knife.
How much salt do I put in?
The recipe lists Salt at 2 tsp (to taste).
What can I use instead?
Pigeon peas → Black-eyed peas or chickpeas. A different rice, but a common swap when the tin is not in the shop.
What should I watch for?
Annatto seeds burn and turn bitter if the oil gets hot. Keep it gentle.
Any tips from this recipe?
Rinse the rice until the water runs nearly clear. Starchy rice makes a gummy pot. The pegao, the crisp bottom, needs a heavy pot and patience. If yours is sticking rather than crisping, the heat was too high. Many cooks drop a spoon of sofrito and a splash of olive brine in at the end for freshness.
Can I use an air fryer?
This method is not written for an air fryer. The core technique on the page still applies.
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