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Sofrito, also calledRecaíto; is a staple to seasoning many Puerto Rican food dishes.
What is Sofrito?
If there is one thing that was always in my grandmother’s kitchen, it was the unlimited stock of sofrito.
There something about that fresh homemade sofrito smell as it sizzles on a frying pan.
A childhood aroma that will forever continue to be passed down generations.
It is made in different variations around the Caribbean Islands. The base consisting of peppers, onion, garlic, and tomatoes.
However, Puerto Rican Sofrito rarely has tomatoes and uses two main ingredients – recao(culantro) andají dulce. This is one of the main reasons why sofrito is also called “recaíto” for Puerto Ricans.
How to Make Sofrito?
This seasoning is used to prepare Arroz con gandules, pasteles, and many other Puerto Rican food dishes.
Theají dulce is also calledaji cachucha and is very hard to find at the grocery stores. They are usually found at a vegetable market or Hispanic/latin supermarkets. If you cannot find these, you can use mini sweet peppers instead.
Be careful when blending with a high powered food processor or blender because it can become too purée. To reduce water content, strain the blended sofrito seasoning before storing.
Also, it is a common practice to spread it out in an ice cube tray and freeze the sofrito. Then, place sofrito cubes into a ziplock freezer bag for long-term storage.
Puerto Rican Sofrito
Course: Sauce
Cuisine: Caribbean, Puerto Rican
Keyword: ají dulce, caribbean food, puerto rican recipe, recaito, recipe, sauce, sofrito
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Servings: 2 Cups
Sofrito, also calledRecaíto; is a staple to seasoning many Puerto Rican food dishes.
Ingredients
- 1 yellow onion roughly chopped
- 1 red bell pepper seeded & chopped
- 1 green bell pepper seeded & chopped
- 1 garlic head
- 14 ají dulce seeded & chopped
- 10 leaves culantro
- 1 tbsp salt
- 1 tbsp black pepper
- 1 tbsp oregano ground
- 1/3 cup olive oil extra virgin
Instructions
Start off by roughly chopping the yellow onion. Continue doing the same and removing the seeds from the red bell pepper, green bell pepper, and the ají dulces.
Place the chopped ingredients into a food large sized food processor or blender.
Break apart the garlic head into cloves and peel away the outer papery skin. Place the garlic cloves and culantro leaves into the food processor or blender.
Add a tbsp of salt, black pepper, and oregano. Lastly, add the 1/3 cup of olive oil and blend everything together.
Recipe Notes
- Theají dulce is also calledaji cachucha and is very hard to find at the grocery stores. They are usually found at a vegetable market or a Hispanic/Latin supermarkets. You may use mini sweet peppers instead if you cannot find theseají dulcepeppers.
- Be careful when blending with a high powered food processor or blender because it will become too purée. To reduce water content, strain the blended sofrito mixture before storing.
- To store, it is a common practice to spread it out in an ice cube tray and freeze the sofrito. Then, place sofrito cubes into a ziplock freezer bag for long-term storage.
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Comments
Jessica saysOh my gosh! THANK YOU for this recipe!! My father makes an amazing sofrito but he does it in such huge quantities that it was difficult for me to figure out how to scale his recipe down to an amount that is appropriate for a single person. This is great!!! I love your website! The photographs are beautiful and you provide great detail in both the recipes and related information as well! I look forward to making more of your recipes!
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- Kitchen De Lujo says
No problem! Thank you for the kind words!
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- Dee says
Great blog with explanation about recaito! Our family’s Italian but I married a Puerto Rican man and have many friends from there. I have an awesome recipe which is similar to yours but does use tomatoes. I substitute 1/2 of the cilantro with fresh parsley, to appease the Italian palate! Amazing, how it jazzes up soups, sauces and beans. We also freeze it in ice cube trays then put in glass dish with tight-fitting-lid & use within 3 months. Seems that tomatoes & olive oil are the 2 most disputed ingredients. I don’t use olive oil but see many others do. We grow the herbs, tomatoes & peppers ourselves so the super fresh taste is incredible. Hate to run out and have to buy Goya. Thanks for the new recipe! I will be trying it.
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