The base of all Puerto Rican cuisine, sofrito is an herby, aromatic sauce that will add a ton of flavor to anything you’re cooking. Making a big batch helps get the prep out of the way, and then you’ll have it at your fingertips. You can store sofrito in plastic containers or freeze it in ice cube trays and store them in a zip-top freezer bag for easy use. It’s also great in Latin-based dishes like fajitas, different rices, and beans. Add it to soups and curries — pretty much any recipe where you’d use peppers and onions, you can add a cube or two of sofrito in their place.
Buy sazón, an annatto-based spice mixture, in the Latin foods aisle at your grocery store, at Latin markets, and online. Fresh culantro is an herb similar to cilantro in flavor, but stronger. It can often be found in Latin and Asian food stores and goes by other names such as recao, shadow benni, or sawtooth herb. If you can’t find culantro, just substitute more cilantro. If you happen to find fresh ají dulce peppers, you can add a handful; they resemble Scotch bonnet peppers in size, shape, and color but are not hot. They’re sweeter and smokier in flavor.
Satisfy your sweet tooth with this easy-to-make recipe for Puerto Rican Sofrito.
1. Info for Puerto Rican Sofrito
- Cook Time: 30 min
- Total Time: 30 min
- Servings: 24
- Calories: 10.97 kcal
2. Ingredients for Puerto Rican Sofrito
- yellow onion
- green onions
- green bell pepper
- red bell pepper
- garlic
- cilantro
- culantro
- water
- kosher salt
- black pepper
- sazon seasoning
- extra-virgin olive oil
3. Directions:
- Combine the chopped yellow onion, green onions, green pepper, red pepper, garlic cloves, cilantro, and culantro in a large mixing bowl. Working in batches, blend about one-third of the vegetables at a time in a food processor or blender with about ¼ cup water to create a very finely chopped sauce or paste, similar to pesto or chimichurri. (You may not need all the water.)
- Transfer each batch of sofrito to another mixing bowl. Once all of the sofrito is blended, season with salt, black pepper, sazón, and olive oil. Stir well and portion out into small plastic containers or ice cube trays. The sofrito keeps in the fridge for about one week or in the freezer for up to six months (once frozen, transfer cubes to zip-top freezer bags for easy use).
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