Puerto Rican Sofrito/ Recaítofeatured

This sofrito is a fragrant blend of Caribbean herbs and peppers, along with onions and garlic that forms the most flavorful base for all your Puerto Rican dishes and more.

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What is Sofrito?

I love to cook all different types of food, and the takeaway of all my experimenting is that every cuisine has it’s pantry staples, and once you’ve got those down, cooking becomes a breeze.

Well, for cooking Puerto Rican (or Cuban or Dominican…) food the key is in the sofrito. It’s the base of so many dishes. It’s the mirepoix- but way tastier- that gives Puerto Rican food it’s character.

If you want to cook this cuisine, you must start here.

The first time I cooked Puerto Rican food for my Boricua husband was when we were dating. I used store-bought jarred sofrito (hey, there was no ring yet). It was passable, but as I ventured more into the cuisine, it was clear that I needed to make the goods, the homemade sofrito, to make truly excellent Puerto Rican food.

It seemed like a lot of work to gather all these ingredients and process them just to use a few tablespoons of it.

But after tasting the difference between store-bought and homemade, and learning to make a big batch and freeze for easy and accessible use, I was convinced that there would be no other way for me going forward.

Make yourself a big batch of sofrito and use it for weeks and months in all your Puerto Rican- and not so Puerto Rican- dishes. You can use it in rice dishes, beans dishes, stews, for marinating meat, you name it.

Sofrito is usually paired with staple Puerto Rican spice blends, sazon and adobo (affiliate links). Whip up some sofrito and stock up on these spices for a Puerto Rican-approved pantry.

Then, try them out in my Puerto Rican arroz con pollo recipe (rice with chicken) and Pollo guisado – Puerto Rican chicken stew recipes!

What’s in sofrito?

The most commonly found ingredients in a Puerto Rican sofrito are aji dulce peppers, culantro, cilantro, bell pepper, onions and garlic.

Every cook has their own version of sofrito.

Some of these ingredients have great substitutes, or can be omitted if necessary, and the proportions of each are flexible.

Some people also add salt or spices to these main ingredients- such as cumin or spice blends like sazon. I prefer to add those ingredients at the time of cooking.

There are two key ingredients in this type of sofrito: Aji dulce peppers and culantro.

While these are probably the most important ingredients to get the flavor profile just right, they may also be the hardest to get your hands on depending on where you live.

No worries, they have easily accessible substitutions. Your sofrito will still lend your dishes all the sabor you’ve dreamed of.

Aji dulce peppers

Aji dulce peppers are small, sweet peppers found throughout Latin America and the Caribbean.

They are sweet, with a mild smokiness, and no heat.

They resemble habanero or scotch bonnet peppers, but have a more stout or flattened appearance.

You can find aji dulce peppers in most Latin or Caribbean grocery stores.

They may be labelled with alternate names like ajicitos, aji gustoso, or aji cachucha.

Aji dulce substitutes: If you cannot find aji dulce peppers, you can substitute them with cubanelle peppers. If those are not available, go for regular green bell peppers.

Culantro

Culantro is a a tropical herb used in Latin, Caribbean and Southeast Asian cuisines.

It is a long green leaf, with a serrated edge.

Culantro has a strong cilantro-esque flavour, but is unique in it’s taste. It is extremely pungent and will add tons of flavor to your sofrito and all the dishes you use it in.

In Latin markets you may find culantro labelled as recao in Spanish, or in West Indian markets you might find it called shadow beni or chadon beni.

This ingredient is so integral that in Puerto Ricao sofrito is actually also called recaíto after it. So, try your best to find it if it’s available in your area.

Culantro substitute: if you cannot find culantro, substitute with cilantro.

How to make sofrito

Once you’ve collected all of your ingredients, making sofrito is extremely easy.

Simply wash and trim your ingredients.

For the aji dulce peppers, make sure to remove the stems. For the bell pepper, remove the stem and the seeds and ribs inside.

For the culantro, simply trim off the tough ends.

For the cilantro, remove the thick ends of the stems, but leave the rest in tact. Cilantro can often contain a lot of dirt or mud on it so make sure to wash it thoroughly. To do this, I recommend filling a large mixing bowl with water, immersing the cilantro and swishing it around so the dirt sinks to the bottom. Then dump out the water. Repeat as necessary until its clean.

For the onions and garlic, remove the skins and cut off the ends of the onion and the garlic cloves.

Once your ingredients are trimmed and squeaky clean, give them a rough chop and pulse them in a food processor.

Make sure to pause occasionally to scrape down the sides of the food processor. Work in batches to avoid overcrowding.

You can process the sofrito to your desired consistency. Some people like it very chunky, and others like it smoother. I recommend leaving some texture and not letting it get completely pureed.

Storing sofrito

Once you’ve processed the sofrito, its ready for use!

You can use it right away, or store in an air-tight container in the fridge for use in the next few days.

For longer term storage- portion your sofrito into ice cube trays and freeze for future use.

Once frozen, transfer them to an air-tight zip bag or container to keep them fresh and prevent the delicious aroma from permeating your entire freezer (it’s great in a lot of things, but not in ice cream!)

When you are ready to use some, just toss a few frozen cubes right into your hot pan of food, no need to thaw.

¡Buen provecho!