Arroz con Gandules — also known as Puerto Rican Rice with Pigeon Peas — is Puerto Rico’s national dish for a reason! It’s a flavorful Puerto Rican rice dish made with gandules (pigeon peas), green olives and sofrito. Treat your friends and family to this famous rice tonight!
Arroz con Gandules
A heaping serving of arroz con gandules underneath mouthwatering pernil is the ultimate Puerto Rican holiday dish! Making this meal is the most delicious way to elevate your Christmas dinner.
I first fell in love with this recipe when I visited Jorge’s family in Puerto Rico. After my first bite, I just had to know how to make it! I’ve tried a thousand different methods of getting my arroz con gandules, but none of them can compare to this one.
What makes arroz con gandules so good? All the flavorful ingredients and perfectly cooked rice, of course!
Ingredients for Arroz con Gandules
You’ll need the following ingredients to make this classic Puerto Rican rice with pigeon peas:
- Olive or Vegetable Oil
- Gandules: frozen or canned pigeon peas
- Tomato Sauce
- Green Olives
- Sofrito: I use store bought, but you can also use homemade Sofrito!
- Salt
- Adobo
- Sazon
- Ground Black Pepper
- Ground Cumin Powder
- Water
- Medium Grain White Rice: rinsed to remove any extra starch!
- Ham or Bacon: optional!
What are Gandules?
Gandules, known as Pigeon Peas in English, are an essential ingredient when making Arroz con Gandules. They are small sized green peas with an oval shape that have a slightly nutty flavor.
You can purchase pigeon peas in Latin or Caribbean sections of the grocery store. They commonly come in a few different options: fresh, frozen or canned. For arroz con gandules, I usually purchase the frozen or canned version depending on what I can find here in Florida.
Long, Medium and Short Grain Rice
Short grain rice will create a sticky rice. Long grain rice will be a drier rice. Medium grain rice is just right, you know, like goldilocks.
Medium grain rice is the traditional rice used in Puerto Rico to make Arroz Con Gandules. If for some reason you can not find medium grained rice, the next best substitute is to use long grain rice. Short grain rice is the worst choice because the final dish will just be too sticky.
How to Make Arroz con Gandules
Meat. Heat a large heavy bottomed pot, or a caldero if you have one, over medium heat. If using ham or bacon, slowly cook the meat until crispy, remove meat from pot and set aside leaving the drippings. (If not using meat, add olive oil before continuing with the next step.)
Add. Then, add the gandules, tomato sauce, green olives, sofrito, salt, adobo seasoning, sazon, ground black pepper and ground cumin. Stir to fully combine.
Pour in water. Once the mixture of ingredients becomes fragrant, pour in the water and bring it to a boil over high heat.
Add the rice. Once the mixture comes to a boil, add the rice and stir until rice is submerged and pigeon peas are distributed evenly.
Cook. Reduce the heat to medium-low, cover, and cook for about 25 minutes. Traditionally the rice would be covered with a banana or plantain leaf. However, a tight fitting pot lid will work just fine!
Stir. About half way through cooking, remove the lid and stir, making sure to scrape up any rice stuck at the bottom of the pan. This is a very touchy subject – some Puerto Ricans insist that you don’t stir the rice while cooking. That the crispy bottom bites are the best part! While others would prefer more evenly cooked rice. Whatever you do, if you do stir the rice, make sure you only do it once or the rice can become sticky.
Steam. After simmering for 25 minutes, remove the arroz con gandules from the heat and let it sit for an additional 30 minutes before serving. This is called letting the rice “steam”. The rice is done once all the liquid is absorbed.
Fluff and serve. My favorite step in any rice recipe! After letting the dish sit for about a half hour, remove the lid. Fluff and stir the rice, then serve warm with fresh cilantro, if desired.
Tips for the best Arroz Con Gandules:
RINSE YOUR RICE: It is super important that you rinse your rice. Use a fine mesh sieve and rinse your rice with water in the sink. This quick step will save you a lot of heartache later by giving you perfectly cooked rice.
DON’T STIR TOO MUCH: You can not stir this Puerto Rican rice over and over again, otherwise you will wind up with mushy rice. At maximum, I recommend only stirring it once when you add the rice and then once while cooking.
TIGHT FITTING LID: Make sure your pot or caldero has a tight fitting lid. If you don’t have one, make one with foil. It’s important for the rice to cook with a tight fitting lid and is also very important for the steaming step afterwards.
How should I serve this dish?
Traditionally, this rice is made to be served with pernil. The way this flavorful rice mixes with the tender pork is irresistibly good! However, if you are Puerto Rican, you know that rice goes with everything!
This Puerto Rican rice also pairs perfectly with many other classic dishes:
- Pernil
- Adobo Chicken
- Stewed Chicken
- Pasteles
However, I sometimes make this rice to eat all on its own, add in some Spanish sausage or even on the side of a rotisserie chicken. This definitely isn’t traditional, but it’s delicious and we love it for an easy dinner.
However, I sometimes make this rice to eat all on its own, add in some Spanish sausage or even on the side of a rotisserie chicken. This definitely isn’t traditional, but it’s delicious and we love it for an easy dinner.
How long will it stay fresh?
I recommend serving this rice immediately when it’s ready for optimal flavor. However, it also keeps wonderfully in the fridge for up to 5 days! Just make sure it’s in an airtight container and you will be having Arroz Con Gandules all week!
To reheat, just add the rice to a microwave safe bowl and pour in 2 teaspoons of water and stir. This will keep it from drying out. Set the microwave to 1 minute, stir as needed, and enjoy!
This recipe for Arroz Con Gandules has been a long time coming! I have been working on my rice game for years…picking all of Jorge’s family members and our friends brains trying to get their families tricks and tips.
If you try out this family recipe for Puerto Rican rice, please let me know how it turns out in the comments below. You can even leave a photo now to share how it turns out!
Looking for more Puerto Rican recipes? Check out this reader favorite Coquito recipe, perfectly roasted Pernil, Fall favorite Pumpkin Flan and Sweet Plantains!
Arroz Con Gandules (Puerto Rican Rice and Pigeon Peas)
Arroz con Gandules -- also known as Puerto Rican Rice with Pigeon Peas -- is Puerto Rico's national dish for a reason! It's a flavorful Puerto Rican rice dish made with gandules (pigeon peas), green olives and sofrito. Treat your friends and family to this famous rice tonight!
Ingredients
- 4 slices bacon or ham, optional
- 2 tablespoons oil (olive or vegetable oil)
- 1 cup fresh or frozen gandules (pigeon peas), drained from the water
- 3/4 cup tomato sauce
- 1/2 cup green olives
- 1/4 cup sofrito, thawed if using store bought frozen sofrito
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon adobo seasoning
- ½ packet sazon
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon ground cumin powder
- 3 ½ cups water
- 3 cups medium white rice, rinsed
- cilantro, optional garnish
Instructions
1. Heat a large heavy bottomed pot, or a caldero if you have one, over medium heat. If using ham or bacon, slowly cook the meat until crispy, remove meat from pot and set aside leaving the drippings. If not using meat, add olive oil before continuing with the next step.
2. Then, add the gandules, tomato sauce, green olives, sofrito, salt, adobo seasoning, sazon, ground black pepper and ground cumin. Stir to fully combine.
3. Once the mixture becomes fragrant, pour in the water and bring it to a boil over high heat. Bring the mixture to a boil and then add the rice. Stir until rice is submerged and pigeon peas are distributed evenly.
4. Reduce the heat to medium-low, cover, and cook for about 25 minutes. You can add your ham or bacon back in now if you want, or wait to add it in again before serving. Traditionally the rice would be covered with a banana or plantain leaf. However, a tight fitting pot lid will work just fine!
5. About half way through cooking, remove the lid and stir, making sure to scrape up any rice stuck at the bottom of the pan. This is a very touchy subject - some Puerto Ricans insist that you don't stir the rice while cooking. That the crispy bottom bites are the best part! While others would prefer more evenly cooked rice. Whatever you do, if you do stir the rice, make sure you only do it once or the rice can become sticky.
6. After simmering for 25 minutes, remove the arroz con gandules from the heat and let it sit for an additional 30 minutes before serving. This is called letting the rice "steam". The rice is done once all the liquid is absorbed.
7. After letting the rice rest for about a half hour, remove the lid. Fluff and stir the rice, then serve warm with fresh cilantro, if desired.
Notes
Wait! You didn't add capers! I know some families add capers, but when arroz con gandules has been served to me, it is without capers. If you want to use capers, add a couple of tablespoons of capers - without juice - when you add the olives!
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
8 servingsServing Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 257Total Fat: 12gSaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 7gCholesterol: 16mgSodium: 1265mgCarbohydrates: 25gFiber: 3gSugar: 1gProtein: 12g
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Typically when I use tomato sauce it makes the rice really soggy. Any idea why? Or any tips?
Hi Mari! When you add sauce, are you subtracting some of the water? If you add sauce and keep the same amount of water, it’s usually too much liquid for the rice and you will end up with soggy rice.
Thanks you for the recipes.What brand of the pot do you use?
Hi Marthin! This was a Le Creuset cast iron enameled dutch oven. You can use any large heavy bottomed pot and it should work just fine!
Very good! I can see this becoming a staple. Definitely can’t wait to add my own flair to this too.
Can you freeze this? If so, please let me know what’s the best method. There’s a lot of leftovers and I hate for it to go bad
Hi Jessie! Yes, you can freeze it! I place it in a freezer safe container (personally I like to use ziplock freezer bag) and freeze it for up to 3 months. Then I reheat in a pan with a little water and oil.