Recipe
🥙 LUNCH
Arroz con Gandules
Rice cooked with pigeon peas, sofrito, and pork in one pot, forming a prized crust, Puerto Rico's national dish.
Puerto Rican · medium · serves 6
prep 20 min · cook 40 min
~619 cal · 23g protein · 105g carbs · 11g fat · 6g fiber · 2g sugars · 2g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Arroz con gandules is the national dish of Puerto Rico, the centrepiece of every Christmas table and Sunday gathering, cooked in a big caldero until the bottom forms the coveted crust called pegao. It is rice, but rice raised to an event.
Everything starts with sofrito, the aromatic base of peppers, onion, garlic, and culantro blended smooth, and for its warm orange colour. (gandules) and a little pork or ham give body, with olives and capers for a briny lift.
The final flourish is the pegao, the crisp golden layer stuck to the bottom of the pot, fought over at every table. A plate of arroz con gandules is Puerto Rican comfort, celebration, and identity in a single, deeply seasoned dish.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally gluten-, dairy-, egg- and nut-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 6
3 cups medium-grain rice
2 cups (gandules), cooked
6 oz diced ham or pork
1/2 cup sofrito (blended pepper, onion, garlic, culantro)
1 onion, diced
1 tbsp total sazón with and seasoning
Hard to find? ground annatto with garlic powder, cumin, oregano and salt - covers the packet's colour and savour without its MSG lift; Goya sachets are easy to order online
1/2 tsp dried oregano
4 cups chicken or vegetable broth
2 tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped, to finish
2 tbsp () oil
1/2 cup tomato sauce
1/3 cup green olives and capers
1 bay leaf
Instructions
1
Warm the achiote oil and render the ham until golden, then add the onion and cook until soft, then the sofrito, sazón, adobo, and oregano, and fry until fragrant.
2
Stir in the tomato sauce, olives, capers, gandules, and bay leaf, and cook a couple of minutes.
3
Add the rice and toss until every grain is coated in the oil, then pour in the broth and bring to a boil.
✎ Chef’s note
Go easy on the salt at the start. Between the ham, the sazón and the adobo the pot is already well seasoned, and you can always add more at the end.
4
Cover and cook on low without stirring until the liquid is absorbed and the rice is tender, about 25 minutes.
✎ Chef’s note
Do not stir once it is covered. Leaving it undisturbed on low heat lets the prized pegao crust form on the bottom.
5
Rest it covered off the heat for 10 minutes, then fluff gently, scatter the cilantro, and serve, scraping up some of the crisp bottom for each plate.
Puerto Rican national dish.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
San Juan. San Juan pounds green plantain with garlic and pork crackling into mofongo, packed into a bowl and filled with stew or seafood. Puerto Rican cooking is built on sofrito and adobo, in arroz con gandules, slow-roasted pernil, and fried alcapurria snacks.
🗺️
Puerto Rico. The sofrito here is recaito, and it is greener than the Cuban and Dominican versions because of the culantro and ajies dulces in it. Names matter too: pernil is the roast shoulder, while lechon asado is the whole pig turned over coals along the road to Guavate, and arroz con gandules uses pigeon peas rather than any bean.
🌍
North America. North America's table began with Indigenous foodways, the "three sisters" of corn, beans, and squash, plus chiles, tomatoes, and cacao, then layered on colonial, African, and immigrant influences. From Mexico's UNESCO-recognized cuisine to the Cajun and Creole pots of Louisiana and the fiery jerk of the Caribbean, the region turns ancient staples into something new. Barbecue, tacos, gumbo, and mole all carry stories of migration and adaptation.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Puerto Rico
MofongoFried green plantains mashed with garlic and crackling pork, mounded and filled with garlicky shrimp or stew.
MallorcaA soft, buttery coiled sweet bread, pressed warm and snowed with powdered sugar, the pride of Puerto Rican panaderías at breakfast.
TemblequeA wobbling coconut pudding set with cornstarch and dusted with cinnamon, a light Puerto Rican holiday classic.
Browse all Puerto Rico recipes →
Good to know
Storing it: Cool leftover rice quickly and refrigerate within an hour. Keep up to 2 days and reheat until piping hot all the way through.
Make it a Puerto Rico meal
CoquitoDrink
TemblequeDessert
MofongoDinner
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Frequently asked questions
What is Arroz con Gandules?
Rice cooked with pigeon peas, sofrito, and pork in one pot, forming a prized crust, Puerto Rico's national dish.
Where does Arroz con Gandules come from?
Arroz con Gandules is a Puerto Rican dish from San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Can Arroz con Gandules be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Arroz con Gandules recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Arroz con Gandules safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Arroz con Gandules take to make?
About 60 minutes total (20 minutes prep, 40 minutes cooking), serving 6.
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