Do you have a pot of rice on the side? Good. Now you’ll have a full meal for these Puerto Rican-style beans.
Crank up the salsa music and grab your spatulas, we’re going to the dance to the rhythm of sofrito hitting the oil and as we prep this easy habichuelas guisadas recipe, or Puerto Rican pink bean stew.
Traditionally, Puerto Rican pink bean stew, or “habichuelas guisadas,” is made with pink (or red) beans, tomato sauce, sofrito, sazon, olives, adobo, bay leaf, and potatoes.
However, you might see some variations. Like many recipes, every household will have their own version of how they enjoy a dish. This dish is also popular in the Dominican Republic and it’s similar to the Puerto Rican version.
For this recipe, you will need sofrito. Sofrito is a sauce base used in plenty of Puerto Rican dishes including rice, stews, and beans. Trust me, it’s worth making this stuff.
Additional Dishes To have With Habichuelas Guisadas:
- Yellow rice
- White Rice
- Tostones (savory plantains)
- Maduros (sweet plantains)
- Pasteles
- Empanadas/pastelillos
- Veggie picadillo (ground “meat”)
Fill up your plate with other Puerto Rican sides to make this meal complete. My favorite combination with habichuelas guisadas is white rice and maduros/sweet plantains.
Ingredients Used In Sofrito
- Onion
- Green Bell Peppers
- Red Bell Peppers
- Garlic
- Cilantro
Fresh is best when it comes to sofrito. However, you can typically find it premade in Latin grocery stores. Goya, a popular Latin food brand, make it.
For this recipe, feel free to use canned or pre-soaked beans. If you’re using soaked dry beans, you will need to cook this for longer under the beans are tender.
Easy Habichuelas Guisadas Recipe
Ingredients
- 13 ounce can pink beans
- 8 ounce tomato sauce
- 1 packet sazon
- 1 russet potato
- 1.2 cups water
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 2 tablespoon sofrito
- Spanish pimento-stuffed olives
Instructions
- Drain beans and set aside. Next, chop potato into bite-sized pieces and set aside.
- In a saucepan over medium-high heat, add oil. Once the oil is hot, add the sofrito, sazon , and tomato sauce. Stir and cook for 1 minute.
- In the same pot, add the pink beans, potatoes, olives, and water. Cover with a lid. Stir well and bring everything to a boil.
- Once at a boil, reduce temperature and allow everything to simmer for about 20-30 minutes, or until potatoes are tender.
Notes
- It’s relatively easy to make sofrito. You just need to gather up the ingredients and blend them together until chunky. Ingredients include green bell peppers, red bell peppers, cilantro, garlic, and onion.
- If you’re unable to make sofrito, you can find it premade at Latin grocery stores. However, I highly suggest making it.
- The stew will start off salty, but no worries, the potatoes will soak up a lot of the flavors.
- You can use red beans and pink beans interchangeably for this recipe.
- If you’re really into olives, you can add some of the brine into the stew and hold back on some of the sazon.
- If you don’t like olives, you can opt out. They’re optional.
While you’re here, check out our most popular recipes on the website:
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Did you try out this Easy Habichuelas Guisadas Recipe?
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Cookware Used In Recipe
Can’t wait to try this! I love soups & stews!
Yessss try it out! You’ll love it. 🙂
I made this tonight and it was delicious! I doubled the recipe and there was only about a serving left and there were only 2 of us eating it. So apparently my husband thought it was good, too. I served it with bread and butter to swipe up the leftover goodness at the bottom of our bowls. I sent this recipe to my adult children. This was a keeper for sure! Thank you!
Hey Jennifer! Thank you for trying out my recipe – I am glad you loved it! It’s definitely one of my favorite Puerto Rican dishes and it’s crazy easy to make, too. Bread and butter to clean up the bean sauce sound like a delicious idea. Yummy!