Cuban Sofrito Recipe
Have you ever tried a Cuban sofrito recipe? One night, I wasn’t sure what I was going to make for dinner, but I had some inspiration from a Cuban sofrito recipe that I saw that was made on the Food Network. When I got to the kitchen, I realized that I didn’t have many of the ingredients that I wanted. This recipe still turned out to be a winner! Since we are pinching pennies, hubby has wanted me to make things that can last a few days. I know you can do this and still eat healthy, but, I’ve been spoiled lately from when I was able to make things fresh everyday. So, I came up with this recipe and for us 2, the recipe has lasted about 3 days so far. Some aspects of this recipe is a lot healthier than some others like it, so I hope you will try it and enjoy!
Ingredients:
1 minced onion
1 green pepper
1-3 tablespoons Garlic Powder
1-3 tablespoons Cumin
Onion Powder
Salt
Pepper
Approximately 2 Cups of Low sodium or homemade chicken stock
1 1/2 Cans of Prego Tomato Sauce
Approximately 1 pound of black beans
2 cans of sweet corn
12 chicken drumsticks
2 Cups Whole Grain Brown Rice
(Note about the ingredients: You can use minced garlic cloves, and different color peppers. Also, the type of chicken that you use and the amount can vary. It is up to you. This is what I love about Cuban sofrito. It is a basic recipe, but you can add what you want to it. I used what I had at the time.)
Instructions:
1) I made my black beans beforehand. I follow the instructions on the bag I buy. Typically, I put the amount I want in pan, cover with water and bring them to a boil. After that I let them sit for an hour. Then I rinse them and put them in a pan again with water so they can boil for about 40-50 minutes. This is called the quick soak method. (No worries, similar instructions will be on a bag of beans you buy.
2) When I am ready to start the sofrito, I preheat the oven to 375 degrees to prepare it for the chicken. I clean it and season it with salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, oregano, cumin and parsley. I’m liberal with the seasonings except the salt because the chicken will be added into the sofrito which will already have salt in it.
3) Once the chicken has been in the oven for about 20 minutes (I cook it for a full hour), I start the brown rice in a pan and the sofrito in a separate large pot. Follow the instructions to make the rice on the box or bag. For the sofrito, I put in the pepper and onion in a large pot. I cooked this with butter because that was all we had. You can use extra virgin olive oil which is what I would have used if we had any. Once they are tender but not charred, I add in garlic and cumin seasonings. I am liberal with these two seasonings. You can always add more later if you think it needs it. I mixed it together and add in the tomato sauce. Stir everything together and then I add in the chicken stock. Add salt and pepper to taste. I let this simmer on very low heat.
4) Once the chicken is finished, (it could probably cook for another 10 minutes in the oven), but we are going to add it to the sofrito. I added 6 to my pot. That’s about what it could fit comfortably. If you have a deep pot that is large enough, you should be able to fit in more drumsticks. This will depend on how many people you have to feed at once. We were fine with preparing 6 drumsticks one night and then making the other 6 the next night. So once you have the chicken in the sofrito, bring it to a slight boil and then let it simmer on low heat for 15 minutes. At this point, I add in the beans and the corn (right from the can) and I let everything simmer for about 10 more minutes.
5) Serve.
Yields 8-12 servings
P.S. An added bonus to this recipe is this: when you are ready to store it and serve the next day, you can typically add malta (latin non-alcoholic beer) or more chicken stock like I did in order to loosen up the sauce. After we finished the chicken in two days, we decided not to add any stock and just put it over rice and sprinkle a little sharp cheddar cheese on top and just heat it in the microwave. It was like a Cuban chili! It was so tasty!
You did a awesome choice to get self hosted:)
Wanted to tell you that I now finally have made a blog button for you to grab so you can link to me also. Have also a new look and I can't be any happier.
Wish you a great day!
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Totally pinned this to try for my husband now. Seriously sounds delicious and thank you for sharing it!!
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Thanks, Janine! I hope you all love it!
I love cuban food!! When I was younger, my mom and I lived in Miami and I instantly fell in love with the whole Cuban culture. So rich and beautiful
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I love all latin culture so this is so fun when I get to make recipes from different Latin American countries!
I had no idea what this was, but I love chili and cuban style food, so off to pin it!
I've heard of sofrito before and didn't realize that I make it a lot in my meals already so when I saw this on Food Network I was like I can do that!
Ok I really have to confess that I love, love cuban food! This looks really good! My favorite cuban food is Ropa Vieja-ok I really love all food! Thanks for sharing this recipe!
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Thank you! I like most food from a lot of Latin American countries too!
Definitely pinning this! Yum!
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Thanks Alison! I hope you enjoy it one of these fine winter days!
My father is from Cuba, so sofrito used to be the basis of pretty much anything I cooked. I don't eat meat anymore so I don't really use sofrito much anymore. I wonder if I could make tofu and rice with sofrito…it's worth a try. I might even blog about it
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Well, it didn't become a meat recipe really until I added chicken stock (which you can substitute for vegetable stock) and then I added chicken. You can totally add tofu or better yet, no meat at all. On the third day, we were satisfied with just leaving it without meat and just putting it over our brown rice.
I wasn't even sure what a Sofrito is until I opened your link. I think this is a great meal for the upcoming cold nights here. And we really need meals that last awhile.
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Yea, especially since I get a little queasy after a long day, sometimes I just don't feel like cooking. This was definitely a saver of time and it helped with me feeling fatigued and not really wanting to cook some nights
I've never had this dish. So do you eat it as a sauce with rice?
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Yea you can put it over rice. Most meals in Latin America have rice added to them. We had our brown rice that we put it on.
Cooking your own beans is a great way to save money. I always cook my own beans too. I like to cook meals that last a couple of days too, like chili and beef stew.
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Yea I've been making the beans from the bag for a while now. Our favorite is the black beans. I also make lentils now. I make them with noodles and different seasonings and hubby loves it.
My 21 month old loves lentils. She just eats them plain with a little salt.
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I'm behind because my Bloglovin e-mails weren't getting to me: congrats on the site design upgrade. Very pretty, Brittnei!
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It's ok! Thanks so much, Alison!
Yum!! This looks easy and so tasty!!! I pinned it and plan to make it soon – maybe next week! Thanks for the awesome recipe.
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Thanks so much for sharing! I hope you love it as much as we did!
Hey Brittnei,
I've never even heard of this before but it actually sounds pretty good. My Mom use to cook enough for a small army and we ate leftovers for a week. I know exactly how that feels eating something for days upon days. Now some stuff she fixes is good for days while others I'm ready for something new.
I'll have to save this recipe and see about fixing it when the new year rolls around.
Thanks girl.
~Adrienne
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Aw, Adrienne! I can totally see why leftovers might have gotten boring after all that time! I guess it depends on how big your family is. Perhaps you can make enough that will last only a day or 2
Sometimes, I will eat other things and then try to come back to something that has lasted that long. Typically, I make things that last up to 2 days…3 is like this recipe or Thanksgiving which is pretty rare for me 
My husband and I would love this dish. And I would definitely do the leftovers over rice and sprinkled with cheese, I love when you can change it up a little when you use leftovers.
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I almost posted the recipe without the additional tip and then the night that I was about to hit publish, we didn't have chicken to add and we decided it was think like chili so why not add the sharp cheddar after we put it over rice.
Hey! How did I miss this! I am trying this next week for dinner!
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Yea I'm going to start putting some pinnable recipes on the side so no one misses this! I hope you love it!
This iooks absolutely delicious. And being so high in protein makes it an added bonus!
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Yes! Thanks so much for noticing that, Danielle. My husband doesn't really like beans and I wasn't really into them and now I've been finding recipes like this and we are finding ways to enjoy them.