Cuban black beans and rice. How comforting is a bowl of steamed rice and black beans? With an extra dose of deliciousness from the classic Cuban sofrito, this rice dish is essentially everything you love about a simple weeknight meal. It’s delightfully easy to make and tastes incredible!
Why settle for a simple rice recipe when you can upgrade its nutritional value with a humble pantry staple – canned beans? And in this case, black beans. The fact is that it’s incredibly easy to incorporate healthy meals into your diet. You just need to plan ahead.
Healthy Cuban black beans and rice recipe
This highly flavorful, incredibly tasty Cuban inspired rice recipe is a fun way to cook with pantry staples, and the best part is it’s entirely customizable with your favorite canned beans. The beauty of this recipe is that it only takes about half an hour to prepare an amazingly delicious dinner.
Sofrito – the quintessential Cuban spice mix
Let’s talk about the classic spice mix that makes this Cuban dish so unique and special. And honestly, it’s so flavorful. A simple combo of spices and herbs you already have in your pantry is what defines the best sofrito spice mix.
Think basic ingredients like tomato paste, garlic and onions flavored with aromatic hints of cumin seeds, bay leaves and dried oregano. And a touch of olive oil to bring all the ingredients together. Once you grind all the ingredients to a fine paste, you can move on to the next step of the recipe. Making the delicious Cuban black beans and rice.
How to make Cuban rice and black beans
Start with sautéing onions, garlic and capsicums in a little olive oil. When the onions turn soft and capsicums (bell peppers) are tender, you’ll need to add in the very special homemade sofrito spice mix. Next up, more dried spices and herbs like oregano, bay leaf, and ground cumin goes into the pan. Give this spice mix a quick stir fry.
Now, the final list of ingredients to go into this delicious Cuban style rice – canned black beans and rice. Of course, these are the key ingredients of the recipe. Again, the canned beans can be substituted with dried beans. Make sure you soak them for about 8 hours and cook until tender prior to adding them to the pan.
Finally, pour in water to cook the rice. And again, don’t forget to check the package instructions for the right cooking time for the rice. Once rice is tender and has absorbed all the water, turn off heat and let it sit for another 10 minutes. That way, the rice grains will turn really fluffy.
To be honest, the combination of simple black beans and rice flavored with sofrito is unbeatable.
More quick and easy rice recipes:
- Cumin Rice | Jeera Rice
- Cranberry Rice
- Curd Rice | Yogurt Rice
- Curry Rice | Curried Rice
- Portuguese Rice
- Lemon Rice
- Saffron Rice
- Ghee Rice (Neychoru)
- Japanese Garlic Fried Rice
- Egg Fried Rice
- Vegetable Fried Rice
- Ginger Capsicum Fried Rice
- Indian Chicken Fried Rice
- Tomato Pulao
- One Pot Chicken Pulao
Perfect weeknight meal for busy days! Highly nutritious and incredibly delicious! Vegetarian + vegan!Cuban Black Beans and Rice | Video
Ingredients
Sofrito (Cuban spice paste):
Black beans and rice:
Instructions
Sofrito:
Cuban black beans and rice:
Nutrition Information
Yield
4
Serving Size
1
Amount Per Serving
Calories 700Total Fat 32gSaturated Fat 5gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 26gCholesterol 0mgSodium 768mgCarbohydrates 84gFiber 20gSugar 7gProtein 22g
Leave a Reply