Puerto Rican Style Beans are delicious, packed with flavor, and are made in less than 30 minutes. They are the perfect comfort food and will keep you satisfied.
My grandmother’s cooking is still to this day the best I’ve ever tasted. Better than any restaurant, cookbook, or recipe I could create on my own! She was old school in not giving up her secrets in the kitchen, even to family, as much as we begged! And her very precise measuring system consisted strictly of eyeballing (something I learned from her, but can’t exactly use when sharing recipes on the blog!)
My mom managed to convince her to write down a few recipes (one of which was her official sofrito recipe, which I’ve gotten the okay from my mom to share with you guys!). But if you really wanted to emulate her cooking, she’d make you stand next to her while she cooked and made you learn by experience! So this recipe has evolved over the generations, with each of us adding our own spin!
🍽️ Why This Recipe Works
Inexpensive – If you don’t usually make Puerto Rican cuisine, this does require some ingredients you may not typically have in your kitchen – sazón, adobo and sofrito. They’re all super inexpensive, between $1.50 and $3.
Fast – You can seriously throw these beans together in just 25 minutes. I love recipes that don’t take all day to cook.
Filling – Beans are a great food to add to your diet because they are packed with nutrients and will keep you full.
🍅 Ingredients
Let’s take a look at some of the main ingredients you’re going to be needing.
Kidney beans: You only need one can of kidney beans and they will taste wonderful with the other ingredients.
Tomato Sauce: The tomato sauce will gives the recipe the perfect texture.
Onions and Peppers: I like to use a combination of onions and peppers. They just go well with the other ingredients and add some depth to the dish.
NOTE: Taste-testing is important when cooking any cuisine, but it’s especially important when cooking with so many different strong flavors. You’ll notice that some of the ingredients call for starting with X amount, and working up according to your tastes. Tasting before serving is really key here!
🌶️ Instructions
Step One: Add olive oil to hot pan. Once oil is heated through add onions, green pepper and sofrito. Sprinkle with salt. Cook for three to five minutes, stirring frequently.
Step Two: Stir in beans (do not drain), tomato sauce, sazón, and adobo. Fill the empty tomato sauce can with water, add it to the pot, and stir. Add Truvia, salt, and pepper.
Step Three: Have a little taste of the sauce and see if you need to add any more sazón, adobo, Truvia or salt for your taste. Bring to boil, then reduce to low-medium heat and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until sauce thickens slightly.
Step Four: Serve with rice. White rice is traditional, but I chose to serve this with brown basmati rice.
📌 Expert Tips
- I use Truvia in place of just about anything that calls for sugar – I keep it at my coffee station since that’s its main use. I prefer Spoonable to the packets since its easier to use throughout the kitchen.
- I found everything I needed for this recipe at Walmart. So it’s easy to shop quickly and in one place.
- You’ll need to stir frequently when sautéing the onions and peppers so they don’t burn.
Recipe FAQs
Don’t worry, if you are looking in your cabinet and find that you don’t have kidney beans, there are other ideas to use instead! Navy, pinto, or cannellini beans would all be good choices. They have similar flavors as kidney beans.
Stick the leftovers in a sealed food container and they will last in the fridge for 3-4 days.
Yep! Freezing leftover beans is a great way to keep them on hand whenever you need them. They can be put in a freezer bag. Fill the bag ⅔ full then push out any extra air. Label the bag then lay it flat until it’s frozen. Defrost in the fridge.
Related Recipes
Tried this recipe? Please leave a star ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating in the recipe card below and/or a review in the comments section further down the page. You can also stay in touch with me through social media by following me on Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook!
Puerto Rican Style Beans
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp Olive Oil
- ½ Onion chopped
- ½ Green Pepper chopped
- 2 tbs Sofrito
- 1 can Tomato Sauce 8 oz + one can water
- 1 can Kidney Beans 15 oz, undrained
- ½ packet Sazón “with coriander and Annatto” variety
- ½ tsp Adobo use the “with pepper” variety, add more to taste
- 1 tbsp Truvia
- Salt & Pepper to taste
Instructions
- Add olive oil to hot pan. Once oil is heated through, add onions, green pepper and sofrito. Sprinkle with salt. Cook for 3-5 minutes, stirring frequently.
- Stir in beans (do not drain), tomato sauce, Sazón, and Adobo. Fill the empty tomato sauce can with water and add it to the pot and stir. Add Truvia and any more salt and pepper to taste.
- At this point, taste the beans and see if you want to add additional seasonings. Bring it to a boil and then reduce the temperature to low-medium and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the sauce thickens.
- Serve with rice or just scoop some into a bowl.
Notes
Nutrition
Do you mind sharing your sofrito recipe? I’ve looked for it on the site and can’t find it. I’ve bought the Goya brand before and thought it was good, but a Puerto Rican man at our church says homemade is better.
Those beans look great. I love how you lightened them up without the potato and ham – and with the Truvia. Yum! #client
Thank you, Michelle! 🙂
My husband and I both LOVE Puerto Rican cuisine. Thanks for sharing this recipe! I’m definitely going to give it a try this week sometime.
I hope you try it! 🙂
I cook the exact same ay where I eyeball things and change them up all the time. These look great, I love how you’ve lightened this recipe up a little, too! #client