Puerto Rican Arroz con Gandules Instant Pot Recipe
This arroz con gandules instant pot recipe is the best one-pot meal you will make today! It is filling, nutritious, and delicious. Perfect for the holidays, too!
Equipment
- 1 Instant Pot or Pressure Cooker
- Long silicone or wooden spoon
Ingredients
- 2 cups long grain rice rinsed
- 1 15oz can pigeon peas (gandules)
- 4 slices thick bacon cut into squares or 6oz country ham cubed optional
- 1/3 cup sofrito
- 1 packet sazon with annatto and coriander
- 1 packet ham bouillon
- 3 bay leaves
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 cup chicken broth *
- 4 ounces tomato sauce *
- a few spanish olives optional
- 1/4 cup freshly chopped cilantro optional
See notes for the vegan version of this dish.
Instructions
- Set your Instant pot to Saute, and once hot, add the pieces of bacon. If you are skipping the bacon, add some olive oil instead and go to step #3.
- Once the bacon begins to brown, remove most of the bacon dripping (carefully) with a paper towel.
- Add sofrito, sazón, ham bouillon, and bay leaves. Stir well.
- Add water and chicken broth. Scrape the bottom of the pot well with a spoon.
- Add rinsed white rice, pigeon peas, and green olives (if desired). Stir well.
- If your instant pot is sensitive to tomatoes (like mine), add the tomato sauce over the rice and peas but do not stir to avoid the burn message. Otherwise, add and stir with the rest of the ingredients.
- Close lid and seal. If your Instant Pot does not love tomato sauce, or you have a multi-functional pressure cooker, choose the “Rice” button. It will automatically cook the rice for you. Otherwise, set it to “High Pressure” for 5 minutes.
- If you used the “Rice” option, wait 5 minutes before doing a quick release. For rice cooked at high pressure, allow a natural release of 10 minutes before doing a quick release.
- Top with fresh cilantro. Serve on its own or with some pork chops and avocado slices.
- ¡Buen provecho from The Happy Wookiee!
Notes
This instant pot arroz con gandules does not require additional salt since it has sazón seasoning and bouillon. If you want to further reduce the salt content, use a low sodium chicken broth or substitute and use 1 ½ cups of water instead of broth.
If you want a quick and easy sofrito recipe with ingredients you already have, I have your back: Sofrito Made Easy.
Tomato sauce can be substituted with 2 tablespoons of tomato paste. If your instant pot is sensitive to tomatoes (like mine), add the tomato sauce over the rice and peas but do not stir to avoid the burn message. Otherwise, mix it into the sofrito base before adding rice and peas.
This exact recipe can be made with black beans, red kidney beans or your favorite bean in place of the green pigeon peas. If you want to change it up, or went to the pantry and realized you do not have peas left, use something else!
The 1 ½ cups of liquid may not seem enough for rice required in this recipe. However, with the sofrito base and the liquid of the pigeon peas, it is exactly what you need. Adding too much liquid will result in mushy rice.
For a vegan version, skip the bacon or ham and add olive oil before making the sofrito base. Substitute the ham bouillon and chicken broth with 1 ½ cup of vegetable broth. It will be packed with flavor!
Any leftover rice can be stored in an airtight container for up to five days. If stored properly, it can be frozen for a couple of months. It is best to separate it into portions so you only thaw what you plan on eating since it cannot be refrigerated again after reheating. This can be reheated in the microwave with a damp paper towel over it, or on the stovetop at low heat.