Habichuelas Guisadas (Puerto Rican Stewed Beans)

These beans are a Puerto Rican staple, and an essential side dish for rice.

Recipe by Delish D'Lites on January 5, 2020

Prep time: PT5M

Cook time: PT40M

Total time: PT45M

Rating

4.97 stars (29 reviews)

Keywords

beans, habichuelas

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 cup diced country ham or bacon (omit if vegetarian)
1/4 cup Puerto Rican sofrito
1/4 cup tomato sauce
1½ tsp sazón con achiote y culantro
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
2 dried bay leaves
2 cups low sodium chicken broth (or vegetable broth)
2 cans pink beans (habichuelas rosadas), undrained (15 oz. cans)
1/3 cup diced potato, pumpkin and/or baby carrots
8 pimento stuffed olives
2 tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped (for garnish)
Adobo seasoning (or salt, to taste)

Cuisine

Puerto Rican

Steps

In a medium sized sauce pan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the chopped ham and saute for 2-3 minutes, until it starts to caramelize.
Add the sofrito and Sazon seasoning. Saute for 2 minutes, until fragrant.
Add the tomato sauce, oregano, bay leaves, and cumin. Saute for 1 minute.
Add the chicken stock, beans (with their liquid), chopped potato, pumpkin or carrot, olives, and chopped cilantro. Cover and bring the mixture to a boil.
Once the mixture comes to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cook for 30-40 minutes, stirring occasionally. Allow the flavors to meld, the beans to become really tender, and the pumpkin/carrots to cook. The mixture should be very creamy and not soupy.
Check for seasoning, and add Adobo or salt if needed.
Serve over white or yellow rice, with an extra sprinkle of cilantro, if desired.

Reviews

Kiki on 2023-04-14 (5 stars):
Great recipe...makes me miss my mom so much! I have one silly question though... once you bring everything to a boil and reduce to a simmer do you then leave it covered or uncovered to continue cooking?
Tony on 2022-04-10 (5 stars):
This recipe was beyond amazing !! Some home made sofrito makes ALL the difference in the world.
Steven on 2022-01-23 (4 stars):
Hello , delicious recipe, hope I’m not too late with this question for the beans. If I wanted to double the recipe, would I just double the amount of all the ingredients ? Thanks in advance.
Nichole Santiago on 2021-12-18 (5 stars):
Great recipe. I don’t eat pork so I added smoked Turkey instead. This recipe is a family favorite.
Shantay on 2021-09-10 (5 stars):
I made this for dinner earlier in the week. These are the best stewed beans I have ever had. Thanks for the recipe.
Jose on 2021-08-21 (5 stars):
Thank you for sharing this recipe. I make my own homemade sofrito and adobo so as to bypass the MSG and salt. Needless to say the final product is "chef kiss" delish. The addition of the bay leaves is the key. Had to add the fact that growing up I too loathed the beans, but my brother didn't. I would try to be sneaky and transfer all mine into his plate, but abuela always knew. Thankfully she wasn't insulted, and now I cant get habichuelas on my plate enough.
Mary GERENA on 2021-07-04 (5 stars):
Delisia con chorizo
MARIA DE L. SANCHEZ on 2021-06-18 (5 stars):
Another version is with spanish chorizo instead of ham and pieces of fried sweet plantains instead of pumpkin.. oh my God!!!!
Jinelle Andersen on 2021-05-05 (5 stars):
This is absolutely amazing! I am in love with this recipe! Thank you so much for posting. I, too added sweet potato and extra calabaza! cheers!
Susan on 2021-04-05 (5 stars):
These beans are DELICIOUS! I especially like the addition of olives. Very satisfying.
Kim on 2021-04-03 (5 stars):
Made the beef stew last night and it was just like my Titi would have made it!! Thank You!!