This hearty dish of Puerto Rican beans and potatoes is perfect served over rice for a complete vegetarian meal!
How many different ways are there to eat beans and rice? It is one of my favorite combinations of flavors and texture — plus it’s packed with protein!
Beans and rice ends up on my table at least once per week.
It goes like this: I have nothing in the house to eat. Oh, wait! I have beans and rice in the pantry. Annnnnd I think maybe a stray potato and onion.
Alright, so how am I going to turn $2 worth of ingredients into a meal worth eating?
Well, first let’s add a $2 red bell pepper.
Side note: Bell peppers are really expensive this time of year and it makes me very upset.
It’s amazing what a little simmer time can do to a pan of such basic ingredients.
This dish is chock full of seasonings that lend a Puerto Rican-style flavor to the beans, potatoes, and vegetables.
A whole can of tomato sauce goes in there to help create a really luscious sauce.
As they cook, some of the potatoes and beans fall apart which help to thicken the sauce. It’s like magic! But not really because it’s just cooking.
I prefer to cook my own beans, so if you’d like to do the same here’s my basic method:
Place one pound of beans in a large bowl and cover by three inches of water. Soak overnight; drain and rinse.
Place the soaked beans in a large pot along with enough water to cover them by three inches. Add a half teaspoon of kosher salt and then bring the pot to a very low boil — as soon as you see those tell-tale bubbles, turn the heat down to low. Place a lid on the pot so just about an inch of the pot is still uncovered. I do this because I don’t like to hard-boil my beans. Cooking them at a simmer helps them retain their color and skins.
Simmer the beans for 45 minutes. Uncover the pot and cook for another 20 to 30 minutes; until cooked to your liking.
You can of course also use an electric pressure cooker which really cuts down on cook time.
I love mine for those times when I forgot to soak my beans!
If you prefer, you can use canned beans in this recipe instead. Just swap out the 3 cups of cooked beans for two cans of beans.
The measurement isn’t *exactly* the same but it’s not going to hurt anything in this recipe.
Confession time: I completely forgot to add the sour cream to the bowl before I took the pictures.
Served as shown, these Puerto Rican beans and potatoes are entirely vegan. Feel free to eat it that way (it’s delicious!), but for my dairy-loving friends I’d highly recommend topping the beans with a big spoonful of sour cream. It is SO tasty!
Here’s the Saucy Puerto Rican Beans and Potatoes Recipe!
Saucy Puerto Rican Beans and Potatoes Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil
- 1 yellow onion - diced
- 1 red bell pepper - diced
- 1 jalapeno - seeds and stem remove, minced
- 1 medium russet potato - peeled and diced
- 2 cloves garlic - minced
- 2 bay leaves
- 1/4 cup minced cilantro stems - reserve leaves for garnish
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon cumin
- 1/8 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 3 cups cooked red beans*
- 3 cups water or broth
- 1 8 ounce can tomato sauce
- 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- Garnish: avocado slices - sour cream (optional), cilantro leaves, and lime wedges for squeezing.
Instructions
- Heat a 5-quart or larger lidded Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Once hot, add the coconut oil (it should melt and shimmer at once). Add the onion, bell pepper, jalapeno, and a pinch of kosher salt to the pan. Cook, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned; about 5 minutes.
- Add the cubed potato; stir well and cook for another 5 to 7 minutes, until the onions are mostly translucent.
- Add the minced garlic, bay leaves, cilantro stems, salt, cumin, and smoked paprika to the pot. Stir and cook for 60 to 90 seconds, until the garlic is fragrant.
- Add the beans, water, and tomato sauce. Allow the mixture to come to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium-low. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes.
- Uncover the pot and turn the heat up to medium. Cook, stirring occasionally until the potatoes are very tender and the sauce has thickened (5 to 10 minutes).
- Stir in the red wine vinegar, sugar, and pepper. Taste and add salt as desired.
- Serve over rice, garnished with avocado slices, sour cream, chopped cilantro leaves, and lime wedges for squeezing.
NOTES
Oh my goodness. I completely did not see the recipe rating before I sent you my review last week. Is there anyway we can correct that? I want to give, as you deserve, the 5 star rating. I apologize for not seeing the rating right above the comment box.
Hi Alim, yes, we can do that. Thank you! – Linda
I just came across your website (June 2022) after seeing your beans and potato recipe. Thank you, thank you, thank you, for posting this recipe. I had everything on hand except the jalapeño, cilantro, and red wine vinegar but I decided to make it anyway. It was delicious. It was so good I had a second helping and ended up eating more than ¾ of the pot’s contents. I plan on cooking it again today (I still have beans left over from the initial bag I cooked). Even my picky daughter said it tasted good. I’ve always wanted to cook red beans since I changed my diet to vegan more than 10 years ago, but could never find anything that satisfied my interest or that was meat and/or dairy free. Again, thank you so much for making this recipe available.
I have been making this recipe on the regular for a couple years now. It is such a favorite in our family. I make it for guests and they are blown away. The flavor is absolutely remarkable! Thank you for such an amazing meal!
Hi Dawn, thanks for the review, so glad your guests love it! – Linda
This was so adaptable to the Instant Pot. I followed the steps through adding the beans and instead of boiling just 3 minutes with natural release and it was done!! I used lemon instead of the vinegar because that’s what I had and it was perfect! I will definitely be remaking this!
Hi Christina, thank you for the review and sharing your Instant Pot adaptation! – Linda
Made this – AWESOME (though, did NOT add red wine vinegar or sugar…). Used WAY more cilantro (I simply cannot abandon the stems… SO MUCH flavor, and if I put them in the blender…? Heaven!!!). Anyway… My go-to Mediterranean rice recipe is Basmati rice sauteed in a bit of oil with a diced onion and a healthy T of garlic, plus about a t of cumin seeds… Saute until the onion is translucent and the rice is mostly white, add the appropriate amount of water for the rice you’re using (and the appropriate amount of chicken bouillon for the amount of water!)… Honest to God, it’s a perfect, perfect meatless meal!!!
PS The basic rice recipe, above, was shared with me by a very good Indian friend who uses the same recipe for all of her curries… Trust me – it’s perfect!!! It can go Greek/Italian/Mexican/Spanish/Latin/Indian… It’s lovely! 🙂
Hi Chrissie,
Thanks for your love of this recipe and the basic rice recipe, sounds so good!
– Linda
This is by far one of our favorite recipes. <3
Do you mean 6 oz tomato paste? I don’t think there is a 6 oz can of tomato sauce available.
It should have said an 8 oz. can of tomato sauce, not a 6 oz. Thanks for this question, I have updated the recipe.
– Linda
You say cook beans for 20 minutes. It takes me an hour and a half to cook my dried small red beans. You say in the recipe you can use canned beans but it looks like this recipe IS for canned beans. I’m excited about this recipe because we’re getting tired of just beans. Can you give me a recipe for using dry beans after they have been soaked overnight? I’m afraid if I cook my potatoes for an hour and a half they will turn to mush.
Hi Mary,
Sorry for the confusion, but happy to help you.
In the recipe, it calls for “3 cups cooked red beans”. So, you can use canned beans that are already cooked or cook dried beans first.
Please read in the post where I describe how I cook the dried beans:
Place one pound of beans in a large bowl and cover by three inches of water. Soak overnight; drain and rinse.
Place the soaked beans in a large pot along with enough water to cover them by three inches. Add a half teaspoon of kosher salt and then bring the pot to a very low boil — as soon as you see those tell-tale bubbles, turn the heat down to low. Place a lid on the pot so just about an inch of the pot is still uncovered. I do this because I don’t like to hard-boil my beans. Cooking them at a simmer helps them retain their color and skins.
Simmer the beans for 45 minutes. Uncover the pot and cook for another 20 to 30 minutes; until cooked to your liking.
So, in the recipe, where it calls for “Cover and simmer for 20 minutes.” that is to allow the spices and flavors to mix together, not to cook the beans.
Give this recipe a go, I think you are going to love it!
– Linda
Love this! It looks so good. Can’t wait to try it!
Absolutely delicious!!!
Thanks for the recipe~! I just printed it and look forward to making this in the near future. All your bean recipes look wonderful . I will definitely be back~!!
This sounds like such a tasty vegetarian recipe! Will have to try it soon! 🙂
Hooked ! Happy to find you and your beauties ! Thank you very much !