Sofrito is the foundation of traditional Puerto Rican criolla cuisine. It's used to season sauces, stews, soups, marinate meats, and just about anything else you can think of. Here, I'll share a very simple recipe for making your own Puerto Rican sofrito at home. Once you learn how to make it, you're going to want to put it in everything. And let me tell you, the smell when sofrito hits hot oil in a pan? It's definitely a top three smell in the history of smells.

This recipe calls for limited ingredients, especially since many of the traditional Puerto Rican ones are pretty hard to find in my city. When I do find the limited authentic herbs and vegetables like culantro and sweet ajice peppers, I snatch them all up and make huge batches of sofrito; I can typically only find them in Florida and have my family ship me some every few months. Honestly, the secret batch is the one I prefer to make for myself or clients because it's a family recipe.

Having to write down this recipe for the blog was a little challenging, because I have never measured anything for making sofrito. Coming back and revamping the post was also a bit elusive. It's one of those things that you make when you need a huge batch of flavor to enhance your dishes; not something you think of really. Growing up, this was the very first thing that I learned how to make. So at this point in my life, it's definitely something I make on autopilot and taste as I go.

When I was little, I'd be given the task to peel the garlic or carefully chop the peppers up before helping my mom and abuelas blend away the vegetables to make the sauce. My hands would smell like garlic for hours and the entire house would smell like cilantro. Talk about heaven. Seeing the vegetables and herbs below definitely take me back to happy memories.

Secret family recipes (and lovely food memories) aside, this simple version that I'm sharing is as equally delicious and easy to make! What I love most about sofrito is that it's very unique. You can ask any Puerto Rican who makes it, their recipe will be a little different from mine. Each various recipe is tailored to each person's tastes; so feel free to doctor this up how you like!

Simple Sofrito

Yield: about 8-10 cups

3 medium to large yellow onions, cut into chunks

3 medium green bell peppers, cut into chunks

2 medium red bell peppers, cut into chunks

2 medium cubanelle peppers, cut into chunks

20 cloves of garlic (about 3 heads of garlic), peeled

2 bunches of cilantro, washed and roughly chopped

2 bunches of green onion, cut into segments

2 tbsp sazón spice blend

Kosher salt

Cracked black pepper

Extra virgin olive oil

In small batches, combine the ingredients with a little bit of water into a blender or food processor and pulse until they're the consistency of a slightly smooth salsa or pesto. Using a spatula, make sure to scrape along the sides to get all the chunks broken down. Repeat these steps until all of the ingredients are combined and blended together like below.

Pour out the sofrito into a large pot or bowl and liberally season with the salt, pepper, sazón, and olive oil. Stir and then portion out the sofrito into plastic deli containers, mason jars, or even zip-top plastic bags to freeze (they lay flat in the freezer and make for easy storage). It freezes well for about six months and will keep in the fridge for about a two weeks tops. However, it honestly doesn't even last that long!

Pro tip: Your best bet for storage is pouring the mixture into ice cube trays and making sofrito ice cubes. That way, all you have to do is pop one or two cubes out for your meal and you're good to go. It minimizes waste and is less clean up in the long run!

¡Buen provecho!