Simple Homemade Dominican Sofrito

This Simple Homemade Dominican Sofrito is a multi-purpose seasoning/marinade and the building block of Dominican Cooking. Use it to add a bold depth of flavor to all your dishes!

I grew up smelling the herbaceousness of Sofrito coming from the kitchen damn near every day. One of my very first memories is watching my mom make a small batch in a mortar and pestle. Till this day I can smell the garlic and herbs as she crushed them with the wooden pestle. Needless to say, Sofrito means all things home to me.

The ingredients in a Sofrito are usually cilantro, Culantro, sweet peppers, red onions, and lots of garlic. I know you’re probably asking what the hell culantro is, and no I didn’t misspell cilantro lol. Culantro is cilantros more intense cousin, it has long, wide, serrated leaves and unless you live in an area with lots of latinx, its hard to find…Just use more cilantro.

Every family has its own Sofrito recipe. Mine differs from my mom a little bit but the core is the same. I also don’t season mine with any type of salt. I leave that for when I’m actually cooking. A fairly new addition to my Simple Homemade Dominican Sofrito are tomatoes. I like the slight acidity it gives to my sofrito, plus it helps preserve it. This way I avoid using limes or vinegar like most other Dominican cooks. There’s nothing wrong with that but I prefer the subtleness of the tomato 🙂

Now that you know what it is and what’s in it. Let me tell you how we use it. We use it as a marinade for meats and veggies. As the base of flavor to our pastas and rice dishes. It can be used as a dip too. Season your sofrito with salt and pepper and add lemon juice and a lil oil and omg its the best dip!!

I know I said sofrito is the basis of dominican cooking and it is, but I also use it in other cuisines as well. I start my stir frys with sofrito, add a little ginger and I’m good to go. Its awesome in Mexican food. Sofrito is also the secret to my burger spread… I mix sofrito, mayo and ketchup together, I can guarantee you’ve never had anything so good on a burger 😉

Simple Homemade Dominican Sofrito

Yield: 4 cups

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 15 minutes

This Simple Homemade Dominican Sofrito is a multi-purpose seasoning/marinade and the building block of Dominican Cooking. Use it to add a bold depth of flavor to all your dishes!

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Ingredients

• 1 bunch cilantro, washed and roughly chopped, stems too
• 1 bunch culantro*, washed and roughly chopped
• 1 cubanelle pepper**, seeds removed,roughly chopped
• 1 bell pepper, seeds removed, roughly chopped
• 1 red onion, peeled, roughly chopped
• lots of garlic about 2 heads, peeled
• 1-2 plum tomatoes

Instructions

1. Put all ingredients in the food procesor / blender and process until fairly smooth.
2. Store in an air tight container in the fridge. It'll hold for a few weeks or a nifty trick is to pour it into ice cube trays and freeze them. Once frozen pop them out ,put them in a ziplock freezer bag and back into the freezer for up to 6 months.
3. Enjoy!

Notes

* culantro is the cousin of cilantro. Their leaves are longer and wider. if you cant find culantro, sub in more cilantro.

**sub any bell pepper for cubanelles

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 4 cups Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 49Total Fat: 0gSaturated Fat: 0gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 0gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 9mgCarbohydrates: 11gFiber: 2gSugar: 3gProtein: 2g

nutrition information is not always accurate