Sofrito
Sofrito is a cooked base of onion, garlic, peppers and often tomato used across Spanish, Latin American and Caribbean cooking for rice, beans and stews.
Sofrito is a flavor base of aromatic vegetables cooked in oil, used at the start of many Spanish, Latin American and Caribbean dishes. The ingredients change from place to place, but most include onion, garlic and peppers. In Spain, tomato is cooked down slowly with them until thick and jammy. It is the start of paella, rice dishes, beans, stews and braised meats.
How to do it
Spanish sofrito, enough for a paella for 4:
- Finely chop 1 onion and 1 green or red bell pepper, and mince 3 garlic cloves.
- Warm 4 tablespoons of olive oil in a wide pan over medium-low heat.
- Cook the onion and pepper with a pinch of salt for 10 minutes until soft.
- Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute.
- Grate 2 ripe tomatoes on a box grater, discarding the skins, and add the pulp.
- Cook, stirring, for 15 to 20 minutes, until the liquid has gone, the oil separates at the edges and the mix is dark red and thick.
- Stir in smoked paprika or sweet paprika at the end if the recipe asks.
How to tell it is done
The tomato has lost its raw, bright taste and turned deep red, the mix holds together like a loose jam, and oil pools around the edges.
How to use it
Sofrito varies by region:
- Puerto Rico: a raw green purée of onion, garlic, cubanelle and small sweet ají dulce peppers, cilantro and culantro. Recaito is a close version without the sweet peppers. It is cooked when added to the dish.
- Dominican Republic and Cuba: onion, garlic, peppers, often tomato paste and oregano.
- Catalonia: onion and tomato cooked very slowly, sometimes for over an hour.
How to store it
Raw Caribbean sofrito keeps in the fridge for about 1 week. Cooked sofrito keeps for 4 to 5 days. Freeze either in ice cube trays for up to 3 months.
Common mistakes
- Cooking over high heat, which burns the garlic before the tomato reduces.
- Stopping too early, so the dish tastes of raw tomato.
- Confusing it with Italian soffritto, which is onion, carrot and celery.
Sofrito recipes
3 recipes from the sites we collect.
Related terms
- SoffrittoSoffritto is the Italian base of finely chopped onion, carrot and celery cooked slowly in olive oil. It starts ragù, minestrone, risotto and many braises.
- MirepoixMirepoix is diced onion, carrot and celery, usually two parts onion to one each of the others. It is the flavor base of French stocks, soups and braises.
- Holy trinityThe holy trinity is onion, celery and green bell pepper, chopped and cooked as the flavor base of Cajun and Creole dishes such as gumbo and jambalaya.
- PaellaPaella is a Spanish rice dish cooked in a wide, shallow pan with saffron, stock and meat or seafood. See how to get the crisp bottom called socarrat.
- GrateTo grate is to rub food against a grater to turn it into fine shreds or a powder, as with cheese, carrots, ginger, garlic, nutmeg or citrus zest.
- Smoked paprikaSmoked paprika is ground red pepper dried over oak fires, like Spanish pimentón de la Vera. It gives a smoky flavor to chorizo, paella and stews.