Recaito is a seasoning base for beans, rice, soups and stews. (Pronounced: rec eye eee toe) By itself it has a very strong flavor, but added to dishes, it provides a flavorful base. I recently made recaito from scratch at a cooking class I was teaching. One of the attendants wanted to eat it with chips. He soon found out, that it was a lot stronger than he thought. Funny lesson!!!
Recaito Modifications
I use cilantro since it is readily available. In Latin America and the Caribbean an herb called recao is commonly used. Recao is a deep green tapered leaf with serrated edges about the size of the middle finger. It's flavor is intense, more so than that of cilantro.
How to make recaito step by step:
Here are the base ingredients of recaito, just add some olive oil to blend.
Freeze into cubes and drop a cube of recaito into your next batch black beans.
Here are some popular dishes that use recaito as a flavoring base:
Cuban style black beans
Mini beef empanadas
Arroz con pollo or rice with chicken
Panamanian beef stew
Looking for more recipes?
Sign up for my free recipe newsletter to get new recipes in your inbox each week! You can also find me sharing more inspiration in Pinterest and Facebook
Recaito Recipe Card: Cilantro Base
Ingredients
- 1 cilantro 1 bunch
- 1 Tbsp Olive oil
- 1 onion chopped
- 6 garlic cloves minced
- ¼ tsp sugar (paleo diet: honey)
- ¼ tsp ground pepper cracked
- 1 tsp Kosher salt (paleo diet: sea salt)
Instructions
- Wash cilantro thoroughly.
- Cut the lower stems of the cilantro and discard.
- With a pair of kitchen shears cut the cilantro bunch into 3 parts and place in a food processor. Add the remaining ingredients, and push the on button.
- Let it run for about 3 minutes, stopping every 30 seconds to stir the ingredients around.
- The final texture should appear chunky.
- When finished, recaito should be stored in the freezer. The best way to store is in a covered ice cube tray. If you don't have one, use a regular ice cube tray.
- When the cubes are frozen, remove and place in a covered container.
- Recaito will keep in your freezer for about 3 months.
- You should be able to get close to 12 cubes of recaito from this recipe. Note the nutrition information is based on a 2 Tbsp cube.
Lorena Roman
Hola Analida, thanks for your recipe. This is a great recaito base, I like to flavor mine with some spices as well. I had not thought of using ice cube trays to freeze them into portions though, I love that idea!
Analida
Thanks Lorena. I hope you enjoy this as much as my family does. The great thing about recipes is that you can alter them to suit your needs. What spices do you like to add to it?
Kelly @ TastingPage
I hadn't heard of this before, but I think I'd like any dish with this base. Looks like a great starter!
Analida
Kelly, thanks. It does add a great flavor to your stews and beans.
Lorena
I cook so many beans I am totally going to try adding this. Really looking forward to try this. Sounds amazing!
Analida
Thanks Lorena. Recaito is awesome. It gives your beans and stews a great flavor.
José
Are you aware that “recaito” is made what we call in Puerto Rico culantro not cilantro? Is a totally different ingredient and it grows as a weed everywhere in the island.
So it is NOT a cilantro based paste.
Analida
José: I am fully aware. I am from Panama and we have culantro there too. I, however, live in the Northern US where there is no culantro. It was actually my Puerto Rican friend's mother who lives in my town who suggested to me I could make it with cilantro. And yes, it is a different ingredient and a different taste as well.
Iris Campbell
Hi Analida!
Thanks for all your delicious recipes!
Whenever I can’t remedy how my grandma made something, I come straight here!
🇵🇦🥰
Iris Campbell
Sarah
This sounds really yummy! Thanks for linking up to Blogger Brags. I've pinned your post to the Blogger Brags Pinterest board.
Analida
Thanks! It is a great base for stews.
Clara Camp
I accidentally added a small pepper that was hot to the reaction recipe, Is there anything I can do to fix it?
Analida
If it is not too spicy you can try 1 Tbsp of the recaito in some Latin style black beans. Here is a link: https://ethnicspoon.com/rice-black-beans-pork-chops/
Once you try it and it is still too spicy you could try to tame down the spice with a little dollop of sour cream on top of the beans to "put out the fire".
Let me know how it works out.
Jamie Satterwaite
I go through a ton of cilantro! This is great! Thank you for linking up this weeks Merry Monday Link Party!
Analida
You are welcome!!
laura@motherwouldknow
I always appreciate learning about different bases for ethnic foods. I've never heard of recaito before, but now I know that mastering it would be a great start for lots of dishes I love.
Analida
Hi Laura! I think you will find that making recaito is so easy. The best thing is that you can freeze it for use at a later time. 🙂
Pine
I think I just got to know something new today. Great knowing I could easily learn a new recipe by stumbling on your blog.
Analida
Hi Pine. This is such an easy recipe, and the base for many dishes: stews, beans, etc... It adds so much flavor to foods. Thanks for the 5 star rating.
Pamela
Thank you for this recipe. I had no recaito and with stay in place i had to look for a substitute. Thankfully my cilantro is starting to grow and I had enough to make this. I used half of it in my rice. It is so so good.
Analida
Hi Pamela! I am so glad this worked for your dish! I use recaito all the time and freeze cubes for my Latin Style black beans:
https://ethnicspoon.com/rice-black-beans-pork-chops/
Enjoy!
Ruth Howell
Since I just found this recipe and I've dried all my cilantro for this season, can you give me an approximate amount of dried cilantro to use in this recipe? Thanks in advance !!
Analida
Recaito is really a wet condiment with a paste-like texture or base so the dried cilantro won't work. I always use fresh.
Enjoy!