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Carne Guisada

By Illyanna Maisonet
Carne guisada with white rice on a teal plate.
Photo by Dan Liberti

I make this carne guisada recipe all the time, and yet I never tire of it. Loaded with bright and briny flavors like fresh tomatoes and Manzanilla olives, this dish could easily become a part of your regular weeknight meal rotation.

This recipe was excerpted from ‘Diasporican' by Illyanna Maisonet. Buy the full book on Amazon.

What you’ll need

Cooks' Note

Make sure you get some ribs that have a decent amount of fat on them. Depending on the supermarket, sometimes the boneless country ribs can have more lean meat on them. Avoid too much lean meat because it'll be dry.

If you don't like the texture of olives, use a splash of the olive brine. This dish needs the brightness!

Recipe information

  • Yield

    Serves 4 to 6

Ingredients

For the Sofrito

2 medium roma tomatoes, roughly chopped
1 large yellow onion, roughly chopped
7 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1 medium green bell pepper, roughly chopped
1 bunch cilantro, roughly chopped
5 leaves of culantro (recao), optional

For the Carne Guisada

2 Tbsp. canola or vegetable oil
1½ pounds boneless pork “country” ribs, cut into bite-size pieces
2 cups water, plus more as needed
¼ cup sofrito
½ cup tomato sauce
½ cup unpitted Manzanilla green olives (optional)
1 large russet potato, medium dice
2 medium carrots, roughly diced
1 Tbsp. salt-free sazón, like Burlap & Barrel Sazón
Kosher salt
Ground black pepper
White rice, for serving

Preparation

  1. Make the Sofrito

    Step 1

    Place tomato in blender, blitz until smooth. Add onion and garlic and blitz until smooth. Add bell pepper and cilantro (and culantro, if using), and blitz until smooth.

  2. Make the Carne Guisada

    Step 2

    Heat oil in a large heavy-bottomed pot over medium-high heat. Add the pork and sear until golden brown.

    Step 3

    Add the water, 2 tablespoons of the sofrito, tomato sauce and half of the olives. Scrape the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon to loosen all of the brown bits. Season with salt and pepper. Turn down the heat to low and simmer, partially covered, for 2 hours, or until the meat is tender.

    Step 4

    Add in your potatoes and carrots and simmer for another 10-20 minutes, or until the potatoes and carrots are fork tender. Place a piece of the potato in a spoon and mash with a fork, return to the pot. Repeat with 2-3 pieces of potato. This will thicken the sauce. Add the remaining sofrito and olives and stir to distribute well. Check for seasoning. Serve with white rice.

Diasporican-COVER.jpg
Reprinted with permission from Diasporican: A Puerto Rican Cookbook by Illyanna Maisonet copyright © 2022. Food photographs copyright © 2022 by Dan Liberti. Published by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House. Buy the full book from Amazon or Penguin Random House.
TagsCookbooksPuerto RicanCaribbeanMainDinnerPork RibPorkMeatStewSoup/StewBraiseOliveBell PepperVegetableTomatoCarrotRoot Vegetable

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