Some countries allure visitors from around the world with their delectable cuisine. Costa Rica is not one of those countries. When it comes to the major selling points of Costa Rica to the word traveler, nature, wildlife, beaches, jungles and volcanoes of the country would easily trump its traditional cuisine. However, Indranil and I are particularly fond of one Tico dish, Gallo Pinto. But now due to this self quarantine life, it had been weeks since we tasted this typical Costa Rican breakfast. We realized that we missed it so much that this Sunday we took the effort of making Gallo Pinto at home, albeit with an easy custom recipe.
What is Gallo Pinto?
Gallo Pinto (pronounced ga-jo pin-tō) is Costa Rica’s version of a rice and beans dish. A special sauce, Salsa Lizano, lends this dish a unique texture and taste. This sauce is almost like the secret ingredient that makes this dish typically Tico.
However, I can admit that Gallo Pinto was not love at first bite for us. It was an acquired taste for our taste buds that had long been fed with the flavor bursts of Biryani and Tandoori Chicken. But over time, we had grown to like it so much that on normal workdays, we would sometimes skip breakfast at home so that we can try a plate of Gallo Pinto at the office cafeteria.
Health Bite: Gallo Pinto for breakfast is a good way to kick start the day as it is a nutrient rich dish with a good balance of protein and carbohydrate. In case you are wondering, it is also a gluten-free vegan recipe.
Ingredients for recipe
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 1/2 cup beans, black or red (before cooking)
- 3/4 cup rice (before cooking)
- 1 onion
- 1 garlic clove
- 1 tomato (Optional. We added this.)
- 1/2 jalapeno (Optional. We added this.)
- 1 green bell pepper
- 1 red bell pepper (We skipped this.)
- 1 handful cilantro
- 4 tablespoons Salsa Lizano (Increase/reduce as per liking.)
- Salt to taste
Easy custom recipe
Preparation time + Cooking time 1 hour and 15 minutes
I made some customization to the traditional Gallo Pinto recipe for two reasons – (1) to make the process faster, (2) to tailor the recipe to our taste. You can make your own modifications to your Gallo Pinto recipe according to your preferences.
- Cook rice
Cook rice. This should preferably be done the night before. Supposedly refrigerated cooked rice works better for the mixing of rice and beans in this recipe.
- Cook beans
Cook beans. This is where I made a customization to make the process faster. Original Gallo Pinto recipes call for slow cooking of beans. This usually takes 3-6 hours! I simply resorted to my good old pressure cooker to accelerate the beans cooking process from a few hours to less than 30 minutes. If you want to save even more time, you can also use store bought canned beans.
- Beans – Dry, drain, broth
Drain the cooked beans but retain the broth in a separate bowl or cup. We will add this to the recipe later for flavor.
- Chop fresh veggies
Dice the fresh veggies into small slices – onion, tomato, bell peppers, jalapeno. Chop the cilantro.
- On the flame
Heat oil on a large pan. Add onion and saute for couple of minutes. Add garlic and jalapeno. Costa Rican cuisine does not usually feature a lot of jalapenos. But to satiate our Indian taste buds, I added that extra tint of hot through half a jalapeno. We did not have garlic clove at home, hence used garlic powder as replacement. Saute for another couple of minutes until the aroma is released.
- On the flame + veggies
Add tomato and bell peppers and cook for a few minutes. The original Gallo Pinto recipes do not include tomato. But I added this as we like it. Also, using tomato for home recipes is almost like a habit for me! Lower the flame.
- On the flame + veggies + cooked beans
Add the cooked beans to the pan.
- On the flame + veggies + cooked beans + cooked rice
Add the cooked rice to the pan. Pour some of the broth that was retained from the cooked beans. Add salt and Salsa Lizano. Mix well.
- Finish cooking with flavors and garnishing
Add some more Salsa Lizano and chopped cilantro. Mix well. Salsa Lizano is the key ingredient in Costa Rican Gallo Pinto recipe. It is widely available on the supermarket shelves of Costa Rica. But if you cannot get hold of one in your region/country, you can replace it with Worcestershire sauce or else you can try to make Salsa Lizano at home!
- Ready!
Serve Gallo Pinto with your favorite accompaniments.
Gallo Pinto – Best served with
At home, we kept the Gallo Pinto serving simple with a side of scrambled eggs and a block of cheese. Most Costa Rican restaurants serve typical breakfast plates of Gallo Pinto with an order of eggs, a block of cheese, a fried plantain, a serving of tropical fruits and a cup of coffee (Costa Rica’s lifeline) – we like it black, the Tico way!
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This looks amazing! I am so excited to try this new recipe, seems simple and delicious. Thanks for sharing!
I just came across your blog and wanted to say thank you! It’s been very fun to read and I’m learning a lot. My wife and I are spending 5 weeks here near San Ramon (until Jan 16). Just arrived and although we’ll be working during the days, we are planning out our (socially distanced) adventures for the weekends. This is a great guide for us.
Thank you!
Hi Chintan,
Welcome to Costa Rica! 🙂 Interestingly, we were in San Ramon couple of days back.
Glad to know that our blog is of help to you for your stay here. Enjoy your time in this beautiful country. Feel free to shoot us an email or connect with us on Instagram DM in case you have any questions about planning your weekend adventures.
Pura vida!