Caribbean Rice and Beans – A Delicious Costa Rican Recipe

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This traditional Caribbean rice and beans recipe from Costa Rica combines red beans, white rice, coconut milk, and habanero peppers for a unique and tasty main dish or side dish.

About Caribbean Rice and Beans

We all know that rice and beans are the staple foods of Costa Rica. Many people visit the country and immediately try gallo pinto– and confuse gallo pinto with what Costa Ricans call, in English, “Rice and beans.”

But rice and beans is a completely different recipe, as it combines red beans with rice cooked in coconut milk, and spiced with a bit of habanero pepper. The dish is said in English, rather than Spanish, because of the Jamaican influence both on the dish itself and the language in the Caribbean.

Beginning in the 19th century, Costa Rica started to boost its in-country transportation through the construction of a railroad from the port of Limon on the Caribbean side to the capital city of San Jose.

Workers on this railroad were mostly indigenous Costa Ricans (Talamancans) and Jamaican immigrants. Of course, they were served gallo pinto when they arrived (also known as “spotted rooster”)- a combination of red (kidney) beans, white rice, and Salsa Lizano.

The flavors of the gallo pinto didn’t quite fit with the cultural palates of the new workers, so they spiced the gallon pinto dish up with some coconut milk and habanero pepper (known in Costa Rica as “chile panameño.”)

Over time boiled chicken thighs were added as a side dish, and the result is beyond delicious. Costa Rican “Rice and Beans” was born as a gastronomic mix of flavors- here’s the recipe.

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Costa Rica Rican Rice and Beans

(printable recipe below)

Serves 8

Ingredients

1 small roll of fresh thyme

1 stick of margarine (substitute butter)

3 whole Habanero peppers

4 cups long-grain white rice, uncooked

1 1/2 cup coconut milk

2 tsp salt 

2 cups water

3 cups black beans or kidney beans, cooked

5 cloves garlic

2 stalks of celery, leaves on

1 yellow onion

1/2 sweet red pepper

1 teaspoon curry powder

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 teaspoon Sazon Completo

1/4 cup Salsa Lizano

Instructions

Cook the beans in a pressure cooker or slow cooker according to the instructions here.

Finely chop garlic, celery, onion, celery, and red pepper.

Place beans in a large stockpot and add coconut milk and water. 

Place the roll of thyme, not chopped, in the pot with the beans. Then add margarine, curry powder, black pepper, sazon completo, Salsa Lizano, and stir.

Add garlic, bell pepper, chopped onion, and celery to the pot and stir again.

Bring to a boil on medium-high heat and allow to boil 1-2 minutes.

Add rice to the pot and stir. You know you have the right amount of liquid when a wooden or plastic stirring spoon stands straight up in the middle of the pot with the rice and does not fall over. If it does, you have a bit too much liquid and you need to remove some.

Place three whole habanero peppers into the pot and cover. Allow the mixture to simmer for 20 minutes on medium-high heat. (This cooks the rice through.)

Once the rice is cooked, serve!

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Serving Suggestions

This gluten-free recipe is generally served with Costa Rican Caribbean chicken as a lunch dish.

You can also serve this with a green salad to make it a Costa Rican vegetarian dish or a delicious vegan recipe.

Substitutions

You can substitute homemade coconut milk for canned, but it takes longer.

You can omit the thyme altogether if you don’t have it- don’t add ground because it is removed after cooking, which is impossible with a ground spice. đŸ˜‚

You can substitute butter for margarine, and you can also cut that amount in half or even a quarter.

You can substitute Worcestershire sauce for the Salsa Lizano, but it isn’t the same!

Printable Costa Rican Rice and Beans Recipe

Yield: 8 servings

Costa Rican Rice and Beans

Costa Rican Rice and Beans

This traditional rice and beans recipe from the Caribbean side of Costa Rica combines black beans, white rice, coconut milk and habanero peppers for a unique and tasty main dish or side dish.

Prep Time 1 hour
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 30 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 small roll fresh thyme
  • 1 stick of margarine (substitute butter)
  • 3 whole Habanero peppers
  • 4 cups long grain white rice, uncooked
  • 1 1/2 cup coconut milk
  • 2 tsp salt 
  • 2 cups water
  • 3 cups red bean or kidney beans, cooked
  • 5 cloves garlic
  • 2 stalk celery, leaves on
  • 1 yellow onion
  • 1/2 sweet red pepper
  • 1 teaspoon curry powder
  • 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 1 teaspoon Sazon Completo
  • 1/4 cup tablespoons Salsa Lizano

Instructions

    Cook the beans in a pressure cooker or slow cooker according to the instructions here.

Finely chop garlic, celery, onion, celery and red pepper.

Place beans in a large stockpot and add coconut milk and water. 

Pace the roll of thyme, not chopped, in the pot with the beans. Then add margarine, curry powder, black pepper, sazon completo, Salsa Lizano, and stir.

Add garlic, bell pepper, chopped onion and celery to the pot and stir again.

Bring to a boil on medium-high heat and allow to boil 1-2 minutes.

Add rice to the pot and stir. You know you have the right amount of liquid when a wooden or plastic stirring spoon stands straight up in the middle of the pot with the rice and does not fall over. If it does, you have a bit too much liquid and you need to remove some.

Place three whole habanero peppers into the pot and cover. Allow the mixture to simmer for 20 minutes on medium-high heat. (This cooks the rice through.)

Once rice is cooked, serve!

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Nutrition Information:

Yield:

8

Serving Size:

1

Amount Per Serving: Calories: 436Total Fat: 22gSaturated Fat: 10gTrans Fat: 2gUnsaturated Fat: 10gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 678mgCarbohydrates: 51gFiber: 7gSugar: 3gProtein: 12g

Please double-check this information with your favorite nutrition calculator.

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Christa Jimenez

Welcome! I’m Christa, a Spanish teacher married to a handsome Costa Rican and mother of two bilingual daughters. We’ve spent over 25 years living in and traveling to Costa Rica with our daughters, and this website is my love letter to all things Costa Rica- and to bilingual parenting too. You can read my full story here. Thanks for stopping by!

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7 Comments

  1. I’m liking the costa rican recipes you’ve published. I am here in Costa Rica visiting and would like to try out this recipe at a restaurant/soda, could you share the traditional name it would be called so I can narrow down my search?

  2. Costa Rican RICE and BEANS is correct.
    Costa Rican GALLO PINTO is not.
    Gallo Pinto is original of Nicaragua, it is basically a poor man’s dish that consists of SMALL RED BEANS AND RICE, nothing more, nothing else. Costa Rican Rice and Beans on the other hand is loaded with all kinds of different beans, vegetables, sauces, additives and anything else you can think of, once you add so much junk to rice and beans it ceases to be an economy dish (needless to say, Costa Rican Rice and Beans and Gallo Pinto have completely different taste, Gallo Pinto’s is better) Next fact: Beans are original of the American continent, as such, Gallo Pinto did not originate in Africa nor does it come from the Caribbean islands as some people contend and so many others are led to believe. The Ticos can keep calling theirs, Gallo pinto as much as they want, but it isn’t.

    1. No even gonna argue about this one. We can go rounds and rounds. Rice and Beans in Costa Rica is a Caribbean dish, gallo pinto, IN COSTA RICA, is a different recipe than this one. I am not an expert in Nicaraguan cuisine, nor do I wish to be. Pura vida!

  3. Is Caribbean rice and beans the same as west coast Costa Rica rice and beans I have only been on west coast and it’s fantastic there want to make my own

  4. I am wondering about the amounts. The liquid is 1 1/2 cup coconut milk and 2 cups water. This does not seem (nor was it when cooking) enough liquid for 4 cups of rice. Should this be 2 cups of uncooked rice? Or more liquid? Thanks.