This rice dish is traditional on Christmas and special occasions for the Puerto Rican family. We make other types of rice dishes, but arroz con gandules must always be present. It is a very delicious rice dish and goes very well with pernil (roast pork shoulder), boiled green banana’s, a vegetable and green vinaigrette salad.

Every Puerto Rican family has their own way of preparing it. You can add chorizo (Spanish sausage), tocino (salt fatback crackling's) and jamón de cocinar (smoked cooking ham). The chorizo and ham can be used together. Be sure is you are going to add tocino, make sure that it's crispy and that all of the fat is fried very well.