Make Plain Rice 100% More Delicious With This Under-$5 Cooking Base

We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.

Rice is a reliable dinner side, but you don't have to serve it up plain or with simply butter and salt. Just grab an inexpensive jar of sofrito at your local grocery store. This flavorful cooking base typically contains garlic, onions, tomatoes, peppers, and herbs. It will give your rice a savory, aromatic boost without having to chop up a bunch of veggies and herbs. 

A popular option is Goya's Sofrito Tomato Cooking Base, available at Walmart for around $2.64 (depending on location). A single jar is 12 ounces, which can help you kick up the flavor of several plain rice side dishes, depending on the size of each. It's such an easy and practical way to add variety to your weekly meals. 

The trick to getting the most out of sofrito is adding it at the right time. Too late and the sofrito may not warm up as much as it needs to for its flavor to have maximum impact. Instead, before you even cook up your rice, add a tablespoon or two of sofrito to a pot with a little oil. Allow it to cook until fragrant, add your rice and toast it with the cooking base, then pour in water or broth per your usual cooking method. Briefly sauteing the sofrito allows its flavor to bloom. It's important to understand when to season rice for the most flavor, as adding seasonings before the rice cooks allows them to infuse into each grain. Start with a small amount of sofrito and add more as needed. 

Sofrito gives your plain rice such a delicious savory flavor profile, but a few affordable additions can help make it even more satisfying. Canned black beans can make your side dish more filling and satiating as they add a good amount of protein and fiber. Stir in your black beans when there's only a few minutes left of cooking your sofrito rice so they have time to warm through without getting all mashed up. Try seasoning the canned black beans before adding them to your rice for even more tastiness. 

Sweet corn and green peas are a couple of other options you can stir into your sofrito rice for added color and texture. The veggies give your side dish a nutritional boost, too. They also bring a sweetness that gives the hearty sofrito some balance. Add them the same way as beans — toward the end of cooking so they have time to get warm, but not enough time to get mushy. You don't want to ruin the texture. 

You can even turn this tasty side dish into a whole meal. Create a satisfying and delicious sofrito rice bowl that will fill you up for lunch or dinner. Top it off with some leftover rotisserie chicken, or whichever meat you have in your fridge. You could even try some sauteed shrimp or roasted pork. They work well with the sofrito's flavors. Or you can also use it to build a better burrito or burrito bowl. There are endless possibilities for what you can do with sofrito rice.