Moro de Habichuelas [Recipe + Video] Rice with Beans (2024)

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Moro de habichuelas is the quintessential Dominican rice and beans combination, and a very common option on the Dominican table. A steaming plate of flavorful, nourishing moro rice is the perfect side dish for many of our favorite main dishes, from meats to vegan ones.

By Clara Gonzalez - Last reviewed Feb 6, 2024. Published Dec 27, 2010

Moro de Habichuelas [Recipe + Video] Rice with Beans (1)

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Why we ❤️ it

You will love this recipe for my family's moro, one of those dishes you must learn if you are getting into our cuisine.

Simple, inexpensive, flavorful, and nutritional, Dominican moro de habichuelas is a mainstay of our lunch meals.

What's moro rice?

Moro rice is a combination of rice and beans (or legumes) cooked in the same pot as one dish. Moro de habichuelas is the most popular one in our country.

Moro, both the concept and the dish, exists all over Latin America, and came from Spain with the conquistadors.

Moro recipes can be found from Ecuador to the Spanish Caribbean, and are made in diverse ways depending on the country and region. Each country has its unique flavor and combination of ingredients.

Take Cuba, for example. The Cuban counterpart of this popular Dominican dish is called "moros y cristianos," or Moors (Muslims) and Christians – a reminder of pre-colonial attitudes – and it is still known by that name in Cuba. It was shortened to justmoroin the Dominican Republic.

In Haiti, a very similar rice dish is known as "ris et pois", and is prepared with fewer ingredients than the Dominican version. In Jamaica, it is known as "rice and peas."

Moro de Habichuelas [Recipe + Video] Rice with Beans (2)

Moro de Habichuelas [Recipe + Video] Rice with Beans (3)

Beans and moro rice.

Serving suggestions

This dish goes great with our guisados (stewed meats, veggies, or seafood cooked in tomato sauce). The rich sauce is just perfect over a plate of moro.

Top tips

What beans to use: This generic recipe can be made with red beans, pinto, or cranberry beans (see our guide to habichuelas).It can also be modified using black beans, fava beans, butter beans, navy beans, orguandules(pigeon peas).
Dry beans: If you boil dry beans, use the water in which they boiled in place of (or partially) the 5 cups of water called for in the recipe.
Canned beans: If you use canned beans, some people throw away the liquid in which they came in the can and use fresh water. The liquid in the can is loaded with sodium and doesn't taste very well, so you may decide to discard it, but it's up to you.
Variation: There's also a lesser-known version calledMoro-Locrio, which is made by adding meat to a moro dish.

About this recipe

Moro combines boiled beans, vegetables, herbs, and spices and is cooked with rice in the same pot.But the definition of moro rice is precise, in our country not all pulses can be part of a moro.

Each household in the Dominican Republic probably has its own version of this combination of Dominican yellow rice and beans recipe, yet the general concept of making Dominican rice and beans remains the same.

White rice and beans cooked separately are part of our traditional lunch meal, too.

The addition of thyme to this recipe is owed to the fact that this is a very common ingredient in bean dishes in the northwestern DR, where I hail from. Feel free to adapt this recipe to your and your family's taste. And we'd love to hear what's different in yours.

This recipe yields six servings, about 1½ cups of moro per person, traditionally what we would serve at home in the Dominican Republic.

Buen provecho!

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Recipe

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Moro de Habichuelas [Recipe + Video] Dominican Rice with Beans

By: Clara Gonzalez

Moro de habichuelas – Dominican rice and beans – is one of the most common dishes on the Dominican table. This is a generic Dominican moro rice recipe that you can modify by switching to other types of beans or legumes.

5 from 56 votes

Save for Later Print Recipe

Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 30 minutes mins

Total Time 50 minutes mins

Course Lunch

Cuisine Dominican, Latino

Equipment

1 gal [4 liters]-cast aluminum or cast iron pot with tight-fitting lid

Ingredients

▢ 5 tablespoons vegetable oil, (I prefer olive oil) divided
▢ 1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
▢ 1 tablespoon mashed garlic
▢ ½ teaspoon dry thyme leaves, or a 3 sprigs of fresh thyme
▢ ¼ cup chopped celery
▢ ⅛ cup pitted green olives, sliced (optional)
▢ 1 teaspoon oregano (dry, ground)
▢ `1 cubanela (cubanelle pepper), diced (or green bell pepper)
▢ ⅛ cup capers, (optional)
▢ 2 tablespoons tomato paste, or a cup of tomato sauce
▢ 2 cup boiled red kidney beans, or canned
▢ 2 teaspoons salt, (or more, to taste)
▢ 4 cup rice, long grain rice, Carolina

Instructions

1. Sauteing seasonings

Heat half the oil (2.5 Tbsp) in an cast aluminum or cast iron pot over low heat and sauté cilantro, garlic, thyme, celery, olives, oregano, cubanela, capers.
Cook and stir for a minute, or until the ingredients release their aroma. Stir in the tomato sauce. Add beans, also while stirring, and season with salt.

2. Adding water

Once heated through, add 5 cups of water and bring to the boil (try the mixture and add salt to taste before proceeding, bear in mind that the rice will absorb some of the salt, so don't low-ball it).

3. Cooking rice

Once the water reaches a rolling boil stir in the rice and simmer stirring frequently to avoid excessive sticking. Make sure to remove the rice that sticks to the bottom.
When the water has evaporated cover with a tight-fitting lid and simmer over very low heat for 15 minutes. After the 15 minutes have passed uncover, drizzle the remaining oil, and stir.
Cover again another 5 minutes. After this the rice should be firm but tender inside. If necessary, cover and leave another 5 minutes over very low heat (if at this point it looks too dry add ¼ cup of boiling water before stirring and covering.

4. Serving

Remove from heat and serve.
Find serving suggestions above the recipe.

Cook's Notes

If you boil the beans yourself, use the water in which they boiled in place of (or partially) the 5 cups of water called for in the recipe.

If you use canned beans, throw away the liquid in which they came in the can and use fresh water. The liquid in the can is loaded with sodium and doesn't taste very well.

Nutrition

Calories: 636kcalCarbohydrates: 113gProtein: 14gFat: 13gSaturated Fat: 1gSodium: 967mgPotassium: 418mgFiber: 6gSugar: 1gVitamin A: 75IUVitamin C: 6.2mgCalcium: 59mgIron: 2.8mg

Nutritional information is calculated automatically based on ingredients listed. Please consult your doctor if you need precise nutrition information.

READERS SEARCHED FOR arroz con frijoles, moros y cristianos, rice with beans recipe, ris et pois

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More moro rice recipes

If you want to try other moro rice recipes, we have them here. Try the very popular Moro de guandules (rice with pigeon peas), Moro de habas (rice with butter beans), Moro de habichuelas negras (rice with black beans), and Moro-locrio (a combination of moro rice and locrio rice).

¡Hola 👋! Thanks for visiting.I'm Tía Clara, your Internet 🇩🇴 Auntie and hostess.

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