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Sazón is the basis for seasoning many Latin dishes.
I usually store my spices and pour my portions of seasonings into my dishes instead of buying seasonings or premixing them. Recently, I’ve become interested in different types of foods and how to make them quickly so I decided to mix large amounts of dry seasonings and display them until later use.
Here’s a premixed recipe for sazón that can be put in a small jar until needed.

1 tablespoon ground cilantro
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon turmeric (traditional uses achiote)
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon salt (kosher or regular)
2 teaspoons oregano
1 tsp ground black pepper
(you can alter this mixture to taste if you like one flavor more than another)

Measure and pour all of the ingredients into a bowl. I prefer a glass bowl so that I can see the mixture. Use a spoon or spatula to mix the ingredients for several minutes or until thoroughly mixed. Check the color to ensure too much of one spice doesn’t remain in one area of the bowl.
Add this mixture to your recipes in teaspoons until it is seasoned as desired.

Sofrito is a pasty mixture used to season many Latin dishes.
I don’t like to buy premixed seasoning. I usually mix desired ingredients into whatever dish I’m making. The up side is that I get fresh-tasting food. The down side is that if I’m not feeling up to cooking from scratch, I revert to substitutes. My substitute for sofrito is below.

Here’s my quick recipe for sofrito paste.

2 medium onions (white or yellow based on taste preference)(peeled)
1 head of garlic (peeled)
2 medium green bell peppers (stemmed and seeded)
1 red bell pepper (stemmed and seeded)
2-3 large tomatoes
1 bunch fresh cilantro leaves
1/2 bunch fresh parsley leaves
1 teaspoon of salt (more to taste)

Eliminate cilantro if desired. Reduce amounts of other ingredients to taste.

Cut the onions, peppers, tomatoes into fourths and break garlic into fourths. Put all of the ingredients in a blender. Blend until thoroughly mixed and pasty.
If the mixture becomes too thick to continue blending but doesn’t look thoroughly mixed, spoon it out into a glass bowl and continue to mix with a spoon or spatula.

The amount needed for different recipes varies greatly on the recipe and the serving size of the recipe.
You can store whatever you don’t use in a jar in the refrigerator or in a freezer bag and frozen.

*My sofrito confession: When I’m caught craving sofrito but I haven’t made any, I substitute chunky salsa** in my desired spiciness. While sofrito is usually pasty, I use chunky salsa because regular salsa is too watery. I’d rather have chunky than watery.
**Yes. I also make salsa and pico de gallo from scratch

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Sazón Fácil

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