Comfort in a bowl! This Latin dish is a cross between a stew and a soup. If you want to eat it as a soup, serve it with some fresh avocado on top. If you prefer to have this over rice, try it with my Latin yellow rice (I had it both ways!).
Slow Cooker Pork and Gandules (Pigeon Peas) Stew
Slow Cooker Pork and Gandules (Pigeon Peas) StewThe inspiration for this dish came from the signature Puerto Rican dish Arroz Con Gandules. A combination of rice, pigeon peas and pork,
cooked with Puerto Rican-style sofrito. All the same flavors made easy by cooking it in the slow cooker and leftovers freeze well.
Gandules (also known as pigeon peas) are one of my favorite legumes which can be purchased canned or dried, for this recipe I used Goya canned.
Yum! This is loaded with flavor, tons of vegetables and it’s SO so good! This is a keeper in my book. If you don’t eat pork, chicken breast would work great too. Enjoy!
To see more Skinnytaste crock pot recipes, you can click this link.
And since so many are asking, although I have and love my Instant Pot, I still love my slow cooker! I have the 6 Quart Hamilton Beach Set ‘n Forget Programmable Slow Cooker (affil link). I love it because you can adjust the time you want it to cook, and it automatically turns to warm when it’s done. It also has a probe for meat that automatically shuts off when done. I hated my old crock pot, it burnt everything and my food had a weird taste. This slow cooker is so great, I actually own several!
Slow Cooker Pork and Gandules (Pigeon Peas) Stew
Ingredients
For the pork:
- 1 lb boneless pork tenderloin, cubed
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 1/2 tbsp dried oregano
- 1/4 tsp cumin
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- juice of 1/2 lime
- 1 1/2 tsp sazon seasoning, I used homemade
For the stew:
- 2 cans, 29 oz total gandules
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 4 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1 cup diced red pepper diced
- 1 tbsp diced jalapeno
- 1/2 cup tomato sauce
- 2 tbsp olives w/brine
- 1 medium potato, peeled and diced (about 1 1/2 cups)
- 1 carrot, diced
- 1 celery stalk, diced
- 2 cups of greens such as escarole, chopped kale or baby spinach
- 1 cup water
Instructions
- Marinade the pork with oil, oregano, cumin, salt, pepper, lime juice and sazon.
- Refrigerate overnight for best results.
- Transfer to the slow cooker along with the remaining ingredients.
- Cover and cook 4 hours on high or 8 hours on low.
We love this stew! It satisfies our tastes. It is like eating comfort, but it is healthy. food
Excellent Dish! Very tasty and my family loves it!
I make this a lot, delicious and very simple to make.
This was a wonderful comforting dish. I came home to it being ready after a long day at work so it was even more enjoyable! My husband is from Puerto Rico so I keep gandules on hand. I totally forgot to add the greens and I didn’t serve it with avocado either. It was great though! Everyone cleaned their plate, and I will definitely make it again!
Hi, I want to make this recipe with dry pigeon peas, do I need to soak them first before cooking them in the slow cooker?
Thanks!
I made this before but don’t remember what I did. This time,I drained the granules. Do I need to add water?
I love all of these ingredients so I’m so excited to have this tonight! I just have one question! Did you drain and rinse the beans?!
This was fabulous. I loved it my husband loved it…and my picky teenager conceded that it smelled good. We served with crunchy rolls and used baby spinach in it. I added more veggies because I love carrots and celery…and potatoes.
I served it this like a stew over the Latin yellow rice. Both were excellent but I thought it was even better leftover! I served it with a side of twice fried tostones (plantains) lightly fried in coconut oil & topped with salt.
Awesome
I made this tonight for my 100% Puerto Rican husband. He loved it! He said it tasted just like his mom’s cooking & can’t wait for me to make it for her. The only differences I made was at the last hour of cooking I added 2 packets of Goya sazon (I did marinate the pork with Gina’s homemade sazon,), some adobo and chopped cilantro. Thank you Gina for allowing me to introduce my husband to a Puerto Rican dish even he has never had before!
Awesome!!
I’m going to make it for a larger crowd and eight servings won’t make it. If I want to serve 12 people or 16 people do I just double it and what about the cooking time?
You can double the recipe ( all the ingredients) cook time stays the same.
Looks like Gina or anyone on her behalf has stopped answering questions. 🙁
Love your recipes, Gina…just wish some of these more recent questions could be answered. (Such as: any adjustments for using a LeCrueset Dutch oven, since my slow cooker recently died. 😞)
Gina, what do I do with the pork lion after the eight hours? Do I shred it? I am making this tonight. Thanks!
Should already be cubed
Do you recommend chopping the olives first? I already have the pork cubed and marinating for tomorrow night!
Made this on the stovetop today and it came out good with some seasoning modifications (added more of each listed and included a few Tbsp homemade sofrito). Love that we have another way to use gandules now! Thank you!
Hi! Making this tonight and already smelled great before even turning on the crock pot! Just wondering why this isn’t labeled gluten free. I don’t see any ingredient that would have gluten. Am I missing something?
Do you drain the gandules?
HEy Gina! What would sp value would be if we added “bolitas de plátano “ or shredded plantain balls? Makes my mouth water ????
Gina, this one didn’t do it for me. I love everything in it, but something didn’t turn out right. I think I took it off the slow cooker heat too soon, because the onions aren’t soft… or the potatoes! But the pork is just the right texture. I’m thinking I’ll try it next time on the stovetop to control when I put different ingredients in it. Nevertheless, thank you for so, so many delicious and healthy recipes – you’ve made our lives much easier and tastier!
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I just did this in the Instant Pot. I put the pot on saute first, threw in the marinated pork to brown it. Added all other ingredients (holding out the spinach) and cooked in high pressure for 30 minutes. Did a quick release and stirred in spinach. SO GOOD!
I made this today and it was fabulous. I had to hunt through the grocery store to find the gandules, then I had to stop at an Hispanic grocery store to pick up the achiote seasoning to make the sazon mix. So glad I did. This is so flavorful and hearty. I especially loved the bites with avocado. It was also a hit with my husband, who is picky about soups/stews. Thanks for the recipe – it’s definitely a keeper!
I couldn’t find Gandules/Pigeon Peas so I replaced with black eyed peas. It was a delicious recipe! I made it exactly (except for Gandules) and next time I’d put in a whole large jalepeno (we like things zippy) and maybe another tsp. of the Sazon seasoning. Thanks, Gina!
This looks delicious but trying to figure out how to make it vegetarian for my daughter and keep the great flavors. Any suggestions?
My husband thinks I’m amazing, after the Puerto Rican beans last week, and this last night. Everyone enjoyed it; I don’t think I have had gandules before, and we really liked the texture. I drained and rinsed the beans, and subbed capers for the olives. I used 2 cups of frozen chopped spinach for the greens – tossed them in the crock pot still frozen. We’ll definitely have this again soon.
🙂
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I made this night and it was wonderful! I made the Sazon according to you recipe. I was not sure about the liquid in the cans of gandules, should I drain them or not. So I saved the liquid and when I had everything in the crock pot, I decided it need a little bit more liquid, so I added about 1/2 of a can of the liquid. It turned out as a stew, which we love. If someone wants soup, then I would add all the liquid.
Keep up the fantastic job you are doing!
Can this be made without the pork? Would I need to add any extra seasonings?
Hi Gina! Big fan here! Just wanted to let you know, I am a Latina and know how to cook pretty well, however, I try to find lighter recipes (especially crockpot) that have Latin flavors. Most fail miserably and some are not even close to the flavors of certain Hispanic foods. Can we say DEEEEELISH!! This recipe is SO GOOD!! I made it for my hubby, without telling him it was a lite version and he LOVED it. I am definitely adding this to my repertoire.
SO happy to hear that!!!!
I made this last night with leftover pork roast (seasoned as recipe says) and black eyed peas, and it was AWESOME! Thanks love your recipes
GREAT!
I entered this on weight watchers and got 6 points? Am i missing something?
Delicious! I made this in my instant pot, using the leftover pork from your IP Carnitas! I set the cook time for 20 minutes since the pork was already cooked and my family loved it!
If the pork is not cooked how long would you leave it in?
I just made this and it was fantastic! Yum!!!
Gina my partner is Puerto rican and I made this for her with a little of my own flavor on it and she LOVED IT. She was born and raised in Puerto Rico and she said they called it "Gandules Guisado" and I totally took her back to her childhood on the island making this for her!! Thanks for another awesome Latin Recipe. Being a Mexican and Puerto Rican household we love to cook and were two busy moms with careers and 5 children so keep the Latin crock pot recipes coming!!!!
Do the same liquid amounts get used when using a pressure cooker like the instant pot? I'm new to IP and I'm getting back into cooking.
Hi Gina,
I do not have a slow cooker, just cook with a regular pot. I'm assuming this can be cooked with a regular pot?
thanks and I love your recipies
I'm trying this tomorrow and was wondering if I should drain the canned peas or not. Thanks.
I did not drain the gandules and it turned out great!
if i'm pressed for time. how can i cook it on the stove?
Is the pork cooked before putting in the slow cooker?
This looks so good Gina! I am excited to make this recipe soon. I was wondering when you would be adding more latin dishes to your site. Will you have some in your new slow cooker cookbook??
karen
Thank you, great!
This looks amazing! Going to try it this weekend. I love your recipes, and have just ordered an Instant Pot (Merry Christmas to me!)
Hey Gina this looks great and it's in the slow cooker as I write this! My question is when I entered it in to my tracker I got 4 smart points.
Are you using their recipe builder?
No, the points calculator.
The smart points calculator isn't meant for recipes. You need to enter everything individually in the recipe builder. See more here… http://www.hungry-girl.com/pages/smartpoints
How would I cook this in the instant pot? I just got mine but I haven't cooked in it yet.
I would dump everything in and set it to soup 30 minutes.
I've never seen pigeon peas. What can I substitute? Thanks
Black Eyed Peas would work.
If you look in the international grocery isle, Goya brand has canned gandules, they are pigeon peas.
@Kminet, I had the same question. Research indicates those recipes which include olives call for pimiento-stuffed olives.
Is this really spicey? Is the jalapeño a must?l
not at all, and no leave it out if you wish
Looks yummy.
How wonderful! I make Arroz con Gandules all of the time. In fact, almost every time I make rice and beans it's with gandules. I've never had another recipe for them.
can't wait to try it. Thank you. xoxo
You'll love it!
This looks amazing as always! What kind of olives work best in here?
Pimento or pitted green olives
Gina — your recipes and the accompanying nutritional info have been an amaaaaaaazing asset to me, especially while using WW. Now they've completely revamped their plan, and I wanted to ask if you would be adding additional nutritional information that will help calculate points values. Thanks so much!
Thank you! You may have notices I have already changed the points to smart points for all the recipes for 2015 and 2014, working my way down.
You're incredible — thank you so much Gina!!!!
Looks good! I too am wondering about the instant pot, mostly because I want to know how well it functions as a slow cooker. It seems like most people use it primarily to pressure cook, which makes sense, but I am curious about replacing my crockpot with it and using it for both slow and pressure cooking. Any insight would be appreciated!
I have used an old fashion stove top pressure cooker for years, food comes out great in it and so far I am very pleased with the Instant Pot.
I use the Instant Pot all the time as a slow cooker, and I love it. My husband says the meals taste better from this pot.
Can this be prepared in the Instant Pot? Do you feel comfortable putting the insert in the frig overnight and then putting it in the Instant Pot to cook?
Yes, it would be amazing in the instant pot! I think it would be fine since it's metal.
What's an "instant pot"??