Cuban Recipes for Beginners: 8 Easy Dishes With Hot Sauce

The easiest Cuban recipes for beginners are Jalabáo shrimp sauté (25 minutes), bistec de palomilla (30 minutes) and arroz frito cubano (30 minutes), followed by a shrimp boil, yuca con mojo, picadillo, Instant Pot black beans and mojo chicken. Each dish has its own full recipe on this site, and each one finishes with a few drops of Barbaro Mojo Cuban hot sauce.

Traditional Cuban cooking gets its flavor from garlic, cumin, oregano and citrus, not chile heat, so the hot sauce goes on at the end and you control the amount. Start with Jalabáo, the mildest of our five sauces (3 out of 10 on the Barbaro Mojo Cuban heat scale), and move up as you get comfortable.

The 8 easiest Cuban recipes, in order of effort

Jalabáo shrimp sauté (25 minutes)

Shrimp cooked in a pan with Old Bay and a few dashes of Jalabáo. It is the fastest dish on this list and a Cuban-Southern mix rather than a classic, which makes it a gentle first step. The recipe uses Jalabáo, so the hot sauce is already built in. Get the full recipe.

Bistec de palomilla (30 minutes)

Thin top sirloin with lime and garlic, about ninety seconds a side, with a mound of onions on top. It needs no resting and no thermometer. Finish with El Havanero (9 out of 10), or use Jalabáo if you want a mild plate. Get the full recipe.

Arroz frito cubano (30 minutes)

Cuban Chinese fried rice, a staple of the Cuban-Chinese restaurants in Miami. It cooks quickly in one pan and takes leftover rice well. Put Jalabáo on the table. Get the full recipe.

Cuban shrimp boil (40 minutes)

Peel and eat shrimp with corn, potatoes and smoked sausage, glossed with hot sauce butter. It serves 6, so it works for a crowd. Use El Havanero, or Jalabáo for a milder table. Get the full recipe.

Yuca con mojo (45 minutes)

Boiled cassava finished with a hot pour of garlic, sour orange and olive oil. That is the whole dish, and it is the easiest way to meet yuca for the first time. The recipe adds a teaspoon of Jalabáo. Get the full recipe.

Picadillo a caballo (1 hour)

Ground beef cooked with tomato sauce and olives, served over rice and topped with a fried egg. The recipe stirs in a tablespoon of Barbaro Mojo hot sauce, and Jalabáo keeps it mild. Get the full recipe.

Instant Pot Cuban black beans (1 hour 15 minutes)

Dried black beans, no soaking, 45 minutes at pressure, so you get slow-simmered flavor without watching a stove. It serves 6. Finish each bowl with Jalabáo. Get the full recipe.

Mojo chicken (55 minutes of cooking, plus an overnight marinade)

Bone-in thighs soaked in a garlic-citrus mojo criollo, then cooked in the oven, on the grill or in the air fryer. The marinade is the only planning it asks for. Put El Havanero on the table to echo the citrus, or Jalabáo for less heat. Get the full recipe.

Start with the seasoning

Most of these dishes lean on sazón completa, the Cuban all-purpose seasoning. It is eight pantry spices and takes 5 minutes to mix, so make a batch first: homemade sazón completa.

Which hot sauce for a first Cuban meal

Pick by how much heat you want at the table. Every sauce is built on a house-made mojo criollo base or, for Piñazo, a pineapple mojo, so they all sit comfortably next to Cuban food.

Matanza (10 out of 10) is our only extreme sauce and is sold only at barbaromojo.com. Save it for after you have cooked a few of these. If you want all four everyday sauces at once, the Classic 4-Pack ($37) covers heat levels 3 to 9, and the sauce pairing guide matches each one to food.

A first Cuban dinner: mojo chicken, black beans and yuca

If you only cook one meal, make this one. Start the mojo chicken marinade the night before. The next day, cook the Instant Pot black beans while the yuca boils, roast the chicken, and serve with rice. Put Jalabáo on the beans and El Havanero on the chicken.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the easiest Cuban recipes for beginners?

The easiest Cuban recipes for beginners are Jalabáo shrimp sauté (25 minutes), bistec de palomilla (30 minutes) and arroz frito cubano (30 minutes). Yuca con mojo, a shrimp boil and picadillo a caballo come next, at 45 minutes to 1 hour. Instant Pot black beans and mojo chicken are the slowest, but most of that time is the pot or the marinade doing the work.

Is Cuban food spicy?

Not usually. Traditional Cuban cooking gets its flavor from garlic, cumin, oregano and citrus rather than chile heat, so hot sauce goes on at the table and each person picks the amount. That is why every recipe here finishes with a few dashes of hot sauce instead of building heat into the pot.

What hot sauce should a beginner use on Cuban food?

Start with Jalabáo. It is a 3 out of 10 on the Barbaro Mojo Cuban heat scale, made with jalapeño and green bell pepper on a mojo criollo base, and it matches the garlic and citrus in Cuban dishes without covering them. Move up to Piñazo (6 out of 10) or El Havanero (9 out of 10) once you know how much heat you like.

What is sazón and do I need it for these recipes?

Sazón completa is the Cuban all-purpose seasoning: garlic, onion, cumin, oregano, smoked paprika, annatto, black pepper and salt. You can mix it from pantry spices in about 5 minutes, and it is worth making before you start because it seasons the beans, chicken, beef and rice in this list.

What should I cook first for a Cuban dinner?

Make mojo chicken, Cuban black beans and yuca con mojo. Start the chicken marinade the night before, cook the beans in the Instant Pot while the yuca boils, and put a bottle of Jalabáo on the table for the beans and El Havanero for the chicken.