Sazón Seasoning
Sazón is a Spanish word that, while literally translated as "flavor" or "seasoning," has a more specific meaning in the context of Latin American cuisine. It refers to a spice blend, often used in cooking to add flavor and color, particularly to rice and meats. It is basically a mixture of various spices, most commonly including coriander, cumin, garlic powder, oregano, salt, and pepper. A key ingredient in many sazón blends is achiote (annatto), which gives dishes a vibrant red-orange hue.
Sazón can be used as a rub on meats before cooking, or added to soups, stews, and rice dishes to enhance their flavor and color. While both adobo and sazón are popular spice blends in Latin American cooking, adobo is primarily used to flavor meat, while sazón is more versatile and can be used on both meat and vegetables.
Goya Sazon (or Gayon Sazon y culantro y achiote).
Sazon means "seasoning" in Spanish and is a spice blend used in many Latin dishes. It's commonly found in the supermarket in small envelopes that you add to stews, beans, rice, etc. It gives yellow rice that yellow color and basically makes anything taste good!
The achiote (annatto) is what makes the sazon reddish. You could sub paprika for the achiote, if need be. If you want it very fresh, toast the cumin, coriander and peppercorns, grind and add the rest of the ingredients.
1 Tbsp. salt
1 Tbsp. ground black pepper
1 Tbsp. granulated garlic or garlic powder
1 Tbsp. dried ground coriander seed (or dried culantro, if you can find it)
1 Tbsp. cumin
1 Tbsp. oregano
1 Tbsp. annatto seeds, ground.
Mix well and use 1 1/2 tsp for each packet of the Goya sazon called for.
Homemade Sazon Seasoning
from https://www.skinnytaste.com/
Sazon is like the magic spice blend in many of my Latin dishes. You often find this in the supermarket in small envelopes that you add to stews, beans, rice, etc. It gives yellow rice that yellow color and basically makes anything taste good! Goya is the most popular brand. Instead of using a packet of sazon, use one and a half teaspoons of this in its place.
The key ingredient in this spice mix is ground annatto (achiote), the spice that gives yellow rice that yellow color. Annatto is comes from the seeds of achiote tree. You can find it in hispanic markets. If you can’t find this, turmeric would be a good substitute.
1 tablespoon ground coriander
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon ground anatto seeds (achiote) or turmeric
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon kosher salt
2 teaspoons oregano
1 tsp ground black pepper
Combine all ingredients and mix well. Store in an airtight container. 1 1/2 teaspoons of this mix equals one packet of commercial sazon.
