Habichuelas con dulce is one of Dominican’s most cherished traditions. It is prepared in large quantities during Lent, and shared with relatives and neighbors.
One of the good things about habichuelas con dulce is that no two homes prepare it exactly the same way, it is also a very forgiving dish that even the beginner cook can make well, and hey! any error can be explained as just your style.
I have no idea how this dish came about, it is a pretty strange combination of ingredients (that never stopped us Dominicans, we are fearless that way). Unlike most our dishes, there is not even a close equivalent in other countries that we’ve found, and it seems to be an acquired taste, but we Dominicans love it and we never seem to have enough of it.
Receta de habichuelas con dulce en español.
Habichuelas con dulce, or sweet creamed of beans, are definitely one of my favorite dominican food. They are so delicious and a lent tradition in Dominican Republic.
Ingredients
- 4 cups of red kidney beans boiled soft
- 1/2 cup of raisins
- 2 cinnamon sticks
- 6 cups of water from boiling the beans
- 1 cup of sugar
- 2 cups of coconut milk
- 3 cups of evaporated milk
- 1/2 teaspoon of salt
- 1/2 lb of sweet potatoes (batata) cut into small cubes
- 10 cloves
- Cassava bread (may be omitted)
- 1 cup of milk cookies (may be omitted)
- 2 teaspoons of butter
Instructions
- Soak the beans in water overnight. Change the water and boil soft in abundant water.
- Put the beans (and the water in which they boiled) in a blender a puree.
- Strain the beans to get rid of the skins and undissolved solids.
- Pour the beans, coconut milk and half the milk into a pot and bring to a boil over medium heat.
- Add the rest of the milk, sugar, raisins, cinnamon, cloves and sweet potatoes and boil for 10 minutes. Stir regularly to avoid sticking.
- Boil until it has reduced to about 3/4 of the original volume, the cream of beans will get much thicker when chilled).
- Spread butter on the cassava bread, sprinkle with salt and put in the oven until it turns golden brown.
- Serve the beans chilled with the cassava on the side. Put cookies in the beans when you serve.
Important Notes
These are some ideas for modifying habichuelas con dulce to adapt them to different diets.
You can use soy milk if you are lactose intolerant, and skim milk if you are counting calories.
You can use your sweetener of choice in lieu of sugar. Just cook everything without the sugar and add the sweetener as the last step.
My mom, a diabetic, makes hers with Splenda and they taaste just fine. If like many people you get heartburn from eating sweet potatoes, don't sweat it, just skip it.
If you don't have the milk cookies used in this recipe (see photo) you can use mini Graham crackers or crumbled Maria cookies.
Aunt Clara's Kitchen is a collection of traditional Dominican recipes, recipes inspired by Dominican flavors, as well as the chronicles of the Aunties' adventures in the kitchen and outside.
{ 61 comments… read them below or add one }
i made this for my husband for christmas. even though i can make moro, locrio and other dominican dishes very well, my husband was skeptical about me making habichuelas con dulce, specially cause i never tried it my self before. but at the and he was so happy with it, he made a photo of my h con d, put it on the facebook, and boasted about it. it was suposed to last true the holiday, but he ate it all on christmas eve
i guess that not eating it for 4 years made it taste even better (that’s how long he haven’t been to dominican)
Hurrah for that! I think we should market ourselves as marriage counselors. It’s a story we hear all the time, and it always makes us smile.
Tia Clara, don’t you also add cloves to the recipe? I always notice my mom putting those in. This will be my first year trying to cook it, (I figured, since I like it so much might as well try making it myself,) although I will replace regular white sugar with Stevia –
Let’s see how it turns out. I know everyone’s mother makes the best Habichuelas con Dulces, but I can guarantee you that mine does…hands down! 
Each home has their own recipe. If you like it with cloves, then go ahead.
Re: Stevia, I don’t know, I have never tried it, but my mom is a diabetic and she makes hers (and I prefer this) with Splenda. Some sweeteners cannot be cooked, if that is the case with Stevia (not so with Splenda), then add it at the end, after you finish the habichuelas.
I have not had this in years, I remember my mother making it with roman beans instead. Thank you for posting this now I can invent
your recepi forgot one important ingredient Allspice ( malagueta)
I have honestly never heard of anyone who uses allspice in habichuelas con dulce, so it’s not so much that I forgot, more like it wouldn’t occur to me to use it.
However, if that’s what you like, by all means, use it. That’s why I said that no two homes follow the same recipe.
another important ingredient nueces moscada
My family has made h con d for many many many years it goes back to my tatara abuelita and even further. And we use both cloves and canela, but also nutmeg. We too add raisens both gold and reg ones in ours along with the batata. But like you said every fam has their own special markings to their recipes.
Don’t you have to cook the beans before you put them in the blender?? In your preparation, step 1 says to put in the blender with the water.
Please read the recipe carefully, that is already specified in the list of ingredients.
hi….. my name is miguelina castillo from new york ….i want to know how long to boil habichuelas con dulces 1 hour or 30 min…. thanks
To my understanding the recipy of habichuelas con dulce you posted is the most simple way to put it, no malagueta or jenjibre and I know you will love them.
I love HCD in every way I’ve read in these comments.
My wife likes it hot, I prefer cold.
Dominicans living outside our country should push our dishes as our
mexican counterparts did. One of those dishes should be HCD as
NO ONE in the whole world makes it.
Hi
I want to make this for my boyfriend (he’s Dominican) and I was wondering how i can make the milk cookies. Can you please send me the recipe, I’d like to have it ready for Easter.
Hola!! We just left the DR on April 13 on a Mission Trip. On our last night we had Sweet Beans. Absolutely delicious. I asked for the recipe, got the ingredients, but not the proportions. I was so glad to find your recipe!! There was a cracker/cookie in it as well. Do you have the recipe for that? Thanks so much!!
The crackers are made locally by two companies.
Unfortunately we do not have the recipe
where can I buy the cookies? I live in Queens NYC
I get mine 3 packs for one dollar at Compare Foods Supermarket. They’re called Galletas de Leche from the Guarina company…they have a couple Compare spots in Queens…I know there’s one in Jackson Heights/Corona and another one in Woodhaven….theres a few more floating around the Queens borough…I get mine Uptown
U can get them at associated, ctown, compare…. A lot of places in queens. I was lucky I found some out here in PA. I miss Queens lol
You can buy the cookies at any corner store or supermarket especially in Queens!
I MAKING CREAM OF BEANS. I HOPE IT COME OUT ALRIGHT.
They are not crackers, but cookies. The tiny cookies with a cross printed on them (it’s an Easter dish, after all) is very similar to Maria cookies, but in tiny bites. Except where there is a sizable Dominican community, I do not know where you’d find these. Use crumpled Maria cookies in a pinch.
Aunt Clara is 100% right. They are not crackers, but cookies with a cross on top.
Wherever you can find a Dominican Neighborhood in your town, city or village, you could find those cookies.
But if could not, HCD is so good you and your entire family and friends
will enjoy it fully.
OMG……. I love the majarete. My mom and grandmother used to do it for me all the time…… Just thinking about it makes my mouth drool.LOl
still if you haven’t had one before you better try it u are donna loveeeee it..
They refer to the “cookies” as crackers bc are similar to animal crackers, which are also sweet.
@egmg: that makes sense.
Hi all!
This is truly a weird combination, but it is really good (especially once you get past the beans factor).
Anyway, about malagueta (allspice), they are necessary when boiling the beans at the beginning (and remember to remove them before blending) because they prevent the flatulence that occurs when consuming beans. (We call this the wind effect/ the “peo” effect).
Also, the allspice release a sweetness that gets into the beans so that by the time they’re boiled, they already taste and smell sweet. It’s worth a try.
In any case, however you decide to cook em’, remember to eat responsibly and enjoy.
I loved so much your “eat responsibly” that I had to share with our Facebook and Twitter friends. I found it hilarious.
If you notice there is a part of the recipe where I suggest getting rid of the water in which the beans were soaked, that gets rid of most of the substance that produces the gas. Of course some people digest beans better than others.
you know what gives it a little extra taste to it, vainilla.
Love ACD!….wish I could have found this site earlier to make them myself…fortunally my husband knows how much I love them and bought them for me at this Dominican supermarket Bravo….they where so good…still have that heavenly flavor in my mouth..even though semana santa is over, I will def. try to make it…
Gracias Tia Clara por la receta y por su website!
A quien pidio la receta de las galletitas, puedo decirle que las galletas “Maria” un estilo muy popular de galletas de leche, pueden usarse como sustituto. La encontrara en supermercados hispanos, e incluso en el area hispana de Walmart.
El consejo de Yari sobre la malagueta es muy util. No se me ocurriria echarsela al plato en si, pero para hervirlas, lo hare la proxima vez. Toda agua en donde se remojan las habichuelas, ya sean para la comida diaria o para HCD, debe descartarse y usar nueva. Eso ahorra gases.
mi mama le pone canela, clavos, nuez moscada, raisins, vainilla, batata(can’t find dominican batata in texas and i hate american sweet potato).
yo me acuerdo en santo domingo yo iba y rompia el coco para que mi mama hiciera la crema, aqui se compra ya echa.
suggestion, animal crackers may be ok substitutes to milk cookies and you can find those easy in the states.
malagueta stops the peos lol, never heard that one before…must give it a shot.
My mom puts the beans in the blender but doesn’t strain them completely….she leaves some granos in it. I remember porque yo siempre cojia el colador porque no me gustaban los granos de habiechuela cuando pequeño.
I think my mom le echa leche condensada tambien…gonna have to check on that.
preguntas:
se pueden usar habichuelas goya de la que vienen en lata?
separo el agua de la lata y hiervo las habichuelas con agua limpia or echa la lata con el agua que viene adentro tambien?
se puede substituir el tipo de beans?
also, when you give up measures…are you using measuring tools for liquids and solids that you can buy at walmart or target? i wanna make sure my measuring tools are correct for the job.
I’m married to a Dominican man. Having never heard of this, I went in blind. My husband had seen everyone back home posting pics of their h con d, he craved it for weeks. So being the good wife, I found this recipe, and followed it step for step. He said it was the best he had ever had! He even had me make some for his friends who miss abuelas cooking
This makes me so happy. Thanks for sharing it with us.
@Klaus My mom used allspice too. It adds that little extra “something”!
Ay dio mio, que hambre me dio eso, lo voy a tratar de hacer, pero para encontrar las galletitas esas va tar duro jajaja
I know it sounds odd but my traditional Dominican mother in law adds a mint at the end while its simmering I don’t know why but hers is the only one I’ve ever eaten a whole bowl of maybe its the mint
Cono pero ese vaina sii ta bueno! mi mamii siempre makes me this en la mananita ante de irme ala escuela:)
This dish threw me for a loop, I used to live and work in west Africa and I have never known a Caribbean Island to produce so west African a dessert !!! I made it for some of my African friends at a party and they said it was just like being home. This is now my go to dish
I LOVE HABICHUELAS CON DULCE. but,
In my family we don’t use the cassava bread.
If you can get hold of cassava bread, I strongly recomend you to sprinkle salt to taste and pour olive oil on to them and heat in a tray in the 200 Fahrenheit oven for about 30 minutes right before serving the HDC, I bet you will change your mind about liking the cassava bread!!!!!!
Or go by step 3 of the recipe.
Hola, I will like to have the recipe for fritura de catibia, is like
A pastelito but made with yuca. Thank you sooooo much
You are great, keep our dishes alive outside of DR..
You are welcome.
Please check the recipes in the main menu, or do a search, the recipe for cativias is there.
One trick my mom uses and I think works perfectly is to put the cinnamon and the cloves when boiling the beans, then you dont have these parts on the dessert. Another trick I found makes the Casabe more flavorful is to sprinkle salt and cooking oil, instead of butter, before baking it.
Instead of cooking oil, I strongly suggest olive oil
I like this.
Thank you for the recipe.
I see the ingredients in English and Spanish are the same but the quantity isn’t. Not only with this recipe but others aswell. Why is this? I discovered this when I checked the oven temperature in Spanish for one of the other recipes, I live in Europe and here we use Celsius and not Fahrenheit
Examples HCD English and Spanish : 1/4 cup raisins and 1/2 raisins,
1/2 cup of sugar and 1 cup of sugar , 1 cup coconut milk and 2 cups of coconut milk.
Saludo desde Holanda
The two sites are independent and content is not identical. Both recipes will work. Lately we have been adding measurements in both Imperial and Metric, but basically the vast majority of readers come from the US (Imperial, English) followed by the DR (Mix of Imperial and Metric, Spanish).
BTW, I changed the amounts to put your mind at ease.
Can you use canned beans? How much if so?
There is no substitute to red beans, using canned beans is like trying to nurse your baby with your bra on.
Ay ya yay I made this today since its a tradition to make it for Easter and with my luck se me fue la mano with the evaporated milk and no matter how much I stirred, se me pego!!! It started to burn and had to change the pot. In the end……it tastes great. Thank you for this simple recipe. Although I’m away from my family, I wanted to keep the tradition going for my husband and daughter. Hope you enjoy your Easter!!!
I USE CAN GOYA PINK BEAN ITS TASTED JUST LIKE MY HUSBAND MOM WHO IS FROM D.R
Hey, can canned goya red kidney beans work? and if so how many cans ? And are there any differnet steps to be taken?
Also u state 10 cloves but not what exactly? S
ten cloves are ten cloves, you can buy them in any store in the spice section.
You have to estimate the numbers of cans to meet the recipe, but we must insist
in prefering the red beans bags
ok for this reciepe that i love so much i will try the bagged beans then. I had purchased coconut milk by mistake and been looking for the prefect recipe to use it for. I enjoy buying this on the street in nyc but have always wanted to make it myself and once i purchase the rest of the ingredieants I will make this for the first time hopefully for my brother returning from deployment.
ok just to make sure about the cloves. Are they the same cloves you put in ham? if not perhaps you can put up a picture than please I dont want to get the wrong thing and mess this up.
They are the same cloves you put inside the Hams.