Yuca (cassava) is our favorite root vegetable, hands down, and serving yuca con mojo de ajo makes it all the better. A simple, humble dish you can easily find boiled yuca al mojo at any Dominican roadside stand, and cassava w. garlic sauce goes well with many popular dishes.
Why we ❤️ it
I know for a fact that yuca al mojo de Ajo (cassava with garlic sauce) is as popular a dish in Puerto Rico and Cuba as it is in the Dominican Republic. It's one of our favorite ways to eat yuca, only possibly behind our lovely Yuca encebollada (boiled cassava with Dominican red onions).
Garlic is the ingredient that takes this Yuca con mojo from pleasant to somebody-hold-me-or-I'll-eat-all-this. Garlic is one of those things that define our cuisine. There's a good reason why our trusty pilón (wooden pestle and mortar) has become a symbol of our traditional cuisine.
What's yuca con mojo?
Yuca con mojo or yuca al mojo de ajo is a simple dish of chunks of boiled fresh yuca drizzled with a garlicky mojo sauce made with abundant garlic, the lovely citrus touch of bitter oranges or lime juice, black pepper, and minced parsley or cilantro.
Yuca al mojo de ajo.
Serving suggestions
Yuca hervida is very versatile, and we serve it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It's great as a side dish in our Fritura dominicana platter. For breakfast, you can go as easy as a fried egg, and maybe, if you are feeling extra generous, some avocado and a few slices of Salami frito.
For lunch or dinner, you can serve yuca with mojo with fried Longaniza frita, Chuleta frita (Dominican pork chops), or Chicharron. I also love it with Arenque con huevos (smoked herring and eggs).
Top tips
- Fresh yuca is always preferred, but frozen yuca is also acceptable. Use whichever you have at hand.
- Peeling yuca is very easy; you simply need a paring knife and our handy How to peel yuca tutorial with video. Learn more about yuca in our essential guide.
- If you can't find them, you can substitute lemon juice for bitter oranges (Valencia oranges) or limes.
About this recipe
All three of the Spanish islands in the Caribbean have their own version of boiled yuca con salsa de ajo (also see our recipe for Wasakaka), but there isn't a whole lot of difference between them. This is the nicest, tastiest, simplest yuca con salsa de ajo recipe I've found.
Video
Recipe
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Yuca con Mojo de Ajo [Recipe + Video] Cassava with Garlic Sauce
Ingredients
- 2½ pound yuca (cassava), [1.1kg] peeled, chopped, washed
- 1½ teaspoons salt, [9g]
Ingredients for Mojo de ajo
- 6 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 head garlic, [50g] minced
- 6 tablespoon minced parsley, [12g] or cilantro
- 6 tablespoon bitter orange juice, (or lime juice)
- ½ teaspoon salt, [3g] (or more, to taste)
- ½ teaspoon pepper (freshly-cracked, or ground), [1.1g] (or more, to taste)
- A pinch of oregano, (optional)
Instructions
Boil yuca
Place yuca into a medium-sized pot. Pour in 6 cups [1.5l] of water and add salt.Simmer over medium-high heat for 10-15 minutes, or until fork tender (test by poking with a fork, it should be like cooked potatoes). Drain the water and discard it. Set the boiled yuca aside.
Make Mojo de Ajo
- Make mojo for yuca while the yuca is boiling by heating the oil in a small pan or saucepan over very low heat. Stir in the garlic. Cover and cook for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat.Mix in parsley, bitter orange juice, salt, black pepper, and oregano. Taste and season with more salt and pepper if you find it necessary.
Serve
Serve yuca warm with mojo de ajo on the side.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is calculated automatically based on ingredients listed. Please consult your doctor if you need precise nutrition information.
More recipes with yuca
Yuca is – hands down – our favorite Dominican root vegetable, and this explains our extensive and growing collection of yuca recipes. Start with our favorite savory yuca dishes, like Empanadas de yuca, Casabe, Bollitos de yuca, Pasteles de yuca en hoja, Pastelón de yuca, Yuca fries, and many more.
FAQs
How long you need to boil cassava (yuca) will depend on the quality and freshness of the yuca, and how big you cut the chunks. Good yuca would take about 15 minutes to boil over medium heat.
The name for yuca in English is cassava. You may see it spelled as yucca, but that is an entirely different, and inedible plant.
To peel cassava you can use a pairing knife to remove the brown thin skin, and the pink and white thicken rind beneath it.
We never boil cassava with the skin on. You can peel yuca even before the water boils, so that's unnecessary.
