Puerto Rican pasteles wrap a savory pork filling in green-banana and root-vegetable masa, banana leaves and paper. Making a batch is a Christmas family tradition: assemble together, freeze extras, and boil them straight from frozen whenever you want a holiday meal.
Puerto Rican Pasteles at a Glance
What Are Puerto Rican Pasteles?
Pasteles (pah-STEH-lehs) are Puerto Rico’s Christmas parcels: a soft masa of grated green bananas and root vegetables, filled with a saucy pork stew, wrapped in a banana leaf and boiled. They are often called Puerto Rican tamales, but there is no corn in them.
The masa is the heart of it. Green bananas (guineos verdes) give it body, yautía makes it silky, and calabaza adds a little sweetness and color. Achiote oil stirred through the masa turns it golden orange.
The filling is usually pork shoulder cooked down with sofrito, tomato sauce, olives, capers and chickpeas. Some families add raisins, ham or a strip of roasted red pepper.
A cooked pastel is soft and tender, almost like a dumpling, and the banana leaf leaves a faint grassy, tea-like aroma. You unwrap it at the table and eat it with a fork, often with a splash of ketchup or pique.
Pasteles are one of the dishes on our list of Puerto Rican dishes to get you eating like a Boricua, and the centerpiece of any Puerto Rican Christmas table.
Pasteles vs. Tamales: What’s the Difference?
They look like cousins, and they are. Both are a dough wrapped around a filling and cooked in a leaf. But they taste and feel very different.
| Puerto Rican pasteles | Mexican tamales | |
|---|---|---|
| Dough | Grated green banana, yautía, calabaza, plantain | Nixtamalized corn masa beaten with lard |
| Color | Orange from achiote oil | Pale yellow, or red from chile |
| Texture | Soft, smooth and moist | Fluffy and crumbly |
| Wrapper | Banana leaf, then paper | Dried corn husk (banana leaf in the south) |
| Cooking | Boiled in salted water | Steamed |
| Classic filling | Pork, sofrito, olives, chickpeas | Pork or chicken in red or green salsa |
The closer relatives are the other banana-leaf parcels of the Caribbean and South America: Venezuela’s hallacas, the Dominican pasteles en hoja and Colombia’s rice-based pasteles de arroz. If you want the corn version, see our guide to tamales.
Where Pasteles Come From
Pasteles carry all three roots of Puerto Rican cooking. The Taíno already grated roots such as yuca and yautía into doughs. Spain brought pork, olives, capers and the habit of stewing meat with sofrito. Green bananas and plantains arrived by way of Africa and the Canary Islands, and enslaved Africans brought much of the know-how for cooking them.
Pasteles show up in Puerto Rican writing as early as the 1840s. Puerto Ricans who moved to Hawaii after the 1899 San Ciriaco hurricane took it with them, and it survives there as pateles.
Today the town of Orocovis, in the central mountains, hosts the Festival Nacional del Pastel Puertorriqueño every November, when cooks from across the island sell hundreds of varieties.
The Pastelada: A Family Tradition
Nobody makes six pasteles. A pastelada usually turns out 50 to 200, and it takes the whole family.
One person peels the green bananas (with gloves, or with oiled hands, because the sap stains). Someone else runs the grater or food processor. The best cook is in charge of the filling. The rest sit around a table spreading, filling, folding and tying.
When it is done, the pasteles go into the freezer in bags of a dozen, labeled with the date. Relatives take a bag home. Many families also sell them by the dozen before Christmas, which is how a lot of people in the diaspora get theirs.
What Are Pasteles Made Of?
Here is what goes into a traditional Puerto Rican pastel, and what each part does.
The Masa
Green bananas
Unripe guineos verdes, not plantains, make up most of the masa. They give it body and its slightly tangy flavor.
Yautía
Also sold as malanga or taro in U.S. stores. It makes the masa smooth and a little sticky, so it holds together in the pot.
Calabaza
West Indian pumpkin adds sweetness and color. Kabocha or butternut squash work if you can’t find it.
Green plantain
One plantain firms up the masa. Some families add a potato too; others skip both.
The Filling
Boneless pork shoulder is the classic, cut small so every bite has meat. It is seasoned with adobo and oregano, browned in achiote oil, then simmered with sofrito and tomato sauce until tender.
At the end, you stir in alcaparrado (the Puerto Rican jar of olives, capers and pimientos) and chickpeas. The filling should be thick and saucy, never watery, or the masa turns soggy.
The sofrito matters. The Puerto Rican version is green and built on culantro (recao) and ají dulce, the small sweet peppers you’ll find in our guide to Puerto Rican ingredients.
Achiote Oil
Achiote oil (aceite de achiote) is oil gently heated with annatto seeds until it turns deep red-orange. It goes into the filling, into the masa and onto every leaf before the masa is spread.
Keep the heat low. If the seeds crackle hard or the oil smokes, it turns bitter and you have to start over.
The Wrappers
Pasteles get two layers. A banana leaf, softened over a flame, goes against the masa for flavor and color. A sheet of parchment or pastel paper goes around the leaf to keep the water out. Kitchen twine holds it all together.
Frozen banana leaves are sold in most Latin and Asian markets. Thaw them, wipe them clean and cut away the thick center rib before you start.
How to Make Puerto Rican Pasteles
The full recipe with exact amounts is in the recipe card below. Here is the whole process at a glance.
- Make the achiote oil. Heat oil and annatto seeds over medium-low for 4 to 5 minutes, then strain.
- Season the pork. Toss the cubed pork with adobo, oregano, pepper and garlic. Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour, or overnight.
- Cook the filling. Brown the pork in achiote oil, add sofrito, tomato sauce and water, and simmer 40 to 45 minutes. Stir in alcaparrado and chickpeas, reduce until thick, then cool in shallow containers and refrigerate promptly, within two hours. Use cooled filling to assemble.
- Prepare the leaves. Cut them into rectangles and pass them over a flame until glossy and pliable.
- Make the masa. Peel and grate the green bananas, yautía, calabaza and plantain until very smooth. Stir in achiote oil, salt and warm broth until it looks like thick hummus.
- Assemble. Paper, then leaf, then a brush of achiote oil, then about ½ cup of masa and 3 tablespoons of filling.
- Fold and tie. Fold the leaf and paper into a neat packet and tie two together face to face.
- Boil. Cook in salted water for 1 hour, or 1 hour 15 minutes from frozen.
How to Wrap Pasteles
Wrapping is the part people worry about, but it takes about three pasteles to get the hang of it.
- Set up. Lay a sheet of paper on the counter with a banana leaf centered on top, shiny side up. Brush the middle with achiote oil.
- Spread. Spread about ½ cup of masa into a 4 x 6-inch rectangle, about ¼ inch thick.
- Fill. Spoon the filling down the center of the masa. Add an olive, a chickpea or two and a strip of roasted pepper.
- Fold the leaf. Lift one long side of the leaf over so the masa folds in half and the edges meet around the filling. Fold the leaf back over the top.
- Fold the paper. Fold the long sides of the paper over like a letter, then tuck both short ends underneath.
- Tie. Put two pasteles together, folded sides facing, and tie them lengthwise and crosswise. A tied pair is called a yunta.
How to Cook Pasteles (Fresh or Frozen)
Pasteles are boiled, not steamed. Use your largest pot and enough salted water to cover them completely. Add them once the water is at a full boil, then lower it to a steady simmer.
| Pasteles | Boiling time | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Fresh, just wrapped | 1 hour | Start timing when the water returns to a boil. |
| Frozen | 1 hour 15 minutes | Go straight from freezer to pot. Do not thaw. |
| Store-bought frozen | About 1 hour 15 minutes | Follow the package if it says otherwise. |
| Cooked leftovers | 15 minutes | Simmer in the wrapper until hot through. |
Lift them out with tongs and let them drain for a minute. Cut the twine, peel back the paper and leaf, and slide the pastel onto a plate. The leaf is not eaten.
How to Store and Freeze Pasteles
Uncooked: freeze them right after tying, in freezer bags of 6 or 12, for up to 4 months. This is how most families keep them from December through the end of the holidays.
Cooked: refrigerate in their wrappers for up to 3 days. Reheat by simmering them for about 15 minutes. You can microwave an unwrapped pastel covered with a damp paper towel, but it gets gummy at the edges.
Components: the filling keeps 2 days in the fridge and the achiote oil keeps for weeks in a jar. Raw masa can be frozen too, which lets you split the work over several weekends.
What to Serve With Pasteles
At Christmas, pasteles share the plate with arroz con gandules and pernil, with potato salad on the side. For dessert there is arroz con dulce or tembleque, and the toast is always coquito.
Outside the holidays, one or two pasteles with rice and tostones make a full meal. Ketchup on top is common and nobody will judge you.
Variations to Try
Pasteles de yuca
The masa is finely grated yuca, squeezed dry in a towel. They cook up a little chewier, and many families make them alongside the classic.
Pasteles de arroz
Seasoned rice cooked with the filling instead of masa, wrapped the same way. Especially popular on the west coast of the island.
Chicken pasteles
Boneless chicken thighs in place of pork, cooked the same way. Many families make a batch of each.
Vegetarian pasteles
Chickpeas, mushrooms or seasoned vegetables with the same sofrito base. Use vegetable broth in the masa.
Across the Mona Passage, the Dominican pasteles en hoja use a similar plantain and root masa with a ground-meat filling. You’ll find them in our roundup of Dominican Christmas foods.
Puerto Rican Pasteles Recipe
This recipe makes 24 pasteles, enough for a small pastelada. It doubles easily if you have the hands.
Puerto Rican Pasteles (Pasteles de Masa)
Green banana and yautía masa, a saucy pork filling stained with achiote and a banana-leaf wrapper, boiled until tender. This is the classic Puerto Rican Christmas pastel, sized for a family pastelada: make a batch in a day, freeze most and boil them straight from the freezer all season.
Ingredients
Achiote oil
- 1½ cups vegetable oil (or half lard, half oil)
- ⅓ cup annatto (achiote) seeds
Pork filling
- 3 pounds boneless pork shoulder, cut into ½-inch cubes
- 1 tablespoon adobo seasoning (or 2 teaspoons salt)
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 4 garlic cloves, mashed
- 2 tablespoons achiote oil (from above)
- ¾ cup sofrito (recaíto)
- 1 (8-ounce) can tomato sauce
- 1 packet sazón with culantro and achiote (optional)
- 1 cup water
- ½ cup alcaparrado (olives, capers and pimientos), roughly chopped
- 1 (15-ounce) can chickpeas, drained
- ¼ cup raisins (optional)
Masa
- 12 green bananas (guineos verdes), about 3 pounds
- 2 pounds yautía (malanga)
- 1 pound calabaza (West Indian pumpkin) or kabocha squash
- 1 green plantain
- ½ cup achiote oil (from above), plus more for brushing
- ¾ to 1 cup warm chicken broth or milk
- 2 teaspoons salt
To wrap and cook
- 1 pound frozen banana leaves, thawed
- 24 sheets parchment or pastel paper, about 12 x 15 inches
- Kitchen twine
- 1 jar roasted red peppers, cut into strips (optional)
- 2 tablespoons salt, for the cooking water
Instructions
1. Make the achiote oil
Combine the oil and annatto seeds in a small saucepan over medium-low heat.
Heat until the oil turns a deep red-orange and small bubbles form around the seeds, 4 to 5 minutes. Do not let it smoke or the seeds crackle hard, or the oil turns bitter.
Cool for 10 minutes, strain and discard the seeds. You will have about 1½ cups.
2. Season the pork
Toss the pork with the adobo, oregano, pepper and garlic.
Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, or overnight.
3. Cook the filling
Heat 2 tablespoons of achiote oil in a caldero or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Brown the pork in two batches, about 5 minutes per batch.
Return all the pork to the pot, add the sofrito and cook for 2 minutes.
Add the tomato sauce, sazón and water. Bring to a simmer, cover and cook on low for 40 to 45 minutes, until the pork is tender.
Uncover and stir in the alcaparrado, chickpeas and raisins. Simmer 5 to 10 minutes more, until the sauce is thick and clings to the meat. It should be saucy, not soupy.
Taste for salt, then spread the filling in shallow containers to cool and refrigerate promptly, within 2 hours. Use cooled filling for assembly; it keeps in the fridge for 2 days.
4. Prepare the banana leaves
Wipe the leaves with a damp towel and cut away the tough center rib.
Cut them into rectangles about 12 x 10 inches.
Pass each piece quickly over a gas flame or a hot dry skillet (or dip it in hot water) until it turns glossy and pliable.
5. Make the masa
Fill a large bowl with cold salted water. Peel the green bananas, plantain, yautía and calabaza, dropping each piece into the water as you go. Wear gloves: green banana sap stains.
Grate everything on the finest side of a box grater, or cut into chunks and process in batches in a food processor until very smooth, adding a splash of broth to keep the blade moving.
Stir in ½ cup achiote oil, the salt and enough warm broth to make a thick, spreadable batter, about the texture of thick hummus.
Refrigerate for 30 minutes (or overnight with plastic wrap pressed on the surface).
6. Assemble the pasteles
Lay a sheet of parchment on the counter and center a banana leaf on top. Brush the middle of the leaf with about 1 teaspoon of achiote oil.
Spread about ½ cup of masa into a 4 x 6-inch rectangle.
Spoon about 3 tablespoons of filling down the center, with a chickpea or two, an olive and a strip of roasted pepper if using.
Fold the leaf in half lengthwise so the edges of the masa meet and seal around the filling, then fold the leaf back over itself.
Fold the long sides of the paper over like a letter, then tuck both short ends underneath.
7. Tie them
Place two pasteles face to face, folded sides together, and tie them with twine lengthwise and crosswise. Puerto Rican families call a tied pair a yunta. You can also tie them one at a time.
Cook now, or freeze the uncooked pasteles in freezer bags.
8. Boil and serve
Bring a large pot of water with 2 tablespoons of salt to a boil.
Add the pasteles so they are fully submerged, return to a boil, then lower to a steady simmer.
Cook fresh pasteles for 1 hour. Cook frozen pasteles straight from the freezer for 1 hour 15 minutes; do not thaw them first.
Lift them out with tongs, cut the twine, unwrap and serve hot. Do not eat the leaf.
Notes
- Split it over two days: make the achiote oil, filling and leaves on day one; make the masa, assemble and boil on day two.
- Masa texture: too runny and the pasteles fall apart in the pot; too stiff and they cook up dense. Adjust with warm broth a spoonful at a time.
- Freezing: uncooked pasteles keep up to 4 months in the freezer. Label the bags with the date.
- Leftovers: refrigerate cooked pasteles in their wrappers for up to 3 days and reheat by simmering them for 15 minutes.
- No banana leaves? Parchment alone works, but the leaf gives pasteles their color and aroma.
- Other fillings: boneless chicken thighs work the same way. For pasteles de yuca, swap the masa for finely grated yuca squeezed dry in a towel.
Where to Buy Pasteles Ingredients
Latin markets carry everything in December, often bundled. If yours doesn’t, these are easy to order online.
- Banana leaves
Frozen packs are the easiest to work with. - Annatto (achiote) seeds
For the achiote oil. - Alcaparrado
Olives, capers and pimientos in one jar. - Pastel paper and twine
Pre-cut sheets save a lot of time.
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Frequently Asked Questions
How do you pronounce pasteles?
Pah-STEH-lehs. One is a pastel (pah-STEHL). In Hawaii, where Puerto Rican families settled in the early 1900s, the name became pateles.
What are pasteles called in English?
There is no English name, so most people just say pasteles. “Puerto Rican tamales” is the common description, though pasteles are made from green bananas and root vegetables, not corn.
Are pasteles gluten-free?
The masa is naturally gluten-free, since it is made from green bananas, yautía and calabaza, with no flour. Check the labels on your sazón, adobo and broth if you need to be strict.
How many calories are in a pastel?
A homemade pork pastel usually lands somewhere around 300 to 400 calories, depending on its size and how much achiote oil goes into the masa.
Can you steam pasteles instead of boiling them?
You can, in a large steamer basket over simmering water, for about 1 hour 15 minutes. Boiling is traditional and more forgiving, because the water keeps the heat even all the way around.
Why are my pasteles mushy or falling apart?
Usually the masa was too wet, the filling was too soupy, or the paper was not folded tightly enough and let water in. Thicken the masa with a little more grated yautía, and cook the filling down until the sauce clings to the meat.
Why are my pasteles hard or dense?
The masa was too stiff, or they were not cooked long enough. Next time, loosen the masa with warm broth until it spreads easily, and give frozen pasteles the full 1 hour 15 minutes.
Do you eat the banana leaf?
No. The leaf flavors and protects the masa while it cooks. Unwrap it and eat the pastel with a fork.
Sources
- Wikipedia: Pasteles
- Primera Hora: Festival del Pastel en Orocovis
- The Noshery: Pasteles de Masa
- Fordham University, Food Origins: Pasteles
- The Spruce Eats: Puerto Rican Pasteles
More Puerto Rican Foods
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Jorge Garcia is the founder of AmigoFoods, where he has spent over 20 years helping readers discover authentic Latin American and Spanish cuisine. Raised in a Cuban-American household, Jorge learned to cook at the hands of his mother and grandmother, carrying forward generations of family recipes. That heritage, backed by his family’s four-generation history in the Latin food industry, inspired him to launch AmigoFoods in 2003. With more than 1,000 published articles on recipes, ingredients, and food culture, Jorge’s mission is simple: make authentic Latin cooking approachable for home cooks everywhere while honoring the traditions behind every dish.