White Recado or Recado Blanco is a traditional Mayan food popular in the Yucatan. Recado blanco is the mildest of Belize’s three traditional spice pastes. Discover all three in our Belizean recado guide.
Experience the authentic taste of Yucatán cuisine with this homemade Recado Blanco recipe. Ideal for marinating poultry, turkey, pork, or beef, this spice blend combines robust flavors such as black pepper, garlic, and a hint of exotic saffron, rounded out with a splash of white vinegar.
Recipes for recado blanco vary widely from cook to cook and village to village. This version includes saffron but not onion, cloves, or cinnamon. Other recado recipe preparations are similar but the spices and ratios are different. Black recado tends to include toasted peppers (for spice and color) and toasted corn tortillas for the black color. Unlike black or white recado, red recado includes a large amount of achiote or annatto which provides the deep red color.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 0 minutes (no cooking required)
- Total Time: 10 minutes
- Yield: Makes about 1/4 cup (approximately 4 tablespoons)
Mayan Recado Blanco Recipe Ingredients:
- 1 tablespoon (15 g) black pepper, freshly ground
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon (1 g) dried Mexican oregano
- 2 whole cloves
- 1 pinch cumin seeds
- 1 pinch saffron strands
- 1/4 tablespoon (1 g) cilantro seeds
- White vinegar, as needed for grinding into a paste
Estimated Nutritional Values (per tablespoon):
- Calories: 5 kcal
- Protein: 0.2 g
- Fat: 0.1 g
- Carbohydrates: 1 g
- Fiber: 0.3 g
- Sugar: 0.1 g
Instructions:
- Combine Dry Ingredients: In a small bowl, mix together the black pepper, dried oregano, cloves, cumin seeds, saffron strands, cilantro seeds, and optional coriander seeds.
- Prepare Garlic: Peel and mince the garlic cloves finely.
- Make the Paste: Transfer the mixed dry ingredients and minced garlic into a mortar. Gradually add white vinegar, just enough to help grind the spices into a smooth paste using a pestle or molcajete.
- Store or Use: The recado blanco can be used immediately, or stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Serving Suggestion: Use this mayan recado blanco recipe for White Relleno Soup to marinate meats before grilling or roasting to infuse them with a depth of traditional Yucatecan flavors. Perfect for adding a gourmet touch to your culinary creations!
Learn about more traditional Belizean ingredients used in Mayan and Mestizo cooking.
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Mortar And Pestle
Recado blanco is ground by hand in a mortar – whole cloves, cumin seeds, and peppercorns need the friction of unpolished granite to break down into the smooth paste the marinade requires.
Whole Allspice Berries
Allspice berries go into this recado blanco alongside cloves, cumin, and saffron – whole berries ground fresh in the mortar give the paste a depth that pre-ground allspice cannot match.
Mexican Oregano
The recipe specifies dried Mexican oregano, not Mediterranean – the two are different plants, and substituting the wrong one flattens the Yucatecan spice profile this recado blanco is built around.
Yucatán Cookbook
Recado blanco sits at the center of Yucatecan Maya cuisine – David Sterling’s culinary expedition through the same corridor this recipe comes from documents the broader tradition that produced it.
About Fili Post
Fili Post is from Xaibe in the Corozal District of Belize. She is Mayan. She grew up eating game from the bush — gibnut, deer, chachalaca, iguana — and she has been making her own recado from hand-ground spices for as long as her family can remember. She sold spices at a stall in the Corozal market. She still sources locally and grinds her own blends. Her recado is known to locals as the best they can get. She raised yard birds, guinea fowl, and the occasional pig. She writes for the Belize News Post.
