Toni Chapman’s Puerto Rican Pepper Steak for Chino-Latino Sabor

Toni Chapman is the queen of cozy mashups of delicioso. Especially when she’s whipping up comfort food loaded with the sabores of her childhood like this Puerto Rican pepper steak. Crazy-good and super-rich, this beef dish is a Chino-Latino combo platter celebration of the type of meals the Miami-based recipe developer and creator of @themoodyfoody grew up eating and loving.

Her food is deeply personal, Toni tells Familia Kitchen. As a kid growing up in New Jersey, she’d watch her father and abuela spin up dinners steeped in their Boricua heritage. She also loved the flavors she discovered in the diverse neighborhoods and boroughs near their New Jersey home. And she never forgot the criollo cooking she tasted on trips back to visit family in Puerto Rico.

All of these influences and memories come together in 100 gorgeous recipes in her hot-off-the-presses cookbook: Everything’s Good: Cozy Classics You’ll Cook Always & Forever. You may have seen Toni doing the rounds this month promoting her flavor-packed recipes on Good Morning America, Live with Kelly and Mark, and CBS Mornings. Inspired by childhood favorites, takeout classics, and family traditions, Toni describes her cooking style as “designed to impress, without the stress.”

When Familia Kitchen heard Toni was publishing this cookbook, we asked to feature a traditional Boricua recipe she makes to remind herself of her family roots. We were surprised — and delighted — when she sent us this gem: her Puerto Rican pepper steak. It’s an unusual choice, for sure, and not one we grew up eating on the island. But Toni did, and she never forgot it. Here’s how Toni describes this meal in her cookbook: “Puerto Rican pepper steak is the kind of dish that feels like a warm hug from the island. Tender strips of steak, sweet bell peppers, and onion simmered in a rich sauce … it’s the definition of Latin comfort food. A splash of vinegar cuts through the richness, making every bite perfectly balanced and full of flavor.”

Warm hug from the island? Sign us up. Flavor is our love language, too. So, of course, you know we had to ask Toni all about it.

Q: How does this Asian-inspired dish speak to your Puerto Rican heart and heritage?

Toni: “Not a lot of people know this, but there is a huge Chinese community in Puerto Rico, in San Juan. There are lots of Chinese restaurants there. That gives us this great Chino Boricua cuisine. My Puerto Rican pepper steak is inspired by that because I think it’s really unique.”

“Everyone’s familiar with Asian pepper steak, which is a classic. But, because it’s Puerto Rican-style, this dish is going to have cilantro and Maggi [seasoning]. I also like to use dark brown sugar because that gives it color, and it’s also a cooking practice used throughout The Caribbean. This dish is a Boricua-inspired recipe that I’ve adapted along the way and a fusion of both cultures.”

Q: When you were developing this recipe, did you start with a favorite beef dish your Puerto Rican grandmother cooked for you? Or is this a totally-Toni recipe you developed from scratch, using ingredients like your Abuela’s Green Sofrito as a foundation?

Toni: “I think it was just traveling back and forth to the island and constantly eating the Chinese food there. Because it’s different than American Chinese food. Being exposed to the Chinese Boricua food on the island inspired me the most. So I created something using Puerto Rican-style peppers and onions. And then, obviously, the sofrito is there, plus all of the spices.

“This sofrito is one of my earliest memories as a child. I spent a lot of time with my grandmother. I remember she used to make it in plastic containers. It was super bright. It was bright green. It was a gift that she would give out around the holidays. It took a lot of time when you’re making it in batches and had a lot of ingredients. But it was perfect.  It’s the backbone to most of my cooking.”

Q: What food moods and occasions inspire you to cook this Puerto Rican pepper steak?

Toni: “It’s good for any day and all the time, honestly. It’s quick. It’s easy. It’s set it and forget it. It’s one of those that anyone can do, so I would say: It’s great for a weeknight. Like a slump weekday where you want something cozy.”

To keep the flavor party going, Toni recommends serving her pepper steak with arroz con gandules, for a Puerto Rican flavor bomb. Or you can keep it classic and pair it with Puerto Rican-style arroz blanco, aka white rice, two more recipes you will find in her cookbook.

Ready to cook? Keep reading to find not one but two Toni recipes below: Puerto Rican pepper steak and Abuela’s Green Sofrito, which she recreated from memory since her grandmother never wrote it down. Start with these duo and then find 98 more by getting your hands on Everything’s Good: Cozy Classics  You’ll Cook Always & Forever at your favorite bookstore or from her publisher, Penguin Random House at PRH.com.

Ready to make Toni’s Chino-Boricua pepper steak?

Toni Chapman’s Puerto Rican Pepper Steak: A Chino-Latino Sabor Celebration

Recipe by Toni Chapman

5.0 from 1 vote

Cuisine: Puerto Rican

Servings

4

servings

Ingredients

• 3 lbs flank steak, sliced against the grain into thin strips

• 1/3 cup Abuela’s Green Sofrito (Toni‘s recipe below)

• 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

• 8 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed

• 1 Tbsp vegetable oil

• 2 tsp Maggi seasoning or 2 tsp kosher salt

• 1 tsp dried oregano

• 1 tsp adobo seasoning

• 1 tsp chicken bouillon powder

• 1 tsp black pepper, freshly ground

• 1/2 tsp ground cumin

• For Abuela’s Green Sofrito

• 1 bunch cilantro (the freshest you can find!)

• 1 bunch culantro (the freshest you can find!)

• 1 medium Spanish onion, roughly chopped

• 8 green ají dulce peppers, roughly chopped

• 1 medium green bell pepper, roughly chopped

• 12 cloves garlic (about 2/3 cup)

• 2 tsp oregano, dried

• 1 1/2 tsp kosher salt

• 
  To Finish

• 1 Tbsp vegetable oil

• 1/2 medium red bell pepper, sliced into thin strips

• 1/2 medium green bell pepper, sliced into thin strips

• 1/2 medium red onion, sliced

• 2 tbsp browning sauce (optional)

• 3 bay leaves

• cilantro, fresh, chopped, for serving

Directions

• Marinate the Steak
• In a large bowl, combine the steak, sofrito, cilantro, garlic, oil, Maggi seasoning, oregano, adobo seasoning, chicken bouillon powder, black pepper, and cumin.
• Toss until the steak is coated all over and the seasonings are evenly distributed.
• Cover and marinate in the fridge for at least 1 hour or up to overnight.
• Make the Sofrito
• In a blender or food processor, combine the herbs, chopped vegetables, garlic, oregano, and salt and blend until smooth.
• Use right away or store in a sealed container in the fridge for up to 1 week. For longer life, store it in an ice cube tray and use as needed.
• To Finish
• In a large pot, heat the oil over medium-high heat until hot and shimmering.
• Add the steak with the marinade and sauté for 5 to 7 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the natural juices release.
• Add both bell peppers, the onion, browning sauce (if using), and bay leaves.
• Reduce the heat to medium. Add 2 cups water to the same bowl you seasoned your meat in and swirl to incorporate any lingering marinade, then pour the water into the pot.
• Cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the water reduces by half.
• Reduce the heat to low, cover, and cook for 1 hour, or until the meat is tender.
• Garnish with cilantro and serve hot with the rice of your choice.

Notes

• Toni recommends serving this steak with your choice of two classic Puerto Rican rice dishes: arroz con gandules or classic arroz blanco.
• When making sofrito, Toni writes, you gotta have ”culantro, also known as recao.” This ”is an herb commonly used in Caribbean and Latin American cuisine. It has a long and rich history dating back to the indigenous Taíno people, who used it for its medicinal properties. If you can’t find culantro, you can substitute it with more cilantro or with parsley, but keep in mind that the flavor profile will be different.”

Reprinted with permission from Everything’s Good: Cozy Classics You’ll Cook Always and Forever by Toni Chapman © 2025 Zaria Chapman. Photographs copyright © 2025 by Brittany Conerly. Published by Clarkson Potter, an imprint of Penguin Random House.