Achiote Paste

This is the same recipe from Once Upon a Time in Mexico. I've made it a bunch of times, and given out the recipe to everyone who's tasted it! When you cook the pork, make sure to marinade at least a few hours, and then wrap VERY tightly in foil, otherwise it'll dry out.

This version of the classic recipe is very similar to the one used in the director Robert Rodriguez' Puerco Pibil recipe (see the 10 Minute Cooking School segment in the extras of the Once a Time in Mexico DVD). Makes a big difference to make it from scratch rather than using the packaged stuff - mmmmm - I'm hungry now

I'm from where the Cochinita Pibils Originates,and I was happy to find this recipe. I have made it so many times I lost count, everybody in my family like it and my sister and brother say it the same taste they remember. I'll give the recipe 5 star. I just wish the Ingredients were ground and not whole. Thank You for sharing your Recipe.

This review is written at stage 2 after "blend until smooth" using food processor (so, prior to adding lemon juice). I have a liquid slurry, nothing resembling paste. Disappointing after spending the time to powder the seeds in a mortar following the electric spice mill treatment. My bad for not checking other sources before starting -- the 5 star review here biased my expectations.

This recipe is absolutely wrong. There is WAY too much liquid in here to get a paste. I am about to try again with 1/2T orange juice, 1/2T vinegar, juice from 1 lemon.

Very nice recipe. I love the mix of the ingredients. I think to perfectly balance it for my taste buds next time I will leave out one of the lemons.

I used 1/2 the lemons and measured correctly. And I have liquid. I knew in my heart it was not going to work out. Very frustrating.

Ignore the reviews that say it is too liquidy. It is suppose to be. If it wasn't, it would be impossible to spread it all over the meat during the marinade process. I put the meat in a bag and pour this over and massage it all over the meat with my fingers. The liquid gets sealed in with the meat during cooking as well, and is there when it's done. It gets worse as all the fat melts off the meat and during serving I simply fork out meat from a very juicy base. I serve this over rice. This is one of my own top 5 dishes for many years since I saw the movie all the other reviews refer to as well.

I was starting to take notes from Robert Rodriguez's Once Upon a Time in Mexico with intentions of uploading the recipe when I discovered u beat me to it! Now I'm gonna have to go kill the cook. ;)

Great recipe and saved my as i needed achiote paste for a recipe but couldn't find it in the mexican markets, but was able to make this. As the other reviewers noted, there is way too much liquid in the initial ingredient list..... I did not even read the reviews until after making it, and the marinade i needed the achiote paste for....... If you want/need a thick paste, USE LESS LIQUID. This is what I did and it turned out good. I would imagine the Original recipe might work good on its own as a marinade or seasoning sauce? The ingredients give a fantastic flavor. Just use less and more as needed, and for your taste. 5 stars. Thank you AG. Notes: Works well without the tequila. Subbed the lemons for lime (much less as been discussed) Used fresh squeezed orange and lime juices.

Excellent! But you MUST make some adjustments as the liquid requirements called for will produce a slurry not a paste. Halved the liquid (juices, etc.) portion and then only added it in sparingly as I was doing the blending. That way I controlled the consistency I wanted -- which is a paste to use as a concentrated flavoring for other recipes. I ended up using only a few tablespoons of the liquid total. This was excellent for a Cohito Piblo recipe (also on allrecipes) but I used a much smaller amount than called for. This is a concentrated flavoring, thus I put what was left over into a small freezer container and have been able to just scoop out the tblsp or so I'll need for a recipe -- perfect! Also, I used whole spices, including Annato and the Annato only mildly stained the clear plastic top of my spice grinder. I highly recommend using whole spices and grinding them at home if you can. The aroma itself from freshly ground spices can take you away and fill your kitchen! It brought my partner out of his study --- following his nose! Highly recommend with my suggestions!

I made this tonight for dinner... my family loved it. A keeper for sure. Thanks for the great recipe.

This recipe is awesome! the only problem is that it mentions being a paste, but the original recipe dear readers is not a paste. why do you think the recipe for cochinita calls for liquid? it's because you must reconstitute a paste that was manufactured for your. Kind of using compressed chicken flavored cubes with MSG instead of brewing a real pot of what your grandma used to make for you when you were sick. My Aunt will make the best cochinita I've ever tried... and she makes it from scratch... like this recipe. :-)

the taste is great, but the ratios were off. As the others have said, completely liquid...

Thank you for providing the recipe (I know it as "recardo") and thank you for the helpful reviews. This seasoning paste is an essential ingredient for my cooking this year and I knew if I couldn't find the product the recipe would be out there on the 'net. Happy cooking :)

I made this in my culinary class for a braised Boston Butt Pork. The only thing I did different was add some chipotle paste, to impart a smoky flavor. It came out very good, my only complaint is that after everyone finished tasting it, there was not enough left to bring home to the family. i would highly recommend this recipe to anyone.

For anyone who needs a paste for other recipes, you can put the liquid on a cookie sheet in a 350 oven. Check it every 15 to 20 minutes and stir with a spatula. It will be paste in under 1 hour.

this definitely isn't a paste.. instead i cut the recipe in half and used it as a marinade for 10 large drumsticks.. i was expecting more and am not sure what i did wrong.. i did sub kosher salt for the regular table salt.. i also only used 1 lime instead of the 2.5 lemons it called for as other people were saying they reduced theirs with positive results.. maybe it's b/c i only marinated this for 3.5 hours.. i don't know :( should i have saved the marinade, boiled it, and used it to baste as we grilled the drumsticks? i hate to second guess myself so much but i really wanted to love this.. it's always fun to try something new but i don't know if i want to give this another try.. it was okay.. i just wanted more

After painstakingly making this it was all liquid! Using it anyway.

I thought this was supposed to be a paste? With all this liquid it’s more like a slurry nothing like the photo shows. I’m sure it’s very flavorful however I just finished making this and I’ve got about a cup and a half red liquid.

This worked for me and tasted amazing, but I did tweak the amount of liquid. I could only find annatto powder (in Australia, try your local Asian style grocery), so used three tablespoons of that. I'm lazy, and the measuring cup needed washing, so used the juice of one large orange, two fairly juicy lemons and added enough vinegar (apple cider in my case, as I'd run out of white) to make a thick slurry. I ignored the tequila component, as I do not have any alcohol and figured one teaspoon could make no detectable difference. Marinaded tofu and tempeh in it, grilled to a delicious fragrant and delicious taco filling. Served four ;)