# Achiote Oil (Annatto Seed Oil)

Achiote oil is a traditional way to give color to Puerto Rican dishes, made by infusing annatto seeds and aromatics in oil.

- Total time: 30 min
- Cuisine: Mexican
- Category: Sauce & Condiment
- Language: en

## Ingredients

- 2 baggies annatto seeds
- vegetable oil
- 0.25 small onion
- 0.25 green and red bell pepper
- 4 garlic cloves
- cilantro
- recao

## Instructions

1. Place the annatto seeds and oil in a pot.
2. Add a quarter of a small onion, a quarter of green and red bell pepper, four cloves of garlic, cilantro, and recao.
3. Turn the stove to medium heat and watch for the annatto seeds to start moving.
4. Once the seeds start moving, turn the heat down to low to infuse the oil.
5. Let it simmer on the stove for about 30 minutes.
6. Let the oil sit and cool for a little over an hour.
7. Strain the oil using a fine strainer into a glass jar.
8. Store the achote oil in the fridge for extended shelf life.

## Equipment

- stove
- fine strainers
- glass jar

## Tips

- Anatto seeds can burn, once burnt the oil will be bitter.
- The more anatto seed used, the deeper the color will be.
- Achote oil stains, be careful when handling.
- Store in the fridge to last the entire holiday season (through December); for smaller batches used within two weeks, it can be stored in the pantry.

## Source

- Original video: https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1GZPCf86ck/?mibextid=wwXIfr
- Recipe page: https://www.cliprecipe.com/recipe/9b2552b8-385b-48b8-948b-8336d7a690a0
- Extracted: 2026-02-24

Extracted from the video by Clip Recipe (https://www.cliprecipe.com). Quantities and steps are as stated or shown in the video. Site guide for agents: https://www.cliprecipe.com/llms.txt