Arroz con Pollo

Someone asked for me to share how I feed the hungry horde, and to be honest, I use pizza delivery and Blackbeard bringing home some fast food way more often than I would like to admit. I do not meal plan, even though I know that I really should. What I do is plenty of Cuban cooking with a smattering of pasta dishes in between. In the summer, Blackbeard grills things while I cook the side dishes. I highly recommend getting your husband a grill for that very reason. It was my saving grace this past summer when I was deep in the newborn haze.

Cuban cooking is good for large crowds because it tends to be friendly for those who are dairy free and it makes large quantities pretty easily. The basis of pretty much all Cuban cooking is the sofrito: onion, green bell pepper, and minced garlic cooked in olive oil. So, I always keep those ingredients on hand.

I’m sharing my Abuela’s recipe for arroz con pollo below. My kids absolutely love chicken drumsticks, so I put as many as I can shove into the dish. You can use any cut of chicken, however. Just make sure it is bone-in, as a ton of the flavor comes from the bone juices simmering. You can also use any kind of rice, but I prefer yellow Spanish rice. Most recipes call for saffron to make the rice yellow, but saffron is unreasonably expensive just to make something yellow, in my humble opinion. I just keep my rice white or use the Spanish rice. Enjoy!

Arroz con Pollo

  • Difficulty: easy
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Ingredients

    • 4-6 chicken drumsticks
    • 2 teaspoons salt
    • black pepper to taste
    • juice of 1 lime
    • 1/4 cup olive oil
    • 1 medium sized green bell pepper, seeded and finely chopped
    • 1 medium sized onion, finely chopped
    • 3-4 cloves garlic, minced
    • 1 can diced tomatoes
    • 1/4 cup finely chopped drained pimientos
    • 1 bay leaf
    • 1/2 cup dry white wine or beer (my Abuela uses Tecate)
    • 5 cups chicken broth
    • 1 and 1/2 cups uncooked rice
    • 1 cup frozen vegetables (peas or a spring mix)
    • 3 pimientos for garnish


Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F
  2. Pat the chicken dry with a paper towel, sprinkle them with lime juice and salt and pepper.
  3. In a large, heavy casserole over medium heat, heat 1/4 cup of the olive oil until it is fragrant, then brown the chicken 6 to 8 minutes on each side. Remove the chicken and set it aside. Don’t worry if the chicken isn’t cooked all the way through yet, it will do plenty of cooking in the rice later.
  4. Make your sofrito! Cook the onion, bell pepper, and garlic in the remaining oil, stirring, until the onion is translucent, 6 to 8 minutes. Add the tomatoes, pimientos, and bay leaf, and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes. Return the chicken to the pan and add the wine or beer, and cook 5 minutes.
  5. Add the chicken broth and bring to a boil. Add the salt.
  6. Add the rice and bring it back to a boil over high heat and cook, uncovered, until most of the water has evaporated and small craters form on top of the rice, 20 to 25 minutes.
  7. Remove from heat and stir in the frozen vegetables, cover, and place in the oven until the rice is tender, about 20 minutes.
  8. Salt and pepper to taste, garnish with pimientos, and serve!

2 thoughts on “Arroz con Pollo

  1. Alesha

    Made this last night, minus the frozen veggies due to time; it was fantastic, thanks! And I second your idea about getting your husband a grill… my husband bought a smoker and loves to cook on it: makes it so easy!

    Reply

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