Arroz con Pollo (Chicken and Rice)

Even though this is a dish that you will find in virtually all Latin American countries, Arroz con Pollo has been adopted in Puerto Rico as a traditional dish. The difference between what you will find in Puerto Rico and in the rest of the world is that Puerto Ricans will traditionally use annato, sofrito (to include the recao plant), and pimentos or red bell pepper in their preparation. I have vivid memories (and can even smell it now) of my grandmother chopping the recao leaves to add to her version of the dish. The thought alone brings me back to the “good old days” of eating my grandmother’s cooking.

Needless to say, there is a special place in my heart for Arroz con Pollo. Most preparations of the dish call for the pieces of chicken to be left on the bone while cooking with the rice. However, I differ from this philosophy because I think the rice cooks better and more evenly if the bones are removed. This is pretty much my grandmother’s recipe (or what I can recall of it), so I hope you all enjoy it!

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: About 2.5 hours, total
Difficulty: Easy
Notes: This recipe will serve 3-4 people, but feel free to double it up if you have more guests or if you want some leftovers.

Ingredients:

1 medium yellow onion, diced
1 medium green pepper, diced
1/2 medium red bell pepper, cut into strips
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp prepared Recaito or Sofrito (Goya is fine, homemade is better)
1 packet Sazón with Achiote (annato)
12-15 pimento-stuffed olives (sliced or whole, your choice)
2 chicken thighs and drumsticks, skin on and bone-in
1 cup uncooked white rice
2 oz tomato sauce
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tbsp olive oil
Adobo, Salt, and Pepper to taste
Chicken stock or water, as needed

Procedure:

Peel back the skin on the chicken and season well with adobo (use salt and pepper if you don’t have the adobo). You should also use about half of the packet of Sazon to season the chicken under the skin. Replace the skin and season it and the other side of the chicken. Set aside.

Place a heavy-bottomed pot (preferably a dutch oven) over medium heat and add the olive oil. Once it just begins to shimmer, add the onions, green peppers, salt/pepper to taste, along with the remaining half of the Sazon packet and allow to saute until the onions turn translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and the olives and continue cooking 1-2 minutes, then stir in the sofrito, tomato sauce, vinegar, and oregano and cook, stirring frequently, until most of the liquid has dried out, about 7-10 minutes. Remove the veggies from the pot and set aside.

Lower the heat to medium-low and add the chicken to the pot, skin side down. Cover and allow the chicken to cook, undisturbed, for 30 minutes. Add the veggies back into the pot but do not move the chicken around, cover, and cook for another 30 minutes. Turn the chicken so that it’s skin-side up but make sure that it still touches the bottom of the pot, cover, and cook another 45 minutes. Turn off the heat, remove the chicken from the pot, and set aside to cool (about 15 minutes). 

After the chicken has cooled, remove and discard the skin and cartilage (or you can do what I do and just eat the skin while I shred the chicken).  Use two forks to remove the chicken from the bone and shred it.  Set aside.  The pot should have some liquid in it from the vegetables and from the chicken, so you will need to add enough to make about 1 cup of liquid.  In my case, I added about 1/2 a cup of low-sodium chicken stock.  Bring the liquid to a boil, stir in the rice, and allow the liquid to reduce until the rice becomes visible, about 3-5 minutes. Lower the heat to medium-low and stir in the shredded chicken. Place the red bell pepper strips on top of the rice, cover, and allow to cook for 25-30 minutes, or until the rice is cooked.

Buen Provecho!