Cooks Illustrated Arroz Con Pollo Recipe (Latino Chicken & Rice)

This Cooks Illustrated Arroz Con Pollo recipe (Latino Style Chicken and Rice) has been in my recipe binder since 2006. Over the years we’ve made this yummy dish many times, and tweaked it ever-so slightly.

As I write this, it’s 2020, and I can hardly believe I’ve been making this for my family for a whopping 14 years.

It’s fairly simple to put together; it just takes a bit of time. I’d say it takes about an hour and a half from start to finish.

We use our large Tramontina dutch oven to make this a one pot meal. Such easy clean up! It’s quite heavy though, so if you have limited arm/hand strength you might want some help placing in your oven.

This is a rich & flavorful dish that tastes authentic, without taking several hours (or days!) to prepare. As far as arroz con pollo is concerned, this recipe is an easy one.

We hope you enjoy our tweaked version of this Cooks Illustrated Arroz Con Pollo recipe as much as we do! Here’s the original Cooks Illustrated recipe, but you’ll need a subscription to access it.

Let’s get started.

Cooks Illustrated Arroz Con Pollo Recipe

We’ll begin by marinating chicken thighs, then cooking them on the stovetop with onions and green peppers.

After the chicken begins to brown, we’ll mix in some tomato sauce, chicken broth, and water, then simmer for about twenty minutes.

We’ll add rice, sliced olives with pimentos, capers, and salt, then stir well, cover, and place the pot into the oven.

Bake for about thirty minutes, stirring every ten minutes from the bottom up.

Then we’ll pull apart the chicken and add it back into the pot to serve… yum!

You might also like:

• Easy Italian Chicken Piccata With Capers
• Crockpot Red Beans & Rice 

Yield: 6

Cooks Illustrated Arroz Con Pollo Recipe (Latino Chicken & Rice)

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour

Additional Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes

This Cooks Illustrated arroz con pollo chicken and rice recipe has been in my recipe binder since 2006. We've tweaked it over the years and hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

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Ingredients

• 6 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• Salt
• 1 tablespoon white vinegar
• Ground black pepper
• 7-8 chicken thighs (with bone in and skin on, trimmed)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped fine
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped
• 1 8-oz can tomato sauce
• 1.75 cups of chicken broth
• .75 cup water
• 3 cups long grain rice
• .75 cup of sliced green manzanilla olives with pimentos
• 2 tablespoons capers

Instructions

1. Adjust oven rack to lower middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Place garlic and 1 teaspoon salt in large bowl, mix/mash with a spoon to make a paste. Add oregano, vinegar, and 1/2 teaspoon black pepper to the garlic mixture. Stir to combine. Add chicken to the bowl and coat evenly, then let sit for 15 minutes.
2. While the chicken is sitting, heat a tablespoon of oil in the dutch oven over medium heat. Add onion and green pepper. Stir occasionally and cook until softened. Push vegetables to the sides of the pot and increase the burner to medium-high. Add chicken, skin side down. Fit into the pot as best you can. When skin starts to brown (after 3-4 minutes), flip the chicken and cook an additional 3-4 minutes. Add tomato sauce, broth, and water. Stir to combine. Bring to a simmer, cover, and reduce the burner to low. Simmer for 20 minutes.
3. Add rice, olives, capers, and 3/4 teaspoon of salt. Stir well. Bring to simmer, cover, and carefully place pot in oven. After 10 minutes, remove pot and stir from the bottom up. Cover and return to oven. After another 10 minutes, do this again, but add 1/4 cup water if it seems like the rice is dry. Cover and return to oven again. Cook for another 10 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. Remove from oven.
4. Using two forks, remove chicken from the pot. Remove and discard the skin. Using your forks, pull meat off the bones in large chunks. Discard bones and add the shredded chicken back to pot. Mix well. Season with salt and pepper. Serve warm.

Notes

If using medium grain rice, decrease water to 1/4 cup (rather than 3/4 cup).

Click here to view my dutch oven.

Having trouble finding capers? Amazon has them here.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

6

Serving Size:

1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 570Total Fat: 32gSaturated Fat: 8gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 23gCholesterol: 223mgSodium: 1007mgCarbohydrates: 30gFiber: 3gSugar: 3gProtein: 44g

Estimates only.

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