With such a heavy Latin culture in Miami/Florida area buying the ingredients for making a great Arroz con pollo is pretty easy. Although making the dish does require a bit of prep and standing for quite a bit over the stove. This one is definitely a labor of love! Arroz con Pollo resembles the Spanish Paella but I don’t use Saffron in mine. My family loves this dish and if I make it on a Sunday we can usually enjoy it for a few days.

Ingredients

• 9 pieces of chicken leg/thigh/wing
• 3 Goya seasoning packets con Azafran (picture below)
• 1 cup Sour Orange/mojo marinade
• 1 tbs Complete seasoning
• 1 tbs Onion powder
• 1 tbs Garlic powder
• Black pepper to taste
• onion diced
• 5 Garlic cloves diced
• 4 stalks green onion
• 1 Tin diced tomatoes
• 1/4 tin Mexican corn
• 1 chicken bullion cube
• 1 vegetable bullion cube
• 3 stalks of celery – diced
• 1/4 cup carrot sticks
• 1/4 cup frozen peas
• 3 small sweet peppers (red,yellow,orange) diced
• 1/4 cup cut up asparagus
• 3 cups of rice
• 4 cups of water

• Method

• Start by marinating the chicken for at least 30 to 60 minutes with the following ingredients. The bitter orange marinade, 2 packs of sazon packets, complete seasoning, half of the diced onion, half of the diced garlic, onion powder, garlic powder and black pepper.
• 
• 
• While the chicken is marinating cut up the other vegetables that are going to be used for the main dish.
• 
• Boil the 4 cups of water, then combine in a bowl one chicken bouillon cube, one vegetable bouillon cube, one pack of the sazon packet, and the tin of canned diced tomatoes. This will be your braising stock for the rice.
• 
• Once the chicken has marinated the first step is to brown it in a pan deep enough that you can also bake in the oven. Add 1 to 2 tablespoons of olive oil into the pan and start by browning the chicken on med high heat until it is golden brown. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
• 
• Once the chicken has brown remove it from the pan. Sauté the onions, garlic, green onion, and thyme in the oil that the chicken was browning in. Add the celery, sweet pepper, sliced carrots, and corn into the onion mixture that have been cooking. After the vegetables have sweated then add 3 cups of rice into the mixture and combine with all the vegetables in the pot.
• 
• Begin adding the bouillon mixture into the pot with a ladle and stir continuously. Once the liquid has absorbed add another ladle. Repeat this for about four times. The method is almost like making a risotto. Once the liquid is about half finished and the rice is starting to get soft add the peas and asparagus to the mixture.
• Put the chicken into the pot making sure that it is going underneath the rice so that all of the chicken is covered by the rice and liquid mixture. once you have completed that pour the rest of the liquid into the pot and stir making sure that the chicken is covered by the mixture. Place the covered pot in the oven for 35-45 minutes. Once 35 minutes are up check to make sure that there’s still no extra liquid in the pot if there is and it seems too wet simply uncover the pot, turn off the stove and let it rest in the oven until all the liquid dries out. Enjoy! Chicken is under there I promise.
•