Arroz con pollo
Golden rice, tender chicken, peppers and peas all cooked together in one pot with garlic, cumin and a little tomato, Latin comfort food at its best.
- 55 min total
- 25 min hands-on
- Follow-a-recipe easy
- Serves 4
- About $2.43 a serving
- 560 calories
- Good the next day
- Dairy-free
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 1¼ lb chicken breasts, cut into 1½-inch pieces
- 1 yellow onion, diced
- 1 green bell pepper, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1½ cups long-grain white rice, rinsed
- 1 can tomato sauce
- 2 chicken bouillon cubes
- 1 cup frozen peas
- 2 tbsp cilantro, chopped (optional)
- ¼ cup Kalamata olives (optional)
From your pantry
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp salt, divided
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- ½ tsp ground turmeric
- 2 cups water
Each serving has about 560 calories, 41 g protein, 71 g carbs and 12 g fat, and costs about $2.43 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No chicken breasts? Boneless chicken thighs or chicken tenderloins work.
- No yellow onions? White onions or red onions work.
- No green bell peppers? Red bell peppers or yellow bell peppers work.
- No long-grain white rice? Jasmine rice or basmati rice works.
- No tomato sauce? Crushed tomatoes work.
- No frozen peas? Frozen mixed vegetables work.
- No cilantro? Fresh parsley works.
- No Kalamata olives? Black olives work.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
the chicken with the cumin, oregano and ½ teaspoon of salt, and wash your hands and board.
Toss. Tossing means gently lifting and turning food so everything gets coated, like pasta in sauce or vegetables in oil. It coats every piece evenly without mashing anything.
How you’ll know: Every piece looks glossy or evenly coated, with no dry spots hiding underneath.
Food safety: Wash your hands, the board and the knife with hot soapy water after touching raw meat, and don’t rinse raw chicken in the sink.
Heat the oil in a large pot or deep with a lid over medium-high and the chicken 4 to 5 minutes, until on most sides. Move it to a plate.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Brown. Browning means cooking until the outside turns brown, which is where a lot of savory flavor comes from. Give food room and time without stirring, or it steams and stays gray.
How you’ll know: The food looks brown rather than gray, and the kitchen smells toasty and savory.
Golden brown. Golden brown is the color of good toast, somewhere between yellow and light brown. It means the outside is cooked and crisp but not burnt.
How you’ll know: It looks like toast and smells toasty; dark brown with a bitter smell means it went too far.
Medium-high heatTimer: 4 min 30 sec
Dolly’s tip: It won’t be cooked through yet. It finishes in the rice.Turn the heat to medium and cook the onion and pepper 5 minutes, until .
Softened. For vegetables it means cooked until they bend and lose their crunch; for butter, left out until it dents easily. Soft onions taste sweet, and soft butter mixes in smoothly.
How you’ll know: Onions squash easily against the pan with your spoon, and butter dents under a finger without looking greasy.
Medium heatTimer: 5 min
Add the garlic, turmeric and rice and 2 minutes, until the rice is shiny and a little toasted.
Stir. Stirring means moving food around with a spoon or spatula so it cooks evenly and doesn’t stick. Unless the recipe says constantly, every so often is plenty, and it gives food time to brown.
How you’ll know: When you drag the spoon across the bottom, nothing is sticking or scorching.
Medium heatTimer: 2 min
in the tomato sauce, water, bouillon and the rest of the salt, , and bring it .
Stir. Stirring means moving food around with a spoon or spatula so it cooks evenly and doesn’t stick. Unless the recipe says constantly, every so often is plenty, and it gives food time to brown.
How you’ll know: When you drag the spoon across the bottom, nothing is sticking or scorching.
Scrape up the browned bits. It means loosening the brown bits stuck to the pan with a wooden spoon, usually right after adding liquid. Those bits are concentrated flavor, and they melt into the sauce.
How you’ll know: The bottom of the pan looks clean again, and the liquid turns darker and richer.
Bring to a boil. It means heating a liquid on high until it’s fully boiling before you move on. A lid on the pot gets it there faster, which makes it a good moment to chop something.
How you’ll know: Big bubbles break all over the surface, and they keep coming when you lift the lid.
High heat
Nestle the chicken into the rice, cover, turn the heat to low, and cook 20 minutes, until the rice is tender and the chicken reads 165°F.
Low heatTimer: 20 min
Food safety: Chicken and turkey are done at 165°F in the thickest part. A thermometer is the only sure check. Without one, cut into the thickest piece: it should be white all the way through, with no pink.
Scatter the peas over the top, cover, and let it sit off the heat for 5 minutes.
Timer: 5 min
Fluff everything together and top with cilantro and olives.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
More dinners like this
Chicken bulgogi
45 min
Instant Pot Greek lemon chicken and rice
40 min
Chicken jollof rice
60 min
Chicken noodle soup
60 min
One-pan dinners ›High-protein dinners ›What to make with chicken and rice ›What to make with rice and bell peppers ›What to make with canned tomatoes and bell peppers ›