Pollo al ajillo (Spanish garlic chicken)
A whole head’s worth of golden garlic, olive oil and a splash of white wine turn simple chicken into something you’ll want bread to mop up.
- 30 min total
- 25 min hands-on
- Follow-a-recipe easy
- Serves 2
- About $3.13 a serving
- 510 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 2 servings.
- 1 lb chicken breasts, cut into 1½-inch pieces
- 10 cloves garlic, peeled and lightly smashed
- ⅓ cup dry white wine
- ¼ cup chicken broth
- 2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped (optional)
- 4 slices French bread (optional)
From your pantry
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp black pepper
- ½ tsp smoked paprika
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 1 bay leave
- ¼ tsp red pepper flakes (optional)
Each serving has about 510 calories, 52 g protein, 7 g carbs and 26 g fat, and costs about $3.13 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 chicken broth? Vegetable broth or bone broth works.
- No fresh parsley? Cilantro works.
- No French bread? Sourdough bread works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
the chicken with the salt, pepper and smoked paprika and wash your hands and board.
Season. Seasoning means adding salt, pepper or spices to bring out a food’s flavor. A little at a few stages tastes better than a lot all at the end.
How you’ll know: When you taste it, it tastes bright and like itself, not flat and not salty.
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 over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook 3 to 4 minutes, turning, until all over, then scoop it onto 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.
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 heatTimer: 3 min 30 sec
Dolly’s tip: Golden, not brown. Brown garlic tastes bitter, so pull it a moment early.Turn the heat to medium-high, add the chicken in one layer, and it 5 to 6 minutes, turning, until on most sides.
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: 5 min 30 sec
Pour in the wine to and let it bubble 1 minute, .
Deglaze. Deglazing means pouring a splash of broth, wine or water into a hot pan to loosen the browned bits on the bottom. Those bits are full of flavor, and this turns them into the start of a sauce.
How you’ll know: It hisses and steams, and the bits lift easily when you scrape with a wooden spoon.
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.
Medium-high heatTimer: 1 min
Add the broth, bay leaf, pepper flakes and the garlic back in, and 5 minutes, until the sauce has by half and the biggest piece of chicken reads 165°F.
Simmer. Simmering means keeping a liquid just below a boil, with small bubbles rising gently. It cooks food evenly and lets a sauce thicken without scorching on the bottom.
How you’ll know: Small, lazy bubbles break the surface every second or so, and nothing is churning.
Reduce. Reducing means simmering a liquid with the lid off so some of the water steams away. The sauce gets thicker and its flavor gets stronger.
How you’ll know: The level drops in the pan, and the sauce coats the back of a spoon instead of running off.
Medium heatTimer: 5 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.
Take out the bay leaf, scatter the parsley over, and serve with bread for the garlicky oil.
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.
