Arroz Con Pollo (Puerto Rican Chicken & Rice)

Puerto Rican Arroz con Pollo is classic Latin comfort food. With easy, one-pot prep, this simple chicken and rice recipe makes a delicious, well-balanced meal the whole family will love. Ready to serve in about an hour.

Jump to:

• What is Arroz con Pollo?
• Arroz con Pollo Ingredients
• How to Make Puerto Rican Chicken & Rice
• Substitutions
• Variations
• Equipment
• Top Tip: Stovetop Prep
• FAQ
• More Cozy Chicken Recipes
• What to Serve with Arroz con Pollo
• Arroz Con Pollo (Puerto Rican Chicken & Rice)

What is Arroz con Pollo?

Arroz con Pollo is classic comfort food in Latin cuisine; made with white rice, chicken, vegetables, and savory adobo seasoning. There are many variations, depending on the region; and like homemade spaghetti sauce, every family has their own recipe.

Our Arroz con Pollo recipe honors the traditions of Puerto Rico, and includes a Puerto Rican-style adobo seasoning and sofrito as its foundation for flavor.

One-pot prep makes this dish very easy to make. It's a well-balanced, complete meal that the whole family will love.

Arroz con Pollo Ingredients

• Chicken: Chicken thighs work best for this dish, based on cooking time. Remove the skin from bone-in thighs for the best outcome. You can also use chicken tenders, bone-in chicken legs, or even chicken breasts if they are cut up in smaller pieces.
• Chicken broth: Use a good quality canned or boxed chicken broth. You can also use homemade chicken stock; however, if it is very hearty, you will want to water it down a little.
• Peppers: Y'all know I don't like green peppers, so I always use red, yellow, or orange peppers. Use the sweet peppers you like best!
• Adobo: Making this savory seasoning mix at home is easy, but if you don't have all the spices on hand, you can use a store-bought adobo seasoning instead.
• Onions: Use any kind of onion. (We prefer using yellow onions.)
• Canned tomato sauce: We usually use a sauce with some garlic and onions, but plain tomato sauce works fine.
• Corn: Like green peppers, I do not love cooked peas. (They taste bitter to me.) So I sub in corn in almost every recipe that calls for them. If you love peas, go ahead and use them; or use a combination of both.
• Cilantro: Cilantro brightens the flavor after cooking, and is a delicious addition and an eye-catching garnish. However, if you plan to serve this dish to company (especially folks you don't know well) leave the cilantro off and serve it on the side instead. Some people have a genetic variation in a group of olfactory-receptor genes that make cilantro taste like soap to them. The Arroz con Pollo will taste fabulous even without the cilantro.
• Chili flakes
• Bay leaves

Adobo can refer to a seasoning mix, sauce, or entire dish. In this case, we are using an all-in-one spice blend common to Puerto Rican cooking.

If you want to skip making the adobo, you can use a store-bought adobo seasoning instead.

How to Make Puerto Rican Chicken & Rice

Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C).

Prep Chicken

Combine adobo seasoning mix ingredients in a small bowl: paprika, cumin, turmeric, coriander, chili powder, garlic powder, pepper, and salt.

Cut two or three shallow slits across the top of each chicken thigh. Sprinkle one tablespoon of the seasoning mix over the chicken thighs and dry rub onto front and back of each one.

Reserve the remaining seasoning mix for later.

Heat vegetable oil in a heavy skillet over medium-high heat until oil glistens.

Add dry-rubbed chicken pieces to skillet "good side" down and brown for 4-5 minutes. Turn the chicken thighs over and brown on the other side for 4-5 minutes. Use tongs to remove chicken from skillet and set aside.

Sofrito & Rice

There should be ample seasoned oil left in the bottom of the pan for the next step; however, if there is not enough oil to cover the bottom of the pan, add another tablespoon.

To the same skillet, add the chopped onion, peppers, and corn, and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally; until the onions are translucent. (If you are using peas instead of corn, do not add them at this time. Add them with the tomato sauce.)

While the vegetables are cooking, rinse the rice in a sieve under cold water until the water runs clear. Shake out as much water as you can from the rice. (Do not rinse the rice too early or it may get mushy when it is cooked.)

Add the rinsed rice and chopped garlic to the sautéed vegetables, and sauté for 3-4 minutes, stirring frequently.

Add remaining seasoning mixture and the chili flakes to the vegetable and rice mixture, and stir to combine.

Cook the spices for just a few seconds, and then add the chicken broth and tomato sauce stir to combine. Remove skillet from heat.

Add the browned chicken thighs on top of the rice mixture. Add the bay leaves.

Bake & Serve

Cover the skillet and place in preheated oven. Bake at 350°F | 177°C for 30 minutes.

Remove Arroz con Pollo from the oven.

When you take the chicken out of the oven, the internal temperature at the thickest part of the thigh should be at least 165°F | 74°C.

Remove the skillet cover and sprinkle a handful of cilantro on top. Replace the cover and allow the chicken and rice to set for 10 minutes or more before serving.

Garnish with additional fresh cilantro and serve warm.

Substitutions

Chicken broth: Don't have any chicken broth? Sub in an equal amount of water and three teaspoons of Better than Bouillon or three bouillon cubes. (In this case, dissolve the bouillon in hot water before adding to the mixture.)

Variations

This Arroz con Pollo recipe is very mild. If you want to spice it up a bit, add a chopped jalapeño or two when you add the chopped peppers.

Equipment

You can make Arroz con Pollo in any heavy, oven-safe covered skillet. We always make this dish - start to finish - in our 3.6-quart covered cast iron casserole. (A "casserole" is simply a skillet with loop handles on both sides.) Our cast iron casserole pan is my favorite kitchen purchase of the last few years. It goes easily from stovetop to oven to tabletop for serving, and I use it almost every day. (I love this pan so much that I ended up giving one to each of my daughters.)

If you are looking to invest in a versatile, functional, beautiful pan to add to your kitchen, you can't beat a good-quality enameled cast iron skillet/braiser/casserole. Le Crueset, the French cookware company, is known as height of craftsmanship and style when it comes to enameled cast iron; however, we've found the Lodge casserole to be a well-made, reasonably priced, dependable alternative.

Top Tip: Stovetop Prep

We prefer to finish this recipe in the oven so we don't have to babysit it; it can easily burn on the bottom if the heat is even a little too high. However, you can successfully cook it - start to finish - on the stovetop.

To cook on the stovetop, simmer over medium heat until most of the liquid has evaporated. Then cover and reduce the heat to low, and cook for 15-20 minutes, or until rice is tender. Check occasionally to make sure that it isn't cooking too quickly.

FAQ

More Cozy Chicken Recipes

What to Serve with Arroz con Pollo

Arroz con pollo is a warm, hearty, comforting dish that is a complete meal in itself. We enjoy it with slice of lime and some fresh fruit, or a simple mango-avocado salad on the side. For a heartier meal, you can add a big green salad with cilantro-lime dressing, corn on the cob, black beans, and homemade tortillas.

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Originally published June 10, 2015. This post has been updated with new content, images, and recipe instructions.