If you are looking for a flavorful one pot chicken recipe that's perfect to make any night of the week, you will love this Spanish chicken stew! Inspired by Pollo Guisado, this robust chicken stew features bold spices, tender chicken and a rich tomato sauce with olives and potatoes.
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About This Recipe
Full of bold and savory flavors, this one pot Spanish chicken stew, also called pollo guisado is a popular braised chicken recipe made in Latin cuisines.
Pollo means Chicken and Guisado, or guiso, is a term for something braised, stewy, homey, and delicious.
Bone in chicken pieces are generously seasoned with warm spices, which then simmer in a flavorful tomato sauce with pimento stuffed olives and potatoes. The results is a comforting and satisfying one pot chicken meal with layers of savory flavors that's perfect to serve any night of the week!
If you are in the mood for a Great Unique Steak dinner try my Steak Marsala with Mushrooms.
Recipe Highlights
- Bold and Flavorful: The combination of sazon, paprika, and pimento-stuffed olives creates a burst of savory and aromatic flavors in every bite.
- Tender Chicken: Slow simmering ensures the chicken becomes fall-off-the-bone tender, making it incredibly delicious!
- One Pot: With the addition of potatoes, this Spanish chicken stew is a complete meal in itself and all made in one pot!
📋 Ingredients
- Chicken: Chicken drumsticks are used in this recipe for their flavor and cost effectiveness. Bone in, skin on chicken thighs would be perfect for this recipe as well!
- Potatoes: Baby potatoes are great because they cook in just about 30 minutes! If using larger potatoes such as Yukon gold, cut them in quarters or in about 1-2 inch pieces.
- Sofrito: Sofrito is often used in Latin cuisine in dishes such as sancocho or one pot chicken with black beans. The mixture is a blend of chopped bell peppers, onion and garlic and sometimes herbs such as parsley or cilantro. You can make a batch and freeze it, but for this recipe, I kept it rustic with a good vegetable dice.
- Tomato Sauce and Tomato Paste: Both of these give the Spanish chicken stew a slight sweetness and delicious tomato flavor.
- Spices: The warm spices are the star of the show in this chicken stew recipe! Sazon is a fantastic Latin spice blend that's fantastic on everything from fish tacos to chicken. You can often find Goya sazon in stores or make your own homemade sazon to keep on hand. Smoked paprika is another favorite and if you have access to Merken, grab it! Merken is a Chilean spice that tastes similar to a slightly spicy smoked paprika.
- Chicken Stock: Use a low sodium chicken stock or vegetable stock to control the amount of salt in the recipe.
- Herbs: Parsley and bay leaves are added to the chicken stew while it's simmering and cilantro would be a great addition as well.
See recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
🍋 Substitutions and Variations
- Chicken Options: Instead of chicken drumsticks, use bone in chicken thighs. You can also use chicken quarters or whole chicken breasts, but add 1 cup stock extra and increase cooking time by 10-15 minutes.
- Vegetarian/Vegan: For a meatless version, omit the chicken and use beans or vegetables, such as cauliflower florets or large chunks of zucchini. Make sure to use vegetable broth instead of chicken broth.
- No Olives?: Substitute with 2 tablespoons of capers to for that salty and briny addition!
⏲️ Instructions
Step 1: Drizzle olive oil in a wide Dutch oven over medium heat and season the chicken pieces with sazon and dried oregano. Sear the chicken until golden brown on all sides, then set aside.
Step 2: Add the chopped bell pepper and onion and sauté for 3-4 minutes so the vegetables soften slightly.
Step 3: Add chopped garlic and continue sauteing for another minute.
Step 4: Add tomato paste and smoked paprika (or merken) and stir everything together, until color deepens, for another minute.
Step 5: Pour in the tomato sauce and chicken stock and nestle the seared chicken pieces back in, with any accumulated juices.
Step 6: Scatter the baby potatoes and pimento stuffed olives around the chicken stew and nestle in fresh parsley and bay leaves.
Step 7: Bring the Spanish chicken stew up to a strong simmer and cover the Dutch oven, leaving a small opening. Continue cooking for 25-30 minutes until chicken is cooked through and tender and sauce has thickened.
📍 Recipe Tips
- Dry the Chicken: Before seasoning the chicken, use paper towels and pat the chicken dry very well. This will help the seasonings stick to the meat and achieve a golden brown sear.
- Sazon Seasoning: You can find sazon seasoning packets in most grocery stores, but you can also make your own by combining garlic powder, cumin, coriander, achiote powder, and salt. Here is my homemade sazon recipe.
- Simmering Time: Both chicken thighs and drumsticks will cook in 30 miutes, but increase the cooking time if using larger pieces of chicken such as chicken breast or chicken quarters.
Recipe FAQs
Yes, you can season the chicken ahead of time and prep the vegetables up to 3 days in advance. The entire chicken stew is great to make ahead as well.
Once the chicken stew is cooked and cooled, you can freeze it for up tp 3 months. To reheat, gently simmer the chicken stew over low-medium heat on the stove top until warmed through.
Serving Suggestions
- Serve pollo guisado with a side of white rice to sop up the delicious sauce! This turmeric rice would also be a great addition as well!
- Fried sweet plantains is always a must! The darker and riper the plantains are, the sweeter they will be.
- Not exactly traditional, but a chilled guava mojito is a great addition to the rich and savory flavors.
More One Pot Chicken Recipes
Love this recipe? Please leave a 5-star 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟rating in the recipe card below & a review in the comments section further down the page.
Spanish Chicken Stew
LittleFerraroKitchen.com
Equipment
Ingredients
Chicken Seasoning
- 2 pounds chicken drumsticks or bone in chicken thighs
- 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon Ground black pepper
- 2 teaspoons sazon
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
Chicken Stew
- ½ yellow onion diced
- 1 green bell pepper diced
- 3 garlic cloves chopped finely
- 2 teaspoons smoked paprika or Merken
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 cup tomato sauce
- 2 cups chicken stock
- 1 pound baby potatoes large ones cut in half
- 1 cup pimento stuffed olives
- 2 bay leaves
- Small bunch of parsley + more chopped, for garnish
Instructions
- Bring a wide skillet or Dutch oven over medium-high heat and drizzle with olive oil.
- Season the chicken pieces with sazon, dried oregano, salt and pepper, making sure the chicken is evenly coated all around.
- Once the oil is hot, sear the chicken on all sides until deeply golden brown, but not cooked all the way through. Then set the chicken aside.
- In the same Dutch oven, add the chopped bell pepper and onion and saute for 3-4 minutes in the seasoned oil until the vegetables just soften.
- Add the garlic and continue sauteing for another minute until fragrant.
- Add the tomato paste and smoked paprika and stir everything together, breaking up the tomato paste until the vegetables are a deep golden red color.
- Pour the tomato sauce in and chicken stock and nestle the chicken pieces into the liquid. Scatter the baby potatoes and olives around the chicken and nestle in a small bundle of fresh parsley and bay leaves.
- Bring the chicken stew to a strong simmer and cover the Dutch oven with a lid, leaving a small opening. Continue cooking for 25-30 minutes until the chicken is cooked through, the potatoes are fork tender and sauce has thickened.
- Once done, turn off the heat and let the stew sit for at least 5 minutes. Garnish with chopped parsley and serve.
Notes
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- Dry the Chicken: Before seasoning the chicken, use paper towels and pat the chicken dry very well. This will help the seasonings stick to the meat and achieve a golden brown sear.
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- Sazon Seasoning: You can find sazon seasoning packets in most grocery stores, but you can also make your own by combining garlic powder, cumin, coriander, achiote powder, and salt. Here is my homemade sazon recipe.
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- Simmering Time: Both chicken thighs and drumsticks will cook in 30 minutes, but increase the cooking time if using larger pieces of chicken such as chicken breast or chicken quarters.
emma says
Can this be made in a slow cooker?
Regards
Emma
Samantha Ferraro says
Hello Emma, The Chicken needs a Braise and a slow cooker isn't the right equipment to do that correctly. However, If you Braise the chicken in another vessel first then combine all the ingredients it could be possible to use a slow cooker. Let us know how it turns out. Here is my direct email. Ferrarokitchen@gmail.com Thanks for the great question, Samantha.
Coley says
This was phenomenal. Incredible flavors and really easy to throw together
KitchenComfort says
Just spotted this recipe from Chef Samantha yesterday, it must be new. It was so easy to make and packed with flavor. We rarely use chicken legs but it will be in our freezer from now on just for this dish. Thank You Chef Samantha!
Luv2cook says
Talk about a fantastic easy one pot dinner, this is it. We had EVERYTHING in the house to make this. (I did use some of our Pimento stuffed Martini Olives). We added some chicken thighs because we have a picky eater in the Family. Love this recipe.