Recipe: Arroz con Pollo (chicken and rice)

I love to cook. Plain and simple. I love spicy food. My family on the other hand not so much. So I love when I can find a recipe that lets me play with the heat and make everyone happy all in one meal. I figured why not share with all my fellow bloggers a quick and easy one pot meal!

Arroz con Pollo

2 tablespoons of olive oil
4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts cut into chunks
2 large bell peppers (any color or a combo of colors), sliced
1 medium onion, diced (more if you like more onion)
3 garlic cloves minced (more or less depending on your taste)
1 jalapeño pepper, diced (you can add more jalapeños or any variety/amount of Chile peppers depending on your taste preference)**
2 scallions, diced
2 cups of long grain rice
2 cups of chicken broth (or 1 cup chicken broth and 1 cup of white wine..play with it and see what you like best)
1 14 1/2 ounce can of whole tomatoes, undrained
1/2 cup of water
1/4 cup of diced olives
salt
pepper
1 lemon, juiced
favorite hot sauce

Cut chicken into bite sized pieces and season with salt, pepper, and lemon juice. Let sit and prepare rest of ingredients.***

Heat oil in a large pan. Add chicken and cook until lightly brown over medium heat, about 6-8 minutes. Remove from pan.

Add the bell peppers, jalapeño, scallions, garlics, onions to the pan. Add a pinch of salt and cook for 5 minutes. Stir in rice and cook for 1 more minute, being careful not to burn it. Add the broth, water, and tomatoes with liquid; break tomatoes with the back of a spoon. Return chicken to pan and bring to a boil.

Reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer until rice is tender, about 20 minutes (remove from heat for last 5 minutes). Stir in olives and serve with your favorite hot sauce (mine is THT Cry Baby with this recipe, but that is my opinion).

**Now for the chilies. If I was not feeding my wussy family I would play with a variety of Chile peppers. Any type of Chile pepper will work well here from jalapeños to habaneros. Whatever you can find fresh! I would play with flavors and roast some of the Chile peppers, take some seeds out, leave some seeds in; you get my point. You can even add pickled or jarred Chile peppers to bring a new level of flavor to this dish. Even a combo of fresh and canned would be fantastic!

***As for the chicken try marinating it in your favorite spicy marinade or even in your favorite hot sauce. Cut the chicken into bite sized chunks and then add to a zip lock storage bag. Pour marinade over chicken pieces and seal bag. Let marinate for at least 30 minutes. A few hours would be even better! Then follow recipe above. You will not be disappointed!

Written by Jodie

Nick Lindauer founded Hot Sauce Blog in 2004, making it one of the internet's very first hot sauce review sites. After 20+ years of tasting, reviewing, and attending every major fiery foods event in the country, he's back behind the keyboard covering the hot sauce world he helped build.

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