Dominican Braised Chicken or Pollo Guisado is a simple and easy meat dish that is filled with flavor and is one of the most popular dishes in Dominican cooking.
If you are Dominican, whether in the island or abroad, you have been fed pollo guisado practically your entire life. This dish is one of the easiest and most popular dishes in Dominican cooking. What’s even better is that it doesn’t call for many ingredients, which makes this a great weeknight dinner option for the family.
What is Braised Chicken?
Braised chicken is a meat dish made with chicken that is cooked using a cooking technique called braising, which involves lightly frying and then stewing the meat low and slow in a closed container. The result when cooking meat using this technique is a delicious super tender chicken that practically falls off the bone.
How to Make Braised Chicken?
To make this Dominican braised chicken (pollo guisado), I season the chicken with adobo, ground black pepper, oregano (Dominican oregano is best), sazón, lime and about two tablespoons of sofrito.
Then, I heat up some vegetable oil in a large saute pan. Make sure to use a pan with a lid because you are going to cover it later. Sprinkle a little bit of brown sugar in the pan and let the sugar brown slightly. When the sugar starts to turn brown, carefully, add the chicken. Saute the chicken until the meat is light brown.
Add ¼ cup of water. Cover and simmer over medium heat for 15 minutes, stirring and adding a bit of water as it becomes necessary. Then add onion, and bell pepper, cover and simmer until the vegetables are slightly cooked through. Finally, add the tomato sauce and half a cup of water, simmer over low heat to produce a light sauce. Add fresh cilantro and serve with white rice, beans stew, and maduros.
Enjoy!
If you liked this Dominican braised chicken (pollo guisado), you'll love these recipes:
- Black Beans and Rice
- Beef Picadillo
- Slow Cooker Shredded Beef (Ropa Vieja)
- Dominican Chimichurri Burger
- Black Beans Stew
- Rice with Beans (Moro de Habichuelas)
INGREDIENTS
- 2 pounds chicken (legs and thighs)
- ¾ teaspoon adobo
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- 1 pack sazón
- 1 tablespoon lime juice, freshly squeezed
- 2 tablespoons sofrito
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon brown sugar
- 1 cup of water
- 1 small red onion, chopped into fine strips
- ½ green bell pepper, cut into thin slices
- ½ red bell pepper, cut into thin slices
- ½ cup tomato sauce
- 1 tablespoon cilantro, roughly chopped
INSTRUCTIONS
- Season the chicken with adobo, ground black pepper, oregano, sazón, lime juice and about two tablespoons of sofrito.
- Heat up vegetable oil in a large saute pan. Make sure to use a pan with a lid because you are going to cover it later.
- Sprinkle brown sugar in the pan and let the sugar brown slightly. When the sugar starts to turn brown, carefully, add the chicken. Saute the chicken until the meat is light brown.
- Add ¼ cup of water. Cover and simmer over medium heat for 15 minutes, stirring and adding a bit of water as it becomes necessary.
- Add onion, and pepper, cover and simmer until the vegetables are slightly cooked through.
- Then, add the tomato sauce and half a cup of water, simmer over low heat to produce a light sauce. Add fresh cilantro.
- Serve with a side of white rice, beans stew and maduros.
Nutrition
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Goomer
My son in law is from the DR and he made this for me then gave me this recipe. He put rice in the chicken while it cooked. What is your advice on doing that, just add equal parts rice and water? This is a great recipe, so delicious.
Vanessa
Thank you! Yes, add equal parts of water and rice and it will cook together. It sounds like he made locrio.
Amanda
Do you use skinless chicken for this?
Vanessa
Yes.
Pina
If I wanted to add potatoes, at what step should I and how much water should I add 🙁
Vanessa
You can add the potatoes 15-10 minutes prior to the chicken being cooked. Specific timing will depend on the size you cut the potatoes. However, you can also cook them separately. We recommend you add 1/2 cup of water at a time until the chicken is fully cooked and tender.
Angela
Made this tonight and it was awesome! My husband and son loved it.. Im always looking for Spanish foods, Husband is Colombian so I like to make them for him.. Thank you so much for sharing..
Vanessa
No problem! Glad you enjoyed the recipe 🙂
Celia
Delicious!
Maria
delicious!
Lauren L.
SO delicious! We cooked this recipe tonight and it came together really easily since we had made a big batch of your sofrito recipe + some grilled peppers and onions a few days ago. With beans and maduros, too, it was an amazing meal!
Vanessa
Thanks for sharing! So happy you enjoyed the recipe. 🙂
KIM
Can you please let me know the recipe for the beans in the picture with the chicken.
Vanessa
Hi Kim, you can use my recipe for black beans stew. Instead of using black beans use Pinto or Roman beans. https://mydominicankitchen.com/black-beans-stew/ I hope that is helpful.
Brenda Rivera
This is an amazing recipe! Thank you!
Vanessa
I'm so glad you like it, Brenda! Thank you.
Denise Quinones
Can you make this in a slow cooker?
Vanessa
Hi Denise,
You can but you'll need to skip the step with the sugar and this will affect taste and color. I recommend you try it in the stovetop first and then venture to into trying it in the slow cooker.
Liz
I loved this recipe. Super delicious , used tomato paste instead of sauce.
Michelle
I had no idea what this was supposed to taste like. I decided to make it for my Dominican friends birthday- it smells and tastes amazing !
I hope she likes it too;)
Vanessa
That is so awesome! I'm glad you enjoy the recipe. Hope your friends liked it too. 🙂
ALe
My mom is going to love this recipe!
Silvia Martinez
This is so easy and delicious! Definitely a dish my kids would eat.
Kate
This looks so good. I've never had Dominican chicken before. I'm totally making this ASAP!
Enriqueta E Lemoine
I'm not a chicken gal but my son Andy will love this!