Chicken chunks marinated in a tangy, tangy red chili sauce, then grilled or baked. Pollo Adobado recipe.
This is some of the best chicken I’ve ever eaten – grilled, fried, baked, you name it. Juicy, spicy, tender, lip-tasting good.
Here’s the deal, there are two ways to make this recipe. One option is to make your own red chili sauce from scratch using dried ancho and guajillo chilies, which you typically only find at a Mexican specialty market. Even our local Whole Foods doesn’t carry these dried chilies.
I made this recipe both ways. As expected, if you have access to the dried chilies and can take the time to make your own sauce base, it’s worth it for the extra intensity and depth of flavor.
The good news is that if you can’t get hold of the dried chiles or you don’t have the time, canned red chili sauce works well as a base for this sauce. Red chili enchilada sauce works too, although you may need to add some chili powder to increase the spiciness. Either way, you’ll pump the sauce up a bit with ground cloves, cinnamon, and cumin.
The sauce is slightly acidic. As with marinating chicken overnight in yogurt or buttermilk, a long marinating time in this sauce helps the chicken become surprisingly juicy and tender.
This recipe is adapted from and inspired by Diana Kennedy’s Barbacoa de Pollo in The Art of Mexican Cooking.
Grilled chicken in red chilli marinade
When we made the sauce from scratch, our chicken was quite spicy, almost like jerk chicken. With canned sauce as the base, even over medium heat, most of the heat was lost in the cooking. If you like your chicken hot and are using a canned sauce, I recommend starting with a sauce that’s rated “hot.”
ingredients
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3 pounds bone-in and skinless chicken parts, preferably thighs, trimmed of excess skin and fat
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Salt
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1 1/4 cup Mexican red chilli sauce, either homemade* or canned (if you are gluten intolerant and using canned chilli sauce, be sure to read the ingredients on the can, some manufacturers put wheat products in their sauce)
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1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
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2 tablespoons white or apple cider vinegar
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1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
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1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
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1 teaspoon of cinnamon
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1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
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A few turns on a black pepper grinder
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A pinch of dried oregano, crushed
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1 teaspoon minced garlic
- garnish
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avocado slices
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Thinly sliced lettuce or cabbage
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Thinly sliced radishes
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coriander
- * To make your own homemade sauce, take 2 ancho and 2 guajillo chilies, open them, remove the stems, seeds and ribs. On a medium griddle or cast iron skillet, lightly toast the chiles for a minute or two and flatten with a metal spatula. Place the chilies in a saucepan, cover with water, bring to the boil, remove from the heat and soak for 10-15 minutes until the chilies are soft. In a blender, combine chilies, 1 1/4 cup soaking water, 1 clove garlic, pinch of salt. Mix until completely smooth. Pass the mixture through a sieve to sift out any solids. Continue with the recipe but do not add any more garlic to the sauce.
method
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Simmer the chilli sauce and spices for the marinade:
Heat oil in a medium-sized saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the chilli sauce. Add vinegar (2 tbsp if using canned sauce, 4 tbsp if using homemade sauce), cloves, allspice, cinnamon, cumin, black pepper, oregano, and garlic.
Bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove pan from stove and let cool.
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Marinate Chicken:
Sprinkle salt over all chicken pieces on all sides. Place chicken pieces in a non-reactive bowl or large freezer bag. Add the marinade, making sure all the pieces are well coated in the marinade.
Marinate in the fridge for at least an hour, preferably overnight.
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Grill Instructions:
Remove the chicken from the refrigerator before turning on the grill. Preheat your grill and leave space on the grill to cook the chicken with indirect heat. (If using charcoal move all the charcoals to one side of the grill, if using gas turn off one of the burners after the grill is hot.)
Brush the grill grates with olive oil. Make sure that the chicken pieces are well coated on all sides with the pasty marinade.
Place the chicken pieces on the indirect heat portion of the grill (not over a flame or coals). Cover and cook for 25-30 minutes, turning the pieces after the first 15 minutes. Try to keep the temperature in the grill at around 350°F. Chicken is done when the juices run clear, the breasts are 165°F internally and the thighs are 175°F.
3a frying instructions:If you don’t feel like grilling, you can also roast the chicken pieces in the oven. Preheat oven to 350°F. Place the chicken pieces in a roasting pan, skin side up. Cook until breasts have an internal temperature of 165°F and thighs 175°F, about 45-50 minutes.
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Serve with garnish:
Serve with sliced avocado, sliced lettuce or cabbage garnished with a little vinegar and oil, sliced radishes and cilantro.
Great leftover chicken for cutting up and stuffing into tacos.
