Want to impress your family and friends? Here's an easy but tasty Dominican pollo guisado recipe you can serve at home any day of the week. Make this braised chicken – one of the most popular dishes in Dominican cuisine – with a detailed recipe and easy-to-follow video.
By - Last reviewed . Published Apr 4, 2002
Why we ❤️ it
All over Latin America pollo guisado is a staple at mealtime. From Colombian to Puerto Rican pollo guisado they all have their fans. And we Dominicans love our own braised Dominican chicken every bit as much!
Pollo guisado is served daily in millions of Dominican homes; after all, it is one of the cornerstones of La Bandera Dominicana, the traditional Dominican lunch meal. To be exact, Res Guisada can take that place too, but chicken is more inexpensive, faster to cook, and more popular. This is a treat you cannot miss.
What's pollo guisado?
Pollo guisado is a braised chicken dish. It is made by seasoning the chicken with our traditional sazón seasoning (Dominican sofrito), browning the chicken using our burnt sugar method, then slow-cooking the chicken in our signature sauce.
Of all the ways you can cook chicken, this tender, full-of-flavor, fall-off-the-bone braised Dominican Pollo Guisado is the indisputable favorite in this country.
Serving suggestions
The most common way we serve Pollo guisado is as part of our traditional lunch meal of Arroz blanco (white rice), Dominican beans, Dominican salad, and chicken or beef. You can simplify things by cooking the rice and beans together (Moro rice).
Serving it with some Tostones and a few slices of avocado will make it even better. And if you're feeling like making something extra special Arepitas de yuca (yuca fritters) or Arepitas de maíz (cornmeal fritters) will make it an extra-special meal.
Dominican braised chicken with rice and salad
Pollo guisado ingredients
Pollo guisado is typically made from a whole chicken cut into smaller bone-in chicken pieces, but nowadays, we may just buy pre-cut chicken (drumsticks, legs, thighs, or breasts) in the supermarket.
The sauce ingredients will vary depending on the home or cook, but typically include garlic, onion, cubanelle, or bell pepper (ají gustoso if we can find it), oregano, bitter orange, or lime juice, and whatever herbs our family prefers.
Top tips
- One of the defining characteristics of Dominican pollo guisado is that it is browned by caramelizing a small amount of sugar over medium-high heat at the beginning. For this you'll need oil or fat with a high smoke temperature, so olive oil – my go-to oil – would not work well. We typically use peanut or corn oil.
- For people on keto, or low-carb diets, skip the sugar, although this is quite low in carbs as is, the sugar is only added for color.
- Braising is sometimes also known as pot roasting. In this case, the chicken has to be cooked with a minimum of liquid to prevent it from sticking to the pot and burning. It's a slow-heat process. We add small amounts of water to cook the chicken, enough to prevent it from scorching, but not enough that it would boil in the chicken broth.
- To braise the chicken, we traditionally use a lidded cast aluminum pot, similar to a dutch oven. A braising pan or cast iron pot with a lid also works great.
- We prefer bone-in pieces for this dish, but you could make a non-traditional version with chicken breast or boneless chicken thigh.
- While I prefer tomato sauce to tomato paste, this dish was also traditionally colored with aceite de bija / annatto/achiote oil.
About our recipe
Each Dominican home, further, each Dominican cook has their own version of this dish. The changes may be imperceptible to some, but each will swear by their own "best chicken recipe". As is the case for most of our recipes, mine is inspired by my own family traditions and my taste. While this may not taste exactly like your mom's or grandma's braised chicken, you'll find this one may become a new favorite. Or feel free to change it; perhaps you'll find just the thing that makes yours as good as grandma's Pollo Guisado.
Of all the ways you can cook chicken, this tender, flavorful, fall-off-the-bone Dominican Pollo Guisado is the indisputable favorite in this country.
Let me know in the comments if you have a special trick you'd like to share.
Video
Recipe
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Pollo Guisado [Recipe + Video] Dominican Chicken
Ingredients
- 2 lbs chicken, [0.9 kg], cut into small pieces
- Juice of 1 lime
- ½ teaspoon oregano (dry, ground)
- 1 small red onion, stalks cut into slices
- ½ cup chopped celery, (optional)
- 1 teaspoon salt, (more may be necessary)
- 1 tablespoon mashed garlic, (about 4 cloves garlic)
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon sugar (white, granulated)
- 2 cup water
- 2 green bell, or cubanela (cubanelle) peppers
- 4 plum tomato, cut into quarters
- ¼ cup pitted green olives, (optional)
- 1 cup tomato sauce
- 1 bunch cilantro, or parsley, or both
- ¼ teaspoon pepper (freshly-cracked, or ground)
Instructions
1. Preparing the chicken
Cut the chicken into small pieces and place it in a bowl that has a lid. Season the chicken pieces with lime juice.
2. Seasoning the chicken
Mix the chicken, oregano, onion, celery, salt, and garlic. Marinate for 30 minutes.
3. Cook
In a pot heat the oil over medium heat, add sugar, and wait until it browns.Add the chicken (reserve all the other things in the marinade for use in a later step) and cook and stir until the meat is light brown.
4. Braise
- Add 2 tablespoons of water. Cover and simmer over medium heat for 15 minutes, stirring and adding water by the tablespoon as it becomes necessary to prevent it from burning.
5. Add the vegetables
Stir in the vegetables that you had set aside from marinating the chicken, plus cubanelle pepper, tomatoes, and olives. Cover, and simmer until the vegetables are cooked through, adding water by the tablespoon and stirring as it becomes necessary.
6. Make the sauce
Add the tomato sauce and half a cup of water, and simmer over low heat to produce a light sauce. The vegetables will be very soft, the sauce is a bit thick, and the chicken fall-off-the-bone tender. Add fresh cilantro. Season with salt and black pepper to taste.
Serve per suggestions above the recipe.
7. Serve
Cook's Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information is calculated automatically based on ingredients listed. Please consult your doctor if you need precise nutrition information.
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Culture
What's with all those bits in pollo guisado dominicano?
How many times have I heard a foreigner who, between laughter and confused looks, fails to comprehend why a lot of Dominicans eat chicken feet, gizzards, giblets, and other parts of the chicken that are discarded in other countries?
The truth is that it is all a matter of culture (and, to a certain extent, the person's means); many a Dominican has to squeeze every penny out of their grocery budget. Every little bit counts, and so the whole chicken (not whole, technically) goes into the pot.
Here, from our perspective, removed from the reality of the farmer of yesteryear, or the poor of today, we're in no position to judge anyone's culinary choice. And, frankly, all those bits are tasty. But if you are amongst the blessed who can afford to pick their chicken parts, go with breasts, or thighs. That's also fine.
FAQs
Pollo guisado is a dish of tender chicken in a rich reddish-brown sauce with touches of garlic, onion, lime and oregano flavors.
Pollo guisado can be translated into English as "braised chicken" or "stewed chicken".
Pollo guisado is cooked slowly over low(ish) heat. It takes about 40 minutes, including the preparation.
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