Puerto Rican Chicken Stew! (A Healthy Meal)

Chicken Stew or Pollo Guisado!

So much flavor..

It's been a while since I last posted, but trust me I have not stopped cooking or baking I just haven't had a lot of time but, no worries, I am back! I am organizing myself much better so that I don't miss out on the things I love to do. Like sharing my recipes with you. *Smiles*

Now let's talk Chicken Stew! There are so many ways that I make this stew. I am always creating new flavors in the kitchen because I get bored very easily and why not have fun trying new things. Chicken stew is very popular in P.R and in the Spanish culture in general. It is delicious and you can make it with anything you like. (I will give you ideas and of course you will have your own as well) Threw out the week I really like to change things up so I go from splurging to very healthy meals. If I cook rice today then I will do mash tomorrow, salad the day after and so on. If I fried today then tomorrow I will bake etc. 

When it comes to Chicken stew you can use the whole cut up chicken or just the pieces you have or like. In this case I had some thighs and wasn't sure how I was going to make them because *whispers* they are not my favorite ~sigh~ but hey I had already bought them and I thought what better way of enjoying them then on a stew? Yum! 

Here is what I used...

6-8 Chicken Thighs

Sofrito (My recipe to one of the types of sofrito I make is on this page)

Olive oil or the oil you like to use (since I am doing a healthier version I used Olive oil)

Red Pepper (1)

2 sazon

1 Medium Onion

1 Recaito

1 Small Sweet Orange (My secret twist)

Garlic paste or 2 cloves

Adobo

Jamon (cooking ham cut in small pieces) 

Aceitunas (Olives with out the pit) I use stuffed Olives.

2 cups of water (If you are using a whole chicken you might need 3 cups of water) Use enough water that ALMOST covers the meat but doesn't drown it.

Meat Seasoning:

I season the meat with.. 

1 tsp of sofrito

1 tsp of garlic

Adobo or salt and pepper

1 sazon

Cooking:

Turn on pan on low heat

Once oil if warm add a little  bit of Olive Oil or the oil you have

2 tbs of Sofrito

1 tbs of Garlic paste or 2 cloves (minced)

Jamon / Cooked ham cut into small pieces

Add your seasoned chicken and let it absorb some of the flavor on low heat

turn chicken after 2 or 3 minutes 

Squeeze the juice of one SWEET orange

(this will tenderize your chicken and not only that it will add great flavor to it) If the orange is sour do NOT add.

Add olives (About a spoon full or 2)

Add Onions in rounds or diced

Add red Peppers in rounds or diced

Add 2 cups of water (according to how much meat you are making)

Add half a can of Goya Tomato Sauce

Recaito diced or in pieces (the amount of flavor in these leaves is heaven sent lol) I use them alot!

Some people add potato's and you can but I didn't in this particular stew. Like I mentioned above,this is just ONE way I make this stew there are many ways.

Turn to medium heat 

This is how my pan looked 

Don't worry about it looking a lot. It will all begin to shrink as it cooks and all those flavor will infuse in the chicken. So delicious!! 

Side:

While that cooks. You have to create your side. I wanted it to fill us up but I wanted it to be healthy so I made a great salad and I used Sweet Plantains!!!

Usually we would fry them because they taste so delicious fried, let's say the truth lol but I refrained and what I actually did was BOIL them until they were tender. 

I hate anything boiled trust me, I think it's boring lol or so I thought. *wink* 

After your meat if fully cooked, the stew will turn into a delicious sauce! This sauce is what I used to POUR over my BOILED sweet plantains. Infusing all it's flavor in the plantains. Making me not miss frying them at all. By all means if you want to fry them go right ahead it is just as delicious just not so healthy.

You can also make your side anything you'd like:

White Rice

Yellow Rice

Rice with beans

Asparagus

Mash

Vegetables

Yuca

Tostones

Guineitos

Mangu

Etc.

Once everything is done and you serve don't forget to place some of your stew over your sweet plantains.

This is my version...

Enjoy! Please share your experience with these recipes on our FB page or right here on the bottom comments. Thanks for your support!