I’ve been fortunate enough to travel to Costa Rica three times. The first was back in the late ’90s with my brother and a buddy.
My favorite thing about Costa Rica was the surfing. I wasn’t any good at it—and I’m pretty sure no one watching me would have confused what I was doing with actual surfing—but as the Beach Boys said, “Catch a wave and you’re sittin’ on top of the world.” I agree wholeheartedly.
My second favorite thing was arroz con pollo.
Growing up, we had a neighbor and dear family friend of my parents, Margretta, who made the most amazing fried rice. I loved it, in large part, because she put bacon in it and didn’t muck it up with green peas.
My wife is always telling me to “give peas a chance.”
Ha. No thank you.
Anyway, arroz con pollo is sort of the Central American version of fried rice—at least in my mind. Rice, chicken, vegetables, seasoning, all cooked together into something that is far better than the simplicity of the ingredients would suggest.
On my two subsequent trips to Costa Rica, I was blessed to have my kids with me, and they fell in love with it too.
So last week, while trying to find yet another way to feed the seemingly insatiable appetite for rice in our house, I decided to figure out how to make Costa Rican arroz con pollo myself.
SMASH. Home run.
The family loved it. In fact, the next morning there was an argument over who was going to get the leftovers for lunch—which is probably about as strong an endorsement as a recipe can get around here.
It’s mostly simple to make, but there are two ingredients that probably aren’t sitting on your pantry shelf: Salsa Lizano and Sazón seasoning. I had trouble finding them locally, so I ordered both from Amazon.
And before anyone asks: No, there are no peas in mine. No bell peppers either. But feel free to add them to yours.
Serves 4, with some leftovers
Chicken
* 1½ lbs bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs (or 1¼ lbs boneless thighs)
* 4 cups water
* ½ medium onion, quartered
* 2 cloves garlic
* 1 celery stalk
* 1 bay leaf
* 1 tsp kosher salt
* ½ tsp black pepper
Rice
* 3 cups cooked long-grain white rice, preferably day-old (I cooked mine in the moring and stored it in the fridge for a few hours)
Vegetables
* 1½ tbsp vegetable oil
* ½ medium onion, finely diced
* 2 cloves garlic, minced
* 1 medium carrot, julianed or match sticks
* ¼ cup frozen corn, optional
Seasonings
* Sazón seasoning with annatto, to season/color the rice mixture
* 2 tbsp Salsa Lizano
* 1½ tsp Worcestershire sauce
* ½ tsp ground cumin
* ½ tsp dried oregano
* ¼ tsp black pepper
* ¼–½ cup reserved chicken broth
* ¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro
Make the Chicken
Place the chicken, water, quartered onion, celery, garlic, bay leaf, salt and pepper in a pot. Bring to a gentle boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 35–45 minutes.
Remove the chicken and reserve the broth. Once the chicken is cool enough to handle, shred it into bite-sized pieces.
Put It Together
Heat the vegetable oil in a large skillet or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the diced onion and carrots and cook for 6–8 minutes, until softened. Add the minced garlic and cook for another minute.
Add the Sazón, cumin, oregano, Worcestershire and Salsa Lizano. Stir and cook for about 2 minutes.
Add the shredded chicken and corn, then fold in the cooked rice. Add ¼ cup of the reserved chicken broth and continue adding a little more as needed. You want the rice moist and flavorful, but not wet.
Cook over low heat for 8–10 minutes, allowing everything to come together.
Fold in the fresh cilantro just before serving. Taste and add another splash of Salsa Lizano if it needs it.
And, of course, resist any temptation to add peas.
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