Hola Mi Gente,
Our recipe today is one that I’ve been working on early in this year! For those of you outside of Latine/x/o/a cultures, you might not be familiar with this bright, flavorful chicken. It’s cooked a lot both in Guatemala and Mexico and is basically a chicken that is marinated and cooked in a rich sauce full of spices, chilies, and most importantly–sabor. Now don’t run away from me if you think spiciness is a factor here, because it’s not! This sauce drips in acidity, rich umami flavor, and a tad bit of smokiness, but it is NOT spicy.
There’s this misconception that cooking with chiles = spiciness. Guajillo peppers (our base in the adobo) are sweet and smoky. Think of chipotle, but less vinegary and not spicy. Traditionally this chicken is grilled over a wood fire, and listen to me when I tell you that if I didn’t have a fifth floor balcony, that’s how I’d always want to make it, too. I’ve adapted the recipe here for it to be roasted in the oven on piles of onion, which will absorb all the juice and sabor of the chicken and adobo sauce coming together. In order to get the most crisp factor, we’re going to spatchcock the chicken (remove the backbone) so that all the skin is facing up as it cooks. This also helps the chicken cook a little more evenly than a traditional roasted chicken, where the thighs and drumsticks are ready long before the breast meat.
If you have access to a wood fired grill (or just a grill), you can make this recipe either directly on the grates, or with a rotisserie attachment. You’ll just want to sear your chicken on high heat on the grates (skin side down) until you get good sear marks and the chicken naturally releases from the grates, and then cook over medium indirect heat for about 40 minutes to an hour–until your chicken hits 160F in the thickest part of the breast.
Otherwise, this oven version is honestly STILL super flavorful and texturally gorgeous for the long winter months or to those without access to a grill. Just make sure to follow the steps outlined below, because I’ve been testing this out over a few weeks to get the best results for you! When I write recipes, I’m doing my best to capture all the techniques and steps I find the most useful, and try to be as descriptive as possible in the process so that you can replicate (and hopefully learn some along the way!) this at home.
When you’re ready to eat, serve it up with some fresh tortillas, a few salsas ( you can use your leftover adobo sauce as a salsa!), lime and salt. You can add more things as you like, but truly, this chicken is so delicious that it really doesn’t need a whole lot to distract from the sabor. I am not kidding when I say that Ben and I could eat this chicken straight off the platter, because it’s simply the BEST.
A few notes on ingredients:
-Achiote Paste can be a little hard to find if you don’t have a lot of Latin American grocery stores around you. Achiote is a bright seed used in a lot of traditional Caribbean + Latin American cooking. It has a tangy peppery flavor to it. If you don’t have access to well-stocked Latin American grocery store, you can definitely find it online.
-Guajillo Peppers again, are not spicy. We’re only removing the seeds here because they can be hard to digest and lend a bitter flavor. If your peppers are super dry, slightly dry roast them on a pan. They will puff up and the skin will soften enough for you to remove the stem and seeds.
I hope you enjoy all of the sabor in this chicken!
Love, love, love,
Pollo Adobado
Equipment
- Blender
- Sheetpan
- Small Sauce Pot
- Brush
- Kitchen Shears
Ingredients
Adobo Sauce
- 2 Dried Guajillo Peppers Seeds and stem removed
- 1 Large Onion Quartered
- 4 Cloves Garlic
- 2 Bay Leaves
- 1 Tbsp Cumin
- 1 Tsp Dried Oregano
- 1.5 TBSP Coarse Kosher Salt Plus more to taste
- 2 Limes Juiced
- 1 Tbsp Achiote Paste See notes below
- 1 C Water
Chicken
- 1 Whole Chicken Spatchcocked (back bone removed)
- 2 Red Onions Sliced
Adobo Baste
- 1 Tbsp Adobo Sauce
- 1 Tbsp Coarse Kosher Salt
- 3 Tbsp Avocado Oil Or other high heat oil like grapeseed or canola
Instructions
Adobo Sauce (can be made up to a day in advance)
- Add all your ingredients except for the lime juice to a small sauce pot and bring to a boil for 5 minutes. Turn off heat and cover to steam for another 5 minutes. Add the contents (removing the bay leaves) to a blender and blend until smooth. Add in the lime juice and adjust the salt to your liking. Allow to cool and set aside. If making the marinade ahead of time store in the fridge in an air tight container.
Marinating
- After you have spatchcocked your chicken (removing the backbone with kitchen shears), place it on a baking sheetpan and pat it completely dry. Begin spooning on the marinade. Spoon marinade under the chicken, and under the skin as able. You want your chicken to be mostly covered in the marinade, while reserving some for dipping and basting. Once your chicken is covered in the adobo sauce, cover and marinate in the fridge for at least 3 hours, and up to 6. Because this is a very acidic marinade, it will take less time to tenderize the meat. You still want to give the sauce at least the three hours to penetrade flavor, as a whole chicken is a big cut of meat.
Basting + Roasting
- Preheat oven to 450F, at the same time, take the chicken out of the fridge so it can come closer to room temperature before cooking (this gives you a more even cook). Slice your red onions and add to the sheetpan with the chicken, arranging all the way around the bird. Using a pastry or bbq brush, brush excess marinade off the chicken and onto the onions. I know this seems counter-intuitive. We marinate so that flavor can penetrate the bird, so the flavor is there. If we have too much of it while it cooks though, the skin won't crisp up.
- In a small bowl combine all the basting ingredients and brush onto the chicken right before roasting. This is the last little infusion of flavor we're adding to the chicken before it cooks. Once you've covered the chicken in the oil basting mixture, place the sheetpan in the oven. Roast for about 40-50 minutes, checking the chicken at the 35 minute mark to make sure it isn't browning too quickly. If char is developing, reduce the heat to 435, and finish cooking at that temperature until a meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the breast reads at least 160F. Rest for 10 minutes, carve, and enjoy!
Mary-Beth Johnson
Mary-Beth is a creative, food-obsessed, Georgia transplant living Chicago. She is proudly and fiercely Latina, and more specifically Chapina. In her day to day she is a food educator to students around Chicagoland aged 3 to 80+, both virtually and in-person. She is passionate about cultivating the truth that every person has an understanding of food that deserves being brought to the table, and that time in the kitchen can be sacred, passionate, and an act of love for self and others. Outside the kitchen you can find her at the intersections of infertility, chronic illness, and a deep love for the dignity of all humans. She hopes to create a space that is holistic about the role of food in the social, political, relational, and physiological dynamics of our world.
