First of all, I can’t resist a good chicken and rice dish, seriously. It’s one of my weaknesses. I’ll tell you what takes this recipe to a whole other level. This rice dish, are you ready for this… wait for it… has both beer and white wine! BAM!
What Is Arroz Con Pollo?
For those who don’t know what arroz con pollo means, it simply translates to rice with chicken. It’s traditionally a dish from Spain or Latin America closely related to paella.
There are different version of arroz con pollo, but this is my absolute favorite! I’m pretty sure every culture has their own version of chicken with rice. This dish is delicious, full of flavor, loaded with chicken, an assortment of veggies, plus the flavor from the beer and wine is unmatched.
How to Make Arroz Con Pollo
This really is a simple recipe to throw together! Start by heating olive oil in a large braiser. Add the chicken thighs, season with salt and pepper, and let them brown up. Don’t worry about cooking the chicken all the way through- they will be perfect after the whole dish comes out of the oven. I used bone-in chicken thighs with the skin to really bump up the flavor, but you can use any cut of chicken that you prefer!
After the chicken is done cooking, remove it from the pan. You’ll be left with extra oil from the skin and lots of delicious brown bits in the pan. Add the onion, and let it cook for a few minutes in that delicious chicken flavored oil. Then, add the peppers, garlic, the spices, remaining salt and pepper, and the tomato paste. Give everything a good stir until well combined.
Now you can deglaze the pan with the white wine. Let it cook down for a minute or so before adding the rice, bay leaves, peas, and corn. Now it’s time for a full bottle of beer (you can save yourself a few sips if you want) and the chicken broth. Stir everything together, add the chicken back to the braiser, and bake for 30 minutes. The hardest part of this recipe truly is waiting!
What Type of Beer Should I Use?
Any light mild flavored beer will work for this recipe. Your typical cheap lager will be best, as it won’t overpower the flavor of this dish. If you want to use a beer that you can taste more in this dish give an ale, pilsner, blonde, or wheat beer a try!
What Type of Wine Is Best?
For this dish I used a Chardonnay. I always use dry white wines for cooking, so the dish doesn’t become sweet. Other varieties that would be great for this recipe would be a Sauvignon Blanc or Pino Grigio.
How to Store Leftovers
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 days. You can also store it in the freezer and it could last up to 2 months.
Try These Rice and Chicken Dishes:
- Lemon Chicken Rice Bake
- Chicken Enchilada Rice Casserole
- One Pot Cheesy Chicken Broccoli Rice Casserole
- Mexican Chicken and Rice Salad
- One Pot Spanish Chicken and Rice
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Arroz Con Pollo
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 2 pound chicken thighs with skin and bone in (about 8)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt or to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper or to taste
- 1 large onion chopped
- 1 bell pepper chopped (I used 1/2 green and 1/2 red)
- 6 cloves garlic minced
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon cumin ground
- 1/2 teaspoon salt or to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper or to taste
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1/2 cup white wine I used Chardonay
- 2 cups rice long grain, uncooked
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 cup frozen peas
- 1 cup frozen corn
- 12 ounce beer (1 bottle)
- 3 cups chicken broth low sodium
- 1/4 cup cilantro chopped for garnish
Instructions
- Brown chicken: Add olive oil to a large oven safe skillet, preferably one with a cover and heat over medium heat. Season chicken thighs with salt and pepper. Place the chicken in the skillet and cook on each side just enough so that the chicken browns a bit. Remove chicken from skillet and set aside.
- Preheat oven to 375 F degrees.
- Saute veggies: Add onion to skillet and cook for a couple minutes until onion is translucent. Add bell peppers, garlic, oregano, smoked paprika, cumin, salt, pepper and tomato paste to the skillet and cook for about 5 minutes until the vegetables soften, stirring occasionally.
- Deglaze pan and add rice: Deglaze the pan with the white wine and cook for about 1 minute until most of the wine has evaporated. Add rice and bay leaves to the skillet and stir and brown the rice for about a minute.
- Add remaining ingredients: Stir in the frozen peas and corn. Add the beer, chicken broth and stir. Add the chicken back to skillet by placing it over the rice.
- Bake: Cover the skillet with a lid and transfer to the oven. Bake for 30 minutes until the rice is cooked through.
- Garnish: Garnish with cilantro or parsley and serve.
Video
Recipe Notes
- Use a long grain rice such as basmati or jasmine rice.
- Any light mild flavored beer will work for this recipe. Your typical cheap lager will be best, as it won’t over power the flavor of this dish.
- I used a Chardonnay white wine. Other varieties that would be great for this recipe would be a Sauvignon Blanc or Pino Grigio.
This was delicious!! I used medium-grain rice because I like it a lot better for arroz con pollo, but otherwise I didn’t alter anything. I’m giving it 4 stars only because it was too much for my 12″ cast iron frying pan so by the time I had it all put together and ready to go in the oven, I had to move it to a dutch oven. Otherwise, it’s really really good, just start with a REALLY big pan or else cut the recipe in half because it makes a LOT.
That’s a great tip, thanks for sharing Christine!
Hi. Do you think I can adapt to replace the rice with quinoa? What changes would you recommend?
Thanks
You won’t need to change anything- 2 cups of quinoa will work well in this recipe.
Thanks Nicole! We’ll give it a try tonight. Recently discovered quinoa as a high in protein starch stand in for rice, and we love it! G.
Hi Jo…I am not a beer lover. Don’t like the taste or smell…does it have to be in there? Can you taste it? The wine would be ok…do I just sub more broth?
You can’t taste, yeah more wine or broth should be just fine!
Can I use skinless chicken thighs?
For sure!
Could I adapt to an InstaPot?.
Yes you can! Follow the first 5 instructions all on the saute setting of your Instant Pot. Reduce the beer and chicken broth by half, so only use 6 oz of beer and 1 1/2 cups broth. Cook for 12 minutes on high pressure.
do you think i could safely 1-1/2 or double this recipe?
Yes you can, as long as you have a big enough braiser!
Hi Jo! Great site & I love this recipe – any suggestions on how to adapt it to for a slow cooker? I’m trying very hard to use mine more! Much appreciated!
Hi Angela,
I’ve never tried rice in the slow cooker yet. I think I would still brown the chicken first and then throw all the ingredients in the slow cooker, and cook it for about 3 to 4 hours on high. It’s worth a try. 🙂
I’m not always keen on Diners Drive-ins and Dives – Guy does my nut – though the food usually leaves me with drool everywhere… a bit like this dish. I just want to bury my face in it 😉
Lol, come on over, still have some left. 🙂
I’ll bring wine 😉
Deal! 🙂
Ooh ooh! Do you know what rice is in Hebrew? No of course you don’t. Silly question. Well it’s OREZ. What do you think about that then huh?
Well do you know what rice is in Romanian? It’s OREZ as well. Interesting, eh?
Oh dear. I don’t use wine in cooking as I don’t drink so I don’t buy. Is there an instead-of?
Judy, I would just use some extra chicken broth, it should be fine.
I hear about Triple D. Oh god, I can’t believe I just called it Triple D. I don’t even like Guy Fieri, but some of the food on that show looks AMAZING! This dish is exactly the kind of thing I would be drooling over on that show. I like that you used both beer and wine in it. A+ 🙂
Yeah I don’t know how I feel about Guy. He annoys me but at the same time I can’t stop watching him, it’s the food! Yes beer and wine, gotta love it. 🙂