
What is Arroz Amarillo Con Pollo?
Arroz con Pollo is rice with chicken in Spanish. My Cuban mother-in-law always called it arroz amarillo con pollo which translates to yellow rice with chicken. Either way, it is like Cuba’s version of paella.
Arroz amarillo con pollo is a one-pot dish that consists of rice, chicken, and sofrito, along with peas and peppers. Paella gets its yellow color from saffron, arroz con pollo gets it from bijol. The addition of beer is another difference between paella and arroz amarillo con pollo.
I have seen many variations of what kind of chicken (pollo) is used. I am going to show you the most traditional way of using a whole cut-up chicken minus the back and wings. Of course, you could just use the thighs or just the breasts. You could even use boneless skinless chicken thighs or boneless skinless breasts too.
However, another lesson that I have learned from my mother-in-law is that “the flavor is in the bone.”
After trial and error, I have also learned that some varieties of rice are better than others. I always have jasmine rice in the pantry. There will always be jasmine rice in the rice cooker every night to go with whatever beans are being made.
But, just because I always have jasmine rice ready to be used does not mean it is the best rice for arroz amarillo con pollo. A better choice of rice is rice that is suitable for paella. Spanish bomba or Calasparra rice are the better choices. Why? These kinds of rice absorb liquid without getting mushy, which is exactly what happens when using jasmine rice. I chose the bomba rice pictured below and I was not disappointed!
Sharing is fun…..below is a Pinterest friendly photo!