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Classic Arroz Con Pollo

A Spanish chicken and rice dish with tomatoes, peppers, peas, and saffron or turmeric.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 17 ingredients
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Why it works: Onion and garlic match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 29,058 recipes. Both carry furaneol, which smells caramel, strawberry. The science ↓

Classic Arroz Con Pollo

Ingredients

Directions

Brown the chicken

  1. Heat oil in large Dutch oven over medium-high heat until hot.

  2. Add chicken; cook 10 minutes or until brown, turning occasionally.

  3. Remove chicken; keep warm.

Make the rice base

  1. Add rice, onion, red pepper, green pepper, garlic, 3/4 teaspoon salt and basil to pan; cook and stir 5 minutes or until vegetables are tender and rice is browned.

  2. Add broth, lime juice, saffron and bay leaf.

  3. Bring to a boil; stir in tomatoes.

Simmer and serve

  1. Arrange chicken on top and sprinkle with remaining 3/4 teaspoon salt and black pepper.

  2. Cover; reduce heat to low.

  3. Cook 20 minutes more.

  4. Stir in peas; cover and cook 10 minutes more or until fork can be inserted into chicken with ease and juices run clear, not pink.

  5. Remove bay leaf.

  6. Garnish with basil.

  7. Serve immediately.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

682Calories
44 gProtein
19 gFat
85 gCarbs

Counts 14 of 15 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 14 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Rice1 cup cooked (158g) white206
Chicken100g cooked165
Olive Oil1 tbsp (14g)119
Pea1/2 cup (72g)62
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Bell Pepper1 medium (119g)31
Tomato1 medium (123g)22
Limejuice of 1 lime (44ml)11
Turmeric1 tsp ground (3g)9
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Bay Leaf1 leaf (0.6g)2
Basil5 leaves fresh (2.5g)1
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Saffronnot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Onion + garlictop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together29,058 recipes

    Shared aroma: furaneol (caramel, strawberry).

  2. Olive + garlictop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together25,665 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  3. Olive + basiltop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,063 recipes

    Shared aroma: 3-hexenal (apple, fruity).

  4. Garlic + basiltop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,805 recipes

    Shared aroma: linalool (floral, citrus).

  5. Pepper + basiltop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,294 recipes

    Shared aroma: methyl cinnamate (strawberry).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Chicken
Browning in the hot oil adds colour and flavour, then it finishes cooking gently in the rice.
Uncooked rice
Absorbs the broth as it cooks, becoming the tender base of the dish.
Chicken broth
Provides the liquid that the rice absorbs, carrying salt and savoury flavour throughout.
Tomatoes
Add acidity, moisture and a rounded sweetness to the liquid.
Onion
Softens and sweetens as it cooks, building the flavour base.
Saffron or turmeric
Gives the rice its yellow colour and a distinctive aroma.

The step that matters

Cooking the rice and chicken through without drying out. Rice needs the right ratio of liquid and a covered, gentle simmer to cook evenly. Keeping the lid on and the heat low holds in steam, so the grains become tender while the chicken cooks through, with juices running clear.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (olive, chicken, rice, onion, pepper, garlic, basil):

  1. Thymefits better
  2. Oreganofits better
  3. Cuminfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against olive, chicken, rice, onion, pepper, garlic, basil. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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