Arroz con Pollo
Thighs browned in the same pan that cooks the rice — onion, garlic, paprika, all done in 40.
Ingredients
- 600 g Chicken thighs
- 300 g White rice
- 1 Onion
- 4 cloves Garlic
- 600 ml Chicken stock
- 1½ tsp Smoked paprika
- 2 tbsp Extra-virgin olive oil
- 1½ tsp Salt
- ½ tsp Black pepper
- 1 Bay leaves (optional)
Method
- Pat the chicken dry and season all over with salt, pepper, and paprika.
- Heat the oil in a wide pan over medium-high. Sear the chicken skin-side down until deeply golden, about 6 minutes, then flip and cook 2 minutes more. Set aside.
- While the chicken sears, dice the onion.
- While the chicken sears, slice the garlic.
- Soften the onion in the chicken fat for 4 minutes until translucent; add the garlic for the last minute.
- Stir in the rice to coat in the fat. Pour in the stock, add the bay leaves, and tuck the chicken back in skin-side up.
- Bring to a simmer, cover, and cook on the lowest heat for 18 minutes, then rest 5 minutes off the heat.
- Lift the chicken out, fluff the rice with a fork, and serve.
Tap “Start cooking” for live timers that flag what to get ahead on while something simmers.
About Arroz con Pollo
Arroz con Pollo, chicken with rice, is a beloved one-pan dish across Spain and Latin America, and this Spanish-style version keeps its focus on the deep flavor that comes from cooking everything in a single vessel. The key move is searing the thighs skin-side down until the skin is deeply golden, which renders flavorful fat into the pan — that fat then becomes the medium for softening the onion, garlic, and rice, so every grain is seasoned from the start. Smoked paprika gives the dish its characteristic warm, smoky color and gentle depth.
The reward is rice that's fully infused with chicken fat, stock, and bay, cooked until tender under a lid while the chicken finishes on top, its skin staying crisp above the steaming grains. It's hearty and deeply savory, the sort of complete meal that needs nothing more than a squeeze of lemon or a simple salad alongside. Building it all in one pan means the flavors concentrate rather than scatter, and cleanup is minimal — one of the reasons this style of dish has endured in home kitchens for generations. At around forty-five minutes, it's an achievable weeknight version of a genuine comfort classic.
Arroz con Pollo: frequently asked questions
How many calories are in Arroz con Pollo?
A serving has about 742 calories — 34.7g protein, 70.5g carbs, 34.4g fat, 2.3g fiber. Figures are estimated from the ingredient amounts and will shift with your portions and brands.
Is it high in protein?
Each serving has about 34.7g of protein, roughly 19% of its calories.
Is Arroz con Pollo gluten-free?
Based on its ingredients, Arroz con Pollo has no gluten-containing components, so it's naturally gluten-free — as always, check that any packaged ingredients you use are certified gluten-free to be safe.
How long does Arroz con Pollo take to make?
About 45 minutes start to finish, but only around 22 of those are hands-on — the rest is largely unattended cooking time you can step away from. In the Homecooked app the timers and parallel steps are sequenced for you so the hands-on part feels even shorter.
Do I need every ingredient to make Arroz con Pollo?
The core ingredients are essential, but you can leave out bay leaves — they're optional and mainly there for extra flavor or finish.
How many servings does Arroz con Pollo make?
This recipe makes 4 servings. In the app you can scale it up or down and the ingredient amounts adjust automatically.