Ecuadorian seco de pollo or chicken stew
Seco de pollo or seco de gallina is an Ecuadorian chicken stew cooked slowly in a sauce of beer, naranjilla, onions, garlic, peppers, tomatoes, herbs, and spices.
Seco de pollo or chicken stew is another delicious recipe from Ecuador. It is one of dishes that you crave on a day when you want a nice home-cooked meal. It’s the type of meal that not only satisfies your stomach but also gives you that overall happy satisfied soul feeling. This dish is also known as seco de gallina criolla.
If it is made with a young chicken it is called seco de pollo, and if it is made with an older hen it is called seco de gallina criolla. Traditionally, it was a way to cook those older tougher hens and soften the meat by cooking it slowly in a sauce of onions, garlic, peppers, tomatoes, herbs and spices.
The traditional preparation also uses chicha – a fermented corn drink – instead of beer, though most people today prepare it with beer because it is much easier to find and tastes great. Sometimes naranjilla juice is also added. I recommend using a light and mild-flavored beer, if not the flavor might be on the bitter side.
Jump to RecipeIf that happens, you can offset the bitterness by adding some citrus (orange, sour orange, lemon/lime, naranjilla/lulo juice) until you have the right balance. You can also use a mix of beer and citrus juice, like naranjilla or lulo juice. Other options for the liquid include a mix of half white wine and half orange juice. I find the flavor of chicha similar to a semi-dry apple cider, so apple cider is also another alternative to beer for this recipe.
Seco de pollo is an easy recipe to make, but it can be time-consuming if you are cooking a hen or gallina, since you have to wait for the chicken meat to get very tender – about 2 to 2 1/2 hours. My mom usually makes it in the pressure cooker if she’s making it the traditional way with an older hen.
A regular pollo or young chicken will cook much quicker, but the sauce might need more time to thicken. In that case, I recommend removing the chicken pieces and increasing the heat to thicken the sauce quickly. Seco de pollo is usually served with arroz amarillo or yellow rice -just add some achiote to the rice preparation -and fried ripe plantains. Those are the two must-have sides. I also like to serve it with avocado slices, a small salad, and if you need extra starch some whole potatoes sauteed in butter.
Video Recipe
Seco de pollo {Ecuadorian chicken stew}
Ingredients
- 4 to 5 lbs of assorted chicken pieces
- 2 teaspoons of ground cumin
- 2 tsp ground achiote or annatto can also use paprika (if you can’t find ground achiote you can use the seeds, they will need to be simmered in the oil until they release their color)
- 2 to 3 tablespoons of oil
- 1 onion cut into chunks
- 6 to 8 garlic cloves
- 1 to 2 cups of beer or chicken broth/wine/chicha
- 1 cup of naranjilla lulo juice, can use the frozen concentrate (can be replaced with fresh orange juice as an alternative)
- 4- 6 tomatoes 1 pound, quartered
- 2 bell peppers seeds removed and cut into chunks
- Optional: 1 aji or hot pepper jalapeno or serrano, can also use chili powder
- 1 bunch cilantro reserve some to chop finely to add at the end
- 1 bunch parsley leaves only, reserve some to chop finely and add at the end
- 2 tsp dry oregano or 2-3 fresh oregano sprigs
- Juice of 1 orange optional
- Salt and pepper to taste
Side dishes
- Arroz amarillo or yellow achiote rice
- Fried ripe plantains
- Avocado slices
- Small side salad
Instructions
- Rub the chicken pieces with the ground achiote, cumin, salt and pepper.
- Blend the beer and the naranjilla juice with the onion chunks, whole garlic cloves, tomatoes, bell peppers, hot pepper, cilantro, parsley, oregano to obtain a smooth sauce or puree.
- Heat the oil and brown the chicken pieces.
- Pour the blended beer vegetable mix over the chicken. Bring to a boil.
- Reduce the heat and cook on low for about an hour (if you were using an old hen it would take longer, but most supermarket chicken will be tender in an hour or less).
- If the chicken is tender, but sauce isn’t thick yet, then remove the cooked chicken pieces, turn up the heat and cook the sauce until it’s nice and thick, about 10 to 15 minutes. At this point I also like to taste the sauce and adjust salt/spices, if the flavor is slightly bitter from the beer you can neutralize it by adding some freshly squeezed orange juice/lemon juice. Once the sauce has thickened add the chicken pieces back to the pot and mix in the remaining chopped cilantro and parsley.
- Serve with arroz amarillo or yellow rice and fried ripe plantains. Can also be served with avocado and a small salad.
Side dish recipes:
Whole potatoes sauteed in butter
Very nice recipe! When I was young in N.Y.I thought I invented i adding beer to tomatoes chilis chicken my Ecuatorian made laughes and said “Es una fria” Oh well great things happen spontaneously! I did think she was fooling me until I discovered it, Looks utterly scrumptious must make this wek!
Hi, this dish looks amazing. I plan on making it very soon but im not too sure how easy it is to get my hands on some achiote/annatto, as im from the UK. Are there any alternatives, saffron, paprika or tumeric maybe? Is it used more for colour or taste as well?
When I first moved to the US I couldn’t find achiote so I would use paprika as an alternative (the flavor is different but it adds the color).
My family loved this recipe. I used Heineken, however, based on some of the postings, I am going to try Corona to see which I love beter. Thank you so much for bringing some of the recipes from home to our kitchen :)
Hi,
I have lived in Galapagos Islands, Ecuador for about 5 years.
Seco de Pollo is my favorite!!!
I had no idea that it had beer in it.
I am glad to find a recipe in English.
As soon as the cargo ships comes to port I am going to make it!!!
Thanks!
Janet
Galapagos Exclusive Tours
I am Mormon and was a Mormon missionary in Ecuador. This was my very favorite dish. Every time people made it for me, I was in heaven.
Then I got home and discovered that it is made with beer, which I don’t drink for religious reasons, and wouldn’t buy even to cook with, and so I won’t be eating it again. Sigh. It’s amazingly delicious, though. I’m loving reading through your site and finding food I enjoyed in Ecuador. I was in Loja for five months, and it’s just beautiful there.
Hi Emily – You can try making with chicha (non alcoholic), naranjilla juice or even with just 1/2 orange juice 1/2 chicken broth. It will be close to the original.
I’m Ecuadorian and my mom used to make this dish for us as kids.. LOVED IT!! Now that I’m married with kids, I too make it for my family and my kids can’t get enough!!!
This was amazing. The aromas filling our home were so enticing that I could barely wait for the two and a half hours’ cooking time. We probably did the un–authentic thing and added our rice while it was cooking, but it was absolutely delicious!
I learned a dish almost exactly like this, but it had additional ingredients of a few tsp of prepared mustard soy sauce. Does this sound familiar to anyone? It’s from mi abuelita from Junin Ecuador, God Bless her!
This recipe is beautiful, the dish is amazing and I don’t think I can go back to making pollo guisado anymore.
I have tried many latin recipes but this is by far the best one I have come across.
Many Thanks to Laylita!!!
This is the best ever. I add potatoes to mine. This is one of my favorite dishes. You can’t go wrong.
I even use the sauce to bake a porks legs. It’s really good.