Pollo Encebollado (Chicken in Onion Sauce)
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 8 chicken legs bone in and skin on
- Salt and ground pepper to taste
- 2 onions thinly sliced
- 3 garlic cloves crushed
- ¼ teaspoon ground cumin
- 2 fresh thyme sprigs
- 1 cup red wine optional
- 1 cup chicken stock
- 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
Instructions
- In a deep sautué pan over medium heat, warm the olive oil and butter.
- Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Add the chicken to the pan and brown on all sides, about 7 minutes. Transfer to a platter.
- Add the onion to the pan and cook until tender and translucent, about 4 minutes. Add the chicken, garlic, thyme, wine, stock, cumin and Worcestershire and bring to a boil.
- Reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer until the juices run clear when the chicken is pierced with a knife, about 30 minutes. Serve immediately.
It's popular in Colombia to cook meat or poultry in Onion or Tomato Sauce. My mom made this dish all the time with a variety of different meats and we all loved it! It is the perfect weeknight meal, because it is cheap, easy, simple, fast and full of flavor. Serve it over white rice, pasta or just potatoes and vegetables on the side. This dish in particular can be made with beef or pork as well.
I am not usually such an onion-lover, but this onion sauce is absolutely fantastic. So good that the next time I make this, I'm going to double the batch of sauce, and I think you should too! If you have any leftovers, make an onion quesadilla, mix them into mashed potatoes, put them on top of crostini or just eat them with a spoon at the stove. The onions are sweet, tender and wonderful!
Buen provecho!
Mark Snider
I'm a gringo from Cincinnati, and I made it tonight - it was excellent. My modifications - I had 2 Chicken Breasts, so I sliced them in half (fillets), flattened a little, seasoned with Goya Adobo and Carne Asada seasoning. I used 4 garlic cloves, a full teaspoon of Cumin (love Cumin) and a few shakes of crushed red pepper flakes. My Colombian wife loved it. The onion flavor not strong, similar to a French Onion soup. Very rich flavor, and could be an excellent sauce for beef, pork, or turkey. I was thinking about substituting brandy for wine - could be an interesting flavor. Definitely will try again - soon.