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!
Lena ngo
Is there a specific type of red wine u would recommend to use for this recipe?
Erica Dinho
Use your favorite wine.
Rodrigo
Pero que delicia de receta, super sabrosa, hoy mismo la voy a hacer y despues te cuento que tal salió. Gracias!
Z
This looks amazing! Can I use any kind of onions?
Erica Dinho
Yellow or white
Christina Pardo
I've made this dish twice. Once for my roommates ( colombiana and the other is Peruvian) and another for a guy friend. Everyone loved this dish. My roomate is begging me to prepare her chicken this way. The guy I cooked fpr is impressed with my skills ☺I added potatoes to this dish to help thicken the sauce. I also used soy sauce because l was out of Worcestershire sauce. Always comes out excellent. I paired this dish with lime cilantro rice.
Angelica
My sauce is way too runny there was still a lot of stock once 30 min past and I followed instructions I skipped the wine though ,any idea why?
Thanks
Christina Pardo
I usually add diced potatoes and smash a few of them to help thicken the sauce.
Anna
Awwwww Erica, that makes me so homesick...looks delicious.
Chris
Oh yum! The caramelized onions and the braised chicken must smell soooo good when they are almost done.
tasteofbeirut
I love onions especially made this way, almost like a jam; all their sweetness comes out and they are scrumptious!
norma
Doe look good...I have not used this technique in such a long time...
Marta
Que delicia, recuerdo que mi abuela le echaba tomates tambien...
Que bueno que encontre tu pagina! algunas veces me coge esa necesidad de cocinar comida de "casa" y cuando no puedo contactar a mi mama, no hay de otra que buscar en internet, tus recetas son lo mas cercano a mis memorias de la cocina de mi abuela y mi mama! gracias!
Faith
What a flavorful sauce, Erica! I bet it's perfect on chicken!
rebecca subbiah
love this recipe bookmarking it to make it soon
Kim
What a flavorful sauce! Looks terrific.
P.S. I loved your banana clafouti. Very original.
Chef E
Oh Erica! I love this. Right now short day onions are hitting the market and I love them so much! This dish looks fantastic!
Maritza
Se ve riquisimo!!i am gonna try it tonight!!
Belinda @zomppa
This is one scrumptious recipe (I'm a huge onion fan!)