Braised Chicken with Tomatillos

This dish was a big hit at my house. The chicken was flavorful and juicy and the sauce was tangy with a smoky depth of flavor thanks to the roasted chiles. I used all 3 teaspoons of cumin and I’m glad I did, but I’m a big fan of cumin. There was enough leftover sauce for me to freeze and use for tacos down the road.

There’s nothing quite like a tomatillo and green pepper sauce, and this recipe really fit the bill. I used 3 chicken breast halves and 3 thighs. They emerged from the sauce fork-tender, juicy, and easy to shred. The sauce itself took about 20 minutes to thicken up after I removed the chicken. I used the entire amount of cumin specified in the recipe and the flavor was smoky but not overpowering. This recipe made for excellent comfort food on a chilly afternoon.

A delicious and easy one-pot dinner. Twenty minutes is rather quick for braising, but the chicken was tender (I used thighs) and easily came off the bone. We gently tucked the chicken into warm corn tortillas, which we thought perfectly suited the smoky poblano and hint of citrus in the sauce.

There are two variables here: cumin and poblano. If 2 teaspoons of cumin might be too strong for you (I loved it), you could start with 1 teaspoon, taste the sauce after taking out the chicken, and add more cumin if you’d like while reducing the sauce at the end. Poblano peppers are “unpredictable” in that the intensity of the heat varies greatly from pepper to pepper. I usually taste a paper-thin sliver before adding the pepper to what I’m cooking.

This is a great chicken dish and will be in regular rotation in my kitchen. Tomatillos have a unique, delicious, herbal flavor and the smoky cumin adds a welcome earthiness. The only change I might make would be to decrease the broth by about half. The tomatillos give off a lot of juice on their own and it’d cut down the time to reduce the sauce. I used chicken thighs, served them with rice, and added fresh cilantro and sour cream as garnishes. It’s also great with warm tortillas.

This recipe ends up as chicken with a homemade salsa verde sauce. It’s nice and flavorful, wonderful served over rice but I can also see it served over mashed potatoes.

I used 3 bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts (cut in half) and roasted Hatch green chiles because I always have those in my freezer. From start to finish, this takes about an hour. Use all of the cumin because it’s what makes this recipe. Using the fresh tomatillos made the sauce very chunky. I removed the chicken and used my immersion blender to make it smoother. I then deboned and shredded the chicken and added it back to the sauce. I didn’t need to add any salt but I did add a little black pepper.

This would be very easy to convert to a Crock-Pot recipe. I’d brown some boneless chicken breasts and use canned tomatillos. Then dump everything in the Crock-Pot and cook.

This isn’t only an easy recipe but a very flavorful one. I used boneless, skinless chicken thighs, as I had them on hand. I used jalapeño peppers and roasted them. Yes, I did use all the cumin specified and it seemed to be just fine for my palate. Once the chicken was cooked, I took the pieces out and reduced the liquid to a thick gravy and served it with the chicken and homemade chapattis. The next day I shredded some more chicken, reduced the gravy to a thick paste, and used it as a base for chicken pita pizzas with the shredded chicken and some fresh veggies, and it was just divine.

I was a tad worried about testing this recipe, as my older daughter has never been a big fan of Mexican-style food, but it seemed to be an easy recipe for a crazy weeknight, so I went for it.

I used chicken drumsticks and thighs, so the actual cooking took about 30 minutes. Also, because of my toddler, I went a tad lighter on the chiles; then, just before serving, I removed a bit of the broth into a smaller pan for her and added the rest of the chiles to the remainder to create a spicier sauce for us grown-ups.

I didn’t serve it with tortillas but instead made a simple white rice and served the chicken over it, which was fabulous, as the rice absorbed all of the juices from this very simple yet flavorful dish. The chicken was tender and juicy and the sauce was fantastic.

The flavors in this were delicious, but it was awkward to eat. I prefer chicken cooked this way—with skin on and bone in—but eating the chicken when it’s covered in sauce isn’t so easy when you use chicken legs, as I did. The sauce is quite flavorful and enhances the chicken, but it’d be much easier to cut the cooked chicken off the bone (and I think I’d go with thighs and breasts the next time) before saucing and serving it.

My husband wasn’t interested in the tortillas served with this. He didn’t seem to think they fit with the rest of the dish. I went with the Southwestern theme and improvised tacos. I cut my chicken apart as best I could and put chunks into the tortillas, along with sauce, and some rice pilaf I had prepared as a side dish. Three teaspoons of cumin seemed like a lot to me, so I used a generous teaspoon and that worked fine.

This tasted like it could’ve been from our favorite Mexican restaurant. I used chicken breasts with the skin on, half the amount of cumin, and left out the cilantro because we’re just not cilantro lovers. The chicken was full of flavor and everyone liked it, but we all agreed that next time I should use boneless pieces of skinless chicken, as we tend to pull the skin off and my family wanted to eat it on tortillas with a little sour cream and cheese. But it had wonderful flavor and is a great recipe that I’ll use again with those minor adjustments.

The flavors of this dish are amazing in terms of depth and heat. I added only 2 teaspoons of cumin and I puréed the sauce a bit after the chicken was cooked. This was delicious with baked brown rice (made with chicken or beef broth, olive oil and a little cilantro). I also discovered a very easy way to roast peppers if you aren’t blessed with a gas stove. Throw them in a foil-lined roasting pan at 350° for 10 to 20 minutes, turning them periodically and keeping a close eye on them, until the skin is puffed and charred. Pull the foil together to form a packet and let them steam until ready to peel.

With all of the ingredients (especially the roasted peppers) prepped beforehand, this made a deliciously different weeknight meal. I used chicken thighs, which made for a fattier sauce. I used the full amount of cumin and it was perfectly fine, not overpowering. I’d caution against using any more than the stated amount of lime juice at the end of the recipe, even if you love the tanginess, because the tomatillos have simmered down for so long they already create a tart and tangy sauce. My sauce took about 20 minutes at the end to simmer down to a consistency that was thicker, but could’ve easily gone longer. I used roasted Anaheim peppers, which left a great taste with very little heat, so if you prefer something with more kick, maybe sub 1 of them out for a jalapeño or poblano.

There’s a little bit of prep if you fire-roast the chiles on the stove, though it’s totally worth it and it’s really not a stretch for a weekend meal that’ll yield a great office lunch on Monday. The beauty of this recipe is the tomatillo and cilantro sauce. I had some sauce left over and served it over simple steamed rice. It was still so good and it was nice to know I could whip up this stew of vegetables for a meatless meal, too. (Note that I prepared this dish with bone-in breasts and I only added 2 out of the 3 teaspoons of cumin called for in the recipe.)

This made a gem of a slow cooker recipe with just a few tweaks. The recipe calls for bone-in or boneless chicken pieces, and I used boneless, skinless thighs as I think dark meat works best in the slow cooker—always tender and never stringy. I know from experience that the slow cooker needs lots of onion, so I doubled the onion from 1 to 2 and then reduced the stock to 1 cup since the tomatillos would make a lot of liquid. I started by sautéing the onion and garlic in the olive oil. When those had softened, I added the spices. I increased the cumin to 4 teaspoons and also added 1 teaspoon of coriander as the fresh cilantro couldn’t be added until the end. I also added 2 tablespoons of canned fire-roasted green chiles, as fresh ones weren’t to be found. By adding the spices to the onion and cooking them off for a minute or so, you create bloom, which really increases the flavor, which is crucial for long cooking. Then I added the stock and brought it all to a boil. I quartered the tomatillos and added those for just a few minutes to soften them ever so slightly. Then I put half of this mixture on the bottom of the slow cooker and nestled those lovely chicken thighs, seasoned with a little salt and pepper, in the mixture and added the rest of the mixture on top. I set it to low and cooked it for 3 1/2 to 4 hours. When it was meltingly tender, I removed the chicken, shredded it, and put the sauce on the stovetop to reduce. I took a hand blender to the sauce but left it a little chunky, and then I added the shredded chicken back to the lovely sauce along with some fresh cilantro and a squeeze of lime. I served the whole lot over white rice, but I could easily see using it as a filling for burritos or even folded into an omelette. Flexible and delicious!

Another winner of a recipe that my family loved! I made this today on the stovetop and it’s a great recipe—I didn’t even need any salt, the flavors were perfect! I roasted one poblano and two Anaheim chiles and slightly roasted the tomatillos and blended the sauce prior to the half hour braise…and it came out perfect! Another winner of a recipe! Thanks to Leite’s Culinaria for posting and Renee Rossi for suggesting this recipe. OK, I’m ready, what’s next?

Oh, where to start! This is delicious and simple with fantastic results. I’ve made this twice now, to rave reviews both times. I used a spicier pepper the second time because my family likes spicier food and I preferred that version better. There’s really very little to discuss when it comes to technique and steps. The recipe is easy to follow and straightforward. The only thing that I would suggest to anyone trying this recipe is to stay away from boneless skinless chicken breasts. They seemed to dry out and not absorb the flavors of the sauce as well.