Cuban Chicken Fricassee Recipe

Chicken with green olives, capers, tomato sauce, red peppers and potatoes in an oval baking dish.

5 from 3 votes

Cuban Chicken Fricassee is a Cuban-style chicken stew with an incredibly delicious combination of ingredients called Alcaparrado. This hearty, flavor-packed recipe is a one-pan dinner that you can make ahead and enjoy all week.

Prep Time40

Cook Time45

Total Time1 25

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Cuban

Keyword: chicken for family dinner, comfort food recipes for fall and winter

Servings: servings

Calories: 503kcal

Author: Valentina K. Wein

Equipment

Ingredients

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
2 cups thinly sliced yellow onion
1 tablespoon (about 4 medium cloves) roughly chopped garlic cloves
1 (approximately 3¼-pound) whole chicken cut up, skin off, bone in
¾ pound red, Yukon Gold or russet potatoes cut into bite-sized pieces
1 cup roasted, peeled and chopped red pepper
¼ cup capers
1 cup Manzanilla olives stuffed with pimientos
¾ cup raisins golden or black
¾ cup frozen peas thawed
¼ cup fresh lime juice from about 1 large lime
¼ cup fresh orange juice from about 1 small juicy orange
⅓ cup dry red wine like Shiraz or Zinfandel
1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes in tomato juice
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 400°F and adjust a rack to the center.
Roast the peppers (if you haven't purchased them in a jar). Place the peppers directly on top of a high flame on the stove. Use kitchen tongs to turn them as each side chars. Remove them from the burners, place them in a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let them steam for 10 minutes. Remove the plastic, and when they’re cool enough to work with, use your hands to peel off the charred skin. Then remove the stems and seeds, and cut them into bite-sized pieces.
Sauté onions and garlic. Coat the bottom of a large, fairly deep skillet (about 14-inch) with ¼ cup of olive oil. Place the pan over medium heat and add the onion and garlic. Sauté, stirring every few minutes, until the onions begin to brown, about 10 minutes.
Sear the chicken. Season both sides of the chicken pieces with salt and pepper. Move the onions and garlic to the sides of the pan and add the chicken. Sauté just to brown the surface, about 1 minute per side. Remove the chicken from the pan and place it on a large plate and set it aside.
Make the sauce. Add the potatoes to the pan and sauté for about 4 minutes. Then add the roasted pepper, capers, olives, raisins and peas. Stir to blend and cook for a minute or so. Mix the citrus juices with the wine and pour the mixture into the pan along with the tomatoes. Stir to blend everything together, bring to a boil and then turn the heat to low. Simmer for about 4 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. (Here's How to Season to Taste.)
Assemble. Spoon just enough sauce into the bottom of an approximately 15-inch baking dish to coat it. Then add the chicken pieces, smooth sides up. Pour the rest of the sauce into the dish, moving it mostly between the chicken pieces, and covering them slightly.
Bake. Cover the baking dish with a lid or foil and place it in the preheated 400°F oven. Cook just until the chicken is cooked through (160°F on an instant-read thermometer), about 30 to 40 minutes. It will rise to about 165°F as it rests (carryover cooking).
Cool and serve. Remove the dish from the oven and let it sit for about 15 minutes before serving.

Notes

Shortcuts: Use jarred alcaparrado in place of the olives and capers, and jarred roasted red peppers instead of roasting your own.

Boneless chicken: You can use boneless, skinless thighs or breasts (about 2¾ to 3 pounds). Brown them the same way as the bone-in pieces.

Make ahead: Make the entire dish up to 3 days ahead and refrigerate. Take it out about an hour before dinner, then reheat in a 375°F oven until hot, about 15 minutes.

Vegetarian: Use extra-firm tofu or cauliflower, cut into about ½-inch slices. Brown them first and shorten the oven time by about 10 minutes.

Nutritional information is automatically calculated, so it should only be used as an estimate.

Nutrition