Marinated Achiote Chicken Recipe

Achiote Chicken in black dish with cilantro

5 from 11 votes

This beautiful, Marinated Achiote Chicken Recipe, also called Pollo Pibil, is juicy, succulent, and full of rich, deep Mexican flavors.

Prep Time35

Cook Time30

Marinating Time3

Total Time4 5

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Mexican

Keyword: unique chicken recipes, Mexican dinner recipes, chicken marinades

Servings: to 6

Calories: 588kcal

Author: Valentina K. Wein

Equipment

blender

Ingredients

2 dried Guajillo chile peppers (about 6-inch)
1 cup water
2 ounces achiote paste
¼ cup plus 1 tablespoon fresh orange juice
3 small to medium-sized garlic cloves peeled, roots trimmed, about 1½ tablespoons
3½ pounds whole cut-up chicken skinless, bone-in

Instructions

Prepare the chiles. Add the Guajillo peppers and water to a small pot and bring to a boil. Then reduce the heat to low and simmer for five minutes. Turn off the heat, cover the pot and let it stand for 30 minutes.
Remove the stems and seeds from the hydrated peppers. (Leave some seeds if you prefer more heat.) Add both the peppers and water they hydrated in to a blender.
Blend the marinade. Add the achiote paste, orange juice and garlic to the blender and blend until smooth. Set aside.
Marinate. Add the skinless, bone-in chicken pieces to a large zip-lock bag and pour in the achiote marinade, which shouldn’t be hot because of the addition of the orange juice. Move the chicken pieces around to be sure they’re all well coated, remove the air from the bag and seal it. Then put this in another large zip-lock bag to ensure it doesn’t leak. Place in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours and ideally overnight.
Bake and serve. Preheat the oven to 375°F and once the chicken is done marinating, add it, and all of the marinade to a large enough baking dish (approx. 9 x 13-inch) to hold everything snugly. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Bake in the preheated 375°F oven just until it’s cooked through, about 45 minutes. Flip the pieces over about halfway through the cooking time and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Once it’s cooked through, flip the chicken over once more, sprinkle slightly with a bit more salt, and serve.

Notes

Boneless chicken: boneless, skinless thighs or breasts work too. You'll need about 2½ pounds.

No Guajillos? Ancho chile peppers are the best substitute. The flavor will be a bit more smoky and bitter.

No achiote paste? Use the same amount of paprika paste, plus 1 large garlic clove, ½ teaspoon ground cumin and ½ teaspoon ground oregano.

Make ahead: make the entire dish up to 3 days ahead. Cool completely, cover tightly and refrigerate. Take it out about an hour before dinner, then reheat in a preheated 375°F oven until hot, about 10 minutes.

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

Nutrition