Sazon Chicken

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This is one of my favorite go-to recipes when I want something that’s super flavor but isn’t difficult to make. Now, I can’t classify this as “quick” since the chicken takes about an hour, but after I made this a few times I do consider this an easy dish since it’s basically marinating the chicken, then cooking it in the marinade until there’s no more liquid left. It’s kind of one of those “set it and forget it” cooking methods. If you’ve never had sazon seasoning, oh boy are you in for a treat. While the recipe below links to the recipe of how to make homemade sazon, you can also purchase Goya Sazon Con Culantro y Achiote packets, I’d typically use 2 packets when cooking this. But what I love about mixing up the homemade version is:

1. It’s easy.
2. It’s inexpensive.
3. No MSG.
4. Control the salt levels.

The packets can be a little salty if you use too much, so when I made my seasoning I use half of the normal amount of salt and prefer it that way.

So, want to know where I got this recipe from? Well that would be from my amazing husband. Yupp, the first time he cooked for me was a version of this with pork chops. Once you try this you can see why I married him.

-4 bone-in chicken thighs
-1/2 cup Goya Naranja Angria Marinade
-1/2 cup Goya Mojo Criollo
-1/2 tablespoon soy sauce
-2 garlic cloves, grated
-2 teaspoons homemade sazon
-1 small red onion
-1-2 limes
-1/2 cup water

1. Remove skin from chicken thighs, place chicken in a large bowl. Season with 2 teaspoons of homemade sazon  (or 2 packets of Goya Culantro y Achiote Sazon), add the grated garlic cloves, both Goya marinades, and the soy sauce.

2. In a medium pan heat the 1/2 cup water to boiling. Add the chicken thighs and pour in all the marinade from the bowl as well. Reduce heat to low, and cover.  Simmer for 30 minutes.

3. While the chicken simmers, slice the red onion into thin slices and cut the lime into wedges.

4. After the chicken has simmered for 30 minutes, flip each thigh so it is now face-down and increase heat to medium. Cover and continue to cook for 15 minutes.

5. After 15 minutes, remove the cover and increase heat to high to create a boil. Flip chicken so it is now face up again and sprinkle the tops with a little sazon. At this point, you are cooking off the liquid in the pan and for me this process will take about 20 minutes. During this time when you’re cooking off the liquid when there only a little of the marinade left in the pan, add the red onions. The onions will caramelize by allowing them to absorb the marinade. When there is no more liquid left in the pan, remove the chicken but leave the onions. Add 1-2 tablespoons of water to deglaze the pan and allow the onions to caramelize even more, about 5 minutes. I usually do this process of adding the water to deglaze twice.

6. To serve, squeeze a lime wedge over the chicken and top with the caramelized onions.

Enjoy!