Sazon Chicken

Never have bland chicken again. Sazon chicken is an easy chicken thighs recipe that’s packed with abundant flavor from limes, sour orange, and a homemade spice blend. This chicken is bursting with flavor, and it’s so tender it shreds apart just with your fork! Serve with a side of rice or mashed potatoes, and plenty of extra lime wedges for a burst of fresh lime juice overtop. Seriously, I make this about once a week!

Sazon translates to “seasoning” in Spanish, and these chicken thighs are definitely seasoned. The secret is in the homemade spice blend, a copycat of those orange Goya packets you’ve probably seen! The best part about making the spice blend yourself is controlling the salt level!

I’ve used the packets before and my biggest complaint was the saltiness! With homemade sazon, you’re in control! You can visit my post here for the spice mix, or I’ve copied it for you down here:

Homemade Sazon

Let’s make a super versatile sazon! Here’s what you need:

• 1 tablespoon ground annatto
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• 1 tablespoon cumin
• 1 tablespoon coriander
• 1/2 tablespoon salt
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoons oregano
• 1 teaspoon black pepper

Just mix everything together! For this recipe I use 3 teaspoons of the spice blend for 4 chicken thighs. But you can also use this to season ground beef, even potatoes!

Ingredients

So now that we’ve made the spice mixture, it’s time to make the sazon chicken! Here’s what you need:

• Bone-in chicken thighs
• Olive oil
• Garlic
• Limes
• Oregano
• Cumin
• Salt & pepper
• Sour orange mix (or fresh sour oranges if you can’t find them!)
• Chicken bouillon powder
• Red onions
• Green pepper

The great thing about this recipe is I usually have all these on hand! Red onions, limes and green peppers are staples in my kitchen, and I usually have some frozen chicken thighs I can thaw out! So this is a great recipe idea for when you want something delicious and satisfying but don’t want anything super complicated!

What makes this so easy is everything cooks up in one pan! This really is a “set it and forget it” type dish.

• Just season the chicken with the spice blend and the marinades, then add to a pan filled with 1 cup of boiling water.
• Cook covered on low for 30 minutes, flip and cook another 15 minutes.
• Flip again, uncover, bring to a boil and add your onions and peppers.
• Cook until all the liquid has boiled off and the peppers and onions are soft and caramelized.

Ok so that’s condensing the recipe a bit, but you get the idea. Once it’s in the pan cooking your really just flipping it, adding the peppers and onions, then reducing everything down!

Cooking Tips

• Use bone-in chicken thighs for this! The chicken won’t be as tender and moist if you use boneless.
• You can cook the chicken right away after adding the seasonings and marinade, or you can leave it in the fridge for a few hours!
• When you’re finishing up the peppers and onions in the pan, if there’s extra oil just carefully tilt the pan and use a pan to remove any unwanted excess oil.
• As the peppers and onions are cooking, occasionally add a tablespoon of water to deglaze the pan. This will help them not stick to the button, as well as continually pick up all the flavor from the pan and add it back to the peppers and onions!
• These chicken thighs are delicious with a side of rice or mashed potatoes!

Easy dinners are one of my favorite things to cook! I’m always needing easy but inspired meals during the week. Check out some of my other popular recipes you might love too!

Chicken Parm Meatballs give you all the flavors of chicken parm in an easy meatball!

Chicken Piccata Meatballs are a lemony chicken meatball topped with fried capers.

Never buy jarred Alfredo again with this Easy Alfredo Sauce recipe!

Pizza night? This Roasted Red Pepper Sauce Pizza is one of our favorites!

Change up taco night! Instead try these Taco Meatballs or these Enchilada Tacos! Both easy, and ready in about 30 minutes!

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