Spanish Garlic Chicken - Pollo Al Ajillo Recipe - Visit Southern Spain (2024)

Few recipes are easy to make and taste delicious, but I assure you that Spanish garlic chicken is one of them.

If you are looking for a dish that has the essence of fast-food dishes, then this garlic chicken recipe is for you. It has the advantage of being fresh and homemade, and once you try it you won’t get enough.

To this day, this dish is one of the most popular Spanish chicken recipes for dinner with few ingredients, because the ingredients are cheap, easy to find, and anyone can make it.

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Background of the Dish

Garlic chicken is one of the characteristic dishes of Spanish cuisine, so it should come as no surprise that it is found in all restaurants in Spain.

The recipe has been around for hundreds of years, and although it went through different changes, the base ingredients remain the same; chicken and garlic.

The popularity of this recipe is because it is easy and quick to make, and also has cheap ingredients that are present in all Andalusian homes.

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Things You’ll Need for Spanish Garlic Chicken

To make this Spanish chicken recipe, you’ll just need some basic ingredients like oil, chicken, garlic, and broth.

Thankfully there are many replacements that you can make in the ingredients, so don’t worry if you don’t have some of them.

You can make this a garlic chicken breast dish, or a garlic chicken thighs, it is up to you and what you prefer. I always recommend using boneless chicken since it is easy to work with.

Ingredients

• 1kg chicken cut into cubes
• 5 cloves garlic
• Oil for frying
• Salt to taste
• Pepper to taste
• Flour – for coating
• 1 cup (250ml) Chicken broth

How to Make Spanish Garlic Chicken – Step by Step Guide

1. To start this chicken Spanish recipe, peel the garlic cloves and slice them. Add oil to the pan, heat it up, and when it is sizzling add the sliced garlic. Once they get a golden color, remove them and set them aside.

2. Up next, cut your chicken in cubes, any size that you want. You can use chicken thighs or breasts, it’s completely up to you.

3. After that, season the cubed chicken with salt and pepper to taste. Take the pan back to heat and add the chicken pieces, previously coating them in flour.

4. Then fry over medium heat on both sides, for a total of 8 to 10 minutes. You take them out and put them on a plate with absorbent paper to remove the excess oil.

5. Remove the remaining oil from the pan. Add the chicken, sliced ​​garlic, juice of half a lemon, and a cup of chicken broth. Cook, stirring occasionally and turning the chicken with garlic for about 10 minutes.

6. Keep in mind that the cooking time may vary depending on how much you like your chicken, but make sure it is cooked.

Substitution of Ingredients

My favorite part about this Spanish chicken recipe is that you can make a lot of substitutions and you’ll still have a wonderful dish.

For example, you can use any part of the chicken for this recipe, like thighs or breasts. You can even make this recipe but with chicken wings, and you’ll have some amazing garlic chicken wings.

If you are wondering what to season chicken with, well there are different spices that you can use.

For this particular recipe, I recommend just using salt and pepper since the garlic already gives a strong flavor, but you can also use paprika, turmeric, or herbs like parsley and chives.

If you liked this recipe, I encourage you to try other delicious Spanish recipes, such as the famous cold garlic soup, Spanish chicken croquettes, or the Spanish Picadillo recipe.

Tips on Serving Spanish Garlic Chicken

This garlic chicken is a classic Spanish dinner recipe, but you can also serve it at lunch.

What I like the most about this Spanish recipe is that it can be served as a main dish or as a starter, you can serve it with some french fries and you’ll have the perfect game day food.

This is a pretty easy Spanish chicken recipe, but if you want to take it to the next level, you can serve it with different sauces like chili sauce, mayonnaise, cream cheese sauce.

A good salad such as the Spanish potato salad could be a really easy and tasty side for the Spanish garlic chicken and if want to have an extra punch to this dish, you can even serve it with the Spanish aioli sauce.

In case, you have any leftovers you can prepare a Spanish chicken stew which you could serve on cold and rainy days.

If you want to try other recipes with chicken from Spain, make sure you try the Spanish grilled chicken recipe, the savory chicken empanadas or the Spanish chicken skewers recipe.

How to Store Spanish Garlic Chicken

If you are one of those people like me who prefers to make the meal in advance, or who always has a little food left over, then this garlic in chicken sauce Spanish recipe is ideal for you.

You can make this recipe for Spanish chicken, and store it in the freezer for up to one month. When you’re ready to eat it, just take it from the freezer to the fridge overnight to unfreeze.

This is the best Spanish chicken recipe because besides freezing it, you can also store it in the fridge. Just put your chicken in a covered container and it can last up to 4 days in the fridge.

Recipe Card: Spanish Garlic Chicken