Name: Tomatillo Chicken Recipe
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 50 min
Total time: 1 h
Yield: 6
Cuisine: International
Ingredients: 3 lbs chicken thighs or drumsticks; 1 lb tomatillos, fresh or frozen; 1 large red onion; 1 tbsp minced garlic; 1 1/4 tsp Himalayan pink salt; 1 1/4 tsp black pepper, freshly ground; 2 tbsp avocado oil, or other cooking oil; 4 cups of chicken broth, homemade preferred; 1 lime juice, optional, if you like more tangy flavor; a handful radish or vine-ripe small tomatoes, thin sliced; a couple of jalapeño or long green pepper, thin sliced; a bunch of cilantro, chopped, optional

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Tomatillo Chicken is a popular Mexican food, that featuring braised chicken in a tomatillo sauce. Using very limited ingredients, this Mexican chicken dish is so easy to make, but extremely tasty and versatile.

By the way, if you like tangy food, or if you are looking for food to stimulate your appetite, this is an outstanding choice.

What do I need to make Tomatillo Chicken?

For chicken meat choices, chicken thigh works the best. Since I can get the organic drumsticks at extremely reasonable price, I usually use the organic chicken drumsticks. For better cooking, remove the skins and cut the drumsticks next to the bone and split the drumsticks to a flat piece, if possible.

cut and split the chicken drumsticks to use as a chicken thighs for cooking

For the seasoning, all you need is salt and black pepper. Sprinkle the salt & black pepper blend evenly over chicken before pan frying.

sprinkle the salt & black pepper blend evenly over chicken before cooking

For the braising sauce, tomatillos, red onion and minced garlic will make magic. It worth mentioning that tomatillos are very freezer friendly. If you happen to grow your own tomatillos like I do and have harvested a lot, you can simply freeze them in the whole form and then use later.

Tips to use frozen tomatillos, remove them from the freezer only 1 hour before the cooking and then cut into slices. That way, the tomatillos remains stiff which makes it easier to cut, but also soft enough to cut.

Last but not least is the garnishing pieces. You see, this homemade from scratch Braised Chicken with Tomatillo Sauce is so yummy and appetizing. But the color presentation is kind of dull, so we need a bit of color to make it pop. We will need some bright red and bright green colors as garnishing.

For the red color, radish is a popular choice, but vine-ripe tomato also do. As for the bright green color, use jalapeño if you like spicy food, or long green pepper. No need to remove the seeds, just trim the end and cut across into thin slices.

thin sliced tomato and long green pepper, hand juiced lime juice for making Tomatillo Chicken

How to make an authentic, easy and yummy Tomatillo Chicken at home?

Tip No.1 is to pan fry the chicken first

For the pan frying, I usually use a hard anodized frying pan. They use less oil and easy to create a caramelized effect. Heat the frying pan on medium heat for two minutes, and then add 2 tbsp avocado oil. Use a silicone spatula to spread out evenly the oil and then lay the chicken flat.

For a 12-inch frying pan, you can fit about 10 chicken drumsticks no problem.

add seasoned chicken drumsticks to the frying pan

Flip the chicken after 2 minutes. Then repeating flip every 1 minute 4-5 times, or till chicken is caramelized and about 85% fully cooked.

pan fry chicken drumsticks in the hard anodized frying pan

Tip No.2 is to Braise the Chicken with Tomatillo Sauce

Remove the chicken from the pan, add the sliced tomatillo, red onion and minced garlic to a large deep sauté pan to braise. I use this tri-ply clad stainless 6 Qt pan. Great for cooking dish like this.

Stir Fry for about 2 minutes and then sprinkle about 1/4 tsp salt and black pepper, and continue to stir fry for another 1 minute.

Stir fry tomatillo slices, red onion and minced garlic with salt and black pepper

Add 4 cups of chicken broth, cover the pan with a lid and bring it to a boil. After that, add the chicken back, turn the heat to low and let it cook for 10 minutes. Following that, turn the heat to medium-high and cook for additional 8 minutes.

Then Remove the lid and let it continue to cook for 2 minutes while you use a flexible turner to turn and flip everything. Last but not least is to garnish with the sliced tomato and green pepper and serve.

Enjoy a tasty and healthy Tomatillo Chicken!

Tomatillo Chicken Recipe

Yield: 6 servings

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 50 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour

Tomatillo Chicken is a popular Mexican food, that featuring braised chicken in a tomatillo sauce. You will like this homemade from scratch tomatillo chicken, so easy to make and so appetizingly tasty.

Ingredients

3 lbs chicken thighs or drumsticks
1 lb tomatillos, fresh or frozen
1 large red onion
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 1/4 tsp Himalayan pink salt
1 1/4 tsp black pepper, freshly ground
2 tbsp avocado oil, or other cooking oil
4 cups of chicken broth, homemade preferred
1 lime juice, optional, if you like more tangy flavor

For garnishing:

a handful radish or vine-ripe small tomatoes, thin sliced
a couple of jalapeño or long green pepper, thin sliced
a bunch of cilantro, chopped, optional

Instructions

Gather ingredients. Add the 1 1/4 tsp Himalyan pink salt and 1 1/4 tsp black pepper to a small dish and blend well together.
If you use chicken thighs, remove the skin and cut it open next to the bone to make it a flat piece after rinse and dry them.
Sprinkle a thin layer of salt.& pepper blend evenly over the chicken, both sides.
Turn the heat to medium and heat a hard anodized frying pan for 2 minutes and then add 2 tbsp avocado oil, use a silicone spatula to spread evenly across the pan. Lay the chicken flat on the pan and cook for 2 minutes.
Flip the chicken and cook the other side for 2 minutes. After this, continue to cook and flip every minute for about 5-6 minutes, or till the chicken is properly browned and about 85% cooked. Remove the chicken from the frying pan.
Wash and rinse the tomatillo and then cut them into slices. Previously frozen tomatillos work great for this recipe. Remove the tomatillos from the freezer 1 hour before the cooking. Peel onion, trim the ends and cut into slices.
Mince garlic using a compact food processor.
Turn the heat to medium-high and heat the deep saute pan for 2 minutes. After that, scrape the residual oil from the hard anodized pan and add to the saute pan, along with the tomatillo, red onion, minced garlic and the remaining salt and black pepper blend.
Use a pair of bamboo spatula to toss and turn for about 2 minutes and then add the chicken.
Add 4 cups of chicken broth and bring it to a boil. Mix the chicken well with the braising sauce, cover the pan with a lid, turn the heat to low and cook for 12 minutes.
While waiting, prepare the garnish tomato and long green pepper.
Turn the heat to back to medium-high. remove the lid and cook for 5 minutes. Use a pair of bamboo spatula to toss and mix the chicken with the sauce.
Turn off the heat, garnish the Tomatillo Chicken and serve hot with rice or tortillas.