Pollo Con Tajadas is a street food from Central America.  It is a delicious dish also known as pollo chuco with a combination of flavours and textures. It contains fried chicken slices, pickled onions, and yummy sauces it is served with along with some crunchy veggie toppings. 

Pollo Con Tajadas Honduras a mystic Flavour

It is a dish that is widely loved in Honduras for its mystic flavor and texture. San Pedro Sula, Honduras is the place where it originally originated. This Honduran platter is inviting and as good as street food can get.

pollo con tajadas hondureño is greatly admired by the people of Honduras as well as the visitors of the place for the “pollo” chicken in it and the fried plantains, not to forget the sauces it is served with. They will never have enough of this recipe as it never lets them cease their hands from it.

You can also try it at home and you will love it even more every time you eat it. For its recipe, you need to have some extra effort put in as the recipe is lengthy but you will never regret trying it once you have succeeded in cooking it in your lifetime.

What does Pollo Con Tajadas mean?

Pollo Con Tajadas means “chicken with slices”. It is the most liked and loved Honduran food. The chicken in it is fried  and crunchy but the plantain and sauces used with it are no less in their flavour and taste.

Altogether, pollo con tajadas is full of fried goodness between the chicken and plantains. However, the fat is beautifully balanced with the rest of the dish’s fresh and creamy components: pickled onions, shredded cabbage, chismol, pink sauce, and tomato sauce. Everything is stacked up in perfect harmony so all you have to do is dig in.

Honduras pollo con tajadas is a superb food that has the fried goodness of chicken as well as vegetables.  Although it is all about fats and meat the other components of the dish as the onions which are pickled and cabbages along with chismol and tomato sauce create a mesmerizing balance. It is a treasure of flavours, that you would never know about until you dig in.

If you are unable to find pollo con tajadas near me, why worry? When you can try its recipe at home and have Honduras’ fun.

what you need for the recipe:

As flavourful and tasteful as the recipe is, it has got a nice list of ingredients to cook it. The list might be long but keep calm and go grocery shopping without any reluctance as everything on the list is easy to find. Everything is under your control!

Ingredients your need for the chicken:

• Chicken (All the pieces like drumsticks, breasts, and legs-all with a bone to keep the meat extra juicy)
• Chicken bouillon powder:
• Garlic powder
• Yellow mustard
• Vegetable oil
• Flour
• Ground cumin
• Black pepper powder
• Paprika
• Salt

Ingredients your need for pickled onions:

• Red onions- they are good for a sharper and pungent taste
• Light brown sugar- if you want to use dark brown sugar, go ahead!
• Apple cider vinegar- consider it a compulsion as changing the vinegar will change the flavour you desire from pickled onions.
• Black pepper- obviously, as per requirement
• Salt- as per requirement

Things  you need for the cabbage:

Cabbage- you will need a neat and clean piece of fresh cabbage for it.

Ingredients you should have for chismol

• Red onions
• Green bell peppers-they are a superb choice for spiciness but if you want to have an extra spicy flavour then you should try green bell peppers or go for jalapenos.
• Tomatoes-you will need the tomatoes that are used in salad making as they are not watery to ruin the chismol with their water. If you use the regular ones just remove all the seeds to get rid of excessive water.
• Lime juice
• Cilantro
• Salt
• Olive oil

What you need for pink sauce:

• Mayonnaise- you will need full and rich mayonnaise, as it will give a creamy texture to the sauce and if you are interested in low fat mayo, you can opt for it.
• Garlic powder
• Paprika
• Granulated sugar
• Rice wine vinegar- it has to be unseasoned, and easy to find in the Asian supermarkets.
• Ketchup

Things your need for the tomato sauce

• Tomato sauce- you need a plain tomato sauce that you will use for pasta. If it is seasoned with garlic, basil or cheese it will not be suitable to use for this recipe.
• Chismol- It is a special ingredient. Without it you will not be able to make tomato sauce for this recipe.
• Chicken broth- you will need a chicken broth with low-sodium as while trying the recipe you will have full control over the salt and can use it where needed as per your taste. It is also your choice not to salt the broth,at all and use salt where needed in the recipe.

Ingredients for Tajadas:

• Plantains- you can use green bananas here.
• Vegetable oil

How to Make Pollo Con Tajadas

 There are many elements in the recipe and you need to separate all the ingredients for each element so you could use everything easily without pissing off at the mess it might create otherwise. Get yourself and the things organized and start step by step following the cooking process.

Combining all the ingredients for the marination of the chicken:

 Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl and mix. The next thing you need to do is add the chicken in the bowl and start coating it with the seasoning mixture. You need to make sure that you rub mustard in the chicken to coat it completely.  You can also speed up the process by letting the mustard mix with seasoning and coat the chicken with it. After it is coated well, you can leave it with marination overnight or at least for an hour.

Pickle the onions:

Start with slicing onions and putting them in a jar.  Then add all the rest of the ingredients in a pan and keep it on low heat and let it stay until the sugar dissolves in it. When you find the mixture ready, pour it into the jar of onions. Then let it cool down to room temperature and seal it.

Shred the cabbage:

Cut the cabbage into half and make its thin slices. If you have got a grater, you can utilize it.

Prepare the chimsol:

For this, you need to combine all the ingredients, season them with salt then refrigerate it.

Make the pink sauce:

You need to combine all the ingredients for a smooth mixture.

Make the tomato sauce:

Mix all the ingredients and cook them in a pan till the bell pepper and onions are softened. Then add the rest of the ingredients and mix well till the sauce simmers and thickens.

Fry the chicken:

Fry the chicken well and then put it on a paper towel to remove the excessive oil

Fry the plantains:

Fry all the plantains in the same oil to add some extra flavor in them.

Assemble the dish:

Place cabbage on plantains and top it with fried chicken and pickled onions, tomato sauce, pink sauce and chismol to enjoy.

What is chismol?

Chismol or chimol is the Honduran version of Pico de gallo which is a Mexican dish. Both have the same ingredients.  There is only one exception of green bell pepper and olive oil. Chimsol has mild spiciness whereas Pico de gallo has red or white onions along with jalapenos.

Tips and variation ideas

Here are a few tips and variations try for you to succeed with this dish if you have never tried it before:

Use of chicken drumsticks and legs:

Use chicken drumsticks and legs and skip chicken breast to try as the chicken breast is dry when cooked but the other parts stay juicy.

Marinate the chicken overnight:

If you keep the chicken marinated overnight it will absorb all the spices and enhance the flavour.

Use of thermometer for the oil:

It is suggested to use the thermometer to check the oil temperature when frying the chicken. If you don’t do so the chicken won’t crisp and will turn out to be oily and greasy. Keep the temperature from 350 to 375 to find the crispiness you need

Refry the chicken:

Once the chicken is ready just take it aside and fry again for 30 seconds to fry again to have the extra crispy and golden-brown color.

You need to make sure to thinly slice the plantains and fry them to get the crunch out of them because with them being thick you won’t be able to find it so cut them as per your taste.

Fry the plantains:

Use freshly ground black pepper:

The black pepper you are going to use in the recipe has to be freshly ground to have the perfect aroma and taste.

What Variations you can use:

If you don’t want to use plantains you can use French fries to have the delicious pollo con tajadas. This way the dish won’t stay traditional but still, you will love its deliciousness.

Use purple cabbage:

Another variation you could bring is related to the cabbage color. Instead of the green one, you can choose purple cabbage which will add more color to the dish.

Here are some serving suggestions:

There are a few suggestions to work on if you want to be successful at trying this recipe out and win all the praise you deserve for it. You can add sour cream and fresco cheese for the topping of pollo con tajadas. If you want to love it with sour flavor then squeeze some lemon juice on it.

When the dish is so rich, you need to have an excellent drink with it. It is recommended that you should try Jarritos, which is a Mexican soda brand that is fruit-flavored.  tamarind and tangerine also go with it as they are the favorite of many to have with this dish. Copan Dry is a Honduran version of Jarritos that is available in strawberry, orange, pineapple, fruit punch, and many others.

Storing and reheating tips for Leftovers

Pollo con tajadas is such a treat that has to be prepared and enjoyed the very same day. If you refrigerate it, you will spoil its taste. It is better not to do so; rather you can store all the ingredients separately and start making pollo con tajadas fresh whenever you like it.

Storing Extras in the Fridge:

You can store the fried chicken in an airtight jar and the sauces and cabbage along with chimsol and plantains for 5 days at least. As for the pickled onions, once they are dipped in the vinegar they won’t spoil at all over a month even.

The process of Reheating Leftovers:

Whenever you have to prepare the dish just take out the chicken and let it stay at room temperature. Then bake it at 360-400 F for 5-7 minutes and it will be crispy again.  You can also reheat plantain in the microwave or fry them anew.

Do we recommend freezing the extra?

No,It is not even the case that you can freeze the leftovers under any condition. The reason is each element of the recipe has to be crispy and if you freeze and use it again the crispiness will not be there.

Pollo Con Tajadas

Pollo Con Tajadas is a traditional fried chicken and plantain dish, it is colorful, tasty to eat and gorgeous to look at with its combination of sauces and topping of veggies.

Yield: 1 serving

Level: Medium

Total Time:  2 hours and 30 Minutes

Active:    30 Minutes

Prep:  2 hours

Nutritional Analysis	Per Serving
Serving Size	1 serving
Cholesterol	93 mg
Total Fat	29 g
Saturated Fat	7 g
Carbohydrates	50 g
Protein	28 g
Sodium	977 mg
Calories	573
Sugar	15 g

Ingredients For Chicken

• 3 pounds whole chicken with thighs, breast, and drumsticks
• ½ tsp Garlic powder
• 2 tbsp Chicken bouillon
• ½ tsp Black pepper
• ½ tsp Cumin
• 4 tbsp Yellow mustard
• 3 tbsp Onion powder
• 2 cups flour

Ingredients For Pickled onions

• onion thinly sliced
• dash of black pepper
• 1 cup water
• 1 tsp salt
• ½ cup apple cider vinegar
• 1 tbsp light brown sugar

Ingredients For Pink Sauce

• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 2 tbsp ketchup
• 2 tsp Rice wine vinegar
• ½  tsp Paprika
• 2 tbsp Water
• 2 tbsp granulated sugar
• 2 tsp garlic powder

Ingredients for Chimsol

• 2 diced tomatoes
• 1 diced red onion
• 1 lime for juice
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• Salt to taste
• 1 diced green pepper
• ¼ cup Cilantro chopped

Ingredients for Tomato sauce

• 4 tbsp of chimsol
• ½ cup tomato sauce
• ½ cup chicken broth

For cabbage

1 full cabbage (Fresh) thinly cut or grated

For plantains

• 5 green bananas
• Vegetable oil for frying

Directions for chicken

Mix the seasoning and spices:

You need to start by mixing all the ingredients together in a bowl. The ingredients are 3 pounds of a whole chicken with thighs, breast and drumsticks, Garlic powder, Chicken bouillon, Black pepper, Cumin, Yellow mustard, and Onion powder except flour. Mix them all well to prepare a good seasoning.

Coating of chicken with mustard

Take a large bowl and spread the chicken in then start coating it with mustard all over.

Coat and season the chicken with all the spices

Rub the chicken coated with mustard with all the seasoning properly. Make sure you don’t leave any spot uncoated or unseasoned.

Marinate the chicken

Cover the marinated chicken in the refrigerator, covering it with plastic foil overnight for the spices to show their magic bringing flavour or keep it refrigerated for an hour at least.

Directions for pickled onion

Start with slicing the onions. You need to slice the onions thinly and add them to a jar.

Make the brine.

Take a saucepan and add vinegar, salt, black pepper, brown sugar, and water and cook over medium heat till the sugar dissolves and stops when the liquid starts simmering.

Pour the liquid over the onions.

Once the liquid has simmered just pour it on the onions and let it cool down.

Seal the jar to store

When the jar cools down for you to touch comfortably, place it in the refrigerator.

Directions for chimsol

Mix all the ingredients.

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and add salt to taste and mix well.

Refrigerate it.

When the mixture is ready, put it in the fridge and work on the rest of the recipe.

Direction For Tomatato Sauce

Time to cook the chismol.

Take a small saucepan, add 4 tbsp of chimsol, and cook for three minutes on medium heat till the pepper and onions are soft.

Use the remaining ingredients and simmer.

Now add tomato sauce and chicken broth in it and let the sauce simmer for 5 minutes at least

Take off from the burner.

Take off the sauce from the stove and let it cook down before you put it in the fridge.

Directions for pink sauce

Combine the ingredients.

You need to mix all the ingredients well to make a smooth and yummy mixture.

Place it in the fridge.

When the sauce is prepared just put it in the fridge to use later for serving.

Directions for cabbage

Cut the cabbage

Thinly cut the cabbage or grate it, do whatever is easy for you to do.

Directions for plantain

Peel the bananas. Remove the banana peels and discard them.

Peel off the bananas neatly.

Cut into thin diagonal slices

Cut the bananas into diagonal slices and keep them as thin as you like because it is the thin slices that add crunchy tajadas .

Directions for frying

Heat the oil

The first thing you need to do is start heating the vegetable oil in a large saucepan at 350 degrees.

Bread the chicken.

Take a bowl and add some flour to it, as per the quantity mentioned in the ingredients. Take the marinated chicken from the fridge and coat it entirely with this flour. Keep it for some timelike 4-5 minutes on the baking sheet before you start frying it.

Fry the chicken.

Make sure the oil is hot as per your requirement and add the chicken pieces one by one in it to fry it. make sure the internal temperature of the hot vegetable oil is 165 degrees. After the chicken is fried properly, take it out on a paper towel and remove the excessive oil. 

Fry the plantains

When the chicken pieces are fried one by one you need to pick the green bananas which are finely and thinly sliced and start frying them until they are yellow in color and seem to be crispy. It will take about 3-4 minutes till you fry them. Take them out of the oil after they are fried to a crisp and remove the extra oil on the paper towel.

Dish out:

It is time to assemble the dish with all its elements on a platter, make the first layer of the fried green bananas, then the thinly cut fresh cabbage, fried chicken should be on top by now. Now add tomato sauce and chimsol along with pink sauce and pickled onions for topping.

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