There’s just so much flavor in this Crockpot Sofrito Chicken. Bright, bold, fresh – it’s a wonderful change of pace. Liven up that chicken with this Latin inspired crockpot dinner!
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Crockpot Dinners
Years ago my crockpot was just another kitchen contraption collecting dust. Occasionally I’d throw a hunk of beef in there and make some stew, but for the most part the crockpot just wasn’t getting any love.
The past few years I’ve really started embracing it’s convenience and enjoy trying new dishes in it. This Crockpot Sofrito Chicken is a fine example of how awesome a crockpot can be!
I tend to use the crockpot on days where I know I have a lot going on or when I just don’t want to deal with a dinner time production. Throw it all together, pop a lid on it and 4-8 hours later dinner is ready to go. Of course any crockpot recipe can easily be made in the oven or a Dutch oven, if you’d like.
Looking for some more crockpot dinner inspiration? Check out these recipes: Crockpot Spanish Style Chicken Breasts & Crock Pot Teriyaki Chicken !
Ingredients & Instructions
This chicken recipe is slow cooked in a what is basically a big batch of sofrito, some herbs, spices and chicken broth. I know you’re looking at the longer than usual list of ingredients thinking “Whaaat!? I don’t have some of this stuff”. Hear me out….
Sofrito. For those not familiar with it, it’s best described as a liquid seasoning, it has a thin salsa consistency. A few tablespoons is used in anything and sometimes almost everything in Latin food – meats, stews, rice, beans. Everyone makes it a little different. It’s basically a combination of pureed or chopped peppers, onions, garlic and cilantro. You can buy sofrito already made at the grocery store in the freezer section and sometimes you can find it made fresh in the produce section.
Cubanelle peppers. This is a long, sweet, yellow/green pepper. Cubanelles are a pretty common pepper, often referred to as simply “cooking peppers” or “yellow peppers”. If they are not available, substitute a bell pepper.
Sazon and Adobo – I use both seasonings often in my cooking & in many recipes I share. I absolutely, positively recommend picking both up & recommend only Goya brand. Sazon comes in a small box with individual packets inside and Adobo is in a regular spice container – you’ll usually find them in the “ethnic section” of your grocery store. They both lend important flavors to this recipe and many other Latin recipes. Good news is, buying both of these will only set you back a few bucks and I’m sure you’ll find plenty of other uses for both seasonings.
Here are the links for Sazon Seasoning & Adobo Seasoning. Happy Seasoning!
As most crockpot recipes – there’s some prep work involved and then you’re pretty much done. Throw the chicken thighs in the crockpot, you can brown them first if you’d like. Wash, prep and roughly chop the peppers, onion, garlic and cilantro. I toss them all into my food processor, pulse it and drizzle in the olive oil. Process until mixture is a runny salsa consistency. Alternatively, if you don’t have a food processor or a blender, you could finely chop or grate everything by hand.
Pour the sofrito on top of the chicken in the crockpot. Follow with remaining ingredients and pour warm chicken broth over it all. Pop the lid on and cook for 4 hours on low or 8 hours on high – whichever works for you.
That’s it. I serve this almost like a stew. I dish out a giant spoonful of all that “sofrito sauce goodness” into a pasta bowl, top with some rice and a piece of chicken. Sprinkle with a pinch of chopped cilantro if you’d like.
Hope you enjoy!
Amanda ♥
Crockpot Sofrito Chicken
Ingredients
- 3 lbs chicken thighs bone-in
- 1 large green bell pepper
- 2 medium cubanelle peppers
- 1 large onion
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1 handful of cilantro optional
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 can diced tomatoes undrained (14.5 oz)
- small can tomato sauce 8 oz
- 1 packet goya sazon seasoning
- 3 bay leaves
- 1 tablespoon goya adobo seasoning
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- pinch of oregano
- 10 olives + 2 tablespoon olive juice
- 1 1/2 cup warm chicken broth
- prepared rice
Instructions
- Place chicken in crockpot. You can brown chicken first if you prefer.
- Wash, prep and roughly chop peppers, onion, cilantro and garlic for food processor.
- Process veggies, drizzle in olive oil. Pulse until you have a thin salsa consistency. This is your sofrito.
- Pour sofrito over chicken.
- Pour can of undrained diced tomatoes and tomato sauce over chicken.
- Add packet of sazon, bay leaves, adobo, cumin, paprika, salt, pepper, oregano, olives and olive juice.
- Pour warm chicken broth over top.
- Cover crockpot and cook on high for 4 hours or low for 8 hours – whichever works for you.
- Season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Eat this almost like a stew. Serve chicken with a BIG ladle of sofrito/sauce and a hearty portion of rice. Sprinkle with a pinch of chopped cilantro if you like.
- Enjoy : )
Thinking of making your crockpot chicken soft into recipe and using chicken breasts shredded all together. Any thoughts?
Sofrito not soft
I make it often with chicken breasts – it’s wonderful! I hope you enjoyed it 🙂
I just got a crockpot and this was my first dish which was absolutely delicious, my family loved it. My family loved coming home to such a wonderful aroma, thanks Amanda.
Yay! I’m so glad you and your family enjoyed the chicken, Jeanette! Happy Slow Cooking 🙂