Pollo Verde

This is another one of those dinners that does not necessarily look that great in the photo and the recipe isn't really exact, but it's pretty dang tasty and in my case, used up some extra peppers we picked up at the last farmer's market.

Pollo Verde, a marinade for your chicken

In the food processor add the following:
One Anaheim chili, seeds removed, chopped in large chunks.
Three or Four Poblano chilis, chopped into large chunks
Three or Four Jalapenos, seeds removed, chopped into large chunks
One bunch Cilantro (rinsed) and stems removed
Three or Four Garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
Juice of two Limes
One TB salt
Few grinds of pepper
One tsp cumin & coriander


Whiz until combined and pastey. If it’s dry and lumpy, add some olive oil or a little water.

Roughly clean chicken parts of your choice (for this amount of marinade, I had one chicken, cut into eight parts). Cut off excessively fatty parts, but leave most the skin on. Rinse in cold water & pat dry. Place the chicken in a large zip bag, pour green sauce over the top. Put in a bowl (to catch any spills) and stick in the fridge for at least an hour, up to eight hours.

Grill or roast until done, depending on the size of the piece of chicken 14-20 minutes.


In this case, I roasted the chicken for about 20 minutes. Some of it was a little over done, some just right and super juicy. The skin had been removed, so a few of the leaner pieces (breasts) had a tendency to dry out a wee touch. I placed the chicken on the baking sheet and spooned over extra of the green marinade. Then I put chunks of potatoes that I had coated in olive oil around the chicken put the whole mess in the oven until done. The little fat that was left in the chicken rendered out and mixed with the olive oil on the potatoes and created some very luscious taters. I was very happy with the results.

A NOTE ON THE HEAT OF THE PEPPERS: The three peppers I used this time had three types of heat levels, which was represented in the quantity of each. The Anaheim was actually hotter this time around. So I used only one. The Poblano was very mild. The Jalapeno was mild, but the seeds were spicy. When it was all blended, with the cilantro and lime and spices, what was left was a zippy, green, grassy, herbal, vegetable flavor, not spicy/HOT, to the chicken. If you are looking for spicy/hot you can certainly leave all the seeds and/or use more of a particular pepper. I like spicy, but I also don't want to mask the flavors of the rest of the dish.