Michelle’s Puerto Rican Arroz con Pollo: Battle of Arroz con Pollos!
- August 2024
- By Michelle Ezratty Murphy
- Recipe from Puerto Rico
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Arroz con pollo is one of THE defining dishes of Latino cuisine. While they have a lot in common, the recipes for this staple dish can vary a lot. (For example, typically Cubans add beer, Puerto Ricans use achiote oil, Dominicans add soy sauce to their versions). That got us wondering. Which Latino locale do YOU think makes the best arroz con pollo?
So, we asked 3 of our favorite Latina cooks: Patty Morrell-Ruiz of The Mad Table (Cuban), Belqui Ortiz-Millili of Belqui’s Twist (Dominican), and Michelle Ezratty Murphy of Bowl & Apron (Puerto Rican family heritage) to have a chicken-and-rice food fight. Here’s how it works: Each cook is making her famous arroz con pollo and show us how it’s done, step by step, on video. Check out all three and then vote here for your favorite! The winner will be the newly crowned champion of our first-ever Familia Kitchen Battle of the Arroz con Pollos.
Competing for Puerto Rico: Michelle’s Family Arroz con Pollo
Defending the honor of Puerto Rico’s rice and chicken is Michelle Ezratty Murphy, who grew up in San Juan Puerto Rico and married a Puerto Rican, Pat. Michelle, who runs her Bowl & Apron cooking Instagram channel, loves to cook her husband’s family Boricua recipes, including this one which she learned form Pat’s Titi Rosa. Check out her recipe and her step-by-step video and you will see why this is one of her family’s all-time favorite meals ever, Michelle tells Familia Kitchen.
Q: What makes Puerto Rican arroz con pollo different from other Latino versions?
Michelle: Puerto Rican arroz con pollo is distinctively different from the Cuban and Dominican dishes because we use achiote oil for a beautiful deep amber-colored rice and of course sofrito for that taste that leaves you saying “I need to know what the secret ingredient is.”
Q: Who taught you to make this traditional Puerto Rican dish?
Michelle: The first time that I had my hands on making arroz con pollo, was at my husband’s Titi Rosa’s house. Before we were married, we would pop in to her house almost daily to say hello to the family, and if we were lucky, she had arroz con pollo in a huge pot ready to serve all the family who came to gather all times of the day. While I never cooked with her in this early years, I always watched Titi…and after we were married and I began to cook at home, I started to ask questions and write down the process. There was never a recipe, more a pinch of this and a cup of that. Later, I finally wrote the recipe down, incorporated a few of my own twists, and that is how I came up with Titi’s award-winning arroz con pollo recipe!
Q: Why do you think your version is the best and should win Familia Kitchen’s Battle of the Arroz con Pollos?
Michelle: People should vote for my Puerto Rican recipe because it’s simple, delicious, layered with real Puerto Rican kitchen flavors and honestly, my dish is made with more love than arroz con pollo can handle! From the crispy salted pork, to the freshly made sofrito and everything in between, but most of all it’s Titi’s legacy and love made in every batch. It brings the memories of the kitchen, the family and the beautiful times we all had together…so every dish that I serve, has that essence stirred right in.
Check out Michelle’s recipe below and watch her make her arroz con pollo step by step! Compare it to Belqui’s Dominican arroz con pollo (called locrio) here and Patty’s Cuban arroz con pollo recipe here. Then click here to VOTE for the No. 1 winner in our Battle of the Arroz con Pollos!
Will You Vote for Michelle’s Boricua Arroz con Pollo as the Winner?
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