Paleo Arroz Con Pollo Recipe

Arroz Con Pollo is a flavorful Latin dish that’s basically chicken and rice with delicious spices thrown into the mix. To make this dish paleo we’re swapping in some cauliflower rice making this a grain-free 30 minute dinner! Bonus points that cauliflower rice doesn’t take nearly as long to cook as regular rice!

So my first time having this dish was when I stumbled across a recipe for “lightened up arroz con pollo” from the website SkinnyTaste. I LOVED the flavors and the spicy Colombian sauce that Gina served it with and it quickly became a go-to recipe.

After going paleo I noticed that some of the spice ingredients were less than stellar and I didn’t eat rice for awhile, I do now but I love this cauliflower version just the same. So I decided to healthify it again to a paleo version.

The hardest part of this recipe to me is waiting for the chicken to cook. To make this go even faster you can opt to use boneless chicken thighs which will cook faster than bone-in. I like the crispy skin though and since boneless thighs are usually skinless too I opt for bone-in most of the time.

I also got some time saving help from a bag of frozen cauliflower rice, gotta love Trader Joe’s! If you’ll need to make the rice from a head of cauliflower just pulse the florets in a food processor until it resembles rice! Easy as that.

I too served this with a herb packed hot sauce that adds a nice little tangy punch of heat to the dish. I feel like it picks everything up and ties it together perfectly.

RECIPE CARD

4.75 from 4 votes

Paleo Arroz Con Pollo Recipe

This flavorful Latin Paleo Arroz Con Pollo is packed full of delicious cauliflower rice, crispy chicken, onions, peppers, and a tangy hot sauce!

Course Main Course

Cuisine Mexican

Keyword tasty

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Total Time 45 minutes

Author Maya Krampf from WickedSpatula.com

Servings 4

Recipe Video

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Ingredients

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• 2 lb bone-in skin-on chicken thighs
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon turmeric
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 small white onion minced
• 1 clove garlic minced
• 1 medium bell pepper diced (or a mix of multiple colors)
• 12 ounces cauliflower rice

Hot sauce

• 1 bunch Fresh cilantro
• 1 medium jalapeño
• 4 medium green onions
• 1 tablespoon Lime juice
• 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
• 1 medium roma tomato
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• sea salt to taste

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Instructions

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1. Heat a large skillet over medium high heat. Season chicken with the 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon garlic powder, 1/2 teaspoon cumin, 1/4 teaspoon black pepper, 1/4 teaspoon turmeric, and 1/4 teaspoon cayenne.
2. Add the oil to the pan along with the chicken skin side down. Sear 10 minutes until skin is crisp, flip, cover, and continue to cook 15 minutes until cooked through. Remove and set aside. While the chicken is cooking make the hot sauce by combining all ingredients in a blender until smooth.
3. Add the diced onion, garlic, and peppers to the skillet with a pinch of salt and cook 5-7 minutes until soft.
4. Stir in the cauliflower rice and cook another 5 minutes until fluffy. Add the chicken back in and top with hot sauce.

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