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Chicken Legs with Achiote Garlic Sauce

4.1

(12)

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Photo by Romulo Yanes

  • Active Time

    30 min

  • Total Time

    1 3/4 hr

This dish, flavored with achiote seeds, garlic, and spices, is based on chickenpibil, from Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula. Traditionally, the chicken is baked in banana leaves, but here we've used collard leaves because they are more readily available. They add moisture and a bit of flavor but do not get tender enough to eat.

Ingredients

Makes 4 servings

1 tablespoon achiote (annatto) seeds*
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
1/4 teaspoon whole allspice
1/4 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano (preferably Mexican)
4 garlic cloves
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup fresh orange juice
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1/2 tablespoon olive oil
4 small whole chicken legs (1 3/4 lb total), separated into thighs and drumsticks
6 to 8 large collard leaves, stems trimmed flush with leaves
Accompaniments: 2 cups cooked white rice;pickled onions

Special Equipment

a 24- by 18-inch sheet of heavy-duty foil; an electric coffee/spice grinder

  1. Step 1

    Preheat oven to 350°F.

    Step 2

    Toast seeds, spices, and oregano together in a dry heavy skillet over moderate heat, stirring, until fragrant, 1 to 2 minutes. Cool slightly, then finely grind mixture in grinder.

    Step 3

    Mince garlic and mash to a paste with salt using a large heavy knife, then transfer to a large bowl and whisk in ground spices, juices, and oil.

    Step 4

    Remove skin and all visible fat from chicken, then add chicken to juice mixture and turn to coat.

    Step 5

    Lay foil loosely on top of a 13- by 9-inch baking dish and arrange collard leaves, overlapping, to create a 14-inch round in center of foil. Press foil and leaves loosely into dish to form a well, then mound chicken with sauce in well and fold collards over chicken to enclose. Wrap collard package snugly in foil, crimping edges to seal completely.

    Step 6

    Transfer foil package from baking dish directly to rack in middle of oven and bake until chicken is cooked through, 1 to 1 1/4 hours.

    Step 7

    Transfer foil package to a serving dish, then open foil. (If desired, carefully pull out foil from under collard package.) Open collards and serve chicken with rice and pickled onions.

Nutrition Per Serving

Each serving (including 1/2 cup rice) contains about 359 calories and 9 grams fat.
#### Nutritional analysis provided by Gourmet
Cooks' Note

*Available at Latino markets and some supermarkets.

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Reviews (12)

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  • Excellent! I used achiote paste, disolved in orange and lime juice (added a bit of garlic and oregano). It turned out perfect. The pickled onions are essential (although they needed a bit of vinegar for the appropriate sourness).

    • andresvernon

    • San Diego, CA

    • 1/10/2008

  • This was good - I added a couple minced hot little chilis and some tequila, to mimic my puerco pibil recipe. Didn't bother with the leaves, just wrapped in foil. Good chicken dish, but it's better with pork.

    • madball911

    • San Marcos, CA

    • 9/24/2006

  • Wow. The first words out of my husband's mouth after he took his first bite. I served this with Aromatic Yellow Rice (Bon Appetit 6/99). It was great. I did make a few changes when preparing the chicken: no achiote at Krogers, so I used SazonGoya, the only seasoning with Achoite I could find. I marinated the chicken overnight, and used indirect heat on the grill for an hour and 15 min. at 350º. A real keeper!

    • Anonymous

    • Fremont, OH

    • 9/5/2006

  • This was pretty good, but it needed some heat. Next time I will add a chili or some hot sauce.

    • Anonymous

    • 7/18/2005

  • This was wonderful, and so easy. A storm kept me from going out to buy the greens, so simply used aluminum foil. Definitely a keeper

    • Anonymous

    • Jackson, NJ

    • 5/21/2005

  • I was skeptical over the great reviews of this recipe (and seeing the last one made me more so), but had the annatto seeds etc. lying around. Didn't use banana leaves (stuck on an island, no hispanic grocery stores), but had everything else. Nothing short of fantastic, based on overall flavor and extreme ease of preparation. Cooked in triple layer foil on the grill. First five minutes a side on high then slow cook for 40 min. on top rack (if you do not have a top rack cook on very low. Great flavor and even better, low in calories. That's what gave it the extra star. Yeah a pound of butter and cream makes everything taste better...

    • Anonymous

    • Cape Cod, MA

    • 8/19/2004

  • I am not sure what everyone else like so much about this recipe. The flavors were good, but not outstanding. The effort of removing the skin, which I personally really dislike doing, was not worth it for this dish. Maybe I missed something, but overall just not good enough to make again.

    • Anonymous

    • St. Louis, MO

    • 2/22/2004

  • Wonderful light chicken recipe! Next time I will double sauce because it is great served over rice. Banana leaves, 2 layers of foil, and tossed on the BBQ (indirect heat) for an hour, produced fall-off the bone tender chicken! Try it - you won't be sorry.

    • Anonymous

    • AZ

    • 10/23/2003

  • This dish was a total hit with my guests. I did find the bananna leaves frozen at a Mexican grocery and I cooked the dish over indirect heat on the grill for 45 minutes.

    • chicago

    • 8/21/2003

  • One could also use banana leaves or just parchment, it seems that the collard leaves are there just to maintain moisture.

    • Anonymous

    • San Antonio del Mar, Mexico

    • 4/14/2003

  • Delicious! Not too difficult to make. My husband said this is a keeper. I made four individual packets and froze the other two servings.

    • Anonymous

    • Whittier, CA

    • 4/9/2003

  • I didn't use the collard leaves, just baked the dish in a casserole. It was really tasty and a nice change when chicken dishes are getting boring.

    • Anonymous

    • California

    • 3/31/2003

Tags Mexican Latin American Garlic Root Vegetable Vegetable Collard Greens Leafy Greens Chicken Leg Chicken Poultry Main Dinner Gluten Free Dairy Free Nut Free Easy Oven Bake Gourmet

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