Chicharrón de pollo (fried chicken bites) are flavorful and crispy, and a favorite recipe here. Chicken chicharrones are very popular as a flavorful, inexpensive, and very easy-to-find dish in any humble restaurant around the country, anywhere from large cities to small towns.
Why we ❤️ it
Chicken chicharrones can be found at any humble restaurant, countryside fonda, or Dominican beach food stand. It is the kind of food that one asks for when nothing on the menu seems trustworthy or one is not sure of the quality of the offer.
It is rare for Chicharrón de Pollo to disappoint with its crispy texture and the pleasing flavor of the mixture of spices in it.
What's chicharrón?
Chicharrón is used to describe some deep-fried foods, typically chicharrón de cerdo (pork rinds), but also to chicharrón de pollo, which are made with skin-on chicken bites that are coated with flour and seasonings and deep-fried.
Unrelated to these, there's also chicharrón de dulce de leche (or concón de dulce de leche) which is actually a dessert.
Limes and chicharron de pollo.
Serving suggestions
Chicharrón de pollo is typically served with tostones, and with some lime wedges on the side. If you're doing the chicharrones in the air fryer, some air fryer tostones are the perfect side. If you want to try another side dish, yuca fries or fried batata are always welcome.
Some people serve it with ketchup, though I'd prefer some mayo ketchup sauce to dip instead.
Top tips
- Remember to observe proper hygiene precautions when dealing with raw chicken.
- You can add a tablespoon of onion powder to the flour mixture if you like.
About our recipe
What makes the chicken chicharrones different from other fried chicken dishes is that:
1- The chicken is boned and cut into small pieces.
2 - It should be very crispy, especially the skin.
Beyond these points, each cook has their own way of seasoning it, as evident in the paragraphs at the end.
In our recipe, we will use chicken thighs. Why chicken thighs? Because they are the most flavorful part of the chicken, easier to remove the bones, have more skin, and are less dry. This is a personal preference, and I think it works better, but you can change it if you wish.
This recipe is my favorite combination, but of course, feel free to experiment. If you have another way of doing it, please share it with us in the comments.
Video
Recipe
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Chicharrón de Pollo [Recipe + Video] Crispy Fried Chicken Bites
Ingredients
- 2 pound chicken thighs, [0.91 kg]
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- 3 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon pepper (freshly-cracked, or ground)
- 1 teaspoon oregano (dry, ground)
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 2 cups oil for frying, (vegetable oil)
- 2 limes cut into wedges
Instructions
Ready chicken
Remove meat from bones. Cut chicken into small pieces that you could eat in one or two bites. Leave the skin on the chicken. You can use the leftover bones and parts to make broth. Set chicken pieces aside.
Coat chicken
- Combine flour, salt, pepper, oregano, and garlic powder. Mix well. Coat the each pieces of chicken with this mixture. Shake excess off.
Fried chicharrones de pollo
- Heat oil in a deep pan over medium heat (350 ºF [175 ºC). Deep fry the chicken until it turns golden brown (3-4 minutes on each side) --careful with hot oil splatters! Fry them three by three to avoid lowering the oil temperature too much.Place on a paper towel to drain excess oil.
Chicharrones de pollo in air fryer
- If you want to make them in the air fryer, instead of frying in oil, cook at 350 ºF [175 ºC] for 20 minutes, or until golden brown. They will be paler and a bit drier than fried, but still crispy and very tasty. The first time around they stuck to the bottom a bit, which was mostly solved by coating the bottom with a bit of sprayed oil.
Serve
- Garnish with lime wedges and serve with tostones.
Tips and Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information is calculated automatically based on ingredients listed. Please consult your doctor if you need precise nutrition information.
More chicken recipes
Chicken is a very popular meat in the DR, and we have a rich collection of chicken recipes for your to choose from. If you want to try another fried chicken recipe, the very popular pica pollo is worth making. Pollo guisado (braised chicken) is the most popular of our chicken dishes, followed by locrio de pollo (rice and chicken).
A "chin" of history
I never consult cookbooks to start developing our recipes. In general, I prefer to start with my own family traditions, or --when it comes to traditional Dominican recipes-- consult local home cooks about their way of doing things. The Dominican cookbooks have another important purpose for me (I collect them, and I have several very old ones): They help me to learn the history of a dish and see how it has evolved over time.
In the book Cocina Criolla by Amanda Ornes, 1947 edition, there's a recipe for Chicharrón de Pollo. In her recipe, there are important differences from the dish as I know it today. For example, Mrs. Ornes only seasons the chicken with salt, soy sauce, and rum, something I have not seen before (the rum part). I'm not sure if it's a personal touch by the author. She also instructs to coat the chicken bits with cracker crumbs, instead of flour. All this seemed very curious and interesting to me, and I wanted to mention it here.
In contrast, the recipe in the book Comidas Típicas Dominicanas from 1965, by Ligia de Bornia, is much more similar to mine, including serving with limes. This is closer to the Chicharrón de Pollo I know, and the only important difference between ours is that the author uses paprika instead of pepper.
