🇧🇿 How to Make Stew Chicken

Craving Stew Chicken? On FoodNeverComes the food never actually comes — so here's how to make real Stew Chicken at home, in about 1 hr, with stuff you probably already have.

🛒 Ingredients

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• 1 whole chicken, jointed into 8
• 2 tbsp recado rojo (annatto paste)
• 3 tbsp white vinegar
• 1 tsp dried oregano, 1 tsp cumin
• 1 onion, sliced, 4 cloves garlic, crushed
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 2 tbsp oil
• 1 cup water or stock
• salt and black pepper

👩‍🍳 Method

1. Mash the recado with the vinegar, oregano, cumin, garlic, salt and pepper into a loose paste. Rub it into the chicken and marinate at least 2 hours, ideally overnight.
2. Heat the oil in a heavy pot, add the brown sugar and let it melt and darken to the colour of strong tea. This burnt-sugar browning is what gives Belizean stew chicken its colour — not the recado.
3. The moment it starts to smoke, put the chicken in skin-side down. It will spit. Do not let the sugar go black or the whole pot turns bitter.
4. Brown the pieces on both sides in the caramel, 6–8 min.
5. Add the onion and any leftover marinade, then the water. Scrape the bottom of the pot.
6. Cover and simmer 35–40 min until the chicken is falling off the bone and the gravy is dark and thick. Serve over rice and beans with a spoon of potato salad.