This pollo asado features marinated chicken in a mixture of lime and orange juice, Mexican herbs and spices and achiote paste to achieve it’s signature red-orange color. Grill it, roast it in the oven or even make it in the slow cooker!
Table of Contents
There’s nothing better than tender and juicy pollo asado right off the grill!
This Mexican grilled chicken is flavorful, easy to make, and perfect for weeknight meals. Serve the chicken with your favorite Mexican side dishes, or slice it into strips to serve in tacos!
What Is Pollo Asado?
Pollo asado is Mexican grilled chicken that’s been marinated in a mixture of citrus juices, spices like cumin, oregano, paprika, and, most notably, achiote paste, which gives the chicken its signature orange and red color.
Pollo asado is typically grilled, but you can also roast it in the oven or even make it in a slow cooker. (Instructions for all three methods can be found in the recipe card below.)
What Is Achiote?
Achiote is a spice made from ground annatto seeds that has a slightly peppery and earthy flavor. It’s used in various Latin cuisines and is well known for the bright orange and red color that it gives anything it’s cooked with (similar to how turmeric can stain things yellow).
Achiote is found in various forms – whole seeds, ground into a powder, or formed into a paste. For this recipe, we’re using achiote paste.
Achiote is typically found in Mexican or Asian specialty markets or in the international foods aisle of your local grocery store. If you can’t find it near you, you can get it online.
Ingredients Needed
- Chicken: I like to use chicken thighs since they are juicer and hold more flavor, but you can also use chicken breasts.
- Achiote paste: This gives the marinade its signature bright red-orange color. Achiote paste is made of annatto seeds, vinegar, garlic, and peppery spices. You can find achiote in most Mexican grocery stores, but if that’s not an option, you can easily find it online.
- Orange and lime: You’ll need orange and lime juice to create a delicious citrus flavor for the marinade.
- Seasonings: I used a mix of kosher salt, oregano, smoked paprika, ground coriander, black pepper, ground clove, and ground cumin.
- Vinegar: This helps tenderize the chicken so it’s soft and juicy. I used white wine vinegar, but you could also use distilled white vinegar.
How to Make Pollo Asado
- Combine: Whisk together orange juice, olive oil, lime juice, white wine vinegar, achiote paste, ground coriander, smoked paprika, dried oregano, ground cumin, a pinch of ground cloves, minced garlic, salt and black pepper.
- Marinate: Place the marinade in a large storage bag, add the chicken thighs, seal, and mix everything together. Refrigerate for 2-6 hours, but no longer than 8 hours.
- Grill: Preheat the grill to 350°F-375°F and grill chicken over medium heat. Remove the chicken from the marinade and shake off any excess liquid. Place the chicken skin side down, close the lid, and grill for 8 to 10 minutes.
- Cook: Flip the chicken over, move it to the indirect heat side of the grill, close the lid and cook for another 15-20 minutes.
- Serve: That’s it! Serve the chicken with a nice squeeze of fresh lime juice and enjoy!
Tips
- Don’t have achiote paste? You can leave it out completely or substitute regular paprika in its place, but the flavor will be slightly different.
- Make sure not to use any plastic to marinate the chicken since the achiote powder can stain your container.
- If using charcoal, simply place the lit charcoal on one side of the grill. Never lit a charcoal grill before? Learn how to start a charcoal grill.
- If you can’t use a grill, no worries, this can be cooked on a stovetop, baked in the oven, or in a slow cooker! Instructions are included in the recipe card below.
Recommended Tools
- Grill pan. If you can’t use a traditional grill for this recipe, you can use a grill pan instead. This one is my favorite.
- Instant read thermometer. One of my favorite kitchen tools! Helps me make sure that meat is cooked to the proper temperature.
Serving Suggestions
If you’re looking for some delicious Mexican sides to pair with your pollo asado, here are a few of my favorites:
Storing and Freezing
Pollo asado can be stored in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to 4 days.
To freeze, place the marinade and chicken in a freezer storage bag ahead of time and store it in the freezer until it’s time to eat. Take the bag from the freezer the night before and let it thaw completely in the fridge. Grill it the next day for lunch or dinner, and enjoy!
More Chicken Recipes
- The Best Chicken Marinade (only 2 ingredients!)
- Flautas
- Pozole Verde
- Mole
- Chicken Tortilla Soup
Ingredients
- ¼ cup orange juice (about 1 medium orange)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon lime juice (about ½ lime)
- 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
- 2 tablespoons achiote paste (about 1.5 ounces*)
- 1 tablespoon ground coriander
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 teaspoons smoked paprika
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- ⅛ teaspoon ground cloves
- 2-3 pounds chicken thighs or legs, trimmed of excess skin and fat (boneless and skinless, or bone-in and skin-on)
- Vegetable oil, for greasing grill
Instructions
- Add all the ingredients except the chicken in a small bowl. Whisk to combine.
- Place the chicken in a large glass bowl or gallon-size storage bag and pour in the marinade. Toss everything together to coat, cover, and refrigerate for 2 to 6 hours. (Do not marinate longer than 8 hours.)
- To grill: Preheat the grill to medium-high heat and lightly oil the grates with vegetable oil. Grill the chicken for 5 to 10 minutes per side depending on the thickness of the meat until cooked through and the internal temperature reaches 160-165°F on an instant read thermometer.
- To cook on the stovetop: Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and cook for 5 to 10 minutes per side, depending on the thickness of the meat until cooked through and the internal temperature reaches 160-165°F on an instant read thermometer.
- To bake: Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Arrange the chicken in a single layer on a large foil-lined baking dish. Bake the chicken until the internal temperature reaches 160-165 degrees F on an instant-read thermometer. Chicken thighs and tenders need about 15 minutes. Medium to large breasts need 20 to 25 minutes.
- To make in the slow cooker: Add all ingredients into a large slow cooker plus ½ cup chicken broth or water. Mix together to coat the chicken, cover, and slow cook on low for 6-7 hours or on high for about 4-5 hours.
- Transfer the chicken to a plate, loosely tent it in foil, and let it rest for 5 minutes before serving.
Isabel’s Tips:
- Don’t have achiote paste? You can leave it out completely or substitute regular paprika in its place. It won’t quite have the same flavor, but it will still be delicious!
Nutrition Information
This has GREAT flavor and is worth all the effort measuring all of the spices. I marinate it for about 2 hours and then divide the thighs into sets of three. I can then freeze them in ziploc bags and pull out a serving whenever I want for a quick meal.
Delicious and easy! I used a chopped up, bone in, skinless whole chicken and cooked it in a slow cooker on low for 5 hours with an added cup of chicken stock. Was great on its own and in tacos.
Hi Isabel, I am going to make the Chicken Asado in the crockpot, using boneless, skinless thighs. I intend to either shred the chicken or cut into small chunks and serve as tacos. what would you suggest to top the tacos with? I always use chopped onions and cilantro on my carne asada tacos. Was wondering if you think that would work also?
thanks so much for all your awesome recipes.
Hi Julie! I think that would be great! You can also top it with pico de Gallo or your favorite salsa.
I LOVE this recipe. We always make it on the grill, and it comes out perfectly every time! It’s delicious.
Wow….Isabel!!! Your pollo asado recipe is super delicious. I absolutely love it. The marinade is fantastic.
Hi Isabel! I love your recipes! I am making this today for burritos and doing boneless skinless thighs in my slow cooker. I have small slow cooker and am only doing 1 pound of chicken. Just wondering if it is okay if a couple are on top of the others? Thanks! and Happy New Year!
Hi Tammy! I’m not sure about that. That might affect the way the chicken forms a crust from the marinade, but it should still have the great flavor nonetheless. Hope this helps!
Perfect. With corn tortillas and the coleslaw from the pulled pork recipe.
Thanks Celia! That sounds like an amazing dinner!
Really excellent chicken. I’ve made this several dozen times for tacos, using costco frozen chicken breasts or tenderloins and pennzey’s spices, using a grill pan when it’s too rainy or cold for the pellet grill.
Served over heated corn tortillas, with crema, diced onion/cilantro, a squeeze of lime, a little grated cojita cheese and a dollop of smooth homemade smoked chili salsa.
I have made Pollo Asada for years using almost the same recipe for the marinade. I live in Texas so anchiote powder is easy to find and is a must for authentic flavor. I serve it with barracho beans and cilantro lime rice and limes and salsa verse. Delish!
This was the best pollo asado I’ve ever eaten. Fan-freakin’-tastic!! I only had skinless boneless thighs in the fridge, so I can’t wait to try this again with skin-on. I might try your parboiling trick here to get the skin nice and crispy!
Fifth time making this. Used 1tsp salt instead of 1TBS. Baked in 8×8 glass dish as that’s what I had. Super tasty dish.
I made this tonight and it was delicious! I used bone in, skin on thighs and legs. The only thing I did different was to marinate overnight in the dry seasonings. I added the liquid seasonings this morning and marinated for and 5 hours. I also smoked the chicken in my smoker for a couple hours instead of grilling it. Because I was going to smoke it, I used mostly regular paprika instead of smoked paprika. Everyone couldn’t quit talking about how delicious it was! Thanks for this great recipe!
Delicious! I bake it in the oven using chicken thighs. Served with cilantro lime rice, corn tortillas, cabbage, romaine, and cheese. I am so glad to have found your blog. Thank you!
hi! I live in Yucatan and we get naranja agria sour/Bitter oranges here … so do you think Ican use them in the recipe instead of sweet orange juice? Skip some of the vinegar? Thanks so much
Hi Kiki! Yes that substitution should be fine!
So glad to have found your blog! This is the first recipe of yours I’ve tried and it is astoundingly good. Can’t wait to try more!
I love good pollo asado, very few places in Western Washington have it, even my local meat market pre-made has a funky aftertaste. This recipe rocks, I’ve been looking for a good one for a long time. I can’t wait to try something else from Isabel Eats.com!
Excellent! Just made this tonight for our family Sunday dinner and got rave reviews. I used skinless boneless thighs and added cilantro to the marinade. We topped with the lime cilantro slaw from your pulled pork taco recipe. Match made in heaven!
This is my go-to chicken marinade now when I make chicken burritos or chicken and rice. I don’t have an outdoor grill so the fact that I can still get the FLAVA in the oven is my favorite.
This is the best pollo asada recipe. Such great flavor. I’m making it again to take on a camping trip. I followed recipe exactly as written and used boneless skinless chicken thighs. Deeelicious!!!!!
This looks amazing 😍 do you think it would turn out well if I left out smoked paprika (no nightshades for me) and used a dash of liquid smoke instead, so I can still get that smoky flavor?
Absolutely! That’s a great idea actually. I should start experimenting with liquid smoke more often 🙂