A crispy garlic topping and chicken atop a delicious, fragrant rice porridge from the Philippines is called arroz caldo. This is the ideal comfort dish to try tonight!
Similar to American chicken and rice soup, but with a considerably thicker consistency and greater depth of flavor, is this tasty Filipino soul food soup recipe. In less than an hour, the flavorful rice porridge with crunchy garlic chips on top and soft chicken bits inside is prepared!
Arroz Caldo Recipe
In the Philippines, a warm bowl of arroz caldo is a staple diet. It is a congee of rice and chicken. Similar to a rice porridge, congee is a staple in Asian cuisine. However, this is a major dish rather than a dessert, unlike rice pudding, which you may be accustomed to. This traditional comfort food meal is essentially comparable to a rice porridge in consistency and a Filipino chicken and rice soup.
Enjoy this meal of rice and chicken porridge with some sweet Hawaiian bread on chilly days for the perfect comfort food combination. Nothing makes you feel warmer than a bowl of soup. Chicken Arroz Caldo is another popular morning food in the Philippines. This meal is packed with protein and will keep you full for the whole day.
Arroz Caldo Ingredients
- Chicken Thighs: This flavorful, substantial recipe is the ideal match for the luscious, dark flesh of chicken thighs. Instead of using chicken thighs in this dish, you can, if you’d like, use bone-in chicken breasts. Either you can’t make the delectable crispy topping or you don’t want to utilize boneless chicken. In comparison to chicken thighs, the chicken breast will likewise cook thoroughly in a few less minutes.
- Rice: For the greatest taste and texture, choose fragrant white rice, such as Basmati or Jasmine rice. If you would rather, you may use another type of long-grain white rice. You will need to cook the brown rice for a longer period of time and add extra broth.
- Seasonings: This savory meal is made brighter by the combination of fresh ginger slices and tangy lime. The flavor of ginger balances out the fatty taste of the chicken skin. Additional garlic cloves provide a burst of fragrant warmth. Lastly, the bay leaves and saffron add a flowery earthiness.
- Toppings: If you don’t have any toppings on hand, feel free to omit them. However, top each bowl of rice porridge with fish sauce, a soft- or hard-boiled egg, salt, cilantro, and green onions for the most genuine appearance and flavor. The flavor of the entire meal is greatly influenced by the fish sauce.
How to Make Arroz Caldo
Prepare the chicken.
If the chicken thighs are frozen, make sure to put them in the refrigerator before beginning the recipe so they have time to defrost. After that, take the chicken’s skin off.
Cook the Chicken Skin in Fry
Fill a big Dutch oven or heavy saucepan with vegetable oil. Turn the heat down to medium-low after starting it at medium heat. After adding the chicken skin to the saucepan, simmer it for eight to ten minutes. The fat will crisp up and render from the skin. Before it burns, the skin should be as crispy as possible. After taking the chicken skin off the fire, cut off any areas that didn’t crisp up perfectly. Next, cut the remainder and set it aside for later.
Prepare the Chips with Garlic.
Add the minced garlic cloves to the saucepan and whisk to coat them. Cook until the garlic is just beginning to brown, about 1 minute. Take care to take the garlic cloves from the flame before they burn, since they will continue to brown after that. After removing the garlic with a slotted spoon, save the crispy chicken skin for later use.
Saute the chicken.
Take some kosher salt and black pepper and season the skinless chicken thighs. In the same saucepan that you used to make the crispy coating, place the chicken thighs and increase the heat to medium. Fry them for five to seven minutes on each side. After then, take the chicken out of the pot.
Get the rice ready.
When the onion is transparent, add it, stir, and simmer for 4–5 minutes. After that, add the garlic and ginger and simmer for an additional minute. Stir the rice grains to ensure they are evenly covered in the pan fat. Continue cooking like way for 30 seconds, then pour in the chicken broth and bring it to a boil. Add the saffron, bay leaves, and chicken thighs and reduce the heat to a simmer.
Prepare the Porridge.
Simmer the rice and chicken for 25 to 30 minutes, or until they are both soft. For a more realistic appearance, you can leave the thighs whole; alternatively, you can cut them out and serve the chicken in smaller pieces. Subsequently, extract the bay leaves and blend with the lime juice. To garnish, you can also add more wedges.
Add a garnish and proceed to serve.
To reheat the garlic and chicken skin, microwave for 5 seconds. Spoon the rice soup into a bowl and garnish with a half soft-boiled egg, a lime wedge, green onions, cilantro, salt, and Asian fish sauce to serve. Finally, toss the chicken and fried garlic over the top of the Arroz Caldo to complete the dish.
Cooking Arroz Caldo Recipe Tips & Tricks
Don’t Let the Garlic Burn
- Garlic that has burned is one of the easiest things to ruin a meal, so watch it closely and don’t let it burn. The secret is to heat the oil slowly enough to become heated but not so hot that the garlic will cook. Remove and drain the garlic as soon as it becomes golden brown. As it cools and settles, it will become crunchy.
Crunchy Skin of Chicken
- Make sure to pat your chicken skin as dry as possible before you begin frying it. If the skin is very wet, it may boil in the oil rather than fry, leaving it mushy. It will stay crispy if you allow it to cool and drain on a wire rack rather than paper towels so that air can circulate around it.
Arroz Caldo Variations
- Lemon Juice: You may use lemon juice in place of lime juice to give your arroz caldo a zesty, fresh lemon flavor. Simply add the lemon juice to the recipe as directed, and then serve the food, garnishing each mouthwatering bowl with a slice of lemon.
- Seasonings: A few basic spices might be used to give the rice and chicken soup other tastes. The saffron flavor in the dish would work well with curry powder, cumin, fennel seeds, white pepper, and coriander.
How to Store Arroz Caldo
Store: Arroz Caldo should not be kept at room temperature for longer than two hours after cooking. Place the rice and chicken pudding in an airtight container to store any leftovers. Store it in the refrigerator for two to three days.
Reheat: Arroz Caldo is best served gently in a covered pan over the stove. Once it’s well heated, give it an occasional stir. The next day it will likely be considerably thicker, so add more broth until you have the right consistency.
Freeze: Another option is to portion the pot into freezer-safe jars. You may freeze it for up to three months. Thaw the porridge overnight and reheat according to the recipe.
FAQs
Where does Arroz Caldo come from?
Filipino chicken and rice dish is called arroz caldo. The authentic Arroz Caldo I had the opportunity to sample in the Philippines served as the inspiration for my dish. To complete the hearty chicken bowl, I’ve added all the classic toppings: fish sauce, green onions, soft-boiled egg, and crispy garlic.
What is the difference between Arroz caldo and Lugaw?
Lugaw is more of a straightforward rice porridge recipe, although it really relates to most rice porridge recipes. Arroz Caldo, on the other hand, is distinct from a simple Lugaw meal since it contains bits of chicken and ginger.
Kitchen Tools & Equipment
- Dutch Oven: The ideal equipment for cooking this rich, flavorful rice porridge is a high-quality dutch oven! Because of its excellent heat tolerance, everything of the wonderful flavor that you developed by rendering the chicken fat and frying the garlic stays intact.
- Kitchen Shears: Cutting off the skin of chickens is a quick and straightforward operation when you have a sharp pair of kitchen shears. It’s also lot easier to break down the chicken if you start with a full bird rather than thighs.
More Soups You Might Like
- Simple Creamy Artichoke Soup
- French Onion Soup From Scratch
- Beef Stock From Scratch
- White Bean Kale Potato Soup
Arroz Caldo
Ingredients
For Crispy Topping:
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 6 chicken thighs bone in, skin on
- 8 cloves garlic chopped (do not mince too finely)
Soup:
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
- 1 yellow onion chopped
- 1 tablespoon fresh ginger minced
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 cup jasmine rice
- 6 cups chicken broth
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 pinch saffron
- 1 lime juiced
To Finish:
- 1 teaspoon fish sauce to taste (about 1 teaspoon per bowl)
- 1 soft boiled eggs cut in half (1 per bowl)
- kosher salt (sprinkled over egg)
- 1 tablespoon cilantro minced (1 tablespoon per bowl)
- 2 tablespoons thinly sliced green onions (about 2 tablespoons per bowl)
- lime wedges (1-2 per bowl)
Instructions
Crispy Topping:
- Transfer the vegetable oil to a large Dutch oven or heavy pot over medium heat, then lower the heat to medium-low.
- Once the fat has rendered from the skin and the skin begins to crisp up (the crispier the better, as long as it doesn’t burn), add the chicken skin and simmer for another 8 to 10 minutes.
- Take off the chicken skin, cut off any soft bits, slice the remaining meat, and set aside.
- Garlic should be added, stirred to coat, and cooked for one minute, or until it just starts to brown (it will continue to color as you remove it; if you leave it in too long, it will burn).
- Using a slotted spoon, remove the garlic and place it aside alongside the crispy chicken skin.
Soup:
- Use salt and black pepper to season the chicken thighs.
- After turning the heat up to medium, fry the chicken thighs for five to seven minutes on each side.
- After removing the chicken from the stove, mix well and cook the onion for 4–5 minutes, or until it becomes transparent.
- Stir in the garlic and ginger, then simmer for one minute.
- Stir the rice to coat it in the pan’s grease and cook it for 30 seconds.
- Stir well and bring to a boil after adding the chicken broth.
- After lowering the heat to a simmer, include the saffron, bay leaves, and chicken thighs.
- Cook until the rice is soft and the chicken is ready, 25 to 30 minutes (you can leave both on for a real show or take the chicken off and chop it into bits for simpler eating).
- Before serving, take out the bay leaves and whisk in the lime juice.
To Finish:
- To fully cook thoroughly, microwave garlic and chicken skin for only 5 seconds.
- To serve, ladle rice soup into a bowl, add one thigh of chicken, one soft-boiled egg cut in half, lime wedge, cilantro, salt, a teaspoon of fish sauce, crispy garlic, green onions, and crispy chicken skin on top.