My knowledge about the history of many Afritada variants might be limited. But I know a few that could interest you.

• Did you know that it goes way back to the Spanish Colonial era?
• Did you know that Afritada came from the Spanish word Frita, which means fried in English?

The word implies that any meat you will cook for an Afritada recipe will always be fried before cooking it with tomato sauce.

Although the dish is quite common, especially the chicken variant, I always thought that Afritada was only cooked during special occasions.

Back when I was a kid, I remember eating them only on Fiestas or on occasions when my mom is energetic enough to cook for an hour for a meal.

I didn’t even know how is it called; I just remembered how it smelled.

Surprisingly, the viand that I thought was difficult to make was not so difficult after all.

Fast-forward today, with the recipe I learned, I will also impart to you. You and I can now enjoy the dish whenever, wherever, as long as the ingredients are available.

If another Afritada variant cooked with Bangus or Milkfish might interest you, check out the recipe HERE.

There’s just a tip I want to share with you before we go to our kitchen and start cooking.

How to Cook Potatoes and Carrots for Chicken Afritada

*It is just a personal tip. It is not an end all be all advice to cook these vegetables.

In general, while cooking with potatoes and carrots, two things can happen: either you finish with half-cooked vegetables or overcooked ones.

Half-cooked carrots are still palatable in this dish.

So what about potatoes? Aside from the fact that humans can’t properly digest starches coming from uncooked and probably half-cooked potatoes, I wouldn’t say I like eating cubes of crunchy potatoes either.

So, unless you’re a Pro, you can’t know if the Potato and Carrot are cooked just by looking at them.

Provided you’ve followed the procedure below in our Chicken Afritada recipe card, which is simmering the potatoes and carrots for fifteen minutes, but still unsure, then here is a tip for you:

• With a regular stainless spoon or cooking spatula and enough pushing pressure from your hand, pick any Potato and Carrot in the pot and slice through them using the said utensils. Again, emphasizing the Potato, it is still not cooked if you find it hard to half it.

In my experience cooking Chicken Afritadas this way, once more, fifteen minutes is my go-to simmering time with potatoes and carrots in it.

Kitchen Tools Needed

• Frying pan
• Cooking pot with cover
• Cooking spoon and spatula
• Chopping board and knife
• Measuring spoons and cup
• A stove

Now that we are all set, let’s go and check the recipe and instructions.

Print Recipe

5 from 1 vote

How to Cook Chicken Afritada

Author: Papa Er Cooking Method: Frying, Sautéing, Simmering Cuisine: Filipino Courses: Lunch Recipe Keys: High Protein Non Vegetarian

Difficulty: Intermediate Prep Time 13 mins Cook Time 69 mins Rest Time 2 mins Total Time 1 hr 24 mins

Servings: 4 Calories: 358

Best Season: Suitable throughout the year

Description

A surprisingly easy yet tasty dish you can cook, whenever, wherever, with simple ingredients.

Ingredients

Servings

Chicken Afritada (Afritadang Manok) Ingredients

• 0.5 kg Chicken (Cut into serving sizes.)
• 1 Large Potato — About 200 gm/pc. (Instead of quartering the Potato, cut it into sixteen instead.)
• 1 Large Carrot — About 200 gm/pc. (Slice according to the size of the Potato.)
• 1 Medium to large Bell pepper — About 50 gm/pc. (Slice into strips. Color doesn't matter.)
• 2 Regular hotdogs (Slice diagonally into small pieces.)
• 1 can Green peas (Water drained.)
• 200 g Tomato sauce (Commercially sold tomato sauce in small pouches usually weighs 200 gm each.)
• 20 g Fresh Garlic — About 5 to 6 cloves or half of the head. (Minced.)
• 50 g Fresh Red Onion — Large-sized (Chopped.)
• 10 g Chicken Broth Cube — It's 10 gm/pc.
• 1 tsp Sugar
• ¹⁄₂ tsp Ground Black Pepper
• ¹⁄₂ tsp Iodized Salt (You can add some more according to your taste.)
• 2 Bay Leaves
• 1 cup Water
• 2 tbsp Canola Oil

Let's Start Cooking our Chicken Afritada

Video

Off On

From Start to Finish

1. Let's Fry Chicken (Vamos a Freír Pollo)

   • Heat the frying pan and pour four tablespoons of canola oil or more, just enough to fry 500 grams of chicken.
   • Fry chicken for five minutes on each side or until golden brown. Time of frying can take up to a maximum of eight minutes per side.
   • When cooked, set aside the chicken for later cooking.

   

   Take one to two tablespoons of the oil we used for frying the chicken and pour it into the pot that we’ll use to finish cooking our Chicken Afritada.

2. Sauteing from Aromatics to Chicken

   • Heat the pot and saute garlic to a golden brown. Then add the onion and saute until translucent.
   • Add the sliced hotdogs. Stir the ingredients for a minute.
   • Add the fried chicken and broth cube. Mix well until broth cube completely melts.

3. Simmering the Afritada Sauce

   • Now, pour in the tomato sauce, water, and add the bay leaves. Stir the ingredients, then cover the pot.
   • If the stove’s flame is set on high, let it be until the sauce boils. It will usually start within two to three minutes.
   • Once the sauce starts boiling, lower the flame to medium and let it simmer for twenty minutes.

4. Combining All Ingredients

   • Add the Potato and Carrot and let it simmer again, now for fifteen minutes or until the Potato and Carrot are cooked.
   • Add the sugar, salt, and pepper. Stir to distribute these ingredients well to the sauce.
   • Lastly, add the green peas and bell pepper, mixing all the ingredients.
   • Cover the pot and simmer for another 5 minutes.
   • That’s it! Our Chicken Afritada is ready!
   
   Best served with hot rice!

Nutrition Facts

Servings 4

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Amount Per Serving

Calories 358kcal

% Daily Value *

Total Fat 9.6g15%

Saturated Fat 2g10%

Cholesterol 102mg34%

Sodium 1218mg51%

Potassium 889mg26%

Total Carbohydrate 25.7g9%

Dietary Fiber 4.9g20%

Sugars 7.4g

Protein 41.5g83%

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Calcium 6 mg

Iron 18 mg

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily value may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.

Note

We hope we have helped you cook a hearty Chicken Afritada.

Curious about Afritadas cooked with Bangus or Milkfish? Then have a look at it HERE.

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