Seco de pollo (Ecuadorian chicken stew)

Name: Seco de pollo (Ecuadorian chicken stew)
Total time: 1 h 30 min
Yield: 8 servings
Cuisine: Ecuadorian
Ingredients: 1820 g assorted chicken pieces; 4 tsp ground cumin; 4 tsp ground annatto; 30 ml vegetable oil; 150 g onion; 50 g garlic cloves; 360 ml beer; 240 ml lulo juice (naranjilla); 450 g tomatoes; 300 g bell peppers; 1 pc hot pepper; 30 g fresh coriander (cilantro); 30 g fresh flat-leaf parsley; 2 tsp dried oregano; 1 pc orange; 2 tsp salt; 1 tsp black pepper; ½ pc yellow achiote rice; 2 pc ripe plantain; 1 pc avocado

A slow-cooked Ecuadorian chicken stew simmered in a fragrant beer (or chicha) and naranjilla sauce with onions, garlic, peppers, tomatoes and herbs.

90 min 494 kcal/serving serves 8

494kcal31gprotein47gcarbs20gfat

Laylita VasquezView the original on laylita.com More from Laylita Vasquez on Mello

🍗assorted chicken pieces

🫙ground cumin

🥣ground annatto

🫗vegetable oil

🧅onion

🧄garlic cloves

🥣beer

🥣lulo juice (naranjilla)

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About Laylita Vasquez

Ecuadorian home cook and recipe blogger behind Laylita.com

Laylita Vasquez is the Ecuadorian food writer and recipe developer behind Laylita.com, a long-running blog dedicated to Ecuadorian and broader Latin American home cooking. She is known for documenting traditional family recipes, from ceviche and empanadas to stews and corn-based dishes, with clear, home-cook-friendly instructions.

Her cooking centers on Ecuadorian staples such as shrimp ceviche, potato and cheese soups, stuffed potato patties, and slow-roasted pork, often drawing directly on family recipes passed down through her mother. Citrus, aji peppers, and fresh corn appear frequently, alongside techniques like slow braising for stews and careful seasoning for ceviches. She also covers dishes from neighboring Latin American cuisines, such as Peruvian beef stew and tres leches cake, presented with the same straightforward, home-kitchen approach.

Ten recipes on Mello, imported from laylita.com, mostly Ecuadorian and Peruvian.

More from Laylita Vasquez →laylita.com