El Pollo Loco Style Chicken with Spanish RIce

My family ate a lot of El Pollo Loco chicken growing up.  I have had a major craving for their marinated chicken for a long time, and tonight I decided to try recreating it from scratch.  After a little internet searching and some of my own improvisations, I think I nailed it!  Give it a try - it's absolutely delicious and just as good (or better) than I remember.


El Pollo Loco Style Chicken Marinade

Ingredients:

Juice of 1 lemon
Juice of 1 lime
A generous splash of orange juice (or the juice from 1 orange)
A generous splash of pineapple juice (I had some frozen pineapple and just threw a few chunks in)
2-3 smashed garlic cloves
A couple tablespoons of olive oil
About a tablespoon of turmeric
Salt and pepper to taste

Whisk the above ingredients together and pour over your chicken pieces (we used chicken breasts) in a shallow dish.  Refrigerate for several hours before cooking on the grill.  I highly recommend reserving and boiling the marinade for dipping while you eat!

I made some Spanish rice to go with it and served with warm tortillas and sliced avocado.  It was delicious!

Easy Spanish Rice

If using leftover, pre-cooked rice:

Reheat rice on the stove.  Add a generous amount of tomato sauce or diced tomatoes (I eyeball it depending on how much rice I have).  Add some homemade taco seasoning to taste.  Add in corn, peas, and/or olives to your liking.  Stir well until heated through.  Add more of each ingredient until you achieve desired flavor/consistency.

If using uncooked rice:

I would just go ahead and cook the rice as usual, then follow the above steps to dress it up to be Spanish rice.