Easy Chicken Tocino Recipe

When I create recipes, I try to keep two things in mind: the flavor and the feasibility of the process. I hope that this Easy Chicken Tocino Recipe fits that bill.

Flavor is important because I want to to share recipes that are so delicious that you will continue to use them. At the same time, I want to try my best to maintain the integrity of the original dish.

Also, when I create recipes, I try to think about the individuals who are beginners but want to learn new skill in the kitchen. This might mean that we may have to toss out the integrity of traditional methods. For example, “Bumbong” in Puto Bumbong means bamboo. Traditionally bamboo is used to steam the rice mixture. Many people love puto bumbong but do not have a bamboo steamer contraption in there cupboards and they don’t live in an area where they can place an order with a neighborhood Filipino caterer. So to make it possible, I created a recipe that gives an option to roll the mixture in banana leaves. I want those that think that they cannot cook think differently. Or at least try different recipes and learn by doing.

With all of this being said, with this tocino recipe, forget terms like “curing”, “brining” or “fermenting”. This recipe allows you to not be deterred by cooking vocab that might scare you off. Just casually put this dish together, cook it and enjoy the flavor. Just don’t forget the Sinangag (garlic fried rice), over easy egg and tomato slices. (Let me know if you need tips on over easy eggs. There are tricks to making it.)

Tocino

Many know and love tocino as delicious pieces of fatty pork. Believe me, I truly mean that in a good way. I have a recipe for tocino using pork belly coming soon that you will absolutely love, if you prefer pork. My guess, just like the emergence of substituting meats in other dishes, is that people either wanted a flavor option or a healthier option to the tocino flavor. So in comes the chicken.

As mentioned in my Chicken Adobo recipe, I am always going with dark meat when I cook chicken dishes. I my opinion, it tastes so much better. Not to mention, research shows that it is more nutritious. My local Asian markets sell dark meat, boneless, skinless cuts that include the thigh and drumstick meat. Beautiful!!!

The Rest of the Ingredients

The bulk of your flavor is going to come from garlic, salt and dark brown sugar. I also add some green onions, which will give you a very subtle green onion taste with every bite. The base of the marinade is pineapple juice.

I love using pineapple juice for this recipe because it is acidic enough to help out with the flavors to pernitrate through the chicken. It is also lacks the acidity of lemon juice or vinegar so you don’t have to worry about over marinating or compromising the texture of your chicken. The Philippine Brand, 100% pure, 8.4 fl oz Pineapple Juice can is perfectly portioned for this recipe. If you are having difficulties finding this product, you can buy a 20 oz can of sliced pineapples in pineapple juice. These cans will have 1 cup of juice in them. Just be sure to buy them in juice and not syrup.

The star of the show is Annatto (achuete/achiote) powder. When purchasing, be sure to grab the powder and not the seeds. The seeds can still work but you will be adding another step to the process. Mama Sita’s has an all natural, 1/3 oz product that is perfect for this recipe. Many great recipes call for ketchup, Jufran or even red food coloring to get that red coloring that tocino is known for, but I prefer to use the annatto powder because of its many health benefits.

Preparing the Marinade

I like to make my marinade in a way that ensures that every bit of it has flavor by blending all of the ingredients into a liquid form. A blender is perfect for bigger servings but for 2 lbs of chicken, I like using our handy NutriBullet by Magic Bullet. It’s light and easy to clean. I can also fit all of the ingredients in the short cup.

Place pineapple juice, annatto powder, salt, dark brown sugar, garlic, and green onions in the cup and blend it until garlic and green onions are completely gone. In a NutriBullet, it does not take too long. When you open up the cup it will smell so good.

Rinse and drain chicken and place them into a gallon sized Ziploc bag. Pour the marinade in the bag and let it sit in the fridge for a couple of days. At this point, I hope that you will agree that this is an Easy Chicken Tocino recipe.

Cooking

There are two ways that you can cook your Chicken Tocino: Grill or pan fried.

On the Grill

I prefer it over a charcoal grill. If you are not accustomed to cooking chicken on a grill, this might not be the best way. Mistakes can result in burned or undercooked chicken. Also, on an open flame, you may lose much of your red tint because the annatto is just a spice that will get burned off. Although, you will still enjoy the great taste of your marinade.

An option that you do have on the grill is to cook both sides of the chicken well enough to look cooked, before burning the sugar to a crisp. Place the pieces in a foil covered pan and put them in the oven at a very low temp to complete the cooking process. I do this when I have lots of pieces to cook off and I want to take advantage of the coals before they burn off.

Pan Fried

If given the option, I would always go with grilling over coals, due to the flavor that it produces but pan frying for this recipe is a great alternative. You will need either a good nonstick pan or a good quality stainless steel pan. I prefer the stainless steel pan because I am not limited to the types of cooking utensils that I can use, because they are pretty much indestructible. The only thing that will be difficult with the stainless steel is that you will have a tougher clean up task when you are done. But, I have a simple solution to that. You can go with a cast iron pan but they can get pretty heavy if you are not used to using them.

When I say that this is an Easy Chicken Tocino recipe, that includes the cooking process. Preheat your pan at a medium to medium high heat and then coat the bottom of your pan with cooking oil. I currently have an electric stove and I leave the heat at 7. Other than boiling water, I rarely cook anything at a higher temperature. Cooking should be a relaxing and satisfying experience. Working with temps that are too high will easily release the stress hormones.

When the pan is ready place the pieces down, on what would be the skin side. You will notice that the chicken will render plenty of liquid while it cooks. This is okay. Just leave them alone for about five to seven minutes. Keep your eye on the bottom of the pan. Once you see the sugar from the marinade start to coagulate, or thicken, it is a good time to flip them over. Cook the other side for the same amount of time. Depending on your pan and stove temp, one flip is all it should take. None the less, your chicken should have an internal temperature of 165℉ at its thickest part.

Washing your Stainless Steel Pan

Lastly, I mentioned that I have a way to clean stainless steel pans with ease. First off, it is important to preheat your pan first and then add the oil. This will preserve the integrity of your oil versus letting it sit in the pan while it preheats. After cooking dishes with sugar, you will find that the build up on the pan’s surface is pretty thick. That’s the sugar and it is easy to get rid of.

If you don’t want excess oil going down your drain, use cooking tongs and some paper towel to soak up the oil. Add water to the pan and boil it. This will break down the sugars and any other burnt food. Add a few drops of your dish liquid. If it is also a degreaser than it is better. With your tongs and a stainless steel scrubber, gently circle the bottom of your pan as the water boils. Be sure to be gentle. You don’t want to splash the water up and burn yourself. Wearing a glove would be smart too. You will see that this will easily clean up your pan.

When you get most of the scalded material is gone, you can dump the water in the sink (disposal side) and rinse with warm water. Once cool enough, you can wash it as you would through a normal use.

Enjoy and don’t forget the Sinangag (garlic fried rice), over easy egg and tomato slices.

Masayang Pagluluto!

Kain na tayo!