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Easy chicken mofongo recipe – this delicious mofongo and chicken with creole sauce is a nod to Puerto Rico’s famous dish. So easy and bursting with flavor!
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I want each reader to walk away with a solid knowledge of each recipe, with all of the tips I’ve gathered from extensive testing of each recipe. I also answer questions my friends and family have asked about my recipes, to help everyone better understand the processes we use – and why!
Table of Contents
Rich Hearty Chicken Mofongo
Chicken mofongo is one of my favorite rich, delicious dishes – it is easy, and completely indulgent for a showstopper dinner that is great for tucking into on a weekend – but unique and fancy enough for a dinner party!
Mofongo is one of Puerto Rico’s most famous dishes, that marries traditional African dumplings and stew with delicious spicy creole flavors found across the Caribbean.
Mofongo itself is a dumpling made from lightly fried plantains, garlic, and pork rinds – it is full of flavor, and not overly dense or dry – for an amazing dinner you won’t soon forget.
What Chicken to Use in Chicken Mofongo
Since we’re serving this easy mofongo with a hearty sauce, you can serve pretty much any chicken with it – even leftovers!
I am making this dish today with a baked chicken thigh recipe since it is simple, easy, and so delicious – but you can use any kind of chicken you’d like.
I love using chicken thighs because they can be tossed in to this chicken mofongo recipe without drying out – but you can also use diced chicken breasts, sautéed in olive oil until lightly browned, and then cook through with the creole sauce.
Just be sure to stir it often, and leave in the pan as you brown onion in the creole sauce, and continue to cook through with the sauce.
How to Bake Bone-In Skin-On Chicken Thighs
For perfect crunchy bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs, there are a couple tips to keep your chicken thighs crispy and juicy inside for your easy chicken mofongo.
-Crisp skin. While this recipe is for baked chicken thighs, I recommend ALWAYS browning your skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs in a pan before baking.
If you can’t pre-brown, broil your chicken thighs in the last few minutes, skin side up, to make sure it gets a lovely crunchy crisp.
How to Remove Chicken Thigh Bones
If you want to remove the bones from your chicken thighs, which is not in any way necessary but some people prefer, follow these steps:
-Unroll chicken thigh.
-Lay flat and find bones with your hands.
-Lift bones slightly to find the membrane underneath that connects it to the chicken thigh.
-Using kitchen shears, carefully cut just underneath the bone to remove it.
How To Make Mofongo
If you’ve never had mofongo, you might think it sounds a bit interesting – but you won’t believe the rich, buttery flavor in these little dumplings made from mashed plantains and pork rinds.
Mofongo is a blend of Caribbean ingredients with African and French cooking techniques – often served with complex sauces you’d expect in a fine Creole restaurant, but with a texture very similar to West African fufu dumplings.
Fufu is sometimes made with plantains (though often with yams), and mofongo’s name even sounds a bit like fufu – making it easy to trace back the heritage of mofongo in the Caribbean.
Making Mofongo is actually very simple – you basically fry plantains to soften them, then mash them up with pork rinds and shape them to serve with sauce and meat.
Mofongo can be made into giant dumplings – or smaller dumplings and even used in soup!
For this recipe, we will make 8 mofongo dumplings – but you can vary the serving to be more or less based on how big you make the mofongo dumpling balls.
- Heat oil in a large pot or dutch oven.
- Peel the plantains, cut them into 1 1/2-inch slices, soak them in salty water for 15 minutes as oil comes to temperature.
- Remove plantains from water, and dry them with a paper towel before putting them in the hot pot with oil. Make sure any drops of water have been completely dried off.
- In small batches, fry plantains for about 12 minutes at medium-low heat or until they turn very light brown.
- Make sure to turn plantains as they cook.
- Do not brown plaintains much – you want them to stay soft and easy to mash, but the color should be a lovely dark yellow and light brown, so they are soft to the touch. Check doneness with a fork.
- Remove plantains from oil, and place in to a large bowl or mortar.
- Smash plantains with a pestle or the back of a spoon.
- Add some mashed garlic and pieces of pork rinds along with crumbled bacon, smashing into the plaintains.
- Once you have mashed all the plantains, mold them into the shape of a circle or half circle using your hands.
- Serve hot with chicken broth, creole sauce, stew, or your favorite meat or vegetables.
What to Serve with Creole Chicken Mofongo
If you’re planning on making this easy chicken mofongo for a dinner party or Sunday supper, you’re probably wondering what to serve with chicken mofongo.
I’ve rounded up my favorite easy side dishes that will perfectly pair with this creole chicken and mofongo dinner.
Click each link to find the easy printable recipes for Brazilian Cheese Bread, Shishito Peppers, The Best Carne Asada, and more!
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Easy Chicken Mofongo
Ingredients
For the mofongo:
- 4 green plantains
- 1 lb chicharrón, aka. pork rinds
- 1 slice bacon, cooked and crumbled
- 3 garlic cloves, mashed
- 4 teaspoons of olive oil
- 2 cups frying oil
For the Creole sauce:
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1 large clove garlic, minced
- ¼ cup onions, chopped, about 1/2 medium onion
- ¼ cup green bell pepper, chopped
- ¼ cup yellow or red bell pepper, chopped
- ½ cup celery, chopped
- ½ teaspoon paprika
- 1 ½ teaspoons Creole seasoning
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon dried basil
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- ¼ teaspoon hot pepper sauce
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground pepper
- 14.5 oz diced tomatoes with juice
- 14.5 oz chicken stock, or vegetable stock
- 4 green onions, sliced, with most of the green
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 2 tablespoons butter
For the chicken:
- 8 boneless skinless chicken thighs, see notes if using bone-in, skin-on thighs, which are also just as flavorful in this recipe.
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tsp celtic sea salt
- 1 tsp fresh cracked pepper
- 2 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp lemon juice
Instructions
For the Mofongo:
- Heat oil in a large pot or dutch oven.
- Peel the plantains, cut them into 1 1/2-inch slices, soak them in salty water for 15 minutes as oil comes to temperature.
- Remove plantains from water, and dry them with a paper towel before putting them in the hot pot with oil. Make sure any drops of water have been completely dried off.
- In small batches, fry plantains for about 12 minutes at medium-low heat or until they turn very light brown.
- Make sure to turn plantains as they cook.
- Do not brown plaintains much – you want them to stay soft and easy to mash, but the color should be a lovely dark yellow and light brown, so they are soft to the touch. Check doneness with a fork.
- Remove plantains from oil, and place in to a large bowl or mortar.
- Smash plantains with a pestle or the back of a spoon.
- Add some mashed garlic and pieces of pork rinds along with crumbled bacon, smashing into the plaintains.
- Once you have mashed all the plantains, mold them into the shape of a circle or half circle using your hands – make 8 circles.
For the Chicken:
- Add all ingredients into a bowl or plastic bag and let marinate for 30 minutes to overnight.
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Optional – brown chicken thighs on the outside in a pan over high heat until just golden brown. (If pre-browning, reduce total cook time by 5-8 minutes.)
- Place chicken thighs on parchment paper, taking care to not space too close together.
- Bake for 10 minutes, then flip and take temperature. Bake another 10 minutes and check the chicken’s temperature.
- As chicken is about 150 degrees, turn on the broiler to high and let crisp until 165 degrees internally (only about 5 minutes – take care to not burn the chicken! Watch it closely.)
For the Creole Sauce:
- Heat butter and oil over medium-low heat in a medium saucepan.
- Add chopped garlic, onions, peppers, and celery. Sauté the vegetables for about 5 to 7 minutes, until just tender.
- Meanwhile, combine the paprika, Creole seasoning, thyme, oregano, basil, Worcestershire sauce, hot sauce, and ground pepper in a small cup.
- Stir tomatoes into the vegetables then add the seasoning mixture. Sauté for 1 minute longer.
- Add chicken or vegetable stock and bring to a boil. Stir in the sliced green onions.
- Add cooked chicken to pot.
- Continue boiling, uncovered, for 10 minutes. Much of the liquid will cook away.
- Stir in the tomato paste and butter until well blended into the sauce.
- Serve immediately over mofongo in large, deep dish or bowl.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
All the flavor and juices in this chicken are amazing.
Need to get my hands on a bowl of this deliciousness!
Thank you for this! We moved away from Houston which was a melting pot of cultures so there were tons of restaurants…. including Puerto Rican resturants. We are in a city that is mainly known for BBQ and burgers. 🙁 So we are having to make all these dishes we use to eat at home. I didn’t realize Mofongo was this easy!
My husband loves mangos, so this would be right up his ally!
I am loving all the flavors in this mouth watering meal! My family will love this!
This look so juicy and full of flavor! Can’t wait to give this a try this week!