Pollo a la Diabla is basically Camarones a la Diabla but with chicken.
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That sauce is killer. Pun intended. Ha! 🙂
It is one of my favorite sauces to make.
I know my family will eat it, and it’s delicious! It’s a “lick the plate clean” kind of dish.
I am not reinventing anything here.
In Mexico, we often make the same sauce to cook different types of meat. No shrimpy thingy here. It is all chicken.
They say that “the devil is in the details” but this is super simple to make. Let me show you how easy this sauce comes together.
In a large stock pot, add the seeded and deveined chilis (no need for the seed).
Once the water boils, cover and turn off the heat.
Return in 15 minutes or when the chilis are soft.
To a blender, add chiles, tomatoes, chipotle, onion, garlic, and salt.
The mixture will be a thick.
It is a very red sauce. Set it aside until you are ready to use.
Table of Contents
What to do if the sauce is too spicy?
Taste the sauce before adding it to the chicken. If your sauce is too spicy, here are a few things you can do:
1. Add 1 tomato
2. Add ¼ cup ketchup.
3. If you want it sweeter, you can add ½ cup ketchup.
3. If you don’t like it sweet, add ½ cup chicken broth. You can add water too, but you will also need to add a little salt.
4. Omit the chipotle.
Now, time for the chicken. Salt the chicken and brown on all sides.
I am using chicken legs because they are super tasty and cheap.
See why this makes a great family meal? You can use whatever cut of chicken your budget allows.
I personally feel like chicken legs are undervalued in the the American culture. The Hubs says he is “a leg man” when it comes to this dish. LOL!
Freezing the Diabla Sauce
Making the sauce ahead of time is a HUGE time saver and very easy to do.
Let the sauce cool completely at room temperature.
Place in a plastic freezer bag.
Put in freezer. It will take roughly 1 hour to become fully solid.
The sauce can last from 4-6 months in the freezer.
In the fridge, the sauce can last 4-5 days.
Regional Varieties:
The recipe for this sauce varies from region to region. Some people will add ketchup.
Others will add different dried chiles or fresh chiles. I have seen people use Jugo Maggi and lime juice.
The thing is: the sauce has to be spicy, but not so hot that you can’t eat it.
More Mexican Chicken Recipes
Then add the sauce and remaining chicken broth.
Cover and let sit for 25 minutes or until chicken is done.
The sauce will have thickened up slightly.
So yummy! So satisfying! Pollo a la Diabla, or Mexican Deviled Chicken, for the winner dinner!
How to Bake:
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
- Line a baking sheet with foil. Spray with oil.
- Arrange the chicken evenly and bake for 25 minutes.
- Flip the chicken.
- Pour sauce all over the chicken. Make sure the chicken is fully coated with the sauce.
- Bake for an additional 10 minutes, until cooked through.
Mexican Deviled Chicken (Pollo a la Diabla)
Ingredients
- 2 lbs chicken legs or thighs
- 4 guajillo chiles seeded and deveined
- 3 chile de arbol seeded and deveined
- 2 cups water
- 3 tomatoes halved
- ½ chipotle pepper
- ½ onion diced
- 1 garlic clove
- 2 cups chicken broth divided
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
Instructions
- Toast chiles on each side on a hot griddle.
- Turning frequently.
- (Be careful not to burn the chiles). About 30 seconds on each side.
- Seed and devein the guajillo chiles and chile de arbol.
- In a stock pot, add the chiles.
- Add enough water to cover the chiles, about 2 cups.
- Bring to a boil.
- Turn off the stove.
- Cover and return in 15 minutes or until the chiles are soft.
- To the blender, add the chiles, tomatoes, chipotle pepper, onion, garlic, salt, and ½ cup chicken broth.
- Blend until smooth and set aside.
- In a large pan, heat olive oil.
- Salt the chicken.
- Add the chicken and brown on all sides.
- Remove the chicken from the pan.
- Make sure the heat is on low and add the tomato chile sauce and remaining chicken broth.
- Gently scrape the bottom of the pan.
- Return the chicken to the pan.
- Cover and cook for 25 minutes or until the chicken is thoroughly cooked.
- Serve with white rice.
- Enjoy.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Maggie Unzueta is the writer/blogger, photographer, recipe developer, videographer, and creator of In Mama Maggie's Kitchen. She has been developing easy and authentic Mexican food, Mexican-inspired recipes, and traveling tips since 2010. From family recipes to her extensive travels throughout Mexico, she brings traditional Mexican flavors from South of the Border and into your kitchen. Maggie has been featured in notable culinary websites and other media outlets. For more details, check out her About page.
Forgot , I also added a couple of cups of sliced mushrooms to the sauce at the same time as the sliced onions . Then just let the sauce cook down. Thanks again..
Adding sliced mushrooms to the sauce sounds like a delicious addition! It’s great to customize recipes to suit your taste preferences. I’m glad you enjoyed the Mexican Deviled Chicken recipe!
I have been looking for this recipe for a while to try . This was fabulous although I did tweak it a little bit. I used about 3 lbs chunked up chicken breast seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic powder and then braised braised in cast iron skillet. I boiled the chili’s in 2 cups of chicken broth instead of water . Poured it all in blender. Used about 4 cloves of garlic. Chopped about a 1/4 cup of onion in blender , but sliced up about 3/4 of onion in sauce after it cooked for awhile. Also added about a 1/4 cup ?of ketchup to sauce ,went by taste really. Added another cup of chicken stock to sauce . Turned out excellent. Thank-you for the inspiration.
I’m so glad to hear that you enjoyed the Mexican Deviled Chicken recipe and made it your own with your tweaks! It sounds like you added some delicious flavors and adjusted the recipe to your liking. Thanks for sharing your experience!
Just a note: recipe says 2 cups of chicken broth but in the video only 1-2 a cup is used. I believe the video is correct 🙂
Thank you again for yet another tasty recipe. I was looking for something to cook with items I already had and it was perfect. Will make this again, my 12 year old said it was perfect on the amount of spice.
So glad you liked it! It is really yummy.
I made this recipe three times to date. I prefer adding some ketchup to the sauce to give it a bit more sweet-tangy taste. So far I have made this Diabla sauce with shredded roasted chicken and shrimp. Either way it is delicious and goes well with rice or tortillas. Yummy 😋
Sounds really yummy. Glad you liked it!
When you throw the ingredients to the blender, do you use the water the chilis were in or just use the chilis?
I’ve stopped doing that. The chiles usually are dusty, and the dust will go into the water. Nowadays, I use a damp cloth and wipe the chiles down before adding to the water. I don’t recommend rinsing chiles EVER. I also use fresh water in the blender, and discard the water the chiles were rehydrated in.
this recipe looks so good i cant wait to try it it looks amazing thank you
Thanks. Hope you like it!
Thank you! You’re going to love this recipe.
Do you use the water the peppers were in.
Sounds wonderful.
I’ll use New Mexico dried chilis.
New Mexico Dried Chilis would be good too. The sauce for Pollo a la Diabla is delicious!
Is the chipotle a dried or in adobo sauce???
(I’m guessing it’s dried.)
Chipotle in adobo sauce. Dried chipotle is hard for me to find in the US. In Mexico, I can find it everywhere.
Wow! Looks spicy! This chicken has got to be good with all of that sauce!
That sauce is killer. Pun intended! 🙂
You always have the best recipes, Maggie! They remind me of my grandma’s cooking. Cannot wait to try this chicken!
My husband said the same thing. He said it reminded him of his grandma’s cooking minus the spice. 🙂
What a wonderful Mexican chicken recipe! When I cook I like to mix things up and try new recipes. You’re always introducing me to fantastic new dishes and flavors. I love your blog!
Hope you do. You’ll love this dish!
Mmmmm. This looks so good. I’ve never cooked with either of those chilis before. I’ll have to see if I can track them down locally.
They’re easy to work with. Chilis all the way!
I love anything ‘deviled’ ~ this looks soooooo delicious! I also happen to have a whole bag of those little chiles just waiting to be used…
Perfect! let me know how it goes 🙂
wonderful recipe! Your clicks are making me drool!
Then I’m doing my job. 😉 LOL.
This chicken looks amazing!
Paige
http://thehappyflammily.com
Thank you. My family loves this recipe!
that sauce!!
Oh yeah! That’s the best part..
Wow! Septiembre Fiesta is coming up and that Mexican sauce sounds like I can use it in many things. Thanks!
Very versatile and always delicious. Hope you try this recipe out! 🙂