Pan-Seared Cuban Mojo Chicken Recipe

There are nearly endless ways to prepare chicken, and moreover, there are nearly endless ways to infuse flavor into the otherwise very neutral protein. If you're someone who gravitates towards super fresh flavors, then classic Cuban mojo chicken is one dish that deserves a spot in your dinner rotation. This pan-seared Cuban mojo chicken recipe, brought to us by developer Patterson Watkins, hits on all of those staple mojo chicken notes — herby, citrusy, zesty, tangy — resulting in a positively bright and juicy take on the ever-popular protein.

The reason that mojo chicken is so renowned for its fresh flavor largely comes down to the marinade, which is comprised of oil, citrus juices, cilantro, garlic, soy sauce, spices, and even chipotle hot sauce in this recipe. "This mojo sauce and marinade is so good; that long marinating time (overnight) and subsequent pan-dripping sauce positively impact each and every bite," Watkins says. "It's a classic, winning combination of ingredients — citrus, garlic, and cumin. You can't go wrong with that trio." The supporting marinade ingredients (cilantro, oregano, and soy sauce) all lend a hand in transforming plain old chicken into something special. Served with Cuban black beans and yellow rice, this mojo chicken recipe makes for a comforting yet super-flavorful meal that's ideal for just about any occasion.

While the marinade is crucial to packing lots of fresh flavor into mojo chicken, it all starts with the chicken itself. For this recipe, Watkins opts for a mix of bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts and thighs, and she halved the breasts to make them closer in size to the thighs (so that everything cooked more evenly). "You want to pick chicken pieces of similar size for this recipe (or prep the pieces like I did), ensuring you don't overcook some pieces or undercook others," she explains. She also notes that you can opt for white meat, dark meat, or a combination of both, and you could even use drumsticks (avoid wings, though, unless you plan to go an all-wing route). As a final note, Watkins stresses that bone-in chicken is ideal for optimal juiciness and flavor, but you can opt for boneless chicken and marinate it all the same; however, you won't need to cook it as long.

Chicken talk aside, the marinade is another crucial factor in delicious mojo chicken. For this recipe's marinade, you'll need olive oil, cilantro, orange juice, lime juice, garlic cloves, soy sauce, chipotle hot sauce, oregano, cumin, salt, and pepper. You may also wish to keep extra citrus slices and fresh cilantro on hand to garnish the plated dish.

Place the olive oil, cilantro, orange juice, lime juice, garlic cloves, soy sauce, chipotle hot sauce, oregano, cumin, salt, and pepper in a blender.

Blend the marinade until smooth and set aside.

Pat the chicken pieces dry with paper towels.

Place the chicken in a large casserole dish.

Coat the chicken with the marinade.

Cover the casserole dish with plastic wrap and marinate in the refrigerator overnight.

Once marinated, remove the chicken from the casserole dish (letting any excess marinade drip off), and place it on a wire rack.

Allow the chicken to rest for 30 minutes.

Reserve the marinade and set it aside.

Preheat the oven to 375 F.

Heat the olive oil in a large oven-proof skillet over medium-high heat.

Once hot, working in batches if necessary, add the chicken to the skillet, and sear on both sides until browned.

Once seared, remove the chicken from the skillet.

Add the reserved marinade to the skillet and stir to combine with the pan drippings.

Return the chicken to the skillet.

Loosely tent the skillet with aluminum foil and place it in the oven.

Bake for 35 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through.

Remove the chicken from the oven and serve garnished with fresh citrus and herbs.

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Perhaps the most crucial flavor element of mojo chicken is its freshness, which comes thanks to the addition of orange juice and lime juice in the marinade. Though it may be tempting to reach for a carton of OJ and bottled lime juice for convenience, Watkins strongly advises against doing so. "The key elements of this recipe are the fresh citrus juice, garlic, and cumin," she explains. "You'll want to keep those, no swaps (and, using fresh-squeezed juices will give you the best flavor results)."

While fresh may be best when it comes to the citrus, garlic, and cumin, the other ingredients can be customized to your liking. While Watkins notes that fresh cilantro adds an important flavor element to this dish, if you happen to be someone who hates cilantro, you can swap the herb out for parsley or a parsley-Thai basil combo. The fresh oregano, meanwhile, can be replaced by the dried stuff, but you'll need much less if you go the dried route, just a single teaspoon in place of a tablespoon of fresh oregano. Finally, the hot sauce adds just the right hint of spice to the mix, and you can easily increase the amount you use if you like it spicy, or omit it entirely if you don't wish to add that slightly spicy, chipotle-forward flavor to the mix.

Although Watkins' pan-seared-then-baked approach to mojo chicken results in perfectly juicy chicken with crispy skin on the outside, this certainly isn't the only way you can prepare the dish. You could also grill the chicken, which starts with preheating one side of the grill to medium-high heat and the other side to medium-low. "Place the chicken on the hotter side first and grill just long enough to form grill marks," Watkins advises. From there, you have a few options. You can transfer the chicken to an oven-proof skillet and finish it in the oven as written, you can transfer the chicken to a skillet and finish cooking it on the grill (it will take longer to cook this way), or you can transfer the chicken to the lower-temp side of the grill and finish it off that way. If you go for the full-on grilling method, make sure to baste the chicken with residual mojo marinade as it grills.

Another alternate approach to cooking the chicken comes down to whether or not you have a big enough oven-proof skillet to fit every piece. If you don't, then use whatever pan you do have to sear the chicken (working in batches), then set the chicken pieces aside. Add the residual marinade to the pan and simmer for about 2 minutes. Then, transfer the marinade to a casserole dish big enough to fit all of the chicken, add the chicken pieces on top, and finish the recipe as written.

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