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Colombian cuisine Chicken stew

Sudado de Pollo: Read the Potato Schedule

Sudado de pollo

Chicken, potatoes and a tomato-onion base meet in the same pot, but their order varies. Read that order before choosing a method: it tells you what gives the sauce body and when the potatoes should become tender.

SmartRestro editorial 6 min read
Skinless chicken drumsticks and peeled potato pieces in an orange-red tomato sauce
A chicken-and-potato stovetop adaptation, with a tomato base and sauce for serving alongside rice.

The potato is an ingredient and a timing decision

Sudado de pollo is a Colombian chicken stew with more than one documented household method. The useful common thread is chicken and starchy vegetables meeting an aromatic base in a covered cooking stage. Their order is worth reading carefully: the potato is not merely a side dish dropped into the finished sauce.

Universidad de Antioquia records Elvia Restrepo Montoya’s preparation from Caicedo. She cooks papa capira first, adds thin slices of papa criolla to thicken the stew, then brings in chicken and a separately prepared tomato-onion guiso. Yuca enters later. This is one cook’s detailed sequence, rather than a universal formula for the whole country.

Erica Dinho’s family recipe at My Colombian Recipes gives chicken a covered cooking stage before adding potatoes and cilantro. The adaptation below follows that broad staged approach, using a plain saucepan and potatoes without yuca. Its measured quantities and simpler seasoning are editorial choices, not a claim to reproduce either household’s recipe exactly.

Two preparations before the covered stage

The guiso begins cooking while the peeled potatoes remain a separate prepared ingredient.

Chopped tomato, softened onion and red pepper cooking in a saucepan before chicken is added
The aromatic vegetable base gets its own stage before the covered cooking.
Peeled raw yellow potatoes cut into chunky halves on a wooden board
Prepare the potatoes separately, then add them at the stage specified by the method.

Keep the equipment with the method

Together after the base

Sandra Sandoval’s Nestlé Colombia preparation cooks garlic, tomato and long onion into a base, then adds chicken, potato and water together. Its sequence differs from the late-potato method below, even though the ingredient family is similar.

A programmed appliance, then reduction

IMUSA’s version browns chicken, cooks the chopped aromatics, then combines chicken, potatoes and yuca in a multifunction cooker. A separate uncovered stage reduces the liquid afterward. Those appliance settings and the pressure-release step should stay with that equipment’s complete instructions.

Decide what the sauce should do

The sources also give different ways of reaching a sauce with body. Restrepo uses thin potato slices as part of her stew; IMUSA includes a separate reduction. These are useful distinctions when reading a recipe. A finished potato piece that holds its shape and a potato added partly to thicken the liquid are doing different work.

Our adaptation keeps chunky potato pieces and offers a brief final reduction if the sauce is too loose. The image shows a spoonable tomato sauce around the chicken rather than a dry coating. That gives the finished dish something to share with the rice at service, without requiring every potato to disintegrate.

A four-serving home adaptation

Chicken and potato sudado

An editorial stovetop version informed by the guiso-first and covered-cooking preparations, with potatoes added after an initial chicken stage. Use a wide deep saucepan with a lid. Makes 4 servings; allow about 80 minutes.

Ingredients

For the pot

  • 8, about 1.1 kg skinless bone-in chicken drumsticks
  • 600 g small potatoes, peeled and halved or cut into similar 3 cm chunks
  • 500 g ripe tomatoes, finely chopped
  • 150 g onion, finely chopped
  • 100 g red bell pepper, finely chopped
  • 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
  • 15 ml / 1 tbsp vegetable oil
  • 1 tsp ground cumin
  • ½ tsp fine salt, with final adjustment to taste
  • 600 ml water, plus up to 100 ml more only if the pot becomes dry
  • 10 g fresh cilantro, chopped
Ingredient note This formulation uses no wheat, milk, egg, fish or shellfish ingredients. Packaged-stock substitutions and accompaniments may add allergens; check their labels.

Method

  1. 1

    Prepare the separate ingredients.

    Chop the vegetables and keep the chicken refrigerated until needed. Use a separate board for raw poultry. Cut the potatoes to similar sizes so their cooking stage is easier to judge.

  2. 2

    Start the guiso.

    Warm the oil over medium heat. Cook the onion and bell pepper for about 4 minutes until softened. Add tomato, garlic, cumin and salt; cook for about 5 minutes, stirring, until the tomato begins to collapse into a moist base.

  3. 3

    Give the chicken its first stage.

    Add the drumsticks and 600 ml water. Bring to a simmer, cover and cook gently for 25 minutes, turning the pieces once so both sides meet the sauce.

  4. 4

    Add the potatoes.

    Nestle the prepared potatoes into the liquid. Cover and simmer gently for about 25–30 minutes, turning them carefully once, until a knife enters a potato easily and each chicken piece reaches 165°F/74°C in its thickest part, away from bone. Continue cooking if either check is not met. Add a little of the extra water only if needed to prevent drying.

  5. 5

    Adjust the sauce and finish.

    If the sauce is too thin, transfer the cooked chicken and potatoes to a clean plate and simmer the sauce uncovered for about 5 minutes. Return the food, stir in the cilantro, and adjust salt after tasting the cooked sauce. Serve promptly.

Research notes

Household methods, equipment and doneness

Four independently published Colombian preparations establish the method variations. Official FDA guidance supplies the poultry temperature and separation advice used in the adaptation.

  1. Universidad de Antioquia: Elvia Restrepo Montoya’s Sudado de pollo Named Caicedo cook’s sequence: two potato types, separate thick guiso, chicken and later yuca.
  2. Erica Dinho: family Sudado de Pollo Chicken cooks before the potato/cilantro stage; aromatic vegetable base and white-rice/avocado service.
  3. IMUSA Colombia: multifunction-cooker sudado Appliance-specific browning, aromatic reduction, combined chicken/potato/yuca cooking and final liquid reduction.
  4. Sandra Sandoval / Nestlé Colombia: Sudado de Pollo Guiso-first method combines chicken, potato and water afterward; contrasts with later-potato preparation.
  5. FDA: Safe Food Handling Current official raw-poultry separation and thermometer guidance; poultry minimum temperature 165°F.

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