Pollo en Pepitoria is a classic Spanish braised chicken recipe featuring a delectable thick sauce made with saffron, almonds, garlic, bread, and hard-boiled egg yolks. This cozy dish is perfect for fall and winter. Serve it simply with a side of rice for a comforting and satisfying meal.

Braised chicken topped with chopped egg whites in a blue skillet next to containers of saffron.

(This recipe was originally published in December 2014, but was updated with new photos and content in 2021).

Chilly fall and winter weather begs for comfort foods, namely those that are slow-cooked and slathered with delicious sauce. Braising is perhaps the ultimate cooking technique for these seasons. Pollo en Pepitoria, or chicken braised in saffron, almond, and egg yolk sauce, is a classic Spanish dish that fits the bill.

Fork-tender braised chicken is cloaked in a thick and flavorful pepitoria sauce. This recipe uses a picada, which is a traditional Catalan technique for thickening sauces. A picada is essentially a paste featuring almonds, bread, and some type of liquid to bring it together.

This particular rendition also includes garlic, saffron, and egg yolks from hard-boiled eggs. Although picadas are most traditionally made in a mortar, you can easily whip this up in a small food processor. With the addition of sautéed onion, bay leaves, white wine, and chicken stock, the sauce for this pollo en pepitoria is full of flavor.

Ingredient notes

Ingredients for pollo en pepitoria on a warm beige background.

Chicken: Traditionally, pollo en pepitoria uses bone-in, skin-on dark meat chicken parts such as thighs and/or drumsticks. I've made it this way in the past, but more recently (and in these photos) tried it with boneless skinless chicken thighs and it was still delicious. Either would work.
Bread: Bread (preferably stale) is a vital component to making the picada, which is the main thickener for this pollo en pepitoria recipe. The type of bread isn't crucial. You could use a couple small slices of baguette or about 1 ½ slices of ciabatta as an example. If you use a tad too much bread, the sauce will be extra thick, but don't fret. You can easily add a splash of broth or water to thin it back out.
Almonds: Use either whole blanched almonds (without skins) or do what I do and use some almond meal or almond flour if you have it on hand. It's already finely ground!

How to make it

Peel the eggs and remove and reserve the yolks. Roughly chop the whites and set aside.

Make the picada. In a small skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat and add chopped garlic, cooking until it is golden and fragrant, about 1 minute. Remove and reserve. Next, add bread and fry until golden.

Three half pieces of bread lightly fried until golden in a small nonstick frying pan.

Add the garlic, fried bread, almonds (or almond flour), saffron, and water to a small food processor and grind using quick pulses, checking after each pulse for desired consistency, and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Next, add the reserved egg yolks and process again until smooth. Set aside.

A thick yellow paste with visible strands of saffron in a small glass bowl.

In a deep skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat. Season the chicken with salt and pepper, lightly dredge in flour, and cook until golden, turning as needed. Transfer the seared chicken to a platter.

Seared boneless skinless chicken thighs in an enameled cast iron pan.

To the same skillet add more olive oil, the onion, and the bay leaves. Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook until the onion is soft and nearly translucent.

Chopped onion and bay leaves cooked in an enameled cast iron pan.

When the onion is ready, pour in the wine and stir to help deglaze the pan. Add the picada and stir to dissolve it completely into the wine mixture. Add the seared chicken, turning to coat with the sauce.

Pieces of chicken in a pan slathered in a thick yellowish sauce.

Pour in the stock and bring to a simmer.

Pieces of chicken simmering in broth in an enameled cast iron pan.

Cook uncovered over low heat for about 45 to 50 minutes (moving the chicken pieces occasionally so they don't stick), or until the chicken is very tender but not falling off the bone and the sauce has thickened. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper, if needed.

To serve, divide the chicken among plates and cover with the sauce. Garnish the pollo en pepitoria with the reserved chopped egg white.

Please scroll to the bottom of the post for the full recipe (in a printable recipe card) including ingredient amounts and detailed instructions.

Expert tips

Be sure to wiggle the pieces of chicken around in the sauce a few times while braising. The sauce can get quite thick and the chicken can start to stick but it's easy to loosen them from the pan periodically.

As I said earlier in the post, the type of bread (and its density) can impact the thickness of your picada and thus the thickness of your sauce. If your sauce is on the thicker side you may thin it out with a bit more broth or water. You can also cover the skillet a bit later in the cooking process to prevent your pollo en pepitoria from reducing further.

If you make this recipe in advance, I recommend reheating in a large covered skillet or pot (similar to the one you cooked it in) over low to medium-low heat, and adding a splash of water or broth to keep the sauce from getting overly thick as it reheats.

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