I always wanted to try homemade pollo loco and finely got around to it.
For those that may not know, El Pollo Loco is a Mexican style grilled chicken fast food restaurant. Originated in Mexico which still operates there and also here in the Western U.S. (Different companies in both countries but very similar in style) In the U.S. locations are mostly in CA with some locations in AZ and TX. It's flame or fire grilled chicken and it's quite good. You can get chicken meals and also get tostadas, burritos, tacos, salad's etc. They're very decent for a fast food joint.
Anyway, I marinated some drumsticks in orange, lemon, pineapple juice along with cumin, cinnamon, garlic, chile powder, allspice, coriander etc etc. I opted out of any type of food coloring and used turmeric and saffron to get the yellow hue their chicken usually has
They also have variety of salsas so I did a runny, finely minced pico de gallo
And a creamy avocado salsa that is one of my favorites there
Made some cassava flour tortillas (been liking these a lot)
Put the chicken on the gasser as they're usually grilled at the restaurant on gas grills
Served up with beans, salsa and the cassava tortillas
Close up
Nice and tender. This was really good but I need to play with the ingredients a little more to dial in that true Pollo Loco flavor. I'm going to try direct grilling also next time. Can't say that it wasn't good though but need to fiddle with it more. :heh:
For those that may not know, El Pollo Loco is a Mexican style grilled chicken fast food restaurant. Originated in Mexico which still operates there and also here in the Western U.S. (Different companies in both countries but very similar in style) In the U.S. locations are mostly in CA with some locations in AZ and TX. It's flame or fire grilled chicken and it's quite good. You can get chicken meals and also get tostadas, burritos, tacos, salad's etc. They're very decent for a fast food joint.
Anyway, I marinated some drumsticks in orange, lemon, pineapple juice along with cumin, cinnamon, garlic, chile powder, allspice, coriander etc etc. I opted out of any type of food coloring and used turmeric and saffron to get the yellow hue their chicken usually has
They also have variety of salsas so I did a runny, finely minced pico de gallo
And a creamy avocado salsa that is one of my favorites there
Made some cassava flour tortillas (been liking these a lot)
Put the chicken on the gasser as they're usually grilled at the restaurant on gas grills
Served up with beans, salsa and the cassava tortillas
Close up
Nice and tender. This was really good but I need to play with the ingredients a little more to dial in that true Pollo Loco flavor. I'm going to try direct grilling also next time. Can't say that it wasn't good though but need to fiddle with it more. :heh: