El Pollo Loco Chicken marinated in citrus and pineapple juice overnight for the PERFECT El Pollo Loco copycat recipe!
And if you’re an old school El Pollo Loco Chicken lover like I am, pair this with El Pollo Loco BBQ Black Beans (Copycat) for the perfect meal!
Looking for more copycat Mexican recipes?
- Chipotle Corn Salsa (Copycat)
- Chipotle Lime Chips and Guacamole (Copycat)
- Chipotle Barbacoa Beef (Copycat)
- Guapo’s Famous Fresh Pico de Gallo
Or perhaps you want more chicken copycat recipes!
- KFC Original Recipe Chicken (Copycat)
- Pioneer Take-Out Fried Chicken
- Tony Roma’s BBQ Chicken
- Panda Express Orange Chicken (Copycat)
- Chick-fil-A Nuggets (Copycat)
Some important notes about this El Pollo Loco Chicken:
- Yes, El Pollo Loco uses food coloring. They do it to make the chicken look better. This adds nothing to the flavor so I left it out but notated it into the recipe for you.
- They marinade the chicken for an extended period of time. That is why there is so much flavor in the chicken without any sauce! The flavors are similar to this Slow Cooker Cuban Mojo Pork.
- Yes, you can and should make this in the slow cooker too! I do it all the time. When done I just crisp under the broiler for a minute then shred into tacos. Tastes like chicken carnitas.
- You can cook it through on your stovetop too if you don’t want to bake, but careful you don’t burn the skin too much. The flavor of the pressed crispy skin is vital to el pollo loco.
Tools Used in making this El Pollo Loco Chicken recipe:
Grill Pan: Love this for cooking and pressing foods, the grill marks are great without having to go outside and be in nature. 🙂
Grill Press: I use this for bacon, chicken, stuffed foods, rolled foods, etc. A great kitchen tool.
Pig Tail Flipper: I use this to flip the chicken without damaging the skin and its super easy. I use this tool EVERY time I cook something that requires flipping, it is amazing.
El Pollo Loco Chicken (Copycat)
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon white vinegar
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/4 teaspoon ground pepper
- 1/4 jalapeno seeded and minced very finely
- 1 cup pineapple juice
- 2 tablespoons lime juice
- 1 tablespoon canola oil
- 8 chicken thighs bone in and skin on
Instructions
- Mix up all the ingredients except for the chicken into a large bowl.
- Whisk well then reserve 1/4 cup of the marinade in a small tupperware.
- Add the chicken to the bowl and cover with plastic wrap.
- Marinade overnight.
- Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.
- In a cast iron grill pan add the chicken skin side up.
Cook in the oven for 25 minutes.
- Using potholders, add the pan to the stovetop on medium high heat.
- Spray some foil with canola oil spray and put sprayed side down over the top of the chicken.
- Press onto the meat with either a bacon press, a foil wrapped brick or a second heavy pan (I used my normal cast iron skillet on top of the chicken.
- Spoon half the reserved marinade over the chicken while it cooks.
Cook for another 3 minutes then remove the bacon press/brick, flip chicken (add some more marinade) and cook a final three minutes before serving.
Recipe Notes
In the authentic recipe yellow food coloring is added. This adds nothing to your dish, but if you want to add it, use 6 drops.
So disappointing. I used to live in California and had the real El Pollo Loco, my favorite fast food chicken. I’ve been searching for a good copycat recipe ever since I moved out of state. This tastes nothing like the real thing. It was bland and tough even though I followed the recipe exactly.
Was trying to find out how to make the Mexican corn ! Never see any recipes for that .
Here’s the link:
https://dev.dinnerthendessert.com/mexican-corn-salad/
Tasted absolutely nothing like El Pollo Loco chicken. Super disappointed.
I made this recipe today and it’s delicious!! Of course is not going to be exactly like El Pollo Loco that’s why is a “Copycat recipe” for the ones Whining about it!
Thank you for sharing this recipe!
Tried this recipe tonight, it was good, but not El Pollo Loco… Thank you for doing what you do though, just because it wasn’t what I or others thought or maybe expected it to be is no reason to verbally attack you or anyone who takes time to put together and post recipes for us to try. Thank you again.
This exact recipe has been floating around the internet for at least the last 10 years so I hope you are not claiming it as your own. While it does create a decent pollo asado it in no way, shape or form replicates the El Pollo Loco recipe. I spent a year trying to convince myself that it was close after 10 or 15 attempts. But whenever I would have the real thing thing I had to be honest with myself. Some folks who claim to have worked there mention lots more garlic or rubbing with pineapple butter. If you research Sinaloan or Sonoran pollo asado you’ll see there are other herbs and spices used and probably another citrus. I am surprised no one has nailed this one yet. Other Pollo Loco copycat recipes out there (salsa aguacate and their black beans) are much closer to the real thing.
Disappointed! Tastes nothing like El Pollo Loco.
Does it atleast taste good?
Wow, no, no, no, you didn’t. Man, is this awesome to see this recipe on your site. It’s like Christmas a few days early !!!
I know I keep begging you for a replica of Luby’s Fried Cheesecake with strawberry glazing. But, I am glad that you are showing us how to make this. I go to Pollo Loco pretty frequently, and they are actually affordable in Houston, Texas.
But, anyway, I am so glad you shared this recipe. You are one of my favorite chefs, and anything that I have made of yours has been good — if I did it right. Again, thank you
Thanks so much!
Do you think this marinade would be good for steak?
Absolutely! Sounds delicious!
This recipe is based on a recipe called ‘Agua Negra’, which would be more appropriate for beef.
followed the recipe to a tee and it didn’t taste ANYTHING like El Pollo Loco! My guests still said it was flavorful, but not the flavor we were expecting. Very disappointed. ??
Thank you for this recipe!..I drove a truck late 80’s-early 90’s and was in California every week..always found my way to one of the El Pollo Locos..they had the best chicken on the west coast in my opinion..Wish we had these on the East Coast ..where Im living…I can still smell that chicken cooking on the huge grill they used…
You’re welcome, Kathy!
We had them in Florida over probably 15 years ago and I loved it but it didn’t make it. Don’t you always say to yourself, I would have gone there a lot more if I knew they were closing!
OMG! This marinade is so off the hook!
My familia loves it!
Yay!! Thanks for coming back to let me know, Charlotte.
I grew up in Southern California and Pollo Loco has been a staple for us for many, many years. Although this chicken tasted good (not great) and smelled terrific while cooking, it just did not taste like El Pollo Loco chicken AT ALL. I was very hopeful and saw all of the five star ratings… I should have looked closer at the comments – I don’t know why people give five stars for recipes they haven’t even tried… A comment like “looks great” or “I love copycat recipes” is not really saying anything about why a recipe is worthy of five stars. If this were just a recipe for chicken I would have given it 3 stars but as a copycat recipe I would give it zero stars. Therefore, the two stars is where I landed. The pictures on your site are gorgeous and I am looking forward to trying more of your recipes. Thanks for posting.
Sorry that you felt it didn’t live up to a copycat. Look forward to seeing you around the site.
A couple of tablespoons of achiote paste or powder is the missing ingredient.
I wondered about that, especially with the inclusion of yellow coloring. Annatto would be the coloring in the anchiote paste or powder. It’s cheap and found in the Mexican food section! 😀
You can use turmeric to get the coloring and its good for you too!
Has anyone actually made this recipe? I did actually made this, marinaded over night and the chicken dissolved while cooking.. had to throw the whole thing out… probably should only marinate for 2 hours max.
Oh no! It sounds like the bromelain in the pineapple juice broke down the chicken. My pineapple juice wasn’t fresh so that’s why I didn’t have an issue. Next time, you can microwave the juice and then allow it to cool back down before using. Hope this helps!
The directions were a bit confusing to me? It said to preheat oven but not when to put chicken in the oven? Then said to spray foil with canola spray & place brick on the chicken then put 1/2 the remaining marinade on. How is that possible if the foil & brick is in the chicken? I’m going to give it a go and pray it works ???
Hopfully I can help clear up any confusion. You’ll be placing the chicken in the oven to cook for 25 minutes (step 7). When it’s time to spoon on marinade, simply lift the brick or whatever the heavy item it is that’s on it and spoon it on. Place the brick back down onto the chicken. I hope this helps and that you enjoy it!
This recipe sounds amazing, I will definitely be making this in the near future. I too thought to add turmeric to the marinade in order to achieve the yellow color to the chicken. If you don’t add too much it shouldn’t change the flavor of the chicken.