
Pollo Asado con Patatas is the perfect family meal- a true gather-around-the-table dinner. I fell in love with this dish while living with my family in Spain and you’re about to fall in love too!
Pollo Asado means “Roast Chicken” and “patatas” are potatoes!
But “roast chicken and potatoes” doesn’t embody the true spirit of this food. When I hear “pollo asado” I am transported back to a small village in the mountains of southern Spain, sitting at a wooden round table in my sisters kitchen and soaking up potatoes with juicy chicken fat.

I also remember the lines of hungry customers waiting for a hot “pollo asado” to bring home on the streets of Fuengirola. The aromas trickling from these street- side restaurants seeped into the cobblestones and made you literally weep for food.
Roast chickens with crispy skins, surrounded by tender potatoes.
On the drive home, the patatas would soak up all the chicken drippings and give them flavour, and when I make this at home now, I get that same taste just dunking the fries and eating hands-on.

Finish your meal off with a sweet Maple Pecan Cookie.
This dish is deceptively simple to make and uses a few simple pantry staple ingredients. Let’s get started!
Pollo Asado en Ingles- My English Recipe
I am excited to share with you a recipe for Pollo Asado in English. This dish is extremely popular in Spanish- speaking countries, and the recipes are hence usually in Spanish.
Most recipes call for thyme but I like to use rosemary and sage for more attuned flavor, and we use apple juice instead of white wine to pour around the potatoes and envelope them in delicious juices.

Pollo Asado en el horno- Oven Roasted Chicken
This dish is made all in one pan- and oven baked for 2 hours. You can use a roasting pan, a large cast iron skillet, or any other oven friendly pan.
Make sure you have room for a whole chicken and lots of potatoes to lie without overlapping too much- you want the potatoes to be sitting on the bottom of the pan.

I love my Lodge cast iron skillet(this is an affiliate link). It’s the perfect size for this roasted chicken dish and I can serve the meal directly in the baking dish- just one thing to wash!
Pollo Asado Spices- What You Need
This is a simple recipe that doesn’t require a lot of ingredients, yet it has so much flavor!!
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 4 fresh sage leaves
- 1 Tbs rosemary leaves
- half a lemon
- a whole head of garlic
- olive oil

As far as substitutions go, if you don’t have rosemary or sage you can use fresh or dried thyme instead of either.
Don’t love garlic? a whole head of garlic might sound like a lot, but this dish is quite large. The garlic cloves get sprinkled between the potatoes and are like little nuggets of gold.
You’ll get one here and there and the flavor just melts in your mouth and brings extra life to the potatoes. Don’t skip!

How to Make Pollo Asado con Patatas
It will take you about 10 minutes to prepare this recipe and 2 hours of roasting time in the oven.
The lowdown:
- Add spices to a small bowl and mix with your fingers to combine well
- Rinse whole chicken and pat dry with a paper towel
- Using the back of a large spoon, loosen the skin from the meat
- Rub with olive oil and then sprinkle over the spices, making sure to rub spice mix under the skin and on the wings as well
- Oil your skillet or baking dish/if you do not have a non stick oven baking dish use parchment paper to fit the vessel and then spray with spray oil to prevent sticking
- Slice potatoes about 1/4 inch thick and arrange, overlapping in the bottom of the baking dish. Add garlic cloves
- Place chicken on the centre of the potatoes and place lemon in the cavity of the chicken
- Pour apple juice over the potatoes and then sprinkle them with salt and pepper
- Bake for 1 hour covered( at 190º C)
- Raise temperature to 200º C and bake another 45 min.- 1 hour uncovered.
- Carve chicken and return slices to the pan. Serve!

A note on carving the chicken
You can serve this chicken straight from the oven to the table, but I find it easier to eat if you carve it first.
Using a sharp knife, remove the wings and chicken legs first. Then slice each breast away from the centre bone, leaving the breast intact. Place each breast on a cutting board and cut into slices, then arrange all the slices and wings/legs back on top of the potatoes. I finish with a final drizzle of olive oil, although its not totally necessary!

If you try this recipe please give it a star rating below and be sure to add any of your special comments. Readers(and me!!) love hearing how things come out in your own kitchen. Happy cooking!

Pollo Asado con Patatas (English recipe)
Ingredients
- 1 whole chicken
- 1/2 lemon or two mini lemons
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
Seasoning Mix
- 1 Tbsp fresh rosemary, finely minced
- 1 Tbsp (4 leaves) fresh sage, finely minced
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp salt
Patatas(potatoes)
- 4 potatoes
- 5 Tbsp olive oil, divided (2 T to coat pan and 3 T for the top of the potatoes)
- pinch of salt and pepper
- 1 head of garlic, peeled
- 1/2 cup apple juice
Instructions
Prep Rub and Chicken
- Combine all seasonings ( rosemary, sage, salt, pepper) in a small bowl and mix well.
- Rinse whole chicken under cold water and place onto a large plate. Pat dry with a paper towel(this helps the seasoning stick). Drizzle with olive oil and rub to coat all over. Use a large spoon to loosen the skin- slide it upside down under the skin and gently release skin, keeping it still intact.Sprinkle over the seasoning and make sure to rub also the wings and under the skin. Place the lemon half or mini lemons cut into half into the cavity of the chicken. Place into the fridge to dry out while you prep the potatoes.
Patatas(potatoes)
- Wash and peel potatoes. Slice them thinly (about 1/4 inch thick). Try to make all potatoes the same thickness. They look prettier this way and cook evenly. Use a sharp knife or a mandolin.
- Get out a cast iron skillet or roasting pan(or any oven safe dish). Add 2 Tbsp olive oil and coat the bottom and sides of your skillet or chosen dish(this helps to prevent potatoes from sticking). Arrange potatoes in a spiral around the dish, leaning them against each other and working from the outer edges of the pan into the centre. Nestle in the whole head of garlic cloves.
Bake
- Place seasoned chicken onto the centre of the potatoes, breast side up.
- Drizzle 3 Tablespoons olive oil over the exposed potatoes around the edges, pour the apple juice over potatoes, and sprinkle with a pinch of salt and pepper.
- Cover the pan tightly with aluminum foil and place in the preheated oven(to 190ºc). Bake for 1 hour covered. After one hour, raise the oven temperature to 200ºc and remove the foil. Baste the chicken with drippings from the bottom of the pan.Bake uncovered for another 45-60 minutes, depending on your oven, basting once or twice during this time. When finished the chicken will be golden and the potatoes crispy at the edges and tender on the inside. If you notice any garlic burning, move it under the potatoes and rotate the pan for an even bake.To serve, remove the chicken to a cutting board and carve. I like to remove the wings and drumsticks and then use a carving knife to remove the breasts and slice them into strips. Return all pieces to the skillet, arranging them once again on the top of the potatoes. Save all bones and use for chicken stock!Serve in the skillet hot. Buen provecho!
I made this exact recipe in a cast iron skillet and put in the oven per instructions. The potatoes were to die for and the chicken came out juicy on the inside and crispy on the outside. I will definitely make this again. Perfect for Shabbat.