Chicken Caldereta Recipe

This Chicken Caldereta Recipe or “Kalderetang Manok”  is a Filipino chicken dish that many find comfort in. This wonderful dish is made of chicken chopped to parts, marinated in soy sauce, calamansi juice, black pepper, sauteed then simmered in a stew made of garlic, onions, tomato paste, water, liver spread, tomato sauce, salt and sugar, with some potatoes, carrots, bell peppers as it’s main ‘vegetables’, lastly, adding a handful or so of chillies for some spice. Great for days when you want a warm, heathy, and soothing dish on rainy days or in the colder months.

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Chicken Caldereta Recipe :

Ingredients

• 1 kilo chicken
• 3 tablespoons soy sauce
• 3 tablespoons calamansi juice
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 medium potatoes ( chopped ) 
• 1 medium carrots ( chopped )
• Green and red bell pepper  ( chopped )
• 6 cloves garlic ( minced )
• 1 large onion ( chopped )
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 cup water
• 1 small can liver spread
• ½ cup tomato sauce
• Salt to taste
• Sugar to taste
• Chillies 

Steps:

1. First; Marinade the chicken with soy sauce, calamansi juice and black pepper. Mix well and marinade for at least 1 hour. 
2. Heat some oil and add the potato and carrots. Fry until they brown, then set aside. Saute the bell peppers for a few seconds before taking these out.
3. In the same pan, sear chicken until light brown. Flip after one side has browned, then set aside. Add in garlic, saute until aromatic before adding the onions. Once softened add the tomato paste and mix well before adding back the chicken.
4. Saute these until well combined. Add in the remaining marinade and water. Cover and simmer for 10 – 15 minutes. After, add in liver spread and mix well.
5. Pour in tomato sauce, place back the potatoes and carrots and mix well. Cover and simmer for another 5 – 8 minutes. Give it a taste and add salt and sugar to taste (if needed).
6. Add back the bell peppers and some chillies for spice if you’d like. Cook for a few minutes. Just until the sauce thickens. Serve and enjoy !

How to make this Simple chicken caldereta recipe?

Another Filipino dish that has a good amount of chicken with potatoes and carrots. “Caldereta” means “Stew” in Spanish. This stewed dish has since been transformed to suit FIlipino tastes. Juicy and tender chicken simmered in a savory briant red-orange sauce that will surely elicit joy to anyone who’s given a taste!  

To start with, marinade the chicken bits with soy sauce for color and flavor, calamansi juice to help ‘clean’ any gamey chicken taste it might have and some black pepper. Marinade this for at least an hour or so to help the chicken absorb most of the flavor. While waiting, saute from potato and carrots until these have browned on all sides. Take these out and saute the bell peppers to help soften these and bring out their flavor. Then take these out as well. Separate chicken from the marinade (keep the marinade for later) and sear until these turn light brown on all sides. Take this out and in the same pan, let’s make the main base/sauce of garlic that’s cooked until aromatic, before adding in the onions, cooking until softened. Then add in tomato paste and mix these well with the aromatics before placing back the chicken. Mix till the chicken looks slightly tinted with the paste before pouring in the remaining marinade and some water. Give it a quick stir before covering and simmering for a few minutes. Add in the liver spread to help thicken it up and add a meatier and slightly sweet taste. Then mix in the tomato sauce, potatoes, and carrots. Mix well before covering and simmering again for a few more minutes until the sauce has slightly reduced. Taste, and add some salt and or sugar if needed. Add back the bell peppers and some chillies, depending on how spicy you want the dish to be. Mix until the chillies have softened or the sauce has thickened further. You can also keep it more diluted/sauce-y if you’d like. Serve with a heaping amount of rice on the side. Filling, affordable, and even tastes better the next day. You’re sure to enjoy every bite!

Chicken Caldereta vs Afritada

While so closely resembling one another, each dish does have their specific characteristics. Both being popular Filipino stews; Afritada traditionally uses Chicken as its main meat, with almost the same vegetables but with a more diluted sauce. Caldereta typically uses beef or goat’s meat, unlike Afritada which has liver spread as its special ingredient. Caldereta also has some chilies for heat, and sometimes like menudo, has an addition of keso/cheese.

Questions : 

• Benefits of Kalderetang Manok

Is there any benefit to this dish? There is actually! This dish only having around 110 calories per serving has chicken as the main ingredient to give the dish a boost of protein. Tomato sauce and tomato paste while produced are still made of natural tomatoes which are loaded in vitamins and minerals that helps with preventing cancer and keeps the bones strong. All in all, this dish is also loaded with other vegetables like bell peppers, carrots, potatoes, and many more which can also influence one’s health.

• What part of the chicken to use ?

Aside from a whole chicken chopped into parts, you can also use specific pieces, only using the chicken legs, chicken breast, the chicken wings for a “Chicken Wings Caldereta Recipe”, and many other parts. Some even specifically use the liver to make a “Chicken Liver Caldereta Recipe” for a ‘healthier’ caldereta. 

• Other meats to use ?
  • Beef and Pork are also favorable meats to use in caldereta.
  • You can also use a combination of meats like the “Pork Chicken Caldereta Recipe” a simple chicken pork caldereta recipe is made by adding half and half of chicken and small to medium sized pork bits ( pork can take longer to cook than chicken, so it would be best to have then chopped into smaller/medium-sized chunks ).
  • Some also like to make Goat Caldereta with Peanut Butter – using goat or lamb can be a bit oilier so it would be best to use less oil. (You can also cook the lamb or goat first to help bring out the oils and use these to saute the vegetables and aromatics) To help with the gamey flavor it would also be good to add some nuttiness using peanut butter.

• Additional ingredients
  • Chicken Caldereta with Pineapple Chunks – adding the pineapple juice into the marinade will help tenderize the chicken and give this a nice bright flavor. Adding pineapple chunks at the end with the chilies will keep the dish from being too spicy.
  • Cheesy Chicken Caldereta Recipe or “Caldereta with Cheese” – a close take of caldereta, like menudo. Try adding cheese close to the end to not only have a nice gooey texture, and help thicken up the sauce faster.
  • Creamy Chicken Caldereta Recipe – Make a deliciously creamy chicken caldereta recipe with coconut milk. Add half a can or a whole can of coconut milk or coconut cream instead of water. This makes for a slight nutty taste.
  • Chicken Caldereta Recipe with Peanut Butter – if you want a nuttier taste add a tablespoon or two of peanut butter with the tomato paste. Top the dish with crushed salted peanuts after for garnish and texture.

Other Yummy Caldereta type Recipes!

• Pork Caldereta Recipe ( Your typical Filipino stew
• Beef Short Ribs Caldereta
• Pork Menudo ( a Filipino pork stew simmered in tomato sauce, aromatics, spices, and a bit of cheese )
• Chicken Menudo Recipe ( called “Menudong Manok” This is the chicken recipe/version of the Pork Menudo )
• Pork Mechado ( pork belly simmered with vegetables, a bit of calamansi and tomatoes )
• Chicken Afritada ( also called “Afritadang Manok” )
• Or make your own Homemade Tomato Sauce or Homemade Tomato Paste

Chicken Caldereta Resipi: (Tagalog version)

Mga Sangkap :

• 1 kilo manok
• 3 kutsarang soy sauce
• 3 kutsarang calamansi juice
• 1 kutsaritang paminta
• 2 patatas ( hiniwa ) 
• 1 karot ( hiniwa ) 
• Berde at Pulang paminta  ( hiniwa ) 
• 6 butil ng bawang ( tinadtad )
• 1 sibuyas ( tinadtad )
• 2 kutsarang tomato paste
• 1tasa tubig
• 1 maliit na lata ng liver spread
• ½ tasa tomato sauce
• Asin panlasa
• Asukal panlasa
• Mga sili

Paano Lutuin :

1. Imarinade ang manok ng soy sauce, calamansi juice, at paminta. Haluin ng mabuti at itabi ng 1 oras.
2. Uminit ng mantika bago lutuin ang mga patatas at karots. Iprito hanggang mag kulay kayumanggi ng konti. Itabi. Lutuin ang mga kampanilyang paminta ng ilang segundo bago tanggalin.
3. Sa parehong kawali, lutuin ang mga manok hanggang mag iba ng kulay. Pag baliktarin hanggang may pagka-kayumanggi ang mga ito at itabi. Lutuin ang mga bawang at lutuin hanggang bumango bago haluan ng sibuyas. Pag lumambot na ito, haluin ng tomato paste at haluin ng mabuti bago ilagay ang mga manok.
4. Haluin at ibuhos ang natirang marinade at tubig. Takpan at pakuluin ng 10 – 15 minuto. Haluan ng liver spread pagkatapos.
5. Buhusan ang tomato sauce, ibalik ang mga patatas at karots at haluin ng mabuti. Takpan at pakuluin ng 5 – 8 minuto. Tikpan at haluan ng asin at asukal kung kinakailangan.
6. Ihalo dito ang mga kampanilyang paminta at mga sili ( depende kung gaano kaanghang mo gusto itong maging). Lutuin ng ilang minuto para kumapal ang sarsa nito. Ihanda at ienjoy !