Cazuela nogada is a Chilean chicken stew in which the pieces are browned first, simmered with onion, celery, parsley, potatoes, and rice, and then finished with a ground walnut sauce stirred in at the very end. It takes 30 minutes of preparation plus 60 minutes of cooking and serves 6 people.
The walnut sauce is what sets it apart from every other cazuela, giving the broth a thick, creamy body and an earthy color. It is an autumn and winter dish, served piping hot in deep clay bowls.
How to Make Cazuela de Ave Nogada?
Cazuela de ave nogada is one of the tastiest and most nourishing variants of the dish, originally from the El Almendral area in Chacabuco province near Los Andes, made with potatoes, bell pepper, onion, and rice.
Nutritional Information
Each serving of cazuela nogada contains approximately 400 kcal, 28 g of protein, 18 g of fat (4 g of saturated fat), 80 mg of cholesterol, 38 g of carbohydrates, 3 g of sugars, and 600 mg of sodium. These values are estimates and may vary depending on ingredients and portion sizes.
Homemade Chilean Cazuela Nogada Recipe
Preparation: 30 minutes
Cooking: 60 minutes
Servings: 6 people
Ingredients
- 8 medium potatoes
- 6 chicken pieces
- 1.5 tablespoons of rice
- 1.5 liters (6 cups) of cold water
- 1 celery stalk
- 1 sprig of parsley
- 1 teaspoon of oregano
- 1 cup of ground walnuts
- Half an onion
- Half a bell pepper, cut into strips
- Vegetable oil
- Fine salt
- Black pepper
Instructions
- Pour a splash of oil into a large pot and heat it over medium heat. Add the chicken pieces and fry for a couple of minutes on each side, browning them evenly. Add the chopped onion and fry for about 5 minutes, stirring with a wooden spoon until the onion starts to turn translucent.
- Add the chopped celery and parsley and the oregano, season with salt and pepper to taste, mix everything thoroughly, and cover with the water at room temperature. Bring to a boil over high heat, cover the pot, lower the heat, and cook for about 15 minutes.
- Add the peeled and chopped potatoes and the rice, lower the heat, and simmer gently for another 20 minutes. Take a cup of the cooking broth and, in a small bowl, moisten the ground walnuts until you get an even mixture, then stir it back into the pot.
- Keep it cooking for a couple of minutes and turn off the heat. Serve the cazuela nogada very hot, ideally in deep clay bowls, garnished with chopped parsley to taste and, if you like, alongside a glass of Chilean wine.
Additional Tips
Brown the chicken first
Searing the chicken in a very hot pan with a thread of oil for 3 to 4 minutes per side triggers the Maillard reaction. The golden crust concentrates flavor and partly seals the juices, so the final broth is darker, tastier, and fuller bodied than if raw chicken goes straight into the water. Browned chicken also holds its shape better through the long cooking and does not fall apart in the broth.
Make the walnut sauce lump free
Peel the walnuts and soak them for 5 minutes in boiling water, which makes the bitter inner skin come away easily. Grind them in a processor to a fine powder before mixing with breadcrumbs. Soak 2 tablespoons of breadcrumbs in half a cup of warm broth for 3 minutes, then mix with the walnut powder and blend until it emulsifies. If it is too thick, add broth a spoonful at a time. The sauce should have the consistency of cream, flowing on its own without being liquid.
Add the sauce off the boil
The walnut sauce goes in during the last 5 minutes of cooking, over the lowest heat, never at a rolling boil. The walnut proteins coagulate if the broth is boiling hard and the sauce separates into solids and liquid. Pour it in a thin stream while stirring the broth gently, and raise the heat only enough to warm it through without boiling again. Serve immediately.
Chilean Chicken Cazuelas by Season
| Cazuela | Defining ingredient | Season |
|---|---|---|
| Cazuela nogada | Walnut sauce | Autumn and winter |
| Classic chicken cazuela | No sauce, vegetables only | All year round |
| Chicken cazuela with green beans | Green beans cut in julienne | Spring and summer |
| Chicken cazuela with chuchoca | Chuchoca, dried ground corn | Winter |
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
1. Can I use whole walnuts if I have no way to grind them?
The walnut works as a thickening agent for the broth. If you do not have a food processor, chop them very finely and then crush them with a mortar and pestle.
2. Why is cold water used at the start?
Cold water allows a slower, deeper extraction of flavor from the bones and the chicken meat. Heating the water from cold along with the sofrito releases the nutrients and the collagen gradually into the liquid.
3. Can it be made with turkey instead of chicken?
Absolutely. The method is identical, and turkey, being a leaner meat, benefits enormously from the creaminess the walnuts provide. Just adjust the cooking time if the turkey pieces are very large.
4. How do I stop the walnuts from tasting bitter?
Always use fresh walnuts, since older ones turn rancid. Remove the thin skin if bitterness worries you, although in the traditional cazuela that skin gives the characteristic earthy color.
5. Do I have to serve it in clay bowls?
It does not change the flavor, but clay has greater thermal inertia. That keeps the cazuela at the ideal serving temperature throughout the meal, letting the flavors keep coming together at the table.
What Is Cazuela Nogada?
Cazuela nogada is a regional variant of the Chilean cazuela, the country everyday one pot stew of meat, broth, and vegetables. What makes it nogada is the walnut sauce folded in at the end, which turns a clear broth into a thick, opaque one. Nogado dishes are a small family in Chilean cooking that also includes beef tongue in walnut sauce.
Walnuts in Chilean Cooking
Walnuts grow well across the central valley, and the El Almendral area near Los Andes, where this cazuela comes from, sits in the middle of that growing zone. Using ground nuts as a thickener instead of flour is an old technique that also shows up in the walnut sauces served with tongue and cold meats.
Did You Know?
Walnuts are rich in saturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids, which help keep LDL cholesterol in check and raise HDL cholesterol, lowering the risk of cardiovascular complications and helping prevent diabetes.
How to adapt this recipe to a vegan or vegetarian version?
How to adapt this recipe to a gluten-free version?
How to adapt this recipe to a keto (ketogenic) version?
Recommended
- Chilean Nogada Beef Tongue Recipe
- Chilean Chicken Gizzard Soup Recipe
- Chilean Loco Abalone Carbonada Recipe
- Chilean Menestron Vegetable and Bean Soup
