Traditional

Pollo Asado

Name: Pollo Asado
Prep time: 12 min
Cook time: 23 min
Total time: 35 min
Yield: 12 tacos
Cuisine: Mexican
Ingredients: 2 lb Boneless chicken thighs; 2 tbsp Achiote paste; 1/2 cup Fresh orange juice; 1/4 cup Lime juice; 4 Garlic cloves; 1 tsp Mexican oregano; 1/2 tsp Ground cumin; 2 tbsp Neutral oil; 1 1/2 tsp Salt; 12 Corn tortillas; 1/2 White onion, minced; 1/2 cup Cilantro, chopped; 1 cup Avocado-tomatillo salsa; 2 limes Lime wedges

Sinaloa-style grilled chicken stained deep orange with achiote and fresh citrus, charred fast over a ripping-hot grill. Chopped straight off the board into warm tortillas with salsa and lime, it eats like a beach-town asadero.

Time: 35 min
Heat
Yield: 12 tacos
Region: Sinaloa

Ingredients

Citrus-achiote marinade

To build

Per-100g nutrition (9 ingredients verified)

Ingredient	kcal	Protein	Fat	Carbs
Achiote paste	0	0 g	0 g	90.9 g
Lime juice	—	0 g	0 g	6.7 g
Garlic cloves	100	0 g	0 g	20 g
Mexican oregano	0	0 g	0 g	0 g
Ground cumin	500	0 g	0 g	50 g
Neutral oil	867	0 g	93.3 g	0 g
Salt	0	0 g	0 g	1330 g
Corn tortillas	188	3.1 g	1.6 g	40.6 g
Cilantro, chopped	23	2.1 g	0.5 g	3.7 g

Values are per 100 g of the listed ingredient. Nutrition data: USDA FoodData Central (snapshot 2026-09-11). Ingredients without a verified match are omitted.

Method

Whisk the achiote paste into the orange juice, lime juice, oil, garlic, oregano, cumin, and salt until completely smooth.
Coat the chicken thighs in the marinade and let them sit while the grill gets screaming hot.
Grill the thighs over direct high heat until the first side is deeply charred and releases easily.
Advertisementslot: recipe-midsteps
Flip and grill until the second side chars and the chicken is cooked through, basting once with leftover marinade early on.
Rest the chicken a few minutes, then chop it into rough taquería-style pieces with any charred bits.
Warm the tortillas over the coals, pile on the chicken, and finish with onion, cilantro, salsa, and a hard squeeze of lime.