Tamales de Pollo Salvadoreños

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Tamales de pollo are one of my favorite Salvadoran food. It's made with corn flour dough (masa), stewed chicken, choice of vegetables and wrapped in a banana leaves. Tamales are eaten year round, you can typically hear someone yelling "TAMALES!" at 6 am every day in front of my abuelita's house in El Salvador. In the US my mom typically only makes tamales during the holidays because they are a labor of love!

This recipe will take you through the full process from start to finish. Please remember that you can substitute or add any ingredients that soothe your soul. The most simple tamal is filled with stewed chicken and maybe a piece of potato but you can find tamales with a green bean, boiled egg, olives, garbanzos, carrots, etc,. They key is to make it to your liking and the same goes with the seasoning. Taste test as you go and adjust to your preference.

How to make Tamales Salvadoreños?

There is quite a few steps to this process so I've broken it up into four parts below in order of execution. The ingredients are also listed for each step but essentially most of them are the same in each step.

1. The chicken and other fillings

2. How to prepare the banana plant leaves

3. How to make the masa (dough)

4. How to wrap and cook them

1. Chicken and other fillings: This was enough chicken for about 50-60 tamales and we had about a cup left over. If you don't want to make this many cut the recipe in half.

Ingredients:

• 2 whole chickens

• 3 tbsp chicken bouillon

• 11/2 green bell pepper

• 12 tomatoes

• 3 celery stalks

• 1 1/2 white onion

• 6 garlic cloves

• Salt to taste

• 2 bay leaves

• Water

• Pepper to taste

• 2 tsp Cumin

• 1 tsp achiote (Ground anatto)

• 1 cup of chicken broth from the chicken

• 1-2 tbsp of olive oil (or preferred oil)

• Potato: This is an additional filling that the tamales will have, choose your preferred additional fillings. This can be green olives, chickpeas, carrots, green bean, boiled egg... this is optional.

1. Wash (optional) and cut the chicken into pieces.

2. Prepare the vegetables for the broth: dice 2 tomatoes, 1 green bell pepper, 3 celery sticks, 1 onion, and peel 4 garlic cloves.

3. Place a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the chopped vegetables, chicken pieces, enough water to cover the chicken, and the following seasonings: 1 tbsp chicken bouillon, 2 tsp salt, 2 bay leaves, and 1 tsp pepper. Cook until the chicken is tender and the broth has boiled. Turn off the heat. Taste and adjust seasonings as it cooks.

4. Remove the chicken and place it on a tray to cool. Leave the broth and vegetables in the pot to cool as well—you will use them later for the tomato sauce and masa, so do not discard.

5. While the chicken cools, prepare the tomato sauce for the stew. Chop and prepare the remaining vegetables: 10 tomatoes, ½ green bell pepper, ½ white onion, and 2 peeled garlic cloves. Add 1 tsp salt (or to taste), 1 tsp pepper (or to taste), 2 tsp cumin, 1 tsp achiote, 1 tbsp chicken bouillon (or to taste), and 1 cup of the chicken broth. Blend until smooth and set aside.

6. Once the chicken has cooled, shred it into small pieces, removing cartilage, skin, and bones.

7. Place a saucepan over medium-high heat and add 1–2 tbsp olive oil (or preferred oil). Add the shredded chicken and season with 1 tbsp chicken bouillon, plus salt and pepper to taste. Stir-fry for about 5 minutes, then add the tomato sauce. Mix well, cover, and bring to a boil. If the sauce is too liquid, uncover and boil for an additional 5 minutes to reduce excess water. The sauce should be thick so it doesn’t run off when added to the tamal.

8. Remove the chicken from the heat and let it cool.

9. Peel and prepare any additional fillings. We kept our tamales simple with the traditional piece of potato. Cut the vegetables into long rectangular pieces if possible. If adding boiled egg, slice into quarters lengthwise. Olives and chickpeas can remain whole—typically one of each per tamal. Place each filling ingredient in a separate bowl and set aside.

2. How to prepare the banana plant leaves: These can usually be purchased in latin/hispanic grocery stores if you don't have any of your own. These need to be in good state and not be torn. You should be able to cut large enough pieces to wrap your tamales in. You can always put more than one piece but it will be harder to wrap in some cases. The objective is to wrap the tamal in the banana leaf and then wrap it in aluminum foil for additional support and protection from the water during the cooking process.

Supplies:

• Banana plant leaves

• Aluminum foil

• Comal (Griddle or large skillet)

Instructions:

1. Remove the stem that runs through the leaf. If you purchased the leaves from a grocery store, this step has most likely already been done.

2. Cut the leaf into pieces large enough to wrap a tamal, approximately 7 x 7 inches, depending on the size of tamales you want to make.

3. Rinse each piece of leaf in water and use a clean sponge to lightly scrub both the front and back.

4. Preheat a griddle to medium-high heat.

5. Place each piece of leaf on the griddle for about 3–4 seconds per side. The leaf will change color as it heats, making it more pliable and less likely to tear during wrapping. Do not leave it too long, as excessive heat will cause it to shrivel.

6. Cut aluminum foil into pieces that are about 1 inch larger than the banana leaf pieces.

7. Place one piece of aluminum foil down and a banana leaf on top. This forms a single wrap. Prepare as many as you need. For example, we planned for 60 tamales, so we prepared 60 pieces of aluminum foil and 60 banana leaves, which yielded 53 tamales.

3. How to cook the masa (dough): You will need big containers or pots for this step. The masa is made by combining flour with the chicken broth, sauce and lard. It's then cooked to thicken it up to get the consistency shown in the video below.

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 pounds of Maseca white corn flour or 8 cups

• 2 tomatoes

• 1/2 green bell pepper

• 1/2 white onion

• all the veggies from the chicken broth

• 2 tsp of ground cumin

• 2 tsp of ground pepper

• 1 tbsp of chicken bouillon

• 1 tbsp of salt

• 2 tsp of achiote molido (ground anatto)

• 20 cups chicken broth

• 3 cup of lard: Substitute this with a veggie lard if preferred.

1. Prep and cut the tomatoes, bell pepper, and white onion into small-to-medium pieces, then add them to the blender.

2. Strain the broth to separate the cooked vegetables from the liquid. Add the cooked vegetables to the blender as well.

3. Add the cumin, pepper, chicken bouillon, salt, ground annatto, and 1 cup of chicken broth. Blend until smooth. Taste and adjust seasonings as needed.

4. In the largest empty pot you have, pour in the blended sauce and add 2 ½ pounds of white corn flour. Then add 8 cups of chicken broth and begin dissolving the flour into the liquid. We used a total of 18 cups of broth to reach the desired consistency.

5. Add 3 cups of lard and mix until fully dissolved. The key is to ensure the flour is completely dissolved—this is traditionally done by hand, but you can also use a whisk or another tool of your choice.

6. Once the mixture is smooth and runny, place the pot on the stove over medium-high heat. Stir continuously to prevent sticking. The dough will be ready once it boils, which takes about 10–15 minutes. If the dough sticks to the sides of the pot or becomes too thick, add more chicken broth and lard.

7. Once it reaches a boil, remove from heat and continue stirring for 2 minutes. Set aside and allow it to cool.

   
   

If you don't have a big enough pot or container you will have to do this in batches. Divide ingredients based on how many batches you'll have to make. If you have a big enough container mix it all at once and just divide the cooking portion into batches. I will post all videos on IG and TikTok under @flourishwithg if you want to see videos on the dough.

4. How to wrap and cook the tamales: We're almost there! This is the fun part in my opinion. To make this an efficient process, set up a wrapping station. All ingredients for the most part should be cooled. We should start wrapping no more than 10 mins after our dough is done so that it doesn't get too hard. The wrapping station needs to include the chicken and additional fillings, the banana leaf wraps, the dough and the pot that you will be cooking the tamales in. If you don't have a pot that will fit all of them at once, cook them in batches.

1. Prepare the pot: If you have a steamer tray for your pot, you can place it inside, but it’s not necessary. Line the bottom of the pot (or the top of the steamer tray) with banana leaf scraps or leftovers. As you wrap the tamales, stack them horizontally on top of the banana leaves.

2. Set up your wrap: Place the stack of banana leaf pieces in front of you.

3. Add the dough: Scoop about ⅓ cup of dough onto the center of the banana leaf. Make a small indentation in the middle.

4. Add the fillings: Place your fillings in the center of the dough. Add as much chicken and sauce as you like, along with one piece of each additional ingredient. For example, I added a piece of potato and a piece of carrot on top of the chicken. Be careful not to overfill, as this makes wrapping more difficult.

5. Wrap with banana leaf: Grab the edge of the banana leaf farthest from you and fold it toward you to shape the dough into a cylinder, then lay it back down. This step makes wrapping easier. Next, grab the edge of the banana leaf closest to you with both hands and fold it over the dough until it covers completely. Press gently toward you and flip to finish wrapping. Do not wrap too tightly, as the tamal needs room to expand while cooking.

6. Wrap with foil: Place the tamal (wrapped in banana leaf) about 2 inches from the edge of a piece of aluminum foil. Fold the foil edge closest to you over the tamal, pressing gently and flipping as many times as needed until the foil fully covers the banana leaf.

7. Seal the ends: Lightly press down on the sides of the tamal where it ends and fold the foil flaps underneath. Avoid wrapping too tightly, as this can cause the tamal to burst through the sides while cooking.

8. Cook the tamales: Place the wrapped tamales horizontally in the pot. Once the pot is full, leaving about 1 inch of space at the top, add water until the pot is filled to one-third. Cover the tamales with more banana leaf scraps, then place the lid on the pot. Cook over medium-high heat for 45–60 minutes, or until the vegetables inside are fully cooked. Around the 45-minute mark, open one tamal to check doneness.

9. Rest the tamales: Once the vegetables are cooked, turn off the heat and let the tamales rest for 1–2 hours before serving.

10. Store or freeze: Once cooled, tamales can be frozen in airtight or vacuum-sealed bags. They keep well in the freezer for up to 3 months. To reheat from frozen, steam them for 10–15 minutes with both the aluminum foil and banana leaf wrap still on.

If you have any questions please leave a comment below or on Instagram/Tiktok/Facebook. As always all videos with visuals will be posted on @flourishwithg on all social media sites. I hope you all truly enjoy making this recipe with your loved ones as much as I did.