Jocón (Chicken and Tomatillo Stew)
Updated March 12, 2024
- Total Time
- About 2 hours
- Prep Time
- 20 minutes
- Cook Time
- 1½ hours
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
Yield:8 servings
- 1cup roasted, unsalted pumpkin seeds
- ¼cup white sesame seeds
- 1pound tomatillos (about 9 medium), husked and washed
- 3medium green bell peppers, halved and destemmed
- 1sweet onion, peeled and quartered
- 1jalapeño, split lengthwise
- 6½ cups chicken broth
- 2pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs
- 1tablespoon olive oil
- 2garlic cloves, minced
- Salt
- 3scallions, trimmed and roughly chopped
- 1large bunch cilantro (leaves and tender stems), roughly chopped
- 3large russet potatoes, peeled and diced into ⅓-inch cubes
- 4medium carrots, peeled and diced into ⅓-inch cubes
- Cooked white rice, for serving
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (8 servings)
529 calories; 20 grams fat; 4 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 8 grams monounsaturated fat; 6 grams polyunsaturated fat; 52 grams carbohydrates; 7 grams dietary fiber; 11 grams sugars; 38 grams protein; 1570 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
Powered byPreparation
- Step 1
Toast the pumpkin and sesame seeds in a medium pan over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until fragrant and the sesame seeds start to turn light golden, about 3 minutes. Transfer to a blender and pulse until sandy, scraping the sides and stirring as needed. Set aside ground seed mixture.
- Step 2
Set the broiler to high. In a large sheet pan, arrange the whole tomatillos, halved peppers, quartered onion and halved jalapeño, cut sides down, in an even layer. Broil until the skin of the vegetables is soft and blistered, rotating the pan as needed, 6 to 8 minutes.
- Step 3
To a large pot, add the chicken broth, chicken thighs and the blistered jalapeño, bell peppers, onion and tomatillos; bring the mixture to a boil over high. Once the soup is boiling, reduce the heat to medium and simmer it, stirring occasionally, for 35 minutes.
- Step 4
While the soup cooks, heat the olive oil in a small skillet over low heat. Add the minced garlic and 2 teaspoons salt and fry just until golden, swirling the pan, 2 to 3 minutes. Set aside.
- Step 5
Remove the chicken from the broth and set aside in a medium bowl. Add the scallions and cilantro to the broth. Purée the broth in a blender, or directly in the pot using an immersion blender.
- Step 6
Add the garlic mixture to the large pot with the soup, along with the potatoes, carrots and the ground seed mixture. Cook on medium heat, stirring occasionally, for 15 to 20 minutes, until the vegetables are fork-tender and the soup thickens.
- Step 7
Using two forks, pull the chicken into small chunks or bite-size pieces. Stir the chicken back into the soup to warm it, and add more salt to taste.
- Step 8
To serve, scoop cooked rice into a small cup and invert it into a bowl; surround with soup. The soup can be stored in the fridge for up to 2 days or frozen for up to 3 months.
Private Notes
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Cooking Notes
Julie B.
Hey Bill, My vote is just to leave off the cilantro. It's possible that a spritz of fresh lime juice might be nice just before serving, but any other herb would probably take this recipe in the wrong direction.
Mike D
The sauce this produces is basically what we call a pipian verde in Mexico. If you substitute chilies poblano for the bell peppers and use a comal or heavy fry pan for browning the tomatillos, onion, chilies, and garlic, you are making a simple pipian with this recipe and I like it very much. I substitute a good quality tahini for the roasted and ground sesame seeds and it works well.
Bill
I haven't made this yet, but I'd certainly like to. Unfortunately, I'm one of those with the bad cilantro gene. What would my fellow cooks suggest...substituting an equal amount of flat-leaf parsley, substituting a different herb, or just eliminating the cilantro altogether and substituting nothing?
Dan
I make a similar dish frequently, it's great! If you are toasting the pumpkin seeds (and you should), then start with raw pumpkin seeds, not roasted. Take out the chicken after 15-20 minutes or you have tasteless chewy chicken.
CC
Made this tonight. The only change I made was to follow Dan’s tip to remove the chicken after 20 minutes, which I’ll definitely repeat in the future. This is a bit labor intensive but worth it for a Sunday dinner. I love the combination of peppers, tomatillos, jalapeño and cilantro. I don’t think subbing or omitting the cilantro would work. It’s a big part of this dish. Perhaps try a recipe for pepian instead.
Nate
This is outstanding. Made as is with just a few method changes to simplify and reduce pan usage. Season and brown the thighs in the Dutch oven (because why wouldn’t you?!?), remove them and immediately fry the garlic in the same pot. Deglaze with white wine and add the broiled veg and stock. Return the chicken with juices and off you go. Also, add the ground nut mixture to the blender to puree with the broth, veg, and cilantro. Comforting, colorful, delicious.
Denis
I can’t wait to do this.
Mary
This is a perfect post thanksgiving dish, made with leftover turkey and homemade stock!
Steven K
Cooked as per the recipe and after adding the roasted pumpkin and sesame seeds I was worried that the flavor became overwhelmingly pumpkin. Give it time to all work together because in the end it was perfect. Note to self, don't seed the jalapeno. In the end I had no heat in the dish and added 1/4 teaspoon of red pepper flakes to give it some heat. The whole family loved this soup!!
ee
Maybe a little parsley for the green and a squeeze of lemon for the freshness, although the tomatillos are a bit tart. Nothing else tastes like cliantro. Do you have a problem with corriander? You might try a pinch of that.
Name Padma
I believe cilantro was known to the ancient Egyptians and is native to Asia and Europe. If the Mayans used it it must have been brought there by the Spanish.
Kate
Depth of flavor was wonderful.
Annette Johnson
Followed recipe except I picked up already cooked and chopped chicken from deli and used new potatoes. Will make this again in winter as it doesn't need seasonal vegetable. Excellent and different from tortilla soup which is another stand by.
Cheri
This is delicious! I didn't have all the "proper" ingredients: used roasted, salted pumpkin seeds, canned tomatillos (which I drained and added directly to the broth), only 1 3/4 lb chicken thighs and five small redskin potatoes which turned out to be plenty. I bought some poblano peppers knowing they would add more flavor. Otherwise followed the recipe. The roasted, ground seeds added a great note. A little bit of work but worth it.
MBB in Sac
Any recommendations to adjust this for an electric pressure cooker?
saraat1264
This dish was amazing! I did reduce the amount of chicken broth and the seed mixture by half but used the recommended amounts of everything else as I wanted it to be more stew-like. I did not the seed the jalapeño, used 1 poblano and 2 green peppers. I might up the heat on the peppers (maybe a Serrano, or more poblanos as someone else suggested). Served it with a side salad- sliced avocado on lettuce with a relish of tomato, red onion, cilantro and lime juice. Wonderful!
Kathy Fletcher
I took out the chicken after 20 minutes as suggested and used 2 jalapeños. Couldn’t find unsalted pumpkin seeds so eliminated the salt with the garlic. Just perfect. Will make again.
Paige
This soup was pretty good, but I feel it didn’t have as much flavor as I was expecting. If I made it again, I would use poblano peppers instead of flavorless green bell peppers. I also would blend the seed mixture more (fine grain of sand) as I didn’t love the texture of the grainy seeds in the finished product
Kate
This was excellent! Time consuming but a lot of it can be prepped ahead. Made for a family gathering of 5 (there was PLENTY leftover). I too browned the chicken first, removed it, then added it back in with the potato step. Used two whole serranos with seeds and still could have used a little more heat.
Huguenotish
I never use green bell peppers. I never have. I tried them once; they are just awful, irredeemable. Green peppers are best used for animal feed. I guess I’d leave bell peppers out or … use red bell peppers — either raw or roasted.
Emily
This was a LOT of work. We really enjoyed the end product but I’m not sure the balance of effort to reward was quite worth it. Luckily it made a ton so we have frozen leftovers for another day. Excellent experiment but way too much work to put in rotation.
Gabby
This took well more than two hours but was DELICIOUS. I would suggest a stopping point after step 5: you can blender the liquid and freeze in batch, and then cut down your subsequent dinner prep time.
Theresa
There are so few Guatemalan recipes available for home cooks. Thanks SO much! I can't wait to try it.
Umami_mami
Made this tonight using poblanos instead of bell peppers and serranos rather than jalapeños. Toasted the pepitas and sesame seeds. Blistered the onion and chiles on a comal because it's easier. I tasted along the way and adjusted the salt. I can't imagine this without cilantro! Next I'm going to stick it in the fridge and eat it tomorrow because stew always tastes better the next day
Erik Larsen
Pulled chicken after 30 min. Needed salt. Labor intensive and $$ but delicious. Maybe grind sesame seeds a bit more
PF
What's Mayan is Mayan and what's yours is Mayan!
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