Panes con pollo are Guatemalan chicken sandwiches: shredded chicken simmered in a blended tomato sauce, spooned into a toasted roll with lettuce, tomato and the trio of mayonnaise, mustard and ketchup. Antigua Daily Photo describes them as simple Guatemalan fair food, pirujo bread filled with shredded chicken, lettuce, mayonnaise and a tomato sauce and a chile sauce, and calls them a Lent staple. This recipe makes eight in a little over an hour, most of it hands-off simmering.

Recetas de Guatemala cooks the chicken in a sauce blended from tomato, onion, garlic, chile and bay leaf, then serves it in toasted pan francés with lettuce, tomato slices and the three sauces. A Guatemalan home cook on Cookpad takes a quicker route, frying boiled, shredded chicken with onion, bell pepper and celery, spreading the bread with ketchup, mayonnaise and mustard and warming the filled sandwiches in a pan. The version below follows the tomato-sauce method and borrows the warm, toasted bread from both.

Ingredients

For the Chicken

  • 2 lb (900 g) bone-in chicken breasts or thighs
  • 1/2 white onion
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • 1 tsp salt
  • Water to cover

For the Tomato Sauce

  • 6 ripe Roma tomatoes
  • 1 white onion, quartered
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • 1 green bell pepper, seeded (or 1 jalapeño for heat)
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 tsp chicken bouillon powder (optional)
  • 2 tbsp vegetable oil
  • Salt and black pepper

For the Sandwiches

  • 8 pan francés rolls, or 4 pirujos cut in half
  • 8 lettuce leaves
  • 2 tomatoes, thinly sliced
  • Mayonnaise, yellow mustard and ketchup
  • Hot sauce or guacamol (optional)

Step-by-Step Instructions

Step 1: Poach the chicken. Put the chicken in a pot with the half onion, 2 garlic cloves and the salt, and add water to cover by an inch. Bring to a boil, skim off the foam, then lower the heat and simmer for 25 to 30 minutes, until the meat pulls easily from the bone. Lift the chicken out and save at least 1 cup of the broth.

Step 2: Shred. When the chicken is cool enough to handle, discard the skin and bones and pull the meat into fine shreds with two forks. Fine shreds hold the sauce better than chunks and stay inside the bread.

Step 3: Blend the sauce. Blend the Roma tomatoes, the quartered onion, 2 garlic cloves and the pepper with 1/2 cup of the reserved broth until completely smooth.

Step 4: Fry the sauce. Heat the oil in a wide pan over medium-high heat. Pour in the sauce carefully (it will spatter), add the bay leaf and cook, stirring, for about 5 minutes, until it darkens slightly and smells cooked rather than raw. Season with the bouillon, salt and pepper.

Step 5: Simmer the chicken in the sauce. Stir in the shredded chicken and lower the heat. Simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring now and then, until the sauce has thickened and clings to the meat. Add a splash of broth if it gets too dry. Taste for salt and remove the bay leaf.

Step 6: Toast the bread. Split the rolls lengthwise without cutting all the way through. Toast them cut side down in a dry skillet or under the broiler for 1 to 2 minutes, until golden and crisp at the edges.

Step 7: Assemble. Spread the inside of each roll with mayonnaise, mustard and ketchup. Add a lettuce leaf and a few tomato slices, then a generous spoonful of hot chicken in sauce. Add hot sauce or guacamol if you like, close and serve while warm.

How Each Source Builds Them

SourceBreadFilling and toppings
Antigua Daily Photo, fair food (2011)PirujoShredded chicken, lettuce, mayonnaise, chile sauce, tomato sauce
Antigua Daily Photo, street food (2016)Pirujo; sometimes pan francésShredded chicken, lettuce, tomato, onion, avocado; chicken salad at some stands
Antigua Daily Photo, vigilsPirujoLettuce, chicken, mayonnaise, ketchup and salsa; hot sauce or guacamol on request
Recetas de GuatemalaPan francés, toastedChicken cooked in tomato sauce, lettuce, tomato slices, mayonnaise, mustard, ketchup
Cookpad home recipe (Guatemala)Large rolls, warmed in a panShredded chicken fried with onion, bell pepper and celery; ketchup, mayonnaise and mustard; optional cheese and lettuce

Como Lo Hacemos en Guatemala (Local Tips)

Thick sauce, crisp bread. The chicken should be saucy but not runny. If the sauce is thin, keep simmering; a wet filling turns toasted bread soft in minutes.

Lettuce goes under the chicken. Putting the lettuce and tomato on the bread first, as Recetas de Guatemala does, gives the roll a barrier against the sauce.

Serve them with something to drink. Recetas de Guatemala suggests atol alongside; try our atol blanco. At Antigua’s Lent vigils, Antigua Daily Photo pairs them with batido, a drink of tropical fruit and pinol.

The same rolls take other fillings. Antigua Daily Photo’s list of typical Guatemalan sandwiches includes pan con chile relleno; our chiles rellenos recipe makes the filling.

Panes con Pollo in Lent and at Fairs

Antigua Daily Photo describes panes con pollo as a Lent staple and as the main food at the velaciones, the vigils that it calls a very important Lent and Holy Week tradition in Antigua, where they are eaten with batido. The same blog counts them as one of the most common street foods in Antigua and across Guatemala, and finds them at the food booths by La Merced church and at town fairs. Recetas de Guatemala calls them a very common dish in Guatemala, eaten at refacción or lunch.

Find Ingredients in the US

  • Bread: Latin bakeries may carry pan francés; soft French rolls or short baguettes from any supermarket work.
  • Chicken: bone-in thighs give the most flavor; a rotisserie chicken, shredded, cuts the cooking time to the sauce alone.
  • Bouillon: chicken bouillon powder or cubes are in the soup aisle; leave it out and use more salt if you prefer.

More Guatemalan Recipes

Sources