Learn how to make elote en vaso with this simple recipe for the best Mexican street food. The elote en vaso hunger intensifies each time I travel to El Paso or Mexico. Now I can make it whenever I want at home when I want it. No matter how you serve it, it tastes sweet, crunchy, hot, and juicy. I like to dress it up by serving it in a nice glass as opposed to the customary styrofoam cup. The amounts of lime juice, crema, cheese, and seasonings can be changed to your own flavor in this recipe.
| Prep Time: | 20 mins |
| Cook Time: | 30 mins |
| Total Time: | 50 mins |
| Servings: | 6 |
| Yield: | 6 servings |
Ingredients
- ¼ cup curry powder, divided
- 2 tablespoons garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon seasoned salt
- 1 tablespoon onion powder
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 sprig fresh thyme, leaves stripped
- 1 pinch ground allspice, or more to taste
- salt and ground black pepper to taste
- 2 ¼ pounds whole chicken, cut into pieces
- 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 3 cups water
- 1 potato, diced
- ½ cup chopped carrots
- 2 scallions (green onions), chopped
- 1 (1 inch) piece fresh ginger root, minced
- 1 Scotch bonnet chile pepper, chopped, or to taste
Instructions
- Whisk 2 tablespoons curry powder, garlic powder, seasoned salt, onion powder, salt, thyme leaves, allspice, salt, and pepper together in a bowl. Add chicken and coat with curry mixture until curry mixture is wet and sticks to chicken.
- Heat oil and 2 tablespoons curry powder in a large cast-iron skillet over high heat until oil is hot and curry powder changes color, 2 to 3 minutes. Add chicken to the hot oil mixture and reduce heat to medium. Add water, potato, carrots, scallions, ginger, and chile pepper to skillet.
- Cover skillet and simmer until chicken is no longer pink in the center and gravy is thickened, allowing chicken to cook undisturbed for last 15 minutes of cooking, 30 to 40 minutes. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh, near the bone, should read 165 degrees F (74 degrees C). Remove chicken to a serving dish; continue simmering gravy, uncovered, to thicken (if needed). Serve chicken with gravy.
- I usually use just over 1/2 of the scotch bonnet pepper, but some peppers are hotter than others.
- The key to curried chicken is allowing it to cook properly, so make sure your curry has had enough time to cook.
- You can try a meatless version with veggies in place of chicken.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 348 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 14 g |
| Cholesterol | 103 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 3 g |
| Protein | 28 g |
| Saturated Fat | 5 g |
| Sodium | 1353 mg |
| Sugars | 2 g |
| Fat | 20 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
I have been making this now for several years, it turns out great. I add a little more curry to it. I slice my potatoes and use the small carrots in the bag so the longest part of making this is prepping the chicken.
This recipe was really easy to make. I took a few of the tips from other reviewers, like substituting some of the water with coconut milk and being cautious to not add too much salt. I’ve made curry chicken before, but it NEVER came out like this. This was superb!
I want to give this 10 stars! The best i’ve ever eaten. For what its worth I added my personal notes: instead, used a sprinkle of onion powder on the chicken meat then a half a large onion in with the liquid. When adding the meat, I then added the other vegetables then continually mixed and let it cook until the curry darkened before adding the liquid. When added the meat also added 3 chopped chilis with seeds. Used boneless skinless thighs. Used 3 cup chicken broth instead of water. Used 4 cloves crushed garlic. Used 2 pinches of allspice. finally, after removing the finished meat from the broth, it was thickened using potato flakes, a generous amount was needed then let that SLOW LONG simmer until nice n thick.
I make it exactly as is and wouldn’t change a thing, I love this recipe!
Just finished cooking and it came out very tasty! Followed almost to a T: Used dried thyme, dried chopped onion, powdered ginger, cut over 2 lbs chicken breasts into about 1in cubes, 1 can of sliced potatoes, 1 can of sliced carrots, 2 cups coconut milk (based on other reviews), 1 cup water, a dash of cayenne in place of scotch bonnet. It did come out watery instead of a gravy so I’ll add flour before serving. Made with rice and peas, and spinach.
This was absolutely delicious. I did somethings slightly different because apparently I need to read better lol. It was my first time cooking curry. I will definitely make this again.
So yummy!
Great and easy recipe! Hubby loved it…told me you better save that recipe! I have a tendency to do that lol. Thanks
Simple recipe. Really easy and tastes good.
I followed this recipe carefully and my curry was WAY TOO SALTY. I had to throw out 2.5 lbs of good chicken because it was unsalvageable. I suggest that folks start with 1/2 tsp of seasoned salt then adjust from there.
I found this recipe and love it however I did make a few changes to it….instead of adding water I used 1 can of coconut milk and 12oz’s of chicken broth. I also turned up the heat with the use of Penzey’s Hot Curry Spice…the flavor was phenomenal.
Deliciosso
Absolutely loved it. Tastes just like the curried chicken my Jamaican friend would make. I did omit the regular salt but kept the seasoned salt as some reviewers thought it was salty with both. I also used the Blue Mountain Jamaican curry powder as another reviewer suggested. This curry powder is very spicy so I did not need the scotch bonnet pepper. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe!
I have made this twice so far and the family has loved it each time. I make the dish in my stovetop dutch oven (highly recommended). I replaced the water with a can of coconut milk (12 or 13oz can) and 1.5 cups of chicken broth. Like many have already said, if you prefer it thicker you either need to add flour or reduce the liquids. I also used 1 small chopped onion instead of scallions. I added the water about 5 minutes after adding the chicken, just to give the chicken some time to cook in the oil. I added the potatoes after letting the chicken and liquids cook for about 10 minutes because the potatoes (sweet and regular) get extremely soft. Great recipe….winner winner curry chicken dinner!!!!!
This was excellent, though I made some changes to accommodate for things I didn’t have. I did not have fresh tomatoes, so I used a drained can of fire roasted diced tomatoes I had in the pantry. I also didn’t have any fresh hot peppers, so I instead used around 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper. I also added 1/2 tsp smoked paprika, and subbed coconut milk for water. The end result was absolutely delicious, and will become a regular weeknight dinner in my house. It was very rich and flavorful. We ate it over rice, though honestly it would’ve been good by itself as well.
This was my first time making this dish, great recipe. I made a few changes out of personal preferences. My family loved it despite that I thought it was a bit on the salty side ??. I didn’t use carrots, fresh ginger, or bonnet pepper. I used ginger powder and cayenne pepper instead. I will reduce the salt on my next attempt.
This is one of my family’s favorites. I’ve made it 3 times with variations and they have all worked well. Rotisserie chicken is excellent to use because it is already cooked thus the cook time is shortened. It also takes on a bit of the flavor of the chicken. I highly recommend that you try it and enjoy.
Came out great!!!!
This recipe was delicious! Will keep it in rotation!
Very easy to make and tasty. Actually used boneless breasts cut in chunks which worked out fine, but would definitely add more potatoes and carrots next time
Excellent recipe, much like wat mi ex husband used to make…he’s from White Water…only difference he adds 1/4th cup coconut milk and a likkle lime juice. He also showed me to substitute allspice (for us Americans lol) wit a dash of nutmeg, and cumin, the black pepper does its own ting…I substituted scotch bonnet pepper for crushed red pepper…