Easy Chicken Afritada (Filipino Tomato Stew)

Recipe from Tita Joy



Filipino Chicken Afritada hits different, especially when dinner time sneaks up out of nowhere and you’re staring at the fridge thinking, “What now?” I remember the first time I tried to make it on my own: I had no clue what I was doing, but somehow it tasted like home. If you’ve ever wanted a dish that’s hearty, cozy, and super easy to pull off, trust me, this is it. Plus, you get that “five-star restaurant” aroma floating through the house (no joke).

Don’t freak out at the ingredients list. Nothing wild here. Most of these you probably already have lurking around your kitchen.

Yields:

4 servings

Time Required:

Ingredients:

Preparation:

Pre-Cooking Prep

Alright, honest moment: Prep is boring. But it helps. Before you start flinging ingredients into the pan, here’s what helps me move faster:

I always start by washing and cutting everything, so it’s all ready when the cooking chaos begins. Chop up the chicken into nice pieces. (I know, sometimes the butcher misses a bone or two.) Peel the potatoes and carrots, get those in chunks. Bell peppers: just pull out the guts and slice ‘em.

Garlic and onion? Smash and chop ’em up, so you get that strong smell as soon as they hit the oil. I sometimes listen to a podcast and just zone out: makes the prep feel quicker. If you want to see how others prep their afritada, you can find another version at Easy Chicken Afritada with Bell Peppers and Potatoes.

That’s really all it takes for prep. Not rocket science.

Cooking

Here’s where the magic happens. You ready? Grab a pot or pan with high sides, if you don’t want tomato splatters everywhere. (Speaking from experience, here.)

First, heat up your oil. When it’s shimmering, toss in onion and garlic. You want to hear the sizzle. Wait for that sweet, toasty smell to hit: Don’t let them burn.

Next, chicken goes in. Brown it on both sides, so it’s got some character, not just pale and sad. Sprinkle in soy sauce and fish sauce, right here. Give it a quick mix.

Okay, dump in tomato sauce. Stir, so chicken gets all coated. Add those potatoes and carrots, then bell peppers last. (They go mushy, if you overcook ’em). Pour in a cup of water, if it’s getting too chunky. Drop in some black pepper.

Simmer covered for 20-30 mins. until potatoes and chicken basically fall apart with a poke. Sometimes, halfway through, I’ll sneak a taste, and add salt if it’s bland. That’s it. Easy.

If you’re curious about other ways to do it, like the stovetop route, you can see how it’s done at Stovetop Chicken Afritada (Easy Pinoy Stew).

Author's Notes

I feel like this random mish-mosh of advice might actually help, so listen up. Don’t be scared of tweaking stuff for your own taste. Sometimes I toss in green peas if I want extra colour (or I’m pretending to be healthy).

If you leave it simmering a little longer than you meant to? The flavours just get deeper, honestly. Kind of a happy kitchen accident. Keep a bit of water or broth handy because sometimes the sauce thickens up and you want it just a little saucy—not cement.

By the way, leftover Chicken Afritada tastes even better the next day. Seriously, the veggies soak up everything and wow, what a lunch. Reheat with a sprinkle of water, and you’re golden.

And here’s a weird tip: Serve it with plain bread (like your lola might) for major nostalgia points. Oh, and never ever skip the garlic. That’s non-negotiable for me.

Chicken Afritada really belongs in the middle of a busy family table. To bring your dinner game to another level, consider some of these:


1 Minced is best. Crushing vegetables breaks all of the constituent cellulose-rich cells' walls and has unfortunate consequences to the food's tastes, particularly in the case of garlic, the crushed paste of which easily becomes bitter, lacking flavour nuance, and sometimes picking up a metallic aftertaste.

So, think of this as your motivation to get a nice, really sharp 8" (20 cm) chef's knife for mincing (producing 1⁄16" = 1.5 mm cuts), and a good cutting board.

2 Quarts, pints, cups, tablespoons, teaspoons, and fl. oz. are as defined in US Customary Units, not to be confused with differing British imperial, "legal", "coffee", Commonwealth of Nations, Canadian, Latin American, Japanese, Russian, or Dutch definitions — further proof that everyone needs the metric system.

3 There seems to be consensus that what makes a dish truly pinoy (Filipino) is inclusion of "patis" (Filipino fish sauce), a salty liquid seasoning made from fermented fish (usually anchovies) with salt, of which the most highly recommended brands are Rufina and Kamayan. It's described as amber-coloured, and the foundation of the national cuisine. As it's what I had in stock, I instead used Red Boat Sauce, made in the USA from a Vietnamese recipe: anchovy and sea salt, fermented. Either provides a lot of umami without a lot of fish flavour.

Of Filipino-produced "patis" sauces, Rufina and Kamayan brands are most highly recommended. Here are online sources for Rufina Patis (1, 2), and Epicurious.com's comparative chefs' review of sundry fish sauces at https://www.epicurious.com/ingredients/chefs-best-fish-sauce-brands-article.

Taken from: https://mypinoyrecipes.com/easy-chicken-afritada-recipe-filipino-tomato-stew/ as the work of Tita Joy. Thank you!

Collected and re-published at http://linuxmafia.com/~rick/recipes/chicken-afritada.html by Rick Moen <rick@linuxmafia.com> on Oct. 2, 2026. Individual recipes are free from copyright. Share and enjoy!

(If I have any copyright title in my own very minor contributions to this page — not my intention — they were created in 2026 by Rick Moen <rick@linuxmafia.com> and licensed for use under CC0. I have thereby waived all copyright, compilation copyright, and related or neighbouring rights to this work. This work is published from: United States of America.)