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A clay pot of traditional Portuguese arroz de cabidela.
Meat

Arroz de Cabidela (Chicken Rice with Blood and Vinegar)

Leonor Perreira · Updated Nov 12, 2026
Prep
30 min
Total
2 h
Servings
6
Calories
540 kcal
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Arroz de cabidela is one of the most distinctive dishes in Portuguese cooking: free-range chicken stewed and then cooked with carolino rice in plenty of broth, which is thickened at the end with the bird’s blood mixed with vinegar. The result is a soupy, dark, very flavorful rice, eaten piping hot.

It’s above all a dish of the north; in the Minho it’s also called arroz de pica-no-chão (“pecking-the-ground rice”), after the hens and roosters raised outdoors. It was the dish of poultry slaughter on feast days, when nothing went to waste. Cabidela is also made with rabbit and other birds, always on the same principle.

Recipe

Arroz de Cabidela

Free-range chicken cooked with rice and its own blood seasoned with vinegar, for a dark, very flavorful rice. A strong-tasting dish, typical of the Minho.

Ingredients

6 servings

Method

  1. 1
    In a wide pot, heat the olive oil with the chopped onion, garlic and bay leaf. Let the onion turn golden.
  2. 2
    Add the chicken pieces. Season with salt and pepper. Toss them well in the onion and let the meat color on all sides.
  3. 3
    Pour in the vinho verde. Stir and let it bubble until the alcohol cooks off.
  4. 4
    Add a glass of hot water, cover and stew over low heat until the chicken is tender (a real free-range bird can take about 1 hour; if the sauce dries out, add water a little at a time).
  5. 5
    When the chicken is tender, measure the liquid in the pot. You need about 3.5 measures of liquid to 1 measure of rice, because this rice should be soupy, with plenty of broth. If there isn't enough, add boiling water and bring it back to a boil.
  6. 6
    Add the rice, stir and adjust the seasoning (a pinch of cumin is good). Cook the rice uncovered over medium-low heat for 12 to 15 minutes.
  7. 7
    About 2 minutes before the rice is fully cooked (while it's still al dente), add the blood and vinegar mixture to the pot.
  8. 8
    Stir it in at once, briskly, so the blood blends into the sauce without curdling, thickening and darkening the broth.
  9. 9
    Let it bubble for 1 or 2 minutes more to lose the raw vinegar taste.
  10. 10
    Turn off the heat and serve right away. Cabidela must be eaten piping hot and soupy, before the rice soaks up all the sauce.
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Tips

Use plenty of broth: about 3.5 measures of liquid for each measure of rice.

Add the blood at the end, while the rice is still al dente, and stir straight away and hard so the sauce thickens without lumps.

Serve at once: the rice keeps absorbing the broth and dries out fast. With an ordinary chicken, stew it for only about 30 minutes, because the meat gets tender sooner.

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