Chicken and rice simmered together into a thick, gingery porridge, piled with toasted garlic, scallions, egg, and a squeeze of calamansi. The Filipino answer to chicken soup — and a favorite the moment anyone in the house feels under the weather.
Arroz caldo takes its name and format from Spanish-influenced rice porridges, but the ginger-forward seasoning and calamansi-and-fish-sauce finish are entirely Filipino. It's the dish most households reach for when someone's sick, the weather turns, or breakfast just needs to be warm and low-effort.
The rice cooks directly in chicken broth rather than plain water, breaking down slowly into a thick, savory porridge instead of staying in separate grains. A generous hand with fresh ginger is what sets it apart from other rice porridges — it should taste distinctly gingery, not just like salted rice and chicken.
Rinsing the rice removes excess starch so the porridge thickens evenly instead of turning gluey.
Lugaw is the general Filipino word for rice porridge and can be plain; arroz caldo specifically refers to the chicken-and-ginger version, usually richer and more heavily topped. See our plain lugaw recipe for the simpler base version.
They're built the same way, but with different proteins — arroz caldo uses chicken, while goto uses long-simmered beef tripe and oxtail for a richer, more gelatinous broth.
The color comes from turmeric or atsuete (annatto), added mainly for its golden hue rather than a strong flavor of its own.
Yes — boneless chicken thighs work fine and cook faster, though bone-in pieces simmered longer give the broth more depth.
