Haitian Sunday Dinner: Chicken in Sauce and Diri Kole 🇭🇹
If you want to learn Haitian food, start here. Diri kole, which is rice and beans cooked together, plus chicken in sauce. The plate that shows up on a Haitian table on Sunday.
Everything starts with epis. It is the marinade we put on basically anything. Peppers, onion, scallions, shallots, garlic, Scotch bonnet, thyme and parsley, blended with lime and a splash of vinegar. I make it in the food processor now, but a blender works. The full recipe is in my Haitian epis post.
Clean it, season it, brown it
The chicken gets cleaned with lime and then vinegar until the water runs clear. Then a little oil, a big scoop of epis and the dry seasonings, and it sits in the fridge 30 minutes to an hour.
I brown all my chicken. It is not about cooking it through. It is about building flavor in the pan. Skin side down, thighs first, and do not crowd it. Those browned bits stay in the pan for the sauce. Peppers, onions, tomato paste, more epis, thyme, garlic and a little stock. Pour that over the chicken, cover it and let the oven finish.
The rice is the main dish
When I came home from school, we did not even need the chicken. We just had the rice. The chicken was a bonus.
Use dried pinto beans if you can. Canned works, but you do not get the same depth. And the water the beans cook in is the secret. That liquid becomes the liquid for the rice, so every grain turns that color. A whole Scotch bonnet sits on top while it cooks to perfume it. Do not break it unless you want a fight. And no coconut milk here. That is not Haitian rice.
Haitian Chicken in Sauce with Diri Kole
Epis marinated chicken browned and baked in a pepper tomato sauce, served with rice and pinto beans cooked together.
I season to taste here. These are my starting amounts.
Epis
About 3/4 cup homemade epis total. Make it first using my Haitian epis recipe.
Chicken
- 12 pieces chicken (8 drumsticks, 4 thighs)
- Limes and vinegar for cleaning
- 2 tbsp oil, plus more for browning
- 1/2 cup epis
- Garlic herb seasoning, complete seasoning, cayenne, paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, salt
Sauce
- 1 each green, red and yellow bell pepper and 1 onion, sliced
- 3 garlic cloves
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 2 tbsp epis
- Fresh thyme and parsley
- 1/2 cup chicken stock
Diri Kole
- 2 cups dried pinto beans, soaked 2 hours or overnight
- Water, 3 garlic cloves and a sprig of thyme for the beans
- 3 cups long grain rice, rinsed until clear
- 2 tbsp olive oil, 2 shallots diced
- 2 spoonfuls epis, thyme, 2 whole cloves
- 1 tsp Better Than Bouillon
- About 3 1/3 cups liquid (reserved bean water, topped up with stock)
- 1 tbsp butter, salt to taste
- 1 whole Scotch bonnet pepper
Instructions
- Epis: Make a batch using the epis recipe.
- Chicken: Clean with lime, then vinegar, until the water runs clear. Coat with oil, epis and the dry seasonings. Refrigerate 30 minutes to 1 hour.
- Beans: Cover the soaked beans with plenty of water, add garlic and thyme, and simmer about 1 hour until a bean presses flat. Save the cooking liquid.
- Heat the oven to 300°F. Brown the chicken skin side down in batches. Move it to a baking dish.
- In the same pan, cook the peppers and onions a few minutes. Add the tomato paste, garlic, thyme and epis and cook down. Add the stock and a pinch of salt.
- Pour the sauce over the chicken, add parsley, cover and bake 30 to 40 minutes until it reaches 165°F. Uncover for the last 10 minutes to crisp the top.
- Optional: blend some of the peppers and onions with a little sauce and pour it back over to thicken.
- Rice: Sauté the shallots, thyme, epis and cloves in olive oil about 2 minutes. Stir in 2 1/2 cups cooked beans, the bouillon and the rice.
- Add the liquid, butter and salt. Lay the whole Scotch bonnet on top, cover and cook on low until the liquid is absorbed, about 20 to 25 minutes. Fluff and mix so every bite has beans.
Notes
Pick out the whole cloves before serving. You do not want to bite one.
Keep the Scotch bonnet whole for flavor without the heat.
Extra epis keeps in the fridge for a few days.
Recipe by Toni Jefferson · Rooted In J's
© 2026 Rooted in J's LLC. All rights reserved.
Please link back to this page instead of reposting the full recipe.
Half the epis came from the yard
The Scotch bonnets and thyme in this meal came straight out of the garden. Peppers and herbs grow almost all year in Florida, and once you have them outside your door, you will make epis a lot more often.
Grow the seasoning, not just buy it
The free Florida plant guide is 61 pages of what to plant and the month to put it in the ground, for all three regions of the state.
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Toni