I’m all about easy dinners. Sometimes you just run out of daylight and need to get something done quickly. This is one of my new favorites – Easy One Pot Chicken and Rice Recipe
Anyway, the other day I was perusing through Pinterest looking for something to make for dinner. I had some chicken thighs in the fridge and that led me on my search. Hmmmm – Pinterest – Search – Chicken Thigh oh boy let me tell you there are so may recipes that come up when you do a vague search. Well, one seriously caught my eye. It was from The Chunky Chef, it was her recipe for a One Pot Chicken and Dirty Rice my mouth immediately started watering. I have a total love for Cajun food and dirty rice is an all time favorite.
It’s been decided, we ARE having this for dinner! Time to gather ingredients….hmmm, no sausage – crap! Ok, we can do without sausage, afterall there is chicken. Long grain rice, I have a little of this kind and a little of that kind and a little of another kind – what the heck mix them all together – why not! So now, we have this lovely combination of Wild Rice, Black Rice and Brown Rice, gorgeous isn’t it. I can still pull off this recipe from The Chunky Chef, just a few tweaks. No big deal.
Time to get started, still salivating mmmm. Well, let me just say that what I ended up with was not at all chicken with dirty rice. We ended up with this most amazing, savory, bright, flavorful delicious dinner. Please understand that I don’t normally impress myself so much that I am almost in tears (I cried over Blueberry Pie once and I’ll never live that down). This one did it. The intensity and marriage of all the flavors in my book is truly perfection. It was a like an invite only party in my mouth. Even Mr. Clucking It Up was delightfully surprised.
Easy One Pot Chicken and Rice Recipe
You’re going to need to drag out your big, clunky, heavy dutch oven. On the farm, we use an old Lodge Dutch Oven that has made many a loaf of bread and countless dinners (I’ll share my dutch oven bread recipe another time). Begin by gathering up all of the “marinade” ingredients. It really isn’t a marinade, it’s more like a paste. Ok, you got me, it’s really a paste.
Mix up your paste and coat the chicken I mixed and stored the chicken in a Pyrex Casserole Dish with lid. The dish that I used has a flat lid so it’s easy to pop back in the fridge. Leave the chicken to absorb all of your yummy flavors for a couple of hours. From here, heat the dutch oven with some olive oil, preheat the oven to 350*. Once the pan is hot, brown the chicken to give it a nice “crust”. Once all the chicken is browned, put them on a plate to rest. Add onions, and peppers, cook until soft throw in your celery, red bell peppers, spices, rice, chicken broth simmer for a couple of minutes. Nestle the chicken pieces back into the simmering rice mixture put on lid. Now for the hard part – lifting your dutch oven! Gently put in oven on middle rack, bake 45 minutes covered and another 20ish minutes without the lid or until the rice is done.
Easy One Pot Chicken and Rice
2017-12-21 17:58:27
Delightful, flavor-tastic, savory marriage made in heaven (or a dutch oven)
Prep Time
2 hr
Cook Time
1 hr 30 min
Total Time
3 hr 30 min
Marinade/Paste
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 1/2 tsp paprika
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 1 tsp dried onion powder
- 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1/2 tsp oregano
- 1/2 tsp thyme
- 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 1 1/2 Tbsp olive oil
- Dish
- 2 Tbsp Olive oil
- 8 to 10 bone-in skin on chicken thighs
- 1 medium yellow onion diced
- 1 jalapeno pepper seeded and diced
- 1/4 cup dehydrated celery pieces
- 1/4 cup dehydrated red bell pepper pieces
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
- pinch of red pepper flakes
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2 cup DRY rice mix - wild rice, black rice, brown rice
- 4 1/4 cup chicken stock or broth
- Garnish (optional)
- Sliced green onions
- Chopped fresh parsley
Instructions
- Combine all marinade/paste ingredients in a medium sized mixing bowl. Add chicken thighs and turn to coat. Refrigerate for 2 hours
- Preheat oven to 350*
- Add olive oil to dutch oven and heat over MED-HIGH heat. Add chicken thighs, skin side down, and sear for 2-3 minutes per side, to develop a nice crispy skin.
- Transfer chicken to plate, leave brown bits and pan drippings.
- Lower heat to MED-LOW and add in chopped onion and jalapeno. Saute for about 2-3 minutes, until softened.
- Add cayenne, red pepper flakes, celery and red bell pepper, salt and pepper and stir.
- Add rice and chicken stock, stir, and let simmer for 1 minute.
- Nestle chicken thighs on top of the rice (pour in the juices that are left on the plate as well). Return to a simmer, then cover.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes (covered).
- Remove cover and bake another 15-20 minutes, until liquid is absorbed into the rice.
- Garnish with sliced green onions and minced parsley
Notes
- Feel free to add more pepper if you like it spicier, we thought this was an ideal blend of flavors.
Adapted from The Chunky Chef
Adapted from The Chunky Chef
Clucking It Up Farmstead https://cluckingitup.com/
