This one pot chicken recipe, served with rice and veggies, is easy and delicious. It’s great for a simple but filling weeknight meal or for feeding your hungry family. You can adapt it with different veggies and add spice or flavours depending on your tastes and what your family likes.
Chicken and rice is a cheap meal, generally, and I recommend using chicken thighs because they have more flavour and are cost efficient compared to chicken breasts or fillets. I also prefer white basmati rice, mainly because of time spent as a child in South East Asia, but you can use brown rice and cook the rice for longer, or long grain rice and follow the instructions for cooking it.
This one pot chicken dish feeds four people with two chicken thighs each, but you could split the recipe or double it if you are feeding more people.
You will need:
8 chicken thighs. Keep the skin on, for flavour and keeping the chicken moist (I hate that word, it makes me think of sweaty feet and swimming pool changing rooms, maybe I should say “to stop the chicken drying out”?)
300g of rice. Washed and drained (and yes, you ABSOLUTELY should be washing your rice)
Three cloves of garlic, finely grated or smashed. I cheat and use garlic purree but you can use fresh garlic too.
A table spoon of olive oil
1 litre of stock, or if you want you can use bone broth or home made stock
Two onions, finely chopped
Veggies of your choice – I use green beans or broccoli for this, but carrots, pease, sweetcorn, or sugar snap peas would work
Herbs/spices – you can use paprika, a pinch of chilli powder, or some mixed herbs if you want. For this dish though I tend to keep it simple and use a Zaatar mix which gives flavour and a bit of a middle eastern hint to the chicken.
The beauty of this dish is you cook it all in one large pan, with a lid. You will need plate to reserve the chicken on, but this is a really minimal washing up meal which is an added bonus on a busy week night.
Now to cook the dish:
- Take half the garlic and cook it gently in the olive oil, in your pan, for a few minutes
- Take your chicken thighs and place them in the oil, and cook them for 10-15 mins, turning them a few times so they crisp up and brown all over evenly
- Whilst the chicken is cooking make up your stock, or get it ready and wash your rice
- When the chicken is browned all over, remove it from the pan and place on a plate
- Add the chopped onion and any herbs and spices you want to use and cook them in the pan
- When the onion is soft, take your rice and add it to the pan and stir it through so the rice and onion are well mixed together
- Add in half of your stock, let it come to a boil in the rice and then turn it down very low, cover with a lid and let it cook for about 10 minutes. The rice won’t be fully cooked yet
- After ten minutes, remove the lid, add the chicken thighs back and pour in the remainder of the stock and keeping it covered on a low heat, let the rice absorb the rest of the stock and the chicken to cook more. 10-15 mins but you may need a little time if your chicken thighs are larger
- Just before the end of cooking, you can pop your veg in the pan, turn off the heat, and let the steam cook them. This takes about 5 minutes.
And there you have it, a one pot chicken meal that is delicious, fairly healthy, and easy to prepare and cook, with minimal washing up needed. My family loves it, and it’s such an easy meal for me as a mum on a busy week night.
Another easy chicken dish is slow cooker roast chicken, which I also love pulling out for weeknights or lazy weekend meals.