One Pot Chicken and Rice

This One Pot Chicken and Rice recipe is a whole meal with tender, pan seared chicken thighs, sautéed veggies, and creamy rice. A simple, but flavorful meal for busy weeknights with minimal prep and easy cleanup. 

Do you like chicken and rice? Of course you do! Who doesn’t? It’s one of the most basic meals and can be combined in so many different ways and flavors – Mexican, Middle Eastern, Asian – you get the picture. This one pot chicken and rice recipe makes an excellent base for wherever you want to take it!

Why You’ll Love This Chicken and Rice Recipe

• A full meal. There’s nothing better than a complete dinner with only a single pan to wash! Chicken, rice, and veggies – what more do you need?
• So flavorful. The rice comes out super flavorful and creamy and the chicken is tender and juicy. And the veggies, don’t get me started on the veggies. They’re rich and fork tender. 
• Pantry ingredients. Good food doesn’t need to be complicated or expensive. Simple pantry ingredients can create really special meals like this flavorful chicken and rice dish.

Recipe Ingredients

• Chicken Thighs: I prefer bone-in, skin-on thighs for maximum flavor.
• Seasoning: We’ll be using Italian seasoning, sweet paprika, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Feel free to change this up based on your preference.
• Olive Oil and Butter
• Veggies: I love the simple combo of onion, red bell pepper, carrots, and fresh garlic.
• White Rice: You can use any kind of long grain white rice you’d like.
• Chicken Broth: Chicken broth, bone broth, or veggie stock all work here.
• Fresh Parsley

How to Make this Chicken and Rice Recipe

You’ll be ready to enjoy this simple meal in under an hour! Scroll down to the recipe card for exact ingredient amounts and detailed instructions.

1. Prep. Preheat the oven to 375˚F and season the chicken thighs with salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, paprika, and garlic powder. 
2. Brown the chicken. Add olive oil to a large oven-safe skillet and heat over medium heat. Add chicken thighs to the hot oil, skin side down, and cook for 3 minutes. Flip them over and cook them for 2 more minutes. 
3. Saute veggies. Melt more butter in the same skillet. Add the diced onion, peppers, and carrots to the melted butter. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 4 to 5 minutes, or until softened. Stir in the garlic and cook for 20 seconds.
4. Add rice. Stir in the rice and cook for about a minute, or until lightly toasted. Pour in the hot water and chicken broth. Stir and scrape up all the browned bits from the bottom of the skillet. 
5. Season and return chicken. Stir in the Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper, then add the chicken thighs back to the skillet, skin side up. Bring the mixture to a boil.
6. Bake: Cover with a lid and transfer to the oven. Cook for 25 minutes. Remove the lid and continue to cook for 10 to 12 more minutes, or until the liquid is absorbed.
7. Serve: Remove from the oven and let it stand for a few minutes before serving. Garnish with parsley and serve. 

Tips for the Best Chicken and Rice

This one pot chicken and rice recipe is pretty hard to mess up. Even if you make a small miscalculation, the flavors are still going to be so good together. If you want to make sure it’s as perfect as possible, follow these simple tips:

• Chicken cut. You can use boneless, skinless chicken thighs for this recipe but you’ll need to adjust the cooking time. Also, it may be lacking a bit of the richness that you get from the bone-in, skin on chicken thighs.
• Add some mushrooms. To pack in even more flavor, I suggest adding in mushrooms, too! Mushrooms go great with chicken and rice. 
• Toast the rice. Add the rice before the liquid and allow it to toast in the butter for about a minute. This adds a really nice hearty and nutty flavor to the rice. 
• Check the temp. If you’re not sure the chicken is cooked through, use an instant read meat thermometer to make sure the chicken’s internal temperature registers at 165˚F.
• Change up the spices. You could use this same technique with a different flavor profile by swapping out the spices. I’m thinking Mexican or Indian!

Serving Suggestions

This is a whole meal in one pot, so no need to go overboard with sides. Adding a simple green veggie, like steamed broccoli, sauteed asparagus, or roasted Brussels sprouts would be a nice touch.

One thing I love to have on the side of any chicken and rice meal is flatbread. I like to put the rice, veggies and chicken in a folded piece of flatbread and eat it up like little pockets of yum. This easy flatbread recipe is always a hit!

I also love to have a light, fresh tossed salad on the side of this meal. Anything with an Italian vinaigrette would pair really nicely with the spices in this chicken and rice dinner.  

How to Store and Reheat Leftovers

• To store your leftover chicken and rice, allow them to come to room temp and then place the leftovers in an airtight container. Your leftovers will stay in your refrigerator for about 3-5 days. 
• You could also place the leftovers into a freezer safe zip top bag and keep them in your freezer for about 3 months. I love to use this as a make ahead freezer meal because it has so much flavor and it’s a complete meal in one. 

More Chicken Thigh Recipes

• Honey Garlic Baked Chicken Thighs
• Cajun Butter Chicken Thighs
• Sun Dried Tomato Chicken