Oven Baked Chicken and Rice (60 of 125)

Photo from CafeDelites
She takes the best photos!

I must have read a thousand and one chicken and rice recipes. They are almost always a casserole and almost always have cream of mushroom soup.  I was having Blueberry over for dinner and she's gluten free. Cream of Mushroom soup has gluten (and yes I know there's a gluten free version, I just didn't want to find it). So in my recipe selection for the week was this lovely recipe. A chicken and rice dish that doesn't use cream of mushroom soup. 

This was a GREAT dish. I over salted it unfortunately. It's hard to season chicken and rice when you can't taste either. As I was making it I thought I might have over done it with the salt. That aside, this was a good dish. 

I used chicken breasts instead of thighs. I dislike dark meat and the chicken fat that comes with it. Blech. The chicken didn't dry out though. There's enough moisture in this dish to keep it from drying out. 

I didn't make the mushrooms though. I somehow missed them on the grocery list. They would definitely add to this dish. 

As we ate it we kept thinking of what we could add to it like broccoli or asparagus. Both good choices. 

Oven Baked Chicken and Rice

Recipe from CafeDelites

Serves 6

For Chicken:

• 1/4 c olive oil
• 2 tsp dried parsley
• 1 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper to taste
• 6 skinless chicken thighs, bone in or out

For Rice:

• 1 large onion chopped
• 4 cloves garlic minced
• 2 T oil
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp cracked black pepper
• 2 c chicken broth (or stock)
• 1 1/2 c hot water
• 2 c long grain white rice

For Mushrooms (OPTIONAL)

• 2 T butter
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 14 ounces button mushrooms quartered
• 1/4 c chives, divided
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• 2 T fresh chopped parsley, to garnish

Preheat oven to 350°F

In a shallow bowl, mix together the olive oil, parsley, paprika, garlic powder, thyme, salt and pepper. Add the chicken and coat each piece evenly with the seasoning. Set aside, allowing the flavors to absorb into the meat.

Spray a large baking dish (10-inch x 15-inch or 25 x 35 cm) with nonstick cooking oil spray. Add the onion, garlic, oil, salt, pepper, broth (or stock) and water into the dish. Stir well to combine. Then mix in the rice.

Arrange thighs in the water over the rice, cover with foil and bake for 50 minutes. Uncover and bake for an additional 20-30 minutes, until the chicken is cooked right through to the bone. Change oven setting to broil for 2-3 minutes to brown the chicken and crisp rice.

Remove chicken thighs, mix the rice through, then arrange the chicken back on top of the rice. Cover and allow it to rest for 5-10 minutes to set all of the flavors in the hot dish. The rice will finish off cooking while resting.

While chicken is resting, prepare mushrooms (OPTIONAL):

Heat butter in a pan over medium-high heat. Sauté garlic until fragrant (30 seconds) and add mushrooms; cook until softened. Stir in 2 tablespoons of chives and season with salt and pepper.

Transfer chicken onto a plate; fluff rice with forks,, then mix the mushrooms through the rice. Arrange chicken back onto the rice in the dish, garnish with remaining chives and chopped parsley. SERVE and enjoy!

Chicken drumsticks can be used with skin on or off. Both work well.

If you prefer using chicken breasts or boneless thigh fillets, add them in after 20 minutes baking time (allowing the rice to cook halfway first as they only need 20-30 minutes baking time).

Arrange your chicken over the rice as the image above shows. We found chicken MUST be placed over the middle section of the rice to make sure the rice gets cooked. Leaving the middle uncovered resulted in a few raw grains. Also, no bueno.

Long grain rice is the best rice to use and cooks evenly. Basmati rice or Jasmine rice can be substituted with the same liquid ratio and cooking time.

Please do not use short grain rice, medium grain rice, risotto, paella or minute rice.