A simple and delicious one-pot chicken and rice dish made with a few herbs and spices and a pop of lemon! This dish is prepped and cooked all in one pan in about 30 minutes with simple ingredients making it a great recipe to enjoy on busy weeknights! | Gluten Free + Dairy Free + Low FODMAP option
⭐One Pot Chicken and Rice Highlights⭐
- Fast Cook Time: Total cook is about 30-40 minutes – most of which is completely hands off.
- Easy Prep: No chopping, grating or mincing needed here! Everything cooks in one large pan which keeps the cooking process streamlined and the cleanup to a minimum.
- Simple Ingredients: This dish is made entirely with pantry staples and basic ingredients you probably already have on hand!
Prep the Chicken
- Flatten chicken: Place chicken breasts between two pieces of plastic cling wrap or aluminium foil and pound into an even thickness. This helps make the chicken more tender and cook evenly.
- Tip: If you don’t own a meat mallet, use a rolling pin.
- Season: Mix spice blend then rub 2 tbsp on the chicken.
- Sear: Add chicken to a hot skillet and cook both sides a few minutes until brown then set aside.
- Note: Don’t worry about cooking the chicken through – it will finish in the oven.
Rice
- Toast Rice: Lower the heat. Add rice and remaining spice blend. Stir and cook a couple minutes.
- Liquid Flavors: Stir in lemon juice and stock. If needed, use a spoon to gentle scrape the bottom of the pan to loosed up any browned bits.
- Add Chicken: Return the seared chicken to the pan.
- Cover & Cook: Let it all simmer with the lid on for about 20-25 minutes until the liquid has been absorbed.
- Fluffy & Serve: Turn off the heat and let the chicken and rice rest with stirring for about 5-10 minutes then fluff rice with a fork and sprinkle fresh herbs over the top of the rice and that’s it!
Recipe Tips
A few things to keep in mind before you begin:
What type of Rice?
- White, long grain rice like jasmine rice or basmati are best.
- You can make this dish using brown rice in place of white rice but you will need to increase the cook time from 15 minutes to 35-40 minutes.
Make It Low FODMAP
- Use a low fodmap friendly stock (like this Roasted low FODMAP Vegetable Stock) and leave out the garlic powder.
Use a Hot Pan
- Make sure to heat up your skillet before adding the chicken so that the chicken will form a nice brown crust.
And that’s it! A 30 minute, one pan dish with minimal clean up and tons of flavour!
More One Pot Meals:
- One Pot Low FODMAP Khichdi Chicken and Rice
- One Pot Cheesy Zucchini Chicken & Rice
- Herby One Pan Chicken with Oranges
- Coconut Lime Chicken
- Chicken & Butternut Squash Rice
- Maple Mustard Chicken with Rosemary
- One Pan Lemon Chicken with Asparagus
Enjoy!
Let me know if you try this One Pot Chicken and Rice recipe! Leave a comment and review with your thoughts. I always appreciate the feedback and serving suggestions that you come up with!
Recipe
One Pot Chicken and Rice
Yield:
Serves 4
Prep Time:
10 minutes
Cook Time:
35 minutes
Total Time:
45 minutes
A simple and delicious One Pot Chicken and Rice made with a few herbs and spices and a pop of lemon! This dish is prepped and cooked all in one pan in about 30 minutes making it a great midweek, last minute dinner. | Gluten Free + Dairy Free + Low FODMAP option
Ingredients
Seasoning Blend
- 2 teaspoons paprika
- 1 teaspoon dried parsley
- 2 teaspoon dried thyme
- 3/4 teaspoon garlic powder* leave out if you need to keep this low FODMAP
- 2 tablespoons light brown sugar (30g)
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
Other Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil (30ml)
- 2 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut in half length wise
- 1 cup long grain white rice, uncooked (200g)
- 2 cups chicken broth - Low FODMAP if needed (480 ml)
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice (30ml)
- fresh parsley for topping
Need help converting to weights? Check out my cups to grams Conversion Guide.
Instructions
- Mix the spice blend together in a small bowl. Set aside two tablespoons for the chicken breast and use the rest for the rice.
- Place the chicken breasts between two pieces of plastic cling wrap and pound them down to make them even in thickness. Once flattened, rub two tablespoons of the spice blend over all sides of the chicken
- Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large skillet over a medium-high heat. Add chicken and cook each side for about 5 minutes or until browned. Remove from the pan and set aside.
- Turn the heat down to a medium-low heat. Add another tablespoon of oil to the pan along with the rice and remaining spice blend. Cook a few minutes to toast the rice.
- Stir the lemon juice and chicken broth into the rice mixture. Use a wooden spoon to gently scrap the browned bits off the bottom of the pot then carefully add the chicken back to the pan in a single layer.
- Cover with a fitted lid and simmer for 20-25 minutes until the rice has absorbed all the liquid.
- Turn off the heat and rest for 5-10 minutes. Fluff rice up with a fork and stir in fresh herbs if desired and serve.
Notes
- Cool leftover chicken and rice then store in an airtight container 4-5 days in the fridge.
- You can make this dish using brown rice in place of white rice but you will need to increase the cook time from 15 minutes to 35-40 minutes.
- Use a low-sodium chicken stock or vegetable broth if you want to have more control over the salt levels of this dish
Make it Low FODMAP
- Use a low FODMAP stock.
- Omit the garlic powder.
Nutrition Information
Yield: 4
Serving Size:
1 chicken piece + about 3/4 cup rice Calories: 249Total Fat: 9gSaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 7gCholesterol: 51mgSodium: 593mgCarbohydrates: 19gFiber: 1gSugar: 6gProtein: 22gThis website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.
Deni says
Made this today for a quick dinner. I browned half a finely chopped onion and then added the 30min marinated chicken, which had been cut in two and bashed with a rolling pin. Took the chicken out, as directed, but left in the onions and added the oil, rice and stock, etc.
It was delicious and I loved it, but my husband and 7 year old, found the thyme slightly over powering. Easily fixed, I will use just a 1.5 teaspoon of thyme next time. I might add a chopped red pepper and some frozen garden peas and change the herbs to fresh. Possibly depending on time, crush fresh garlic and grate some lemon rind. I can’t stop tinkering with recipes.
It’s a lovely recipe and worked perfectly and looked just like the picture. Served with a fresh garden salad or pico de Gallo. I’m just looking forward to having the leftovers for lunch!
Sarah Nevins says
So glad to hear you guys enjoyed it 🙂 I totally hear you about tinkering with recipes – I’m very much the same! I think things are always better when you put your own spin on it!
Thank you so much for coming back to leave a review!
Stephanie says
My rice came out really mushy. Not sure what I did wrong since I usually make really good rice?
Sarah Nevins says
Hi Stephanie – it sounds like there was more liquid than you might have needed. When adding things like chicken and veggies to rice it can sometimes throw things off balance. If you were to ever make this again I’d just recommend removing the lid earlier on so that some of the extra moisture has a better chance to escape. Hope that helps!
Monica says
Should I increase the amount of chicken broth if I use brown rice?
Sarah Nevins says
Monica! Sorry – I should have included this in the notes! To answer your question, yes. I recommend adding an extra 1/4 cup stock (2 1/4 cups total) if using brown rice.
Bree G says
I loved this recipe so much I had to leave a review. What an awesome meal—comes together so quick and we always go for seconds.
I made it my own by adding shallots to the pan before the rice and a few sprigs of fresh thyme and a splash of white wine into the liquid. I’ve also tried this recipe with shrimp and had great success too!
Sarah Nevins says
I’m so happy to hear that! Love the sound of adding shallots/wine to this – sounds so good!
Jacques says
An absolutely awesome and straightforward meal. Both of my fussy eater kids had seconds!!!!
Sarah Nevins says
Thanks Jacques! So glad to hear everyone enjoyed it 🙂
Noelle Brown says
I just made this tonight for my boyfriend, but he’s got IBS so in order to make it low FODMAP I changed one thing: I used garlic oil instead of regular olive oil. It came out so well! This recipe is a keeper; it’ll be going into our rotation of regular meals. Thanks so much for posting this!
Sarah Nevins says
Yay! So glad you guys were able to enjoy it together! Thanks so much for coming back to let me know what you thought 🙂
Johhanna says
Hi! I just recently discovered your blog and I’m in love! Your recepies seem simple and have easily obtainabale ingredients, but most importantly – they’re gluten free. I tried this recepie and it turned out great. So easy!
When reading American recepies (I’m from Estonia), I often encounter one ingredient – chicken broth/stock. Where I live, its either kinda expensive, or it has an uninviting ingredient list. Its also something I can only find in certain big grocery stores, since its just not that common among homecooks. So my question is – how should I replace it? I can easily buy stock cubes (that’s what I used when I tried this recepie), but they always have so many unnecessary ingredients and extra flavourings. Any ideas?
Sarah Nevins says
Hi Johhanna! When it comes to chicken stock/broth in most recipes you can pretty much always use stock cubes. I often use them myself to make chicken stock/broth for my recipes. The only reason I don’t list cubes in the recipe is because the amount of stock cubes needed to make 1 cup of broth can vary from brand to brand.
Depending on what the recipe is (this one would work), you can also sometimes just use water instead of stock and increase the amount of salt/seasoning you use.
Hope that helps!
Tish says
Will anything change if I add in some chopped veggies?
Sarah Nevins says
That shouldn’t be a problem! Hope you enjoy it!
Katie (again) says
Hi! Just made this and it’s so so so good! I added a little turmeric because my roommate has been into turmeric lately, and served with broccoli and cauliflower 🙂 Thanks for the recipe, will definitely be a repeat for me!
I did get a little confused on Step 4 though – I assumed that the chicken stock is added after the oil/rice/spices/lemon juice cook for a minute, since it’s not mentioned anywhere in the recipe haha. And then I let it get to a boil and then covered and let it simmer 20 min. Is that how you did it?
Sarah Nevins says
Whoops! You’re right! Thanks for pointing that out to me – I’ve gone back and added it to the recipe now. Thanks for coming back to let me know what you thought – so glad you guys enjoyed it!
Robin Morrison says
This looks yummy! I have bone in thighs on hand, how much cooking time would you add if prepared with thighs?
Sarah Nevins says
Hi Robin! With bone in thighs your cook time shouldn’t be too different – maybe increase the time by about 5-10 minutes at most